breathing just passes the time until we all just get old and die

"your family talks about death too much. it's kinda creepy."

that's a paraphrased version of what my cousin has been saying for the month or so that she's been here. i never really noticed until she brought it up, but death is a common topic of conversation in our house. not in a really morbid way, but more in a death is perfectly normal kind of way.

a couple of days after she arrived, she came to me and my sister and said, her voice completely shocked, "i was talking to your dad about doing something in the summer when you guys come to jeddah, and he said 'if we're both still alive.' it was kinda ominous." this is my dad's answer to any and everything thing that has to do with the future. it has lost meaning to the rest of us, but apparently freaked her out.

then, we were sitting around the dinner table, and my brother tells one of my parents, "when you die, can i have (something which i dont remember)?" that's another common thing in our house that's been around for as long as i remember talking. we've always been asking my parents for their stuff "when they die."

we have had meetings about what to do in case of a parent's or both's death, including discussing all pertinent financial details about bank accounts and investments and whatnot. a lot of conversations will either start with or turn to a discussion about dead people and death in general. we tell each other to go die on a regular basis and talk about suicide rather fondly (though mostly jokingly because none of us are really suicidal). there are a bunch of other examples, but i dont feel like writing them down. main point is when lost for words, we turn to death.

we know that none of us will live forever and don't pretend any differently. to my cousin, this makes us morbid and weird. i think it just shows us to be prepared and not delusional or living in some fairy tale where we think we're immortal.

what do you think?

*Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying - Fall Out Boy