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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Trish: Ashes, Ashes, All Fall Down

Trish Gannon provides the top Hucks Online comment today: My brother Boyd had died and I had his ashes. One day I wrote a brilliant letter to brother Clay (an attorney) and told him I didn’t think it was fair that I had to be the sole repository of the ashes, and that therefore I was splitting them up to be shared with all the siblings. I put the letter in a box that included a canning jar (with a tasteful label reading ‘Boyd’) full of ashes. (I burned every piece of paper in my house and threw in some crunched chicken bones to boot). When the package arrived, he freaked. Called my mother to complain and she was laughing so hard she put me on the phone. As Clay was yelling and screaming that he was gonna throw the ashes in the toilet, I pointed out to him that he “already made Mom cry” and he should just buck up. He ended up keeping the ashes and about 3 years later I answered the phone to hear, “That WASN’T f*ing funny.” I knew immediately what he was referring to and replied, “Oh yeah? The REST of your family thought it was pretty darn hilarious!” which just made him madder to learn that everyone else knew.

Question: Do you get along with all your siblings?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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