Re-connecting with the Goryns

So, this sort of comes with some sad news, but it ends well. My grandfather in Poland passed away. I don't really know his name, and I met him once when I was like 8 or 9. So I'm not feeling a great sense of loss.

However, the Goryn family got together and invited me to mass, brunch, and then to hang out for a while at their place. My dad didn't show up to any of it. My brother WAS there. It frightens me a bit that dad is alienating not only me and Chris, but his own family as well. His brother, nieces, nephew. Just seems nuts to me.

But they were so happy to see me. I was worried that it would be awkward or that they'd act upset with me for not keeping in touch more than I do. But honestly, going there was like old times. Like none of the bullshit in the middle mattered and we could just be family. I talked on the phone with Babczia Daniella in Sweden. It was the first time I talked to her in about a year and she was just so happy to hear from me, and so glad that I spoke enough Polish to communicate my life to her fluently, to talk to her like a grown up person.

She relayed that she was upset about how my dad was handeling all this. She could tell just how hard the whole divorce was on him but wasn't approving of the way he was dragging the whole family into all of it. On another level, I'm glad that I'm not the crazy one. Like I know the things my dad has been doing are ridiculous and I've felt for a long time that they're entirely unfounded. And knowing that my aunt, uncle, grandma, and cousins support me and Chris despite my dad disowning my brother, it makes things a little easier on my conscience.