  ah, the beginning of&nbsp;a new week. to me, it's all the same. monday through friday, i have no life. it's just work. i get about an hour and a half in the morning to do my own thing, and then the rest of my day belongs to EDR. why did i want to become an adult so badly?
&nbsp; my family reunion is coming up this weekend. we had the first reunion about 2 years ago, and we all had a great time. it's not my entire family; just the Webb side, my mother's father's side. i never got to meet my grandfather; he passed away before i was born. but i am very close to that side of the family, as close as i can be living 300 miles away from any of them. they are a lovely group of people, especially my aunt pauline and cousin linda.
i used to love going on our yearly trips to maine just so i could see them. most kids don't like going to visit family for a vacation, but i thought it was wonderful. i remember wishing they lived closer so i could see them every day. &nbsp; the reunion is going to be a little smaller this year; not as many people are coming. i was a little disappointed when i found out, but atleast we're still having it. there are a&nbsp;few people in my family that have taken ill as of late, two in particular, that i would like to see.
one is coming, one is not. my cousin, michael, will be here with his wife and two kids. growing up, michael had some health problems. he was allergic to over 100 different things, for one. they couldn't pinpoint what were causing some of his other health problems until he was an adult. they then found a tumor on his pituitary&nbsp; gland, and it was inoperable.
since then, he has been on numerous types of medication and his body has taken a beating. last time he was here, he was in a wheelchair. his hip was basically disintegrating. he was considering hip surgery, and then all of a sudden, things got better. harry and i went to visit last year on our trip to maine, and we were amazed to see michael not only walking but RUNNING around. since then, my mom has told me that his health has started to deteriorate once again.
&nbsp; my other cousin, vincent, will not be coming to the reunion. i haven't seen him in almost 15 years. i would like to see him. he isn't doing that well right now. a few months ago, he was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain. they immediately operated on him and removed a large part of his small intestine.
seems that a portion of it had completely rotted away (gross, i know). a few days after the surgery, he got even worse. they brought a priest in to perform last rites. a few hours later, my aunt walked into the hospital wing and the nurse ran to her to tell her she needed to get to vincent's hospital room right away. she thought he was on the verge of passing. instead, she walked in to find him sitting up in bed, watching tv.
he was feeling better. he then went through weeks of "healing" only to find out that the surgery was not successful and it would have to be done again. he has now gone through a second surgery and is in recovery. it's still touch and go, so we've all been praying for him. the sad part is, the doctor's are not even sure what caused it all in the first place. vincent is obese, weighing almost 400 pounds, but they say that did not cause this to happen.
i think that's the scariest part; there seems to be no catalyst for the whole episode. so there's no telling if he'll get better. &nbsp; my family is important to me, although my immediate family drives me up the wall most of the time. i am happy that we have been able to set up these reunions from time to time. next year, we're going to have one up in maine. and about a year and a half after that one, we're going to have one down in florida.
that way the same people don't always have to be travelling to get there. i'm looking forward to it. 
