The night before we left I didn't get any sleep, which is fairly typical for a night before I travel. Plus having to get up at 4am didn't exactly help matters either.
We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and my Godmother, who had been in town for a couple of weeks, was actually leaving that morning too so we chatted with her a bit before heading to our gate. It was hard to feel so depressed when I was travelling to North Dakota. I love flying and I love going to North Dakota. Still...
We took United, which was it nice. TV to distract me from complaining non-stop about how exhausted I was and mini-pretzels. Take that lousy peanuts!
We had a layover at the Denver airport, of whose moving walkways I've always been a big fan. However I hate their McDonald's because they don't serve lunch until 10:30 and I hate breakfast food. Lazy bums. I did manage to score some pretty good popcorn thogh so that tided me over a smidgen.
The next plane was tiny because...well, North Dakota's airport is next to microscopic so it would have to be tiny. Luckily we got there like a half hour early and thankfully so did my cousin who was there to meet us. We got lunch and headed out.
Now, something you need to understand about North Dakota is that the entire population of the state is probably similar to the population of my city. So basically, there's not really a lot going on there. Plus if you go anywhere it'll take you at least an hour to get there. An hour of driving past miles of farmland.
Luckily I find it charming. ESPECIALLY since they have seasons. I saw leaves fall! They were orange and red and yellow and they were FALLing!! Just like in the movies. Man, I hate living in the desert.
Anyways, the rest of the trip was kind of a blur of ceremonies, crying, and crazy cousins. I fear that if I go into detail about the rest of the time it'll just be too painful so instead, let's ramble about my family.
It's no secret I despise my immediate immediate family. My brother and I are from two different worlds, my father's the incarnation of evil and my mom's....insane. It's so crazy though that when I go back home and see all of my family that I make sense. I can see bits of me in everybody. Except my cousin Karie. Yeah, I don't know what went wrong with her...
Everyone always says I look a lot like my second cousin Sarah, which I still don't see, but it's nice to hear. My cousin Jenny and I have always liked the exact same things. Seriously, it's spooky. We like chicken fingers, frogs, penguins, the same music etc...before we even know the other likes it. I'd never really been able to see myself in my closest cousin Brad until the wake. When people asked us to speak he had the same look that I always get. That "I could speak...but I don't wanna..." Yeah, I don't really know how to explain the look...
When it comes to my Aunts I really see resemblences. My Aunt Linda and I love to decorate anything that stays still long enough, enjoy holidays to the full extent and have photographic memories. Plus, total professional shopper. Mary Lou and I both like to finish what we start right away, are incredibly messy painters and always manage to spill ketchup.
This is all probably incredibly boring but it's really one of the only amusements I had during the trip.
The last time I was in North Dakota was, depressingly enough, for my Grandpa's funeral. It was horrible, it was like I had to mourn him all over again along with my Grandma--which was taking just about all the mourning I had and then some. To make matters worse one of the most vivid memories I have from my Grandpa's funeral is my cousin Jeff--the one who went missing a year ago and is probably dead--so I had to mourn him too. That sucked because my cousin Mike, his brother, looks a lot like him so I'd see him out of the corner of my eye and for a split second feel excited thinking it was Jeff and then my senses caught up and it was just...an awful feeling to put it midly.
The whole look alike thing just pisses me off. My Grandpa's brother Charles looke EXACTLY like my Grandpa so during the majority of one of the ceremonies I would just gawk at him in this morbid fascination. Also my Great Aunt Rose looks a lot like her sister, my Grandma so...it was just torture all around.
Damn, this is depressing. I hate this shit.