Family bonds (no matter how insane the family is) are ultimately unbreakable.  If you belong to a latin household then you probably know what I'm talking about.  Although I never knew I belonged to a "less than normal" family until I was old enough to go to my friend's house and see how other people lived.  I know every house has their secret crazy moments, no family unit is perfect...however, my grandmother made our household "unique" compared to others.  Now I sometimes forget how loud people can be, it takes me by surprise actually.  Being married,  having my own home, where peace and quiet reign, reminds me how normal my life is now. 

No matter how loud though, how crazy someone in your family was, as time goes by you seem to remember the good times more than the bad.  You become at peace with the past and not let it mold your future.  Sure I have regrets, I wish I spent more time with my grandfather before he died, I wish I told my Dad I loved him more before he died.   I didn't do enough, but I guess such is life. 

And now my grandmother is sick, very sick.  I can't say I am surprised, it's what smoking and not taking care of one's body does.  She doesn't look like the strong willed and fiercely vocal lady I knew.  She looks like the shell of that person now but I'm not going to let that image define her. 

I'll remember her fondly instead as well what I knew her best as... Loud and crazy.  I love you Mama.

"He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home"