Zing! went the strings
Thursday, Rick and I made a trip to Urbana to get his belongings from his dad's.
On the way to Urbana, I was nervous. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.
His dad is a really friendly, funny, and nice person. He remarried and has a family in Urbana; Rick's step-mom Becky, 10-year-old stepbrother Brian, and golden labrador Togo. Becky, a school nurse, is extremely gracious and kind and obviously takes good care of her family. Brian is the sweetest thing! I'm not exactly a dog person, but Togo is an adorable, well-behaved creature.
As soon as we walked in the door, Brian came running up to us yelling "Hi Rick! Hi Rick's new girlfriend!" Then came the task of tracking Rick's stuff down. Most of it was packed in the back of closets in such a way that even Indiana Jones would have trouble retrieving it. We pulled out box upon box of books, CD's, records, movies, guitars . . . I'm proud to say that even after loading the car to it's limit, Rick still had to leave some of his books behind - there were that many.
We all ate dinner together, chatting and getting to know one another.
"I like your style!" his dad informed me after a joke I'd made. Soon I became really comfortable with everyone, and felt right at home. After dinner, we loaded everything into the car, with the exception of the books we had to leave behind. As we prepared to leave, little Brian gave Rick a huge hug and asked him to come back to visit. Next thing I knew, Brian was hugging me too! I was really touched.
The car was so full that Rick and I had to share the front seat, not that we minded. It was lovely cuddling and watching the heat lightning on the horizon.
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I can't believe I forgot this, Jesse Wood may no longer have cancer. His mom said that he's not quite out-of-the-woods yet, there's about a 20% chance that it'll come back, but it's no longer a death-sentence.