Sad days

Well, my lovelies, it has been a sad week for many members of my family. Some unexpected events have kept me away from my blog as I have been hosting several relatives in my house this week.


My cousins' father, Bruce, passed away very unexpectedly on Monday just days after his own mother passed away. My cousins, Alexis, Sarah, Lizzie, and Olivia have been coping with not only their grandmother's death, but then their own father's death. Since everyone lives in different states, I have been letting everyone stay with me. Alexis, Sarah, Lizzie, and Olivia are all between the ages of nineteen and twenty-eight, and were not at all prepared to deal with this loss. But then again, who ever is?


Bruce was a great dad and grandfather. He will be missed by many, many people. I hope the girls allow this tragedy to bring them closer together as they sort everything out. In the meantime, all I can offer is my couch and my wheels for transportation! I have no words of wisdom or advice because I wouldn't know what to do either!



Here is Bruce with Alexis, her fiance, Joe, and their children, Maddie, Dylan, and Annabelle when Bruce visited them last summer in Massachusetts. Bruce apparently had not stopped talking about that trip because he loved the ocean. So it is fitting that his children will be releasing his ashes in the ocean on the Massachusetts beach that he loved so much. Despite the tragedy, I have really enjoyed getting to know Alexis's fiance and her children more this week. Her kids are so well behaved and precious!
This is a picture of Lizzie with Bruce. Sorry it is so blurry. Lizzie is a student at Virginia Tech and plans on becoming a veterinarian. She is here with her fiance, Jake.

This is Olivia with Bruce. Olivia attends the Art Institute in Colorado to become a chef! Today poor Olivia was subjected to my daughter, Avery, divulging way too many personal details about my bathroom habits.....too much information for her innocent ears. Olivia got to see me in a whole new light. Thanks Avery!

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture of Sarah with Bruce. Sarah, her husband Will, and their two sons lived with Bruce.

Bruce and my aunt have been divorced for a very long time, but have always remained great friends....which is a good thing when you share four daughters! Everyone will miss him dearly.

I wish I could say I was visiting all my cousins in happy circumstances, but that is just not the case. Isn't that sad that when you get older, sometimes you only see relatives when there is a funeral? Everyone is so busy in life and lives so far apart that fun visits are far and few between. I wish we could still get together and have Easter egg hunts or play with Barbies, like the old days. I hate to say this, but Facebook has allowed me to really stay in touch with many relatives that I had kind of lost touch with.....thank goodness!

On a happier note, above is a picture of me (on the left) with my cousin, Alexis at an annual Easter egg hunt at our grandparents' house. I thought I was soooo much older, but now that difference doesn't seem like so much.....even though I have much more gray hair than her, but that's another story. We were so innocent then! Being grownups is sometimes not as fun or easy as being a little kid. Please take note of the fact that I am wearing white socks with clear jellies. Children of the 80s.....remember jellies? Who cares about the fact they cut into your skin and got scalding hot on a sunny day. They were jellies. They were cool. I am a stylin' kind of girl....since birth. But I digress.

Rest in peace, Bruce! You will be missed. And to Aunt Lori, Alexis, Sarah, Lizzie, and Olivia.....I love you guys!