Christmas in Midland

I was at my friends house the first weekend of Christmas Break when my mom called me. Actually, I was asleep the first time she called me, and I called her back thinking she was going to tell me when I needed to come home - and I expected it to be soon. But what I didn't expect was for my mom's voice to sound weak, like she had been through a lot this weekend. This caught me a little bit off guard and when I asked her what was wrong, she told me that my uncle was brain dead. There was that dead silent split second that feels like it's really 2 minutes. I didn't know what to say. I can't really remember the rest of our conversation, but she told me that they were going to take him off the machine that afternoon just as soon as my step-cousin from San Francisco came and said goodbye to her father. She told me that I could stay at my friend's house, that she had gotten to Midland the day before (which was news to me), and that they hadn't told me because they wanted me to "just have fun with my friends" before we went to Midland for the funeral. That was on Sunday, and my dad, my brother & sister, and I left for Midland that Tuesday - the day of the funeral. Blake was my cousins' step-father, or my mom's sister's (my aunt's) second husband. But they had been married since I was a baby, and he's always just been considered my uncle. He was really friendly and easy-going, and we were all sad to see him go. His health had been poor for a long time, though, and it wasn't a tremendous shock. Once, when my mom was in the hospital with her sister, while Blake was still alive but brain-dead, my aunt turned to my mom and told her that she really missed him. My mom's reply was, "I know Becky. But you've been missing him for a while now."
Blake's funeral was the best funeral I've ever been to. It sounds wrong to talk about it like that, but I don't know how else to say it. You left feeling much better about his death, and it was more a celebration of his life than a mourning party. My cousins that told stories about Uncle Blake spoke fondly of him, and even though everyone was crying, we were able to laugh a little and smile at the fond memories we had of him.
I don't really look at Blake's death as a devastation. Definitely a loss, but not a devastation. We all got to spend Christmas together in Midland, and we had a lot of fun as a family. We spent all of Christmas Day in our pajamas playing charades and singing the 12 Days of Christmas, made stockings because those of us who don't actually live in my aunt's house had left ours in our respective homes (and two of my cousins and I stayed up until 2:30 doing so), and I think I slept in a different room almost every single night (only twice on an actual bed). There were about thirteen of us staying in that one house, which normally holds seven people (even though it can comfortably hold plenty more). I had a lot of fun meeting my mom's high school friends, and seeing my own friends from Midland. It was funny to see my mom and two of her best friends from when she was my age sit on the couch together and chat like a couple of teenagers. I love going to Midland because it feels almost more like being at home than Houston does. I'm so glad that I got to spend a Christmas with my whole family, even under these circumstances.