Jon's stepdad died today

Jon called this morning to say that his stepfather, Jim, died this morning. Understandibly, his mother is upset. He asked her if he should move back to California, and she told him that she'd let him know. When I talked to him, I told him if he does go back to California, I'd take his apartment in Haverhill.

And, I'm sorry that Jim is gone, but I never really liked him all that much. He was one of those tough guys from the midwest (specifically, Wisconsin) who had all kinds of opinions about everything, but in fact probably knew very little about anything (i.e. politics). He was also a bigot, and made no apologies for it. He put down everyone and words like wetback, spic, and wop came out of his mouth frequently. He also turned his wife into a spineless jelly fish. Jim's word was law, and God help anyone who thought otherwise. When Jon and I were having problems with money, his mother was no help, because she'd always had to "ask Jim", and we both knew Jim's answer would be no.

The one of the last times I saw him, he, Mary, and his parents showed up at my sister's wedding uninvited, and my parents felt obligated to let them stay. That took a lot of gall, and I felt it was in rather poor taste. Times that I was in California after that, until my father died, I did my best to avoid having to see them (especially since Jon and I seperated and eventually divorced). They were at Dad's funeral and the wake afterward, and haven't seen them since. I have no plans to go to the funeral (Jon's another story, but if he goes, he may as well stay there). Mom and I are going to send a condolence card and have all the boys sign it, but that's pretty much all we can do.

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