It's not like I have a huge crowd that reads this blog so hopefully most of the people that do haven't been too terribly disappointed in me for the last half a year.
It's hard to gauge where to even begin after the last few months. It truly seems like we've lived a lifetime in the last year or so. I guess I'll start where I left off the last post...just the hi-lites...
Memorial Day weekend we celebrated my 27th birthday and our 2 year anniversary by going on a mega shopping spree (thank you first time homebuyer credit!). We bought a new couch and loveseat, a wing chair, a new dining room set, a flat screen TV, and a new entertainment center. We also painted the living room and dining room that weekend. Wow...it was such a fun day. :-)
June was Andrew's birthday and along with a group of our friends, we went and had an awesome day at the Baltimore Orioles baseball game. Again...way fun.
We both took an extra day off from work over 4th of July weekend and we ended up spending the entire 4 days down at our friend, Kati's parents place on the Chesapeake Bay. What a BLAST. Probably the best 4th of July EVER.
In August, we had my sister Katie and my cousin Matt in town for a few days. They had to be here for a class for the family business and they stayed over an extra couple days to hang out with us. So fun. I also went back to Kansas City again (solo this time) to celebrate with my friend Melissa for her various wedding festivities. A quick weekend in KC is never enough time....but it was a wonderful weekend and I got to see some of my best girlfriends.
Labor Day weekend, our friends Aspen and Chris Swett and their little guy, Cypress drove up to Maryland to spend the long weekend with us. They are such great friends and it was so much fun to play with Cy all weekend. We had a great visit and we were so glad they made the trip.
The week after Labor Day we got news that would end up changing our life forever. We found out that Andrew's dad would need to have a dangerous procedure at the end of that week. The procedure ended up going terribly wrong and on Friday, Sept 10th we were on a plane to Kansas City not knowing what we would find when we got there. After the longest and hardest 48 hours of our family's life, we said goodbye to Bob. He passed away at 5:29pm on Sunday September 12th at the age of 60.
I could probably fill an entire blog post dedicated to Bob and the man he was...maybe someday (if I ever blog again) I will do just that. For the purposes of this post, though, I will give a very brief synopsis...
Bob was my father in law and he was my friend. He was the most amazing father to his boys, husband to his wife, and grandfather to his two darling granddaughters. Words can't express how much our family misses him everyday. He was so good at putting together little funny songs or lighthearted quips at the snap of a finger. He loved to cook for his family. He loved anything having to do with his family. A few months before Andrew and I got married, Bob tore his Achilles tendon and had to wear a boot. Three days before our wedding, he got word from the doctor that he could take the boot off. Later that day we went to pick up Andrew's tux and we ran into Bob at the shop coming to find one size 14 left tux shoe...the swelling hadn't quite gone down all the way yet in that ankle so he had to accommodate. We were pretty sure that was the first (and maybe the last) time that particular tux shop owner had ever fielded such a unique request. The last Sunday dinner we had before we moved to Maryland, Bob hugged us both and he cried. It wasn't the last time we saw him before we moved...it was just the last Sunday dinner that we would be present for a while and that meant something to him. It meant something to us too. Every time we went to the house, I would always say "oh don't get up, I'll come down to you" to give Bob a hug because I knew how bad his knees hurt him and I knew he'd probably been on his feet most of the afternoon creating whatever culinary adventure we would experience that evening. But Bob would never listen to me. He always got up to give me a hug. Every time. No matter what. What I wouldn't give for another hug from Bob right now. He was big guy. A gentle giant. He was just an incredibly sweet man. He had a booming voice but I rarely, if ever, heard him raise it. His death was an incredible and shocking tragedy. I miss Bob. A lot.
And now here we are, approaching Christmas...our first Christmas without Bob. Bittersweet is the only word that comes to mind.
This will be our first holiday back home...we stayed here in Maryland for Thanksgiving and my family came here to us. It was a really fun couple of days. Certainly not easy...thinking of being back home, pulling it all off out of one kitchen, etc....but fun.
It sounds so cliche...but my advice to everyone reading...
Give good, long, strong hugs. Your people will still be able to feel them even after you're gone. :-)
Love to all...and have a very Merry Christmas!
