Some sad days

We had sad news a couple weeks ago. My aunt passed away unexpectedly. It's never easy to say good bye to a loved one, but it was very difficult watching my uncle and cousins deal with their shock and grief--just knowing they were looking at the empty days ahead without this woman who was such a huge part of their lives. When I think of her and my uncle I think of them as best friends. Married for 41 years, but still looking forward to each others company every day. Now, I'm running out of time to be married for that long, but if I ever have a 40th anniversary I hope my husband looks at me the way my uncle looked at my aunt. And I hope I take care of that future husband like my aunt took care of her man.
My parents came home for the funeral and Michael and I got to host them for about a week and a half. It was so nice for Michael to get to spend some time with his Grandpa and Grandma. Theirs were the first names out of his mouth every morning and he could barely contain himself until he located both of them and then made sure they knew he had a tractor and a ball ready to be played with the minute they finished their coffee.
The last two weeks sure had me thinking about the two ends of life. Here's my son, forming these strong, life-time bonds with people. The same kind of bonds that take part of ourselves with them when we have to let go. But we still know, even through the loss, that we are so much richer for every person we let into our world and into our life. No matter how long we get to keep them.

End of Day

I get so excited as the clock on my phone ticks (actually it's digital) closer to the end of the day. I used to look forward to the freedom of being on my own schedule but now it's so much more than that. I can't wait to see Michael. It's like my day starts when I'm walking by Aunt Sharon's front window and I see my son holding up his favorite toy saying "Mama--ball" then over his shoulder "Mama back!"

Forecast in Michigan

Well, I don't know how to check the weather forecast but I sure hope it's going to warm up soon. We are all (well, just us dogs) in the doghouse. I am the only possible exception and that's because nobody in their wildest imagination can picture me making a pile that big. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Poor Aunt Jamie. She's been so nice letting us stay inside on the really cold days that we've been having and I have to say I think it's because of me. I mean Jorgie goes outside and finds the biggest snow bank to hang around in. She just lays there like she's in the sauna or something. And then Jackie has taken complete control of the dog pen. She'll let us in occasionally, but in general Jorgie and I are considered too rowdy to hang around in the sheltered area. I guess Jackie is like her mom--playing is for outside. Dog's don't get to wrestle in the house. So I'm the one that sits out there shivering (more when she's home--a little bit of exaggeration for effect).
Well, as soon as Jamie got home from work yesterday I knew there would be trouble. She wrinkled up her nose and yelled "everybody out!!!" And she wasn't talking to Michael or the cat. From outside I could see her wandering from room to room--kind of following her nose like we do when we're looking for rabbits. And I could tell when she found the pile. Not just by the gagging motion, but by the look of utter shock that any of us could produce a pile that massive. I'm not sure her look included the admiration that we dogs felt when we first saw it, though. Maybe a little outrage. Anyway, I believe that's the end of the indoor treatment that we've been receiving. It was a pretty good gig while it lasted...

Tagged

I was tagged by Sherry to write 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about myself. Here's what I came up with:
1) I have unusually early childhood memories--I remember breaking my crib and having to move into my sister's bunk bed. I remember a trip to Florida before I turned 3.
2) I'd rather arrive late somewhere than early.
3) The roof of my mouth curves down instead of up.
4) I still love to play the French Horn 20 years after high school.
5) I haven't changed my shampoo brand in 15 years.
6) My middle name came from my mom's hospital roommate's husband. That's what you get going into the hospital expecting a boy and getting surprised by a girl.

Now I'll tag Darcy but we'll have to wait a while for her response. Hopefully she'll be at a new house soon and able to play around on the web anytime she wants to.

Wouldn't you know

I said in my last entry that Michael gets over illness pretty quickly so I was expecting his cold to be a minor bump in our road, but it turns out that we have thought of nothing else for the last week and a half. I don't remember the last time I took a sick day from work before last week, but I wasn't physically there for 2 1/2 days and mentally I'm still not sure where I am. Michael's fever went high enough to scare his momma, but not high enough to require a trip to the doctor. I kept telling myself that it was just a cold and when I caught it from him a couple days later I had the comfort of knowing I was right and it wasn't some little known, deadly childhood disease. (Sherry--I want to make sure I don't say that wrong, so I avoided the compicated task of assigning a diagnosis to either disease or child). Anyway, we're still waking each other up with our constant hacking, but are both on the road to recovery.