New Memories

I traveled up to Seattle this last weekend for the first time since my dad's funeral. It was hard. Harder than I thought it would be. Something unexpected happened though. From the moment I arrived, the healing process continued and the time spent with my mom and two of my siblings was filled with laughter, love, and happiness mixed in with a few tears. My spirit was lifted in a way I wasn't expecting, but needed desperately. Now I have new memories in the Northwest and I know it is possible to continue having joyous family relations even when someone we love dearly is missing.

Some of the fun memories we made included:

Visiting the glass museum in Tacoma, aka - the armpit of the state. Don't be thinking I'm being rude here...this is totally true. The city used to have a bunch of factories that emitted some terrible smells. Recently, the city has done away with those and has worked really hard to get their city up to snuff.


Later in the day we went for a walk down by the waterfront near Brice's house. In the evening, we went out for dinner at P.F. Changs. The day had been filled with a lot of laughing and good times, but near the end of dinner, we started talking about our last moments with dad while he was in the hospital. We all started getting a little emotional, which of course was right when the waiter came up to check on us. After assessing our emotional states, he quickly turned and said he would be back later.



On Sunday I did a little star gazing at church. We were sitting on the pew right next to Ken Jennings. Yup, he lives in humble Mountlake Terrace and does not live in a fancy, schmancy house with all of his Jeopardy winnings. He's just a regular ole Joe like the rest of us (except for the really fat bank account he's got sitting around somewhere).


We also visited the cemetery where dad is buried. It is in a beautiful location right next to a fountain and a bench where you can sit and look out over the trees and see the mountains. Since Shannon wasn't with us, we made sure she was included in the picture with a one-of-a-kind hand drawn picture of her.


All in all, it was a fun weekend getaway. My thanks to John for watching the monkeys while I was away (sick kids and all), to my mom for making my stay so pleasant and enjoyable, and to Christy and Brice for taking the time to come up and visit as well. We missed you Shannon, so I'm glad we get to see you in June for our annual beach reunion.