TGI...M?

Thank goodness it's Monday, because last week was rough for the extended Wong family.

1. My cousin Kelly had her car stolen. She and her little brother woke up to go to school, but their car was gone. It was fairly new too (2008?). My mom worries about all of her children living in the city, but the suburbs can get dicey. The worst that has happened to me (knock on wood) was that our giant 95-gallon City of Atlanta trashcan was stolen. Weird, I know.

2. My aunt is in the hospital again because of respiratory problems. She's in her late 60s and has bad asthma, so every hospital visit is pretty tense. 

3. My "uncle" (who is technically my cousin, but he's 46 and has kid's who are just a few years younger than me -- there's a big gap between my grandpa's first wife and my dad's mom) was admitted at Grady on Friday night because of severe pain from his kidney stones. Since I am the family member that lives closest to Grady (not including Connie, who was out that evening), my mom asked me to swing by the ER and check up on him since he and his wife don't speak English. His 16 year old daughter was there, but she's not quite fluent since she's only been here 3-5 years (?). 

I ended up spending 10pm - 6:30am waiting with the family. They waited 4-5 hours to be admitted to the ER. I waited with them for 4 hours before a surgical urologist was available. After reviewing the charts, and determining that surgery was not needed, we waited for 3 hours until a medical doctor was available. Then we waited 2 hours until we were admitted upstairs. 

Andy and I went back Saturday afternoon, and everything is stable for now. It's awesome to see the sunrise when you've spent all night with your friends. Not so much when you've hung out at a hospital making sure that all questions are answered and that they'll be ok. 

4. If you want to count my roommates as MY extended family, then we can include the fact that my roommate's dad passed away. He was very young (50s), but wasn't in the best of health. It was nice to have all our friends come over after the funeral on Sunday. I'm really sad for John. I can't and don't even want to imagine having to bury my father. 

After this weekend, I'm thinking about enacting a plan to just keep a kitten in my coat pocket.  I'll feel better immediately after petting the kitten. Just a little midday pick-me-up when I'm feeling down.

Also, I filed my taxes. I owe $81 to the Feds and $151 to the State of Georgia. I know that it's not that much, but it's still a bummer. My dad called early in the week, trying to figure out ways to get deductions. Even running through a list of family members that I could claim as "dependents."  Dad was SURE that I would get nothing and pay $1,000+. Luckily, he was only right on one part.