The holiday weekend

My dad never preferred for the 4th to fall on a Friday...he would always rather have Monday off on a long weekend...but at least it adds to the weekend!  Of course we kind of laugh...the joy of summers in our house is that it really doesn't matter what day of the week it is!

I stayed with my mom again Thursday night, although overall she is doing better.  Last evening we ventured to some friends house for a cook-out.  I felt badly that we couldn't stay longer, but I was just absolutely exhausted.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to go home after we left as we had planned.  Through various family members, I learned that the phone lines in my hometown were completely down.  This meant that there was a chance, if no one had checked on my mom, that she needed something and couldn't get a hold of anyone.  I tried calling the cells of a few family members, but no one answered, and since we were only about 20 minutes away at our friends' house, we just drove on.  I also called my aunt here to see if she had spoken to my paternal grandmother who is also having health problems, and she had not.  So we showed up completely unexpectedly at houses last evening checking on family members.  Grandma wasn't even aware that her phone wasn't working, so I'm glad we checked on her so she could know to have her cell phone near her.  Mom had charged her phone, and GG was going to stay over with her which was safer for both...Mom had someone with her, and GG wasn't sleeping in a house without means of contacting anyone (she has no cell).  Much later than we had hoped we were on our way home, but I was glad I wasn't worrying.

Today we are cleaning the house and friends are coming into town for dinner.  We are especially excited to see our friends from Missouri.  They haven't seen our house yet and we are grateful they are making the trip over!  Tomorrow is my aunt's annual pool party.  It's probably going to be a little emotional...of course we are going to miss my dad who made the trip down every year, even last year when it was so very difficult for him.  Grandma also won't be able to make it because of her health issues, and of course Mom won't be there either.  I know that we will have fun, but we are going to miss those who aren't with us!