WHIRLWIND!!

Whew! What a whirlwind we have been on. We got home on the 19th, as I blogged earlier, and had 3 days to put it together to drive to MN. We threw a party for Jack up at our house on the 22ND. August 22ND was Jack's 50Th Birthday. It was our tenants idea to invite some friends up for a BBQ and just have an easy time of it. We loved the idea and he spread the word with a few phone calls from me. The weather was perfect, except with the threat of rain which it never did. We had a bonfire in the backyard and had a couple of grills set up for cooking burgers and brats. Our great friends, the "O'Donahue's", brought up Bison burgers with chili's and homemade guacamole and let me tell you. TO DIE FOR!!! Sean was the master hunter and shared the result of his marksmanship with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you guys. Very generous and you know you are one of my favorite families. One day I am going to blog about your family because you are an incredible family and you deserved to be talked about. Sean and Evette brought up fireworks. REAL fireworks. They blew up the sky and we celebrated in style. I took pictures from my camera which has a firework mode on it. They were way up in the sky and look at the pictures my camera captured. I was impressed. Sean even had a grand finale which was very impressive. We all were hooting and hollering. It was amazing.
Jack had to go to bed, he is 50 now. The hard cores left right after Jack announced he was going night, night and we were in bed by midnight.
The following morning we woke up feeling a bit groggy. We weren't even close to being packed. I still had laundry to do and cleaning up the house. It was not pretty. Plus, it was the first day of school for Summit County. We were to leave on this day so we didn't send the kids to school. 2 years ago, before my Mom died and before I home schooled, I would never, never have kept the kids out of school, let alone the first week and a half. Now, I am much more at ease and confident and know that we CAN miss school and be fine. It's all good. We will get the work done and we will have our family time and that is way more important then anything. So, I threw in the laundry, cleaned up the house and we drove out of our driveway at 1:30 in the afternoon. A little later than I wanted to start driving but at least we were on our way to MN. We drove to Grand Island, NE, as it started raining. Hell, I though. Rain shmain. We are used to it. But, when you are driving on the freeway and it's dark, things are not fun. We got a motel room and called it good. I'm glad we did as we all got a great nights sleep and the next morning we were all raring to go and the weather was beautiful. We got to my Dad's at around 6 p.m. We had dinner and were in bed early.
This was the first time I drove to MN since my Mom died. Usually, I look forward to the drive. As we were getting closer I was getting all teary eyed and when we got to the driveway I lost it. I didn't think I would but I couldn't help it. I pulled in the garage, which my Dad had open for us, and I got out of the car and I was now crying so hard. I opened the door to the house and I was sobbing. My Dad let me cry as he hugged Jordan, Hannah and Jack. They were all good about letting me cry. I walked in and I was imagining her sitting on the bottom stairs with her oxygen and standing up hugging me. She wasn't there. I looked up at her chair and imagined her sitting in her maroon chair, smiling and saying hello, so very excited to see us. She wasn't there. I then went to my old room and opened the closet door and took her ashes down off the shelf and put her on the dresser that I put her on so I can see her when I go to bed and when I wake up. We had a moment together when I set her on the dresser. I lay on my bed and talked to her and told her how much I miss her and that I'm glad she is still with me. I layed there for a good long time and finally felt better. She was here, in my room so I could talk to her and that felt great. I washed my face and put myself together and went to say hello to my Dad. He understood, as he always does.
Today is now Thursday and the weather has been perfect. I went for a run today and Jack rode his bike. The girls are happy and my Dad had been great. We are grilling out every night and we are eating in the family room with the sliding glass door open and it feels like home. Tomorrow we leave for Hayward and cannot wait. The house will be taken care of and we are expecting excellent weather for the week.
IT'S ALL GOOD!!!! PURA VIDA!!!