We hope your holidays were good. Ours was not.

This letter does not bring good news. Your grandmother Maggie passed away on Tuesday, December 14th. She had a heart attack while talking with Connie and although the EMS people were there within five minutes she did not make it. The memorial service was held on Friday December 17th. Jennifer was unable to attend the service. She was cremated as she wished with no viewing beforehand.

We have enclosed a copy of the obituary from the paper should you want to read it.

Should you be wondering if you will be receiving anything from her estate, her will states that you will receive $1000 at my discretion. What my intentions are at this point in time is to use that money towards what you owe towards your college loan. Your grandmother was aware of the situation and that is the way that she wanted to handle it. Should your debt have been paid at the time of her death, then you would have received the $1000, and if not then it will be used toward your debt. I will update what you still owe when the estate is settled and get you a copy of it, if you want it.

Of course my holidays were not good. We should have spent some time together. And someone should have called me and told me that my favorite person in the entire world has died, I would have come and things would have been peaceful. I know that earlier in the year I said to leave me alone, but the obvious exception to that was a real family emergency. This was an event that I wanted to be a part of, and there is no indication that Grandma would have wanted me to stay away. But, I shall see her on the other side.

And I am tired of this entire situation making me look like a deadbeat. I have a lifetime of pleasant experiences with Grandma, she could be penniless and not leave me a dime, and I would still be fine. I hope the thousand dollars has really helped you out, since that is all that matters to you. I appreciate the fact that no one notified me of her passing, probably because of the will. I don't care about that stuff, and I had every right to be there. And I hope this pattern is not repeated when someone else in the family dies. Because despite what you think you know about me, I deeply care for and respect this family. At this point in time, I may always be upset with you, but I still care what happens and that everyone is doing okay. There is not a day that goes by when I am not thinking about all of this. There is no way that I can redeem all of this, but that does not mean that I should be kept out of the loop. The next funeral service, I will be there.