My mom and I are on a mini-vacation for her birthday (which was on the 14). Yesterday and today, we were in Cottonwood, a town so small that it is known only for its proximity to Redding. All her family is up here, and we haven't seen them in a while-- for good reason.
Okay. My mom is basically the most successful out of her siblings. My auntie Leslie used to be a drug addict and has a gambling problem and she has no savings account and is apparently in debt. (Ask me about the time she got drunk and crashed into two police cars!) My uncle Paul has his own place, but he's Bi-Polar and probably has schizophrenia (he has several key symptoms) but he refuses to get meds or seek help because he thinks doctors are drug pushers and the psychiatry field is a conspiracy by the government.
I am not even exaggerating; his youngest daughter, my cousin Katie, is a pharmacy tech and he refused to talk to her for like a year after she got her certification because he considered her to be a "legalized drug dealer for the government."
Last night, my mom, grandma, grandpa, and aunty Leslie went to play Bingo at the local casino and actually had a really fun time. (It helps that my mom won 200$). Normally my mom and Leslie don't get on too well, but they were having a really great time and acting like happy kids. We were gonna visit Leslie today before we left town, but Leslie's elderly and overweight dog fell off the bed and hurt himself, so she's busy trying to get the vet over and they might have to put him to sleep, so basically we were told not to go over because they're dealing with all that.
Leslie called my grandma asking for 100$ for the vet. Grandma waffled and so Leslie called Paul, who then called my grandma to talk about it. They are both super torn up because every time they give her money, she never pays them back and 100$ is a lot to them, and she also blows money she doesn't have (like spending 100 at bingo and in the casino last night when she owes 300$ to a checking-for-cash place), but they also feel really bad for the dog (who they both know because she brings her dogs around).
And in the middle of talking about the dilemma, my uncle started ranting about how "Canadian Liberals" are ruining America by sending their politicians down here and how they're gonna send someone to be president and how the Orlando shooting that happened last week was a plot by the government. My grandma had to hang up. He was yelling so loud we could hear him through the phone.
So in short, my mom's family is a little fried in the head.
That's how my morning went!
Now we are on the road again heading to Fort Bragg to see the glass beach and the Skunk Train. Any and all technical errors in this WU are because I am typing this on a phone. Totally.