My family....

I spent Christmas 2013 with my family in Cypress, Texas.  Pictured from Left to right: Me, John my brother-in-law, Mary my sister, Michael my brother and Cindy my sister-in-law.  My first cousin Marilyn and her husband Ron arranged a reunion for the entire family to celebrate and to meet me.  No pressure for me (smile).  My “new” family came for all around the USA just to meet me, ME!  I was honored to meet each and every one of them.   I was able to spend ten glorious days listening to stories about my Mother, Dorothy.   Most everyone that knew Dorothy brought with them pictures and shared stories of their times spent with Dorothy in days gone by.  My sister Mary brought her Wedding album, my second cousin Jeanne was the flower girl in Mary’s wedding back in 1968.  We discussed how “if” I was in their life back then how I would have been the flower girl and had a lively fun discussion.  I brought with me by request my baby album, Mary and I looked so much alike when we were little girls.   I will never tire of looking at pictures of my Mother’s  life.  There were also some tears shed, tears of happiness for our coming together and tears shed of sadness that Dorothy had to keep such a secret and the pain that secret cost her, and tears when the time came to an end and we all returned to our home.  We also had fun, we played many outdoor games as the weather was simply beautiful and warm the entire ten days.  We decorated the Christmas tree, worked on and completed a Christmas scene puzzle, took walks.  We shared all meals together, shopped, went to a movie had a blast opening Christmas gifts.  I now have a BIG family, I am in contact sometimes daily with my second cousins and a few third cousins.  I returned home to my Mom and told her all about my trip and still to this day think of something I forgot to share with her and then I start reminiscing.  

Today is my birthday, 52 years ago today at exactly 8am I was born.  Now that I know most all there is to know about my beloved Mother, my birthday is now bittersweet for me.  Anyone that has read this blog from the beginning has to know that I am filled with so much joy and oh so grateful for Dorothy, yet I also think of the pain that she went through the day I was born and the pain she felt for 19 years after my birth until her death.  I am happy I was born, I am happy she is my Mother, I know she is in heaven surrounded by God’s love and looks forward to the day when we can have our own reunion in God’s perfect timing.  

I recently shared with a friend how strange and wonderful it is to see your life work out and how everything fell into place.  My friends comment was that I received a bit of heaven way ahead of schedule.  I certainly did!

Meeting Mary....let the trip begin!

May 5, 2013 - The three of us (Michael, Cindy and I) got up early and were on the road by 6:30, we decided to get a few hours' drive time in and stop for breakfast around 9am.  Today we were driving across the state of Colorado.  We had wanted to eat a good breakfast that would last us until dinner time.  We stopped for breakfast in Breckenridge Colorado at a very quaint restaurant.  The day was beautiful and sunny, no jacket needed.  Mary was to fly into the Denver airport and from there board a smaller plane to take her into Grand Junction.  Her flight was scheduled to land at 4pm in Grand Junction, our goal was to check into the hotel rooms that Mary had booked for us and drop off our luggage, then get to the airport to welcome Mary to our 'First Family Vacation'.  I was so excited to be seeing Mary again and spend valuable time with her.  You may remember that I met Mary for the first time on 10/27/2012, spent the day with her Michael and Cindy then saw Mary once again on 10/29/12.  I talked to Mary on the telephone frequently, but only saw her in-person twice.  Waiting at the airport I found myself mixed with all kinds of emotions: HAPPY, anxious, and apprehensive but mainly apprehension.  I would be spending the next nine days and nights in the same room with my sister whom I had only met face to face twice.  Would we get along in person for that many days?  Would I drive her crazy? Would she drive me crazy? Yes, we are related but would we actually like one another?  I was concerned about this and many other things that my mind conjured up.  After all we are sisters, we have half of the same blood flowing through our veins, yet our relationship had 50 years of “not knowing” one another.  We were raised differently yet in many ways we were raised the same.   Mary's plane was several hours late and our breakfast was wearing off.  I enjoy being in an airport 'people watching'.  I was also enjoying the quite time as it gave me time for prayer and meditation in hopes that this trip would be everything I dreamed it would be.  I found myself taking many deep breaths before Mary’s plane landed.

