Week in Review

Last Thursday I got word that my maternal grandmother passed away. As I'm not one for sentimental stuff, especially on the blog, I'll leave that to my sister (sorry if you don't have access). But to be terse, my grandmother was 93 and lived a great life that was full of family, friends, and tons of travel. I should only be as lucky. She'd been a widow for nearly 30 years and legally blind for the past 20 of them. If this happens to me, I'm 100% positive I would not be as complaint-free as this dear woman was.

I was fortunate to be able to go to Utah for the funeral. Having a husband who is totally supportive of this, even if it means he's a single dad for five days, meant the world to me. It was such a great opportunity to spend with my entire family (yep, even Derek made it down from AK).

It was a busy time, filled with cleaning, organizing, research....all of it done by my parents and aunt and uncle. And done while I got to sleep alone in my own bed and wake up when my body told me. Yes, we were busy, but it was good busy, and I didn't have to worry about whether Rhett would be okay if he missed his nap. Or if he would be miserable because we had to spend all day in the car (remember, my parents moved to beyond Park City, so our daily or twice-daily trips to Salt Lake took some time).

I even got to hang out with good friends and just be Erin again, not mom. I'm saddened by how happy this made me. Of course, when I finally got home late Wednesday, I was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to kiss my boys. Rhett, however, quickly dispelled my mirth the next morning about whining incessantly about wanting cereal for breakfast ("But Rhett, it's not a day that starts with S! NO cereal!")

The weather mostly cooperated. My final two days in Utah even contained some snow and Maryland-like rains, but hey, it's FAR better than the humidity to which I returned on Wednesday.

The only bad part (note: I didn't say sad part) of the trip was when my conscientiously-packed carry-on bag was forced to be checked at the gate, causing me great distress at the thought of having to wait that extra 45 minutes for my bag. Can I just say that I hate airlines? (Except for Frontier; they had freshly-baked cookies.) All of that was (nearly) forgotten when who should appear on my second leg home? Camie, my dear friend and former roommate. Our chatting made the four-hour flight speed by.

And the sad part of the trip was knowing that it was my grandmother's passing that had to bring to pass the family reunion. But I'm pretty sure she was watching us from heaven with her dear husband, and happy to see us with her own eyes.

This is a shot of my grandparents and their family (minus my uncle who was yet to join our group when this picture was taken.)


Last week's pictionary? Hacker!