On family that's not family ...

So, ironic... because that's how my life is. But the day after Hayley got home from her SD adventures I received a surreal phone call.

"Hi Poppy?" Um ... NO ONE but family from Alabama calls me that.

He proceeded and I had to listen VERY carefully as to understand each word he was saying. I am from the south but maybe have been gone for so long that the accent is hard for me to decipher.

This was my cousin (hi .. nice to meet you too) and he had called to tell me that my real father had passed away two days ago.

Silence. The last time I had ANY contact with my real father was when I was 5. Let's do some simple math .. over 30 years ago.

Okay .. digest. A million things are going through my head as he is saying this to me. My real father? Who? Wait .. he died? Wait .. he was how old? Whoa .. I care why? Why are they calling me?

"Poppy .. he requested that his body be cremated ... but we can't do that without your permission because you are the next of kin"

Wait .. what? NEXT of kin? Seriously .. no contact in 30 years .. but I am the next of kin? How is this even possible? You have to have my PERMISSION to do this? I am not comprehending all that's going on.

Was given another phone number to call .... long story short ... I had to receive a fax ... have it notarized and send it back.

You would think someone asked me to do this MONUMENTAL task .. I couldn't for the life of me get it done. Hit a wall. It's a FAX for crying out loud. Speaking of crying .. I cried for days over this. For what? Mostly I think because I actually had to DO something for someone who NEVER did anything for me.

It took me five days to get that fax done. Once it was sent ... I had a wave of relief. They asked if I would like his ashes sent to me. Um ... one guess as to what my answer was.

So that's behind me now.

Moving on with life. That was a bump .. I tripped ... I looked back at it ... and now I skip along my merry way again.

Till the next bump ...