It's now nine weeks since Joe died. Some days I think I have a handle on the grief, then something happens. Last weekend it was an obstacle race that Heather and Eddie ran in. It didn't have a specific theme, but Heather gave it one, for her. I saw the pix of her shirt and cried. Sent them to my brother and he choked up.
Yesterday I was talking to a relative who also lost someone dear to addiction. We were both crying at a couple of points in the conversation.
I am to the point of going whole days without crying, which is good. I can't even imagine the pain that my brother and sister in law are having. My sister in law said she has days that are less worse than others.
We miss you Joseph, and we always will. Rest in peace, you don't have to fight any more. We love you.
We miss you Joseph, every single day. Rest in Peace, we all love you.
We were invaded!
The Briles family arrived early on August 12, Ben and Garrett's birthday. They came in on the redeye. Before they were here 5 minutes, the kids wanted a fort made from dining room chairs and blankets. Of course Grandpa said sure!
That night we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and the birthday boys were serenaded and Garrett sat in the saddle.
Wednesday night we had cake at Heather and Ed's house to celebrate again! By then Steph and Dan had also arrived.
Saturday we had a big family get together at Heather's. Since we are very rarely all together, I demanded pix!
Garrett and Joey are fish!
Our lovely hostess!
Mike and Donna, Steph and Dan with Honey Rose.
Samantha
Bobby Lemoine
Mike was feeding potato chips to the chickens!
Honey Rose, best dog!
It was such a nice day, all just visiting, people in and out of the pool. Lots of food, laughter, and some tears. All too soon the day was over, and Steph and Dan left for the hotel- they had a 6 a.m. flight Sunday. Manda, Ben and the kids came back to our house to organize and pack.
Sunday morning the kids curled up on the couch to watch a video before we went to lunch. They joined us at our weekly lunch with Frank and Charlotte, then left to get water ice one more time. They stopped at the cemetery to pay their respects to Joseph, as had Steph and Dan earlier in the week. Then they stopped here to use the bathroom and download videos for the kids for the plane.
Now everyone is at their homes, except for Steph who had to go directly to Denver for a meeting. The fort is down, the house is quiet again, and we're back to our routine of no routine. We miss them all so much, but they have their own lives to lead, and so do we. When the lives intersect, it's wonderful!
Happier times
Seven weeks have passed. One hour, one day, one week at a time. Joseph's dad is my little brother, and I can't fix this for him. As an older sister, as a nurse, as a sister in law, as an aunt, I want to fix things. And I can't fix this.
Damn, we miss you, Joseph. Rest in Peace.
Ralph and I had our DNA done a few years ago, just for fun and to see if there were any ethnic surprises. There weren't. Then a few months ago I was contacted via Ancestry by a few people that shared DNA with me.
When Joseph died, I needed a big distraction from grief. Crying wasn't productive, and wasn't helping. I got the idea to start a family tree so I could put him on it. I had a good start from information I'd gotten from my grandparents way back when Heather was little.
It's a rabbit hole! Every time you put a person on the tree, you get these little green leaves- hints. Those hints lead you to more people! I'm up to over 500 people, and back several generations from some branches!
I know that my mom's parents had split when she was really little. My grandmother dumped my mom with her grandmother when she was five, so that my grandmother could get together with another man and have five more kids. I knew that her father got together with another woman and had a bunch of kids- my mom would occasionally mention it, but she had no relationship with him or his second family.
Come to find out that mom's father lived one town over from us, and told his other children that mom was a cousin! The bastard never told them she was their sister! I've found this out from connecting with others of his grandchildren via Ancestry. Sounds like he and my grandmother were quite the pair, and not in a good way. They both abandoned my mom, did the right thing for her but for all the wrong reasons. She had a good childhood with her grandmother and step grandfather (who was also her uncle). But imagine knowing that neither of your parents wanted you to live with them. It left her with lifelong issues, that I understand so much better now, and my heart breaks for her.
Six weeks. It's not getting any easier. Rest in Peace, Joseph.
As we were waiting for the Coral Princess to leave Ketchikan, we were looking out from the balcony. See the steep winding road on the top pic? We were watching traffic on it. The bottom pic is a view from the Horizon Cafe.
Look closely in the top pix, those are clouds! The bottom pic is to the right of the clouds. Within a half hour, the fog had rolled totally in and the ship had to use the foghorn!
A couple of random pix of waterfalls winding thru the mountain right before we got to Juneau.
The dock agent came on the ship, carried our luggage and escorted us off the ship, drove us to US Customs, called us a ca and waited with us til the cab arrived!
Juneau airport is one terminal! The pic shows the whole airport! A snack bar is at the far end. And the view from the windows was spectacular! We had a 4 pm flight from Juneau to Sea Tac, then a layover til our flight left from Sea Tac, maybe a couple of hours.
An iPad like device was on the back of each seat. You could follow the plane in real time, or rent movies. I read, Ralph had his iPad and was listening to podcasts and music. I did sleep some. There was a little kid across from us who fussed off and on, and around 5 a.m. cried, "I want my bed!" Everyone in earshot was sympathetic. It was a 4.5 hour flight, across 3 time zones. It was around 7 a.m. EDT when we got to Philly. By the time we got our luggage and called for Rapid Rover, it was about 8.30, and we were home and sleeping by 9.30.
We slept til about one, grabbed some lunch and headed for Mike and Donna's. Hugged and cried with everyone, then left there to come home because Manda and Amary were arriving via Rapid Rover. We took them to IHOP to get something to eat, then back to Mike and Donna's. It was a long couple of days. Steph and Dan and John all arrived on Monday.
And that's the saga of our Alaska trip! Alaska will be there when we get around to going back, possibly next year.
