Memorial Day Weekend
A grueling weekend. But I had a pretty cool "sign" on Sunday!
I had promised Helen (My ex-mother-in-law) to take her to her hometown, about 100 miles, to do the cemetary thing. Her daughter was my SIL and best friend, Robin. I had not been to Robin's grave. Ever, We also had the ashes of her husband John and son Butch to scatter.
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Friday:
Helen called me concerned about the fact that her car "isn't running right." Don't know what the means, exactly. It may be just normal rough running or it may be a bad fuel pump. I'll have to go over there after work to check.
SO...at 4:30 the great race begins. Home, clean out the car, load up the kid and the next door neighbor. Drop off the kid at the hairdresser, then take the neighbor to the grocery store. Drop her off at the store, then back to the hairdresser to pick up the kid and pay his bill. Then drop him off at his dad's, back to the grocery store to pick up the neighbor. Home to drop off neighbor and unload the car. Then across the river to the city to fix Helen's car. (just a disconnected air hose, fortunately.)
Then home, laundry, and fall into bed for a couple hours.
Saturday:
Wake bright and early, find that the dryer is still full of wet clothes. The jeans & t-shirts I put in last night were done on "air only. Quickly turn dryer back on, this time with heat, and try to pack everything else to take this weekend! Find duct tape in case air hose comes off the car again. Grab as many other tools and things as possible, and go.
We made good time getting there although I thought Helen would flip when I went through the tunnels doing 70 in the left lane!!
Sunday:
To the cemetary. We put flowers on Robin's grave and buried some of Butch's ashes under them. We also scattered a light dusting of his ashes over all of the family plot. I was crying so hard I could not see what I was doing to dig, but somehow managed to do it.
Then we drove down to the river and scattered John's ashes along the bank of the river where he used to fish, then up to the mountain t scatter the rest of Butch's ashes.
The spot where we scattered Butch's ashes was gorgeous. It was a hot day but in the woods on the moutain it was cool and breezy. There were small game animals around, boulders, and logs from fallen trees to climb. It was exactly the type of place where I loved to hike and play when I was a kid. I think it was exactly where he would like to be. Helen and I agreed the only thing that was missing was a beer.
After, I took his dog down the road for a walk. She was exploring and having a great time. After a short distance I told her that it was far enough: I needed to turn around and get back to the car. When I turned around, I saw by the side of the road, a can of beer.
Monday:
Back home, finally. Helen was a ball of nerves the whole ride, but we made it, finally. We stopped at my place en route so that she could get to see it, and she admired it profusely (which gave me a nice warm fuzzy.)
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There are many many more stories to tell about my weekend, but I cannot go into them right now. Hopefully another day.
I had promised Helen (My ex-mother-in-law) to take her to her hometown, about 100 miles, to do the cemetary thing. Her daughter was my SIL and best friend, Robin. I had not been to Robin's grave. Ever, We also had the ashes of her husband John and son Butch to scatter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday:
Helen called me concerned about the fact that her car "isn't running right." Don't know what the means, exactly. It may be just normal rough running or it may be a bad fuel pump. I'll have to go over there after work to check.
SO...at 4:30 the great race begins. Home, clean out the car, load up the kid and the next door neighbor. Drop off the kid at the hairdresser, then take the neighbor to the grocery store. Drop her off at the store, then back to the hairdresser to pick up the kid and pay his bill. Then drop him off at his dad's, back to the grocery store to pick up the neighbor. Home to drop off neighbor and unload the car. Then across the river to the city to fix Helen's car. (just a disconnected air hose, fortunately.)
Then home, laundry, and fall into bed for a couple hours.
Saturday:
Wake bright and early, find that the dryer is still full of wet clothes. The jeans & t-shirts I put in last night were done on "air only. Quickly turn dryer back on, this time with heat, and try to pack everything else to take this weekend! Find duct tape in case air hose comes off the car again. Grab as many other tools and things as possible, and go.
We made good time getting there although I thought Helen would flip when I went through the tunnels doing 70 in the left lane!!
Sunday:
To the cemetary. We put flowers on Robin's grave and buried some of Butch's ashes under them. We also scattered a light dusting of his ashes over all of the family plot. I was crying so hard I could not see what I was doing to dig, but somehow managed to do it.
Then we drove down to the river and scattered John's ashes along the bank of the river where he used to fish, then up to the mountain t scatter the rest of Butch's ashes.
The spot where we scattered Butch's ashes was gorgeous. It was a hot day but in the woods on the moutain it was cool and breezy. There were small game animals around, boulders, and logs from fallen trees to climb. It was exactly the type of place where I loved to hike and play when I was a kid. I think it was exactly where he would like to be. Helen and I agreed the only thing that was missing was a beer.
After, I took his dog down the road for a walk. She was exploring and having a great time. After a short distance I told her that it was far enough: I needed to turn around and get back to the car. When I turned around, I saw by the side of the road, a can of beer.
Monday:
Back home, finally. Helen was a ball of nerves the whole ride, but we made it, finally. We stopped at my place en route so that she could get to see it, and she admired it profusely (which gave me a nice warm fuzzy.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are many many more stories to tell about my weekend, but I cannot go into them right now. Hopefully another day.