It has been a while since I have posted. This is going to be a long post. Feel free to skip parts or read it in pieces. Things have been crazy. My Thanksgiving week was fun and crazy all at the same time. It was that Saturday that I learned about my grandmother. She passed away a week ago today. The funeral was Monday...
Let me start at the beginning of this crazy ride. About a month ago my grandmother fell and broke her hip. The doctor said that she would recover physically but mentally she had gone down hill. For quite some time my grandmother had been slipping away from us mentally. She would tell us the same story several times over the course of a conversation. Some of these stories I enjoyed hearing because they involved my wonderful, loving grandfather and their courtship and marriage. Unfortunately after her fall she slipped farther and farther away. The doctors also said that at some point she had suffered a heart attack. They had no way of telling when that was. The week of Thanksgiving my grandmother had been on life support. On Thanksgiving Day, the decision was made to take her off. She slept until she passed around 2:00am on Wednesday. She has now joined my grandfather, my brother, my father and my two unborn angels in Heaven.
Last Thursday night my mother flew to Texas. She came in on the night of a nasty winter storm that had covered most of north Texas. The next morning she and I set out to make our drive to Denver, CO for the funeral of my grandmother. As we left Fort Worth we realized that it was going to be a long interesting ride. The roads were covered in ice and snow. The speed limit was 60 but we were only going about 20. At one point on hwy 287 about 70 miles give or take outside of Fort Worth we made the decision to turn the car around and head back, determined to get back up on Saturday morning and try again. As we got back turned around I got frustrated and nervous driving on the thick layer of ice that covered the highway. So, I pulled over and let my mother drive. We got a couple of miles down the road and decided that turning around was not such a good idea. So, we found what seemed like a safe place and decided to keep on trudging foward. Well, that was an ok decision. As we turned back around and started back on our trip we came to a complete stop. We sat in the car at a standstill for about 45 mins. Once we started moving again we saw that a truck was having problems and the cops and tow truck were trying to help him out. As we continued on our journey we saw many cars that had slipped off the highway and had landed in ditches. As we drove through Texas, there were many times that we would ask each other if we were smart? We should have made it to Denver in about 13 hrs. After 14 hours on the road we made it as far as Pueblo, CO. We booked a room at a hotel and then went to dinner (where my mom treated me to a very nice steak dinner). We celebrated the fact that the Lord had carried us this far and had kept us safe.
As we watched the news that night, we saw that another system was moving in. We felt ok in that the system was supposed to hit the next afternoon. We both fell into bed that night extremely exhausted and grateful to be safe. The joke was on us. We woke up the next morning to 2 to 3 inches of snow on the ground! My mom and I were going to just give up and hang out in Pueblo, but decided to try and drive the last 120 miles that needed to be driven. After I dressed and put on my heavy coat, I went downstairs and brushed all of the snow off of my car. Instead of it taking 2 hrs we made it in 3.
When we got to my grandmothes condo, we had to wait on everyone to get back from picking my cousin up at the airport. This is where even more drama begins, but I will not go into all of it for the sake of protecting my family. Lets just say that not everyone in my family gets along. That afternoon my aunts decided that we needed to go to my grandfather's grave site. I think this was the best moment all weekend. At one point my two aunts are having a snow ball fight and my mom and I were having a snowball fight and all six of us there were laughing. This is a moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I am saddened to think that, that was probably the last time that the 6 of us would ever be like that again. That night we went through some of my granparents things and each took some of the things that meant something to us.
The next day we had to make an emergency trip to JC Penny's because my cousin did not have anything to wear to the viewing, my mother had only a skirt and hose to wear to the funeral and I had left my outfit for the funeral hanging in the doorway of my hallway in my apartment. When we were all fully clothed we ran to pick up some lunch and then headed back to my aunts' house to change. We went to the viewing and I met people that I had no idea who they were. Some I had met at grandpa's funeral. At some point during the viewing my cousin and I slipped away to the chapel. There we sat and caught up on each others lives and reconnected. This was wonderful for me. I feel that even though some of my family may stay disconnected she and I reconnected and will hopefully remain connected.
The funeral was on Monday. This was a day that I thought would never end. We were at the church at 11:30am. The funeral started at noon (give or take). Father Tran presided over the service. (By the way my grandmother was a devout Catholic). There were many things that I did not agree with at this funeral (that involved theology), but Father Tran brought in humor and stories of my grandfather. My uncle, 2 aunts and my mother all shared about grandma. I think my favorite was when my uncle got up and said that he disagreed with Father Tran about my grandmother not cooking. He said that he was certain that she was doing a great deal of baking and that the Lord was probably eating a good amount of lemon meringue pie. I thought to myself He is also enjoying M & M cookies as well. After the service and the reception, we headed to the Catholic cemetary in Denver. This service was short but sweet. As my uncle, mom and 2 aunts were pouring "holy water" on her casket, they semi managed to get each other which brought some more laughing. We were certain that if grandma could talk she would be getting onto all 4 of them. T
That night we went back to grandma's. My mom, uncle and I went to dinner at Apple Bee's. The manager found out that we had buried my grandmother and gave us dinner and dessert on the house. This was an unexpected blessing. That night we went back to grandma's to pack up and get ready to head out the next day.
For the most part the trip home was calm and the roads were clear. Mom and I did have 2 scary moments driving back. The first was an 18 wheeler blew a tire in front of us and started weaving a little bit. When we passed him, we tried to tell him that he blew a tire but we are not sure that he knew what we were saying or that he had blown a tire. Second, most of the highway is divided. At one point a couple of hours outside of Fort Worth, we met a car coming toward us on our side of the highway. It was not until after this car past us that we realized that it was on the wrong side of the highway. We just hoped and prayed that he/she would realize their mistake and go back to the other side of the highway before meeting another car or 18 wheeler head on.
There is so much more to this past weekend. If you want to know more you can always call me or email me and I will fill in some more of the details. Although I have probably bored you as it is.
On top of all of this I learned that baby Claire Cox (a little girl I introduced to ya'll in earlier blog) had passed away Tues morning, the day before my grandmother. He parents have posted their last blog. I encourage ya'll to read it.
I am happy to post that I will be graduating next Friday!!! The official countdown is 1 week and 1 day!!!! (To our Nashville crew, this means that we will be home for good in 1 week and 2 days)!
I know that I have thrown a lot at ya'll in this blog, but I want to say thank you for reading and sticking with me. You guys mean a great deal to me and I dont know where I would be without you. When I look at the friends that Sean and I have I know that the Lord has blessed us in a very special way. I wish that I could sit down with each and every one of you. I pray that as you head into you weekend that the Lord will bless each and every one of you in a very special way!
