My single-parent Mom worked two jobs to support me and my two brothers, so she wasn't able to drive us very often. Fortunately, I had a pretty inexpensive bike that I used at least twice a day during the school year and 10x per day during summer vacations. During high school, I'd ride 7 miles each way to visit friends and sometimes had to ride through the forest (scary) at night, which is why I got my license as soon as I turned 16.
Resign is employee initiated, being laid off, or layoff, is company initiated. Not sure about other states, but in Illinois if you resign, most likely you won't qualify for unemployment benefits. If you're laid off (as I've been multiple times), you can qualify for unemployment benefits. I'm basing this on my experience, but you should consult an attorney before signing anything if you're being fired/laid off/let go, etc.
In Germany, it’s similar: you’re entitled to unemployment benefits regardless (if you’ve been an employee of a company that pays for your salary and taxes), but if you quit you don’t get benefits for 3 months as a “penalty”, so people ask to get fired by their employer and in some cases the employer obliges.
I've only seen this at one place - a Japanese restaurant in Boulder, CO. Each table has a small red button with a weighted base, right next to the soy sauce and cube of extra gari.
You press the button, a server appears a few seconds later. Need to order, press the button. Need water, press the button. Need the check, press the button. Need for them to pick up credit card, press the button. I love it; it's like a flight attendant call button and I never have to wait for anything.
The only regret I have in life (I'm in my mid-50s) is not attending the funeral of my friend's Mom. I didn't know her, so I figured I didn't have to go (I was in my early 20's, not that my age excuses anything). Another friend made me realize that I should've been there for my friend. After that, my friend moved away and things were never the same, no matter how hard I tried to keep in touch. Ever since, I always go to the wake/funeral.
Similar here. Good friend of many years - his mother passed a few years back, then his dad earlier this year. In both cases it was relatively sudden, but the compounding factor is I live 800 miles away. In both cases, I debated whether to go up for the funeral, but one case scheduling was near impossible. In the other... I rationalized that... he'd just be too busy with other family issues, and that was the case. I feel like I still should have gone, but we did catch up in person a couple months later, and he'd had time to process and reflect a bit more. Lots of drama was going on (and still is a bit) so being there in the moment might have been more about me trying to feel like I was doing something ("being there") instead of actually being of any real benefit for his family.
I've only got a couple of other friends that close that I would consider attending their parents' funeral. One parent passed away during covid and there was no service. When that other parent passes, I think I will go, even though we've not seen each other in years. Several states away, again, but I will plan on going.
I was going to add a top-level comment adding that there's a bit of nuance here between _the wake_ (calling hours, as the author puts it) and _the funeral_.
I actually have a similar regret about not attending the _funeral_ for a friend's mother, although I did attend the wake. In retrospect, I absolutely should have gone to the funeral but, at least in the US, the expectations around who should attend _the funeral_ vary between religions/backgrounds/etc. and it can sometimes be hard to tell what the most appropriate move is. This is especially true if you're no longer/not very close to the family in question. Some families want _the funeral_ to be a more intimate, private affair and will sometimes even mention that it will be in the announcement.
But, to your and the author's point, I think as a general rule, _going_ is the better bet.
A few years ago, O'Reilly had a 60% off sale for an annual subscription, which I promptly took advantage of. I've been paying only $200 per year ever since. Not sure if they still have that deal.
I agree. Other than the many beautiful homes and beaches, there are not a lot of things to see in Wilmette. Unlike other large buildings, mainly in the Northwestern (Evanston) campus area to the south, the Baha'i Temple is truly majestic and elegant that blends in well with the surrounding neighborhood.
I have 84 first cousins - 44 on my Dad's side, 40 on my Mom's. I lived in the Philippines for 3.5 years with my Dad's extended family and got to know almost all my cousins on that side. It was a great time and all my cousins were amazing. Our Christmas celebrations were the best and I still miss them, 40+ years later.
I have 4. All mom’s side. I’m only grandchild on dad’s side. My only child is a male and carries my name which is really rare and would have ended with me. The burden now lies on him. He has 1 cousin on his mom’s side and because we had him later in life, with some bad luck, he lost both his grandfathers before he was even born.
It’s wild to me. I try to be thoughtful in building deep family-like connections outside of actual families to hopefully help compensate. My grandpa was an huge formative influence on me and that’s the part that saddens me the most (he doesn’t even know what having a grandpa is like).
Also our holiday gatherings aren’t huge, usually 10-20, but the family that comes is pretty far removed from nuclear just because there’s not a lot of us.
There was a time when I had as many living grandparents (5, as my mom's parents had divorced and married her stepparents long before I was born) as surviving siblings (1 of 3), cousins (2), aunts (1), and uncles (1 of 4) combined.
Obviously didn't happen intentionally that so many of them died so relatively young, but it was a weird thing to notice.
