We aren't at the lake

This year we were invited to join much of the extended family at my cousin's place at Norris Lake.  Since we were last able to go seven years ago, my cousins have added two additional bedrooms and also purchased a second house that has three bedrooms.  They had asked us to join them this year, and originally we thought we would go.  There are about 20 family members there from four different states.  It sounds like a blast, and we would absolutely love to be there.  However, we learned at the beginning of the month that they weren't planning on us bringing Catherine & Thomas.  We could not begin to imagine going without them.  We were debating how to handle it when we received word that our friend's burial ceremony was going to be yesterday.  Since we had gone to the funeral a few months ago, we weren't necessarily sure we needed to go the burial.  However, then we found out band camp was having a dinner on Friday for the first time since we started doing camp at home.  That meant we couldn't get down to the lake until Sunday, and everyone is leaving Monday morning.  We had a lovely day yesterday with our friends, and today the four of us got to have dinner together.  This week I get to go and have a ladies overnight at the state park here near us.  These are all things we would've missed if we were in Tennessee.  At the same time, I have an amazing family.  I know there is tremendous laughter and they are all having so much fun.  I Hope that we get to join in the laughter and fun sometime!