"Let me 'splain... No, there is too much...let me sum up."

There’s too much to say about everything that has gone on over the last few days – so I’ll highlight the stuff that sticks out in my mind.

• I’m told my Father-in-Law’s funeral was lovely. I caught about 5% of it because I spent most of that night dealing with our dear little daughter who screamed the entire time. Screamed! Angry I-want-to-get-down-and-do-it-all-myself-and-nothing-you-can-do-will-stop-me screaming. She was tired and out of her element and so was a complete terror the entire time. Needless-to-say I removed her bodily from the quiet funeral so it could go on without interruption.
• The graveside service was also lovely, but very emotional for me and for everyone there. Little Bit was better, though still not content to sit quietly through the service. Cousin J and her husband took Little Bit and entertained her by tickling her with red rose petals. The VFW Honor Guard was there to salute and the gentleman who played Taps on the bugle didn’t really play it – he held the instrument to his lips and pressed “play” on the contraption sitting inconspicuously inside it. The tune came out without a warble. One of the Guards nearly killed himself, and Father-in-Law’s grieving wife, by tripping over the Astroturf, but he caught himself. He then hugged the folded flag to his chest, prayed over it, and passed it along with proper reverence. It was a very touching, lovely service.
• Hubby and his two sisters spent Saturday up on Roan Mountain in NC saying their goodbye’s to their father. Roan Mountain was a special place to their dad, and they thought it was a good place to let him go. I’m very glad they were able to spend some time together, just the three of them, to say goodbye to their dad the way he would have wanted them to. I think this makes me more emotional than anything else.
• While Hubby and his sisters were communing with nature and paying their last respects to their father, I took the kids to visit their grandmother in Virginia. Kiddo spent most of the day sick – and even threw up in the car on the way there. Needless-to-say he was not a happy camper. Neither was Little Bit, who spent most of that day grouching about everything. I probably would have stayed up there longer, but I was so frazzled by the time I left, with Kiddo being sick and Little Bit complaining the whole day, that I left there around four and drove back to Sister-in-Law’s house.
• On Sunday, Sister-in-Law took me to Cracker Barrel for Mother’s Day Breakfast, just the two of us. It was a lovely, quiet morning. We stopped at a yard sale (yes, on Sunday) on the way back home and bought lots of clothes for Little Bit and a couple of other things. Spent $18.00 and got lots of stuff!
• We drove back home on Sunday evening amid a terrible wind/rain storm. I expected to come back home and find our new house crushed by the huge tree in our side yard, but aside from a few good-size sticks scattered around, the house escaped unscathed.
• Yesterday Hubby ran some errands and then went out looking at cars while I stayed home with the babies. Again, Kiddo was sick (other end, this time) and Little Bit refused to let me put her down even for a second and so when Hubby got home, I was not a happy camper.
• Now, I’ve managed to injure my lower back somehow and though I’m back in the quiet of my office, I am having some difficulty getting around.

So that about sums it up. I know it’s still quite a lot, but if you only knew the things I DIDN’T write about... Thanks to everyone who has passed along kind words, thoughts, and prayers to Hubby and our family. TTFN

JMS