inheritance

i've never really given any serious thought to inheriting anything, money, property or otherwise. my family isn't exactly loaded, not even some great-great 9-times removed cousin-in-law buried in the woodworks.
when my maternal grandmother, and last living grandparent, passed away in april, my mother informed me that she wanted the grandchildren to have the house. technically, according to the trust my mother receives half and my uncle was to receive half. that would mean my brother & i would receive 25% each and my 3 cousins would split their 50% 3 ways. my mother didn't want to argue with her older brother, though legally she has every right to claim it. but she had enough to deal with, especially since he was in total shock that my grandma split the land 50-50 between the two of them. for some reason, he assumed because he farms the land, he'd get all the acreage and my mom would only receive the house, which is about 1/10 of the value of the land.
the house sold about a month ago, so i'll be getting a check in a few weeks. it also means that i'll never get to go back to grandma j's house, the place i spent the night many summers, learned to bake, where we would bring fried chicken for sunday dinners and gran would make banana cream pudding, not to mention grandma's famous buns. *drool* the money will be nice to pay off my recent hospital bill and my car needs new tie rods and brakes soon. this'll mean that i won't have to live from paycheck to paycheck with all my school loans and other bills. as amazing & as helpful as that will be, i'd rather not have this money at all. i would do anything to see her again.