Saturday, April 16, 2011

And the Thunder Rolls

On Thursday we had the first real "spring" rain.  The kind of rain that you want to stand outside in.    The kind you can smell.  The kind that makes everything smell....fresh.  I love that kind of rain.   See how beautiful, the sun barely peeking through the clouds. 


It was great until Friday morning when the temperature plummeted and it continued to rain....and rain....and get colder to where it was actually sleeting. Not completely unheard of in April for the Cornhusker State, and yet just as miserable.  I had to drive in this rain...eeww!

The only good thing about the rain is that the flowers will soon be popping out.

Not this one though,  this is one from a bouquet I bought.  It was lovely.


This is Carter waving to me at daycare. We have had a rough week and Mommy needed that. 


Monday, April 11, 2011

It's not all Sunshine and Daisies

When I was little my Grandpa affectionately called me Shorty and Turkey Butt.  He would wander around the kitchen or the house singing little songs and working, listening to whatever conversation was going on in the same room and chiming in when he had something to add. He wil be  72 this year and has worked hard all his life.  He was in the National Guard for 20+ years, so he knows the value of hard work.  When he retired, he didn't really retire, he got a job with the school system cleaning. He has recently "retired" from that job but still works little odd jobs, and volunteers his mowing skills.

It was 9 years last Monday that we lost Grandma.  Grandma and Grandpa were high school sweet hearts, married at 18, they had 5 awesome children.  Those children went on to give them numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. (Some more than others, you know who you are, we have had several conversations about how this happens.)   Grandpa loved my grandma fiercely, passionately.  When she passed, a part of him with went her.  He changed a lot, but when you love someone as much as he loved her, you would expect that. It was hard on all of us.  

It took him years to do some of the things that they enjoyed doing together.  Grandpa now has a lady friend that he goes to movies and dinner with.    You don't hear him sing much anymore.  He goes to the cemetary at least once a day to sit and talk to grandma.   There is a path worn in the  grass at the cemetary where he walks to see her.   

I think about grandma alot.  I think about the things she has not been present for.  She was there in spirit but not physically.  I can still hear her laugh and I know that she visits me often.  (Yeah I am one of those people who believes that you can do that after you die.  I have to believe it.) 

While we were bowling this weekend Grandpa called me Shorty, something he has not done in years.  It pulled at my heartsrings alittle and I won't lie,  I threw a gutter ball that shot because I was a little blurry eyed.   I miss the way Grandpa was before we lost Grandma but I know that he is the same guy, you just have to get past the gruff exterior and remember that he has been through a lot in the last few years.  

I love you both Grandpa and Grandma!