One Month

It's been one month today since my memaw was laid to rest.  She passed away on August 11, 2011.  In so many ways, it seems like that has been both a long time and not much time at all.  I do know that for me, it just doesn't seem real yet.  I have had many instances over the past few weeks when a particular memory of her would pop into my head...almost on a daily basis.  I feel blessed to have those memories, but it doesn't make the loss any easier.

Aside from the past 4 years, I spent the majority of my life either living on that hill right beside her or in her house with her.  The kids and I most recently lived with her for 6 weeks last fall during our transition between TX and OK.  Even though that is a lot of time and I'm very thankful that I was able to spend so much of it so close to her, I still feel like in so many ways it wasn't enough.  I mean 79 can be considered old to many people, I guess I just thought she would live longer??

Some of the thoughts/memories that I've had over the past few weeks

• memaw and her tractor...that woman loved to get on her tractor and work.  I think a lot of times she would create something to move or mow over just because she enjoyed it so much.  When Dylan was a baby and we lived next door, he would always know when she cranked it up and want to go outside so he could ride it with her.
• garage sales....you see, my memaw, she was ALWAYS planning to have a garage sale.  She loved having them and was constantly scoping out my garbage to see if I had anything worthy of her keeping to sell in her garage sale.  Seriously.
• flowers...she loved her flowers and working in her yard.  I have a vision of her in her blue work pants, a plaid button up shirt and a wet rag around her neck working in the yard.  She always had that wet rag around her neck.
• laundry...I will never forget memaw telling me on multiple occasions that I was going to burn the house down because I forgot to clean the lint tray out of the dryer. 
• hair color...when I lived with her last fall, she recruited me to color her hair.  I got so tickled at her giving me "instructions" about which roller to use and how to part it.  She was bossing me around, but I remember thinking how glad I was that I was able to be there and help her.
• knock knock....Jeremy and I joked for the longest that memaw's way of knocking was to knock on the door and say "knock knock" as she was opening it instead of waiting for us to answer it....I would give ANYTHING for her to "knock" on my door one last time :(

I'm sure there are a lot more, these are just ones that stuck out in my mind and I wanted to capture so I won't forget.

Sydni has been talking a lot about memaw and papaw (and Jake, our chocolate lab).  It makes me both happy and sad to hear her talk so freely about them.  I know she is sad, but I wouldn't trade anything for the memories that she has of her great-grandmother and the years she got to spend with her.

If you are reading this and you still have your grandparent(s) still living, be assured that you are never guaranteed tomorrow and make sure you tell them that you love them and are blessed to have had so much time with them.  My memaw was my last living grandparent and she was the one I was closest to.  As I talk to my mom on pretty much a daily basis, my heart hurts for her as I know she struggles to make it through some days and sometimes sounds like some of the life has gone out of her.  I can't imagine what she is feeling and hope that I have a lot more years with MY mom before she meets her Maker.  I feel so blessed to be a part of such a great family and to have the privilege to call Betty Metcalf my "memaw".

Til next time.....

Dust Bunnies????

They must be a few inches thick cuz this blog has been severely neglected!!  In an effort to to rekindle this thing and keep the family updated on a more consistent basis, I'm gonna try REAL hard to update regularly.

So....how the heck do I sum up what's been going on in our lives since January?!?!  Let's just say a LOT and leave it at that, k?  No really, a LOT...

We are loving living in The Woodlands so far!!  The kids are about to start their 4th week of school and are doing great :)  They switch classes here and that was something new for them, but so far so good!  The elementary school here only goes to 4th grade, so Sydni will go to the intermediate school next year.  Jeremy finished up his 2nd week of work here and likes it so far.  His office building is SUPER nice, they have a cafeteria, fitness center and plans for a daycare.  He hasn't had too much traffic as of yet, takes him about 20-30 min from our apartment.

I started working this past Thursday and let me tell ya, I was SO ready!  First, I don't do idle time very well.  Once the kids went back to school I found myself just sitting on the couch, talking to Frank and Lulu (can you say crazy cat/dog lady?!?).  Anyway, I have been to 7 interviews since we moved here a month ago.  Three of them were for one job (the one I got).  I told Jeremy that I was exhausted from the whole job searching process and was just tired of talking about myself.  I wanted to walk in and say, "here's my resume, let me know if you have any questions"....if I don't hear "so tell me about yourself and your work history" again for a long time, I will be a happy girl!!

I am training with the girl I am replacing until this next Thursday and so far I think I am gonna LOVE this job!  It's very similar to what I did at Coke.  My title is Regional HR Mgr and I support the South region.  The company (FleetPride) manufacture and distribute heavy duty truck and trailer parts.  The majority of the workforce are men.  So South region = good 'ol boy :)  I was listening in to some conference calls and was cracking up at the accents on some of these guys!!  Good thing they didn't give me the northwest or midwest region, huh??  Could you imagine the fun they would have had at my expense over my accent??  Seriously.

Many folks have asked us how apartment life is...well, it's apartment life!  So far it hasn't been bad, but it definitely isn't owning your own house!  Living here for a year will enable us to buy our forever home next summer, so it's a small sacrifice to make in our opinion!

What's up for next week?  Dylan is playing fall baseball and Jeremy is coaching.  He starts practice next week and has his first game on the 24th (I think?).  Sydni is starting gymnastics next week also, so the insanity begins again!  Wouldn't have it any other way!!

No pics for this post, but maybe later in the week I will have some updated ones!

**On a side note, as we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, I have been answering a lot of questions from the kids about what happened and we have watched some specials on TV as well.  I told Sydni that she was almost done cooking in my belly when it happened and Dylan wasn't even thought of.  I'm sure to those that lost family members these past 10 years have been very difficult and our thoughts and prayers are with them!!

Til next time,