Leap Day 2024

I have to admit, I've never been a fan of an extra day in February.  I don't really love the month of February, and I see no need to add an extra day.  I totally get that it is necessary from a science standpoint, but it's just not what I love.

We had a lovely family evening though.  Honestly, there has been lots of craziness in our lives...more than I can really describe.  But our evenings are bringing such joy.  Catherine stays here Sunday-Friday.  I can't even explain how much we are enjoying it.  It's helping Catherine to manage things much better with her health and responsibilities.  

We are in a phase where I have no idea what comes next...pretty much every day.  And for that very reason, I'm so grateful for the lovely evenings we have right now!

The reunion none of us wanted to happen

Today I returned to my hometown for the services for Scotty, my soccer-playing classmate who passed away two weeks ago.  I was dreading it, as one would.  I wish so much I had asked Andrew to go with me, but I knew he really didn't want to.  As I left, the first song that came on Pandora was John Denver's "Take me Home, Country Roads", followed by Patty Loveless's "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye?"  Wow.  The last song playing as I pulled into the driveway was Garth Brooks "The Dance".  The music got me today.

There were so many people there that it was so wonderful to see.  So many classmates, especially from those soccer days.  Those guys were special.  Our soccer coach was there.  Parents of classmates.  Oh goodness, it was son wonderful to see so many people, but as I said to many, it was the reunion none of us wanted to have.  The parents of my sister's classmate who passed away 2-1/2 years ago were there, and I'm sure it was tough to have to see everyone gathering.  One classmate mentioned how he hated these things since his dad had passed, which was 32 years ago right after we graduated.  Scotty and I were working together that summer and I remembered how devastated Scotty was that happened.  The whole thing was awful and beautiful all at the same time.  I couldn't bring myself to stay for the actual service.  I'm beyond drained as it is.

Happenings in our house

I changed the background to reflect our weather here...snow!  It's our first REAL snowstorm of the year.  It started last yesterday afternoon and was an absolutely beautiful evening as we got to watch the snow come down.  We received just over 4".  The sun is out today, and without a cloud in the sky, it melted the snow off our sidewalk and driveway.  And we had no place to drive, so it was all absolutely wonderful.  It was so peaceful.

Yesterday was also the first day off of our four-day weekend.  It is so very, very needed.  I'll be honest, part of the reason I've avoided writing is that life has been a little crazy lady.  As I told my mom when she asked how things have been, it's been very up and down around here.  We've both had craziness at our jobs.  Not necessarily bad things, but definitely some added stress in various aspects.  Additionally, my mom has two surgeries in the next 60 days.  I don't mind helping my mother and I want to be there for her, but medial issues are definitely not my strong suit.  And the death of my high-school classmate has weighed on me more than I can describe.

Most of the up & down though, has been the kids.  As they are both adults, I'm hesitant to write too much, especially as health issues are involved.  It's not my story.  I don't want to be overly dramatic, so I will say that overall, everyone is okay and nothing is imminently life threatening.  Follow ups are required, but more than anything else, my kids just need to learn to make better choices as they go through life.  To be honest, sometimes their choices are not only immature, but at times they are downright astonishing.  I'm ready for some "young-adult-drama-free" days in our future.  I'm sure we will get there.

I'm hoping as the days get a little longer, we will all find a few more reasons to smile.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying the coziness of the snow!

An anniversary trip

I know I've been pretty quiet lately.  There has been a lot going on, and most of it is very time-consuming and somewhat emotional.  I'm sure it will all be okay though.  It's just a bit of a rough season of life, coinciding with the rough season of dreary gray January/February.

A week ago though, was our anniversary.  We won't be taking a vacation this year for a variety of reasons.  We decided that we could take a simple weekend (and maybe more than one) instead.  I had seen that the Pro Football Hall of Fame was having a Special Steelers Exhibit, so we decided a trip to Canton was in order!  I booked a very reasonable motel, and we were so excited to make the trip.  It was absolutely the perfect time to get away from the sadness and emotions that are here, and to leave the responsibilities behind, just for forty-eight (not even) hours.  We loved that we had no schedule all weekend.  We could eat when we wanted, sleep when we wanted, drink when we wanted.  The Hall of Fame only took a couple of hours to go through and that gave us time to just hang out.  It was absolutely wonderful, and the time could not have been better! 

The first one always seems to be the hardest

I grew up as a fan of the Cincinnati Reds during the Big Red Machine.  Those were great years, and the eight starters were quite a collection of Hall of Famers (they should ALL be in the hall) and were know as the 'Great Eight'.  I remember how awful it felt when Joe Morgan died, not just because it was sad he had passed away, but because the Great Eight could never be together again, at least on this side of Heaven.  I felt the same way when Matthew Perry passed away in October.  It was not just losing such a part of our culture, but the six Friends could never be together again.  It is happening again, although on a far more personal level.  In high school, I was a stat for the boys' soccer team.  Our team had quite a dynasty going at the time, and was even ranked first in the state at times.  We made it to the state final four twice, regional finals (final 8) our senior year, and regional semi-finals (final 16) once.  Several classmates of mine played varsity as freshman. and the best player on the team was Scotty.  He was was named second-team All American our senior year and went on to play college soccer.  The last regular season game of our senior year, a photographer captured a picture of the nine senior guys who played that year, and they grabbed me to join in the pic.  I love that photo, and it hangs on my wall to this day.  Over a decade after we graduated, Scotty was named head coach, and eventually coached a team not only to the state title game, but to the first state soccer title in school history.  As a teammate said, it was only fitting that the title team was coached by the greatest player who ever wore the uniform.  Two weeks ago, Scotty had an incident that led to him being in a diabetic coma.  We were all encouraged by the progress that was being made, but overnight he had a cardiac event.  He was revived, but doctors confirmed today that he won't be able to recover.  It's heartbreaking.  His father passed away just last week.  I can't imagine how his brother is coping.  I keep looking at that picture from our senior year.  Even though we haven't all been in the same place since the day we graduated, knowing that it can never happen again adds to the sadness.  Prayers to his family.