nose knows

i had a somewhat emotional week last week.
fortunately, my job has picked up significantly with regards to work load and opportunities to assert my intelligence, so the long hours were a welcome distraction.

you see, my grandpa passed away a couple weeks ago, and it took about a week for it to sink in. in fact, it didn't really hit me until i spoke with my father after he returned from syracuse for the funeral. it turned out that after experiencing a cancelled flight, a costly new flight that ended in a different destination, a car rental, and a drive through a blizzard, my father managed to get food poisoning that very night and missed his own father's funeral the next day. after hearing how ill my dad had been, especially with him being so far away, and then realizing that my dad barely even felt well enough to see his mother for an hour before having to travel back home again, much less missing his own father's funeral, the gravity and total sadness of it all finally hit me.

there's a lot more to say on that matter; about my grandpa, my grandma, my family...but that's all been reserved for a letter i've been working on this last week for my grandma and father. but, we're all going to be okay. that's what the "wortman nose" is for anyway. surviving.

what's that? never heard me talk about "the wortman nose"? well, we have special noses, all of us wortmans. mine isn't as pronounced as most of my family on my dad's side, but i guess that just means i'm better at staying out of trouble to begin with and don't need to rely on the power within the family nose to survive as much :)

my dad has the best example of the "wortman nose" and the best stories to back up the magic behind it: as a child he's fallen through ice, managed to pull himself out, then walked 2 miles home; he's fallen in the niagara river, rather close to the falls themselves, but got pulled out in time by his very angry father (my dad thought he was a gonner for sure); he was struck by lightning while riding his bike; he was held up at gun point twice and survived driving one such gun slinger out of town as he evaded the police; he almost fell out of an open car door while the car was travelling over 80mph...and then there's his military career...suffice it to say we've decided that the reason he's still alive (because those stories are just some of the stories i've heard) is his nose.

same goes for my brother, only i can actually think of a direct example of how his nose stayed off injury: he got hit dead in the face (on the nose) by a fastball while at bat when he used to play baseball. blood everywhere, and some super rad bruising all over his face (2 black eyes) and yet his nose did not break, haha. i like to think that his nose will keep him safe while he's over in iraq, because of course, he managed to pick one of the most dangerous careers out there.

as for myself...i at least remember getting floored by my varsity basketball coach's arm as she tried to pivot past me, but ended up nailing me dead in the face/nose instead. the next day she sought me out in the hallway to make sure my face was okay since she had a severe bruise on her arm from where she collided with my nose. i was fine, obviously. i also seem to remember smashing faces with another girl on the frisbee field, sending her to the hospital. i took a 30 minute "ice" break and was fine. thanks, legendary-wortman-nose.

i love my family.this is my brother and i highfiving about what a great christmas gift we got my dad this year. and about how awesome our noses are, duh.