Finally the arrival/departure board at the airport showed that the flight Mary was on was soon to land.  I could barely breathe.  Who would Mary hug first? All kinds of silly irrelevant thoughts crept into my mind.  Passengers were now exiting the plane and coming towards us in the airport.  There was Mary, she looked great!  She approached the three of us smiling from ear to ear.   Mary approached me with her arms wide open for a hug.  Then Mary hugged Michael and then Cindy.  I offered to carry her 'carry on' as we walked towards the luggage carousel.  Michael grabbed Mary’s luggage off the carousel; we all made small talk and headed to the car.  Mary told us all about the reason why her flight was delayed two hours, technical issues in Denver.  We drove to the hotel so that Mary could unload her luggage and freshen up and then we were going to Main Street in Grand Junction, there were many restaurants with outdoor dining and shops, and there was an art exhibit with art lined up and down the street.  We could not have picked a better time to be in Grand Junction.  A very artsy town, I LOVED IT!

We decided to dine outside and each of us had a Margarita to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and to celebrate that tommorrow would be the start of our trip together.  After dinner we relaxed outside at our table and talked and talked until it was dark outside then headed back to our hotel.  Here is where my apprehensiveness lie.  I was concerned about spending the night with someone I really did not know.  Once we both were in our hotel room I mentioned to Mary as we both got ready for bed that I was apprehensive and explained why I felt that way, that I only met her twice and even though we spoke on the phone there was so much we did not know about one another.  Mary said "Carol, I too am apprehensive".   Once Mary and I said it out loud that we both had concerns the apprehension just drifted away from both of us, never to return again.  Mary and I were together for nine days and nights, only time apart was when we were in the restroom or showering.  We both agreed that we loved one another as roommates but mainly as sisters; our relationship grew so much during this trip. We completely bonded.  There is a saying “You can never love someone as much as you can miss them”.  I finally know what that means, what that really means to me in my life.  I love Michael, I see him every two weeks, he is a wonderful brother and means the world to me.  Mary however, I don’t see as she lives up east, she means everything to me and when apart I miss her and best of all, she misses me too.

All pictures seen in this post were taken the evening of May 5th on Main Street in Grand Junction. 

Family vacation...

On May 4^th I will be taking my first “NEW” family vacation, I can hardly wait!  So many NEW memories to be made!  It is as if I have waited for this moment my entire lifetime. 

Michael and Cindy are picking me up bright and early, actually let me rephrase that, dark and early, so early it will still be dark outside.  We are driving to Grand Junction, Colorado.  Our intention is to arrive at the airport in Colorado in time to pick up Mary at 4pm on 5/5.  We will pick up Mary, enjoy the evening together and then the actual nature vacation will begin on 5/6.  We are going to state parks in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming together just the four of us.  Mary’s husband is staying home so that we can bond better.  I have yet to meet John, Mary’s husband; I have spoken to him on the telephone.  Mary and John are coming into town in September for one week; I will get to meet John then. 

The four of us will be together until 5/14 when Mary will depart to go back to her home.   Michael, Cindy and I will travel through Nebraska onto Iowa to meet our Mother’s only surviving sister, Viola.  Viola is 85; I am looking so forward to meeting her.  I am hoping Viola can tell me all about Dorothy as a child, as I want to know everything there is to know about my Mother.

We are planning on arriving home on 5/18 or 5/19.  I am hoping the time together goes slowly; I will be taking in and savoring every second of each day.  After all we have a lot of catching up to do.

Other than checking in by telephone to see how my parents are doing I will be completely disconnected from my life at home, I don’t want anything to detract me from my family.  So often I am out and I see families at a table dining and they are all connected to their phone texting others.  When I am with my parents, I am with them 100%.  When I am with my friends I am with them 100%, when I am with my “new” family I will be with them 100%.  I am counting the days, as of today there are 17 more days to go before I leave for my “first”  “NEW” family vacation.  I have been told this will be a yearly adventure.  We are already tossing ideas around for next May.  Can you see my SMILE?