Thursday, November 6, 2014

Time to get back at it

I often get annoyed when, after someone has died, people say "he/she would have wanted us to [insert anything from the important to the ridiculous here]." But I can say with absolute certainty that my mom would have been on my case for not writing blog posts for so long. She would call me and tell me that she missed the blog if I hadn't written for several days. Well, it's been over six weeks, but I'm finally ready to get back on the blogging horse.

A lot has happened in the past couple months and many times I've thought "that deserves a whole blog post," and some of these events may someday get their own posts, but for now I'll just do a quick recap.


The night of my mom's calling hours, our sweet goddaughter Lauren died peacefully with her parents and sister right there with her. She was nine months old, and this was expected, as she'd been struggling with a neurological condition her whole short life. I was blessed to have spent many hours with her as I would sit with her and hold her so her parents could take care of other things. Rest in peace, precious girl.




The weekend of Lauren's memorial service, one of our neighbors died very unexpectedly at 32. His name was Lincoln and while we weren't super close friends, he was a great neighbor and will be missed. We had a bonfire in his honor and check out this crazy picture from that night.




The reason we were able to have a bonfire is that we had to tear down our community garden and bocce court because the lots were sold and houses are currently under construction.

Left: a view from upstairs earlier this year.
Right: the view this morning, complete with port-a-john.


We were fortunate this year to be able to watch our niece Lauren run cross country twice.




I visited our niece Jackie at college. I even slept in the dorm! I can't believe we failed to take a selfie that weekend, but we did visit the tattoo parlor. Here's my new ink (on my left shoulder):




In October my brother and I went to Myrtle Beach for a week. Our parents had a time share there. Three years ago our dad was too sick for them to go. Two years ago I went with our mom and last year John Mark went with her. I'm so glad we each got to go there with Mom and now we've created new memories. It was a wonderful, relaxing week.

The sunrise photo was taken by John Mark, as I never woke up early enough to do such a thing.

That's enough catching up for now. Now I just need to catch up with reading my friends' blogs!



7 comments:

  1. Gwen! I've thought about you a lot in your blog absence-- I'm so glad you caught us up on life lately! I am so sorry to hear about your goddaughter and also your neighbor. You've weathered some sad storms lately! :( I do love your new tattoo though and I'm glad you got to get away to the beach for awhile. xo

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  2. I've missed your blogs and was thinking earlier today of when you'd be back. I must've felt you in the atmosphere. LOL

    That bonfire picture gave me the chills.

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  3. Oh, my goodness, that bonfire picture is amazing! You guys have had such a tough year, and you have been outstandingly strong. Nothing says "Screw you" to a tough time like new ink- LOVE the tat. I am so glad you're back, and I am sending all of my love and strength your way!

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  4. Sleeping in a college dorm was quite an experience I bet!

    I hope we had nice weather here for your visit, October was a great weather month!

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  5. That bonfire picture is incredible. And I love your new tattoo!

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