The Party's Over

I am feeling rather sad and exhausted today. The exhaustion is due to lack of sleep following several very busy days. The sad is because our out-of town guests have all departed. We see them seldom and the visits were short.

Jean and Lyle left yesterday morning early from their hotel, so we said goodbye to them on Sunday night. This morning Jeremy and Ruth left by plane. They had to be at the airport by about 5 a.m. and their flight departed shortly after six. They were in Denver an hour later, and arrived back in Rhode Island around 2 p.m. our time.

We were all up shortly after 4 a.m. Jeremy and Ruth were getting ready to leave, I was up to have a few moments of being with them before we had to say goodbye, Megan came up to my house to say goodbye, and Anne Marie was up to take them to the airport. It was a short night and an early morning.

Jean and Lyle at the post-graduation gathering

Jeremy and Ruth, standing by the door ready to leave. I think
we were all feeling a little teary at that point.

The time together always seems too short, but is so very precious.

Special Things

I was thinking this morning about the really special things that happened this week.

1. Megan's graduation from High School, of course.
2. Megan's Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Ruth came all the way from Rhode Island for the occasion. Special for Megan, special for me as I had not been with my son and daughter-in-law in person for so very long, and special for Anne Marie to have her brother home. Special for the whole family!
3. Megan's Great Aunt and Uncle, Jeannie and Lyle, came from southwestern Colorado. We all love them dearly, and add them to Jeremy and Ruth and it was a lovely family reunion.
4. Megan's paternal grandparents, Chuck and Judy, and her Aunt Misty arrived in time for the after-party, despite flooded roads and a torrential rainstorm between Sheridan, Buffalo, and Gillette. The family reunion broadened. More joy.
5. Megan's beloved first grade teacher, Bev Sinclair, who became a good friend to Anne Marie, also came. This was remarkable because she now lives in Arizona. What a treat that she was both at the graduation ceremony and came to the house for the dinner and visiting. Amazing!
6. Megan's Great Aunt Grace, dear friend Gwen, and most excellent neighbor Sheila rounded out the evening gathering. A special time with special people.
7. Dinner was catered from Qdoba, so we didn't have to cook.
8. Chad, that most efficient and organized of men, arranged my home so that the food line worked and everyone had a place to sit in the living room. And he cleaned up and restored the rooms to their original configuration after the party. What a blessing he is.
9. With a large circle of people, it is hard to have one general conversation. It was interesting to pause for a moment and pick up on how many two, three, or four persons conversations were going on at one time. Then, from time to time, everyone would suddenly home in on one remark or story. It was such a congenial atmosphere.
10. There were presents!
11. And, finally, Megan's friend Austin arrived to pick her up for the school's post-graduation lock-in party. It was to last until 3 a.m., so it will be later in the day before I get a report on that.

That is Megan in the center of the stage, heading for her diploma. My little camera did not have enough oomph for a better picture.

Time for presents!

Remembering

Yesterday a group of us, hometowners and visitors, gathered at the Mt. Pisgah cemetery to remember those we love who have moved on.

Anne Marie decorating for her Dad.

Sister Grace, Daughter-in-law Ruth, Sister-in-law Jeannie.
Remembering is precious, but also can be sad.

Ruth, Jeremy, Megan, Jeannie, Lyle, Michelle, Grace

Ruth, Jeremy, Megan, Anne Marie, Jeannie, Lyle, Michelle

The Birdies, Grace, and I have been meeting to decorate for Memorial day for at least seventeen years. Mother was with us at first--she had been doing it for years before. Some years others were able to be with us.

We are under no illusion that it makes a difference to our beloved dead. But it makes a difference to us. It is good to remember those who have gone before us, to take a little time to pause and remember the people and the past that have contributed to our lives.

I am so thankful for them.

Waiting. . . Anticipating...

In yesterday's post I mentioned that my son and daughter-in-law would be arriving by plane shortly after noon. We were all so excited! And, then. . .

Jeremy and Ruth had to be at the airport in Providence, RI, by 6 a.m. (EDT). The first leg of their journey took them only as far as New Jersey, where they changed planes for Denver. The plane in NJ arrived late and left even later.

Aaaargh! That meant they missed their connecting flight from Denver to Gillette and the next one did not leave Denver until 10 p.m. (MDT). Since they did not find spending twelve hours in the airport attractive, they rented a car (after a ridiculously long wait for their baggage). Even with a five-hour drive through Colorado and Wyoming they would still arrive hours before that late flight.


Jeremy kept his sister posted via texting as to where they were in their trek north through
Wyoming. After they passed Wright I kept close watch out my window. I didn't want to
miss seeing them drive in. As they got out of the car I snapped this photo through my window.

So--we missed a half day of our time with them. Grrrr. But I am still so grateful they are here. They arrived very, very tired from their long, long day. We had some supper (Taco John's--always Jeremy's choice for first meal when he gets to Wyoming), a little visiting, and off to bed.

Brain Burps

This morning I awoke very early. I tried to go back to sleep, but was unsuccessful. My head was too full of last minute things I needed to get done before it is time to collect my son and daughter-in-law from the airport shortly after noon. (They are coming for my granddaughter's graduation, and she is very excited. We haven't been with her Aunt Ruth and Uncle Jeremy in person for several years. I am, needless to say, equally excited.)

Anyway, as I was lying there hoping to get a little more sleep, my brain was buzzing with a lot of very mundane list making--what to do first, what was essential to get done, what could wait if necessary.

I tried to relax. More sleep would be of great benefit to me.

Then this sentence suddenly wafted through my mind.

"Give me your ice cream training sword!"

No, I had not been thinking about ice cream. Or training. Or swords.

How do our brains come up with such randomness? It happens every night in dreams, or on the edge of sleep, and sometimes even when awake.

Scientists have done much in gaining an understanding of the mechanics of the brain. However, when I read the simplified explanations put out for us non-scientific lay folk, it sounds wonderfully complicated, but doesn't really explain how these physical processes result in THOUGHT.

Within that not-very-attractive, convoluted mass that inhabits our skulls, lies the essence of our personality, intelligence, character, memory, learned motor skills (we don't have to relearn every day how to brush our teeth), talents, the storehouse of everything we have learned and done, and the management of the rest of our bodies.

I stand in awe of our Creator, who not only thought about and designed this wonder, but made it work.

Even though it sometimes just throws together random words.