On Sunday afternoon, my stepmom called to tell me that her father died peacefully in his sleep. This news is difficult enough to deal with, but I've spent all week stressing myself out so I could attend the funeral and be here for my family. You'd think that wouldn't be too much to ask.

Unfortunately, I knew that missing my Wednesday film screening was bad news because that would give me a day and a half to track down an obscure German film, watch it, and write a paper on it that needs to be handed in on Friday morning. Judy seemed to be okay with me missing the wake so I could stay at school to see the film and then driving home immediately after.

Then, I tried to contact all of my professors for Thursday classes in order to reschedule exams and such. I knew I'd be losing credit in dance class because if I'm not dancing, I'm not going to be graded as if I were. My gender studies professor was the only one to express any kind of sympathy, and even though I was able to move the physics exam I'd be missing, the only time I could make it up was on Wednesday.

That gave me almost no time to study, considering that my Physics professor did not even tell us what the exam was on until Tuesday afternoon. Thankfully, I got to see Matt on Tuesday night, since he had just left for tour and I'm halfway to North Carolina. He calmed me down and cheered me up even though I had to work on notecards with facts about general relativity while he was there. And then I woke up early, studied some more, fell asleep, went to class, and kicked that physucks exam's ass.

I finally got home late last night to find a total of eleven cars parked in my driveway and in the woods across the street. Relatives I've never even met before completely packed my house and took over all of the bedrooms. I shared a couch in the attic with my sister while three younger kids argued until 2am. I woke up to hear someone complaining that my sister's room was too warm. Somehow, the image of Danielle shivering up in the freezing attic on a cold leather couch wearing a winter coat and wrapped in blankets didn't allow me to forgive this woman for a) not taking the initiative to find the thermostat and b) taking my frozen sister's bedroom and clearly not being grateful at all.

Funerals and deaths in the family are bad enough, so you'd think that college professors would express some sympathy and give you a few extra days to get things done while you're home supporting your loved ones. Apparently that isn't a good enough excuse. As you can tell, I'm whining a lot about how inconvenient this all was for me. I really do feel badly that he died, and I did cry at his funeral, and I do wish that I'd gotten to know him a little better. I just wish that people were a little more forgiving in these kinds of situations.

This week has been more stressful than I'd prefer, but it's almost over and apparently I can handle it.