Life goes on

Yes, it does. Life just keeps going on and I suppose that's a good thing. No, I know that it is a good thing. I would not want the world to end.
Grief is difficult to explain and hard to experience.
I had to go to Hobby Lobby tonight to get some googly eyes for the spiders we are making with the kids tomorrow. Everything I saw reminded me of Susie. Everything. Never mind that Sue was not a crafty sort of girl and we never ever set foot in a Hobby Lobby together. I miss her and so wherever I go, there she is.
Sue's death has hit both me and Jenny hard. A friend asked me why this death has seemingly been harder than some of the others I have experienced.
Hmmmm. Really?? Well, for starters, Sue was my sister. Of my family of origin, there are only 2 of us left. Two. Me and Jen. And we were a family of 7, though my sister Marcia died before I was born. Makes you consider your own mortality. Like, a LOT. And Sue was only 6 years older than I am.
And my sister was a big part of my life and who I am. Big time.
The last six weeks of her life were a game changer for me. Humbling.
It is difficult for me to write about it or even think about it yet.
I knew Suz was dying. I don't know exactly why, but I knew.
It is going to take me a while to process her death, but in the meantime, I know for an absolute fact that Sue wants me to be happy, enjoy life and carry on and all that.
And I am and I will.
But I will take the time to grieve when those waves wash over me. You might have to read about it here, but I know you will  understand.
Especially if you have lost someone you love.

Sad September

It was a difficult September this year. Probably the worst ever for me.
Sue, my dear devoted, kind, loving, generous, caring and funny sister died on September 15th.
Dear Lord,  I miss her.
I have tried several times to write about it. When I say "it", I mean her death. It is almost impossible to process that Susie is gone. I have two half-written posts that I was going to try and finish, but words aren't adequate.

Here is one of those posts that I began on Thursday, September 18th:
"When I woke up on Monday morning, I thought about it being the birthday of three special ladies in my life: my niece Lauren, my dear friend Lynn and my favorite 80 year old Ellen. I was trying to come up with a clever, meaningful post for Facebook to wish them all happy birthday. I kept thinking, wow, September 15th, what a great day to be born because these three ladies are all very strong, loving women.
As it turned out, September 15th is also a good day to die. My strong, loving, brave sister Sue went to heaven on Monday around 3:30 pm.
I still cannot believe how the day unfolded. God's hand was in every moment of it.
Susie had a doctor's appointment at 4 pm and Jenny and I were going to take her. Jenny arrived at Sue's around 1 pm, got her lunch, took Sue's car for its emission test, did some housework...you know, the everyday busyness that needs to be attended to. Around 3:15, Jen went up to Sue's room to tell her that I was on the way and asked what time she wanted to leave for the doctor appointment. Sue was getting ready, doing her hair, putting on makeup. Jenny went back downstairs, washed some dishes, then went back upstairs to see if Sue needed anything.
Sue had collapsed on her bed. She was gone.
Jenny called 911. The fire station is about 5 blocks away. I was heading up the street and had to pull over for the fire department lead car.
I knew in my heart where it was headed.
I just knew.
When I pulled up, Jenny was in the front yard, her phone in hand.
She looked at me, crying, and said, "Sue's gone".
I ran inside, up the stairs,  because the paramedics were not there yet.
Dear sweet Jesus. My sister. Bella, her Newfie, was by her side, not barking, just there. Bella didn't leave her side."

How incredible that Susie died in her room, on her bed, with Jenny downstairs and me a few blocks away. And of course, with Bella by her side. Also, her best friend, Karen, had a dear friend from out of town visiting, so when Karen heard the news, she had Joanne with her and Joanne stayed with her for the next three days. God was there for all of us when He called Sue home.
God is so good.
It was less than three years ago that my mother died in that same house, in her own bed, with Sue, Jenny and me there.
Amazing.
I know that my whole family has gotten so much comfort from the memories that Susie's friends and coworkers have shared. Sue was loved and cherished by so many people and that legacy will live on. And I hold on to my belief that there are things far worse than death and that Suz is now at peace with all those who we love and have gone before us.
God is great.

Suz and me, taken by Abbie Aug 2014

Out of the rut Saturday

Today was one of the most beautiful days of the year. Cool. Blue skies. Sunshine. Somewhere between summer and fall. And we had an out of the rut kind of day planned.

Jack and I needed to meet up with Wayne to deliver tickets for the Bears game tomorrow. My dear sweet sister Suz is missing the first opening day in 32 years. Sue has had Bears season tickets for that many years; the tickets were willed to her by a grateful patient that she had cared for. Sue is still struggling with pain and mobility issues and decided she would not go to the game tomorrow. Wayne and Kjell are going in her place. She will be well represented.

I got the tickets from Sue yesterday and  Jack and I offered to deliver them to Wayne in the city. Wayne suggested we meet for lunch and then go to see the apartment where he and Julie will be living. We decided to make it an out of the rut Saturday and invited Jack's dad, too!

It was a great day. 

We picked up Bucky around 11:45 and reminisced as we drove down the Dan Ryan expressway (did you know that Jack and his family drove on the Dan Ryan the very first day it was open, back in the 60s?) We had lunch at Marge's Still in Old Town with Wayne, Julie, and Jocelyn, one of Julie and Wayne's BFFs. The food was super slow in coming out, but we had  fun visiting. After lunch, Julie and Jocelyn had to scoot to get to a yoga class. Wayne took Jack, Bucky and me to see the new apartment. It is charming, in one of those 3 flat brownstones. It has crown molding, beautiful light fixtures, marble fireplace, and a parking spot! I think it will be a lovely first residence for the newlyweds. While we were in the vicinty, we also drove by the house where Jack's Aunt Toots lived (don't you love that name, Toots?) A trip down memory lane :)
What a great way to spend a Saturday, with remembering the past, enjoying the present and looking forward to the future.

Wayne, Julie, Jocelyn, Bucky and Jack

Aunt Toots' house

Wayne and Kjell will represent Suz well

September begins

Labor Day weekend. The end of summer. The annual Labor Day party at Mark and Cath's. Thank goodness for that party because it makes this holiday weekend (i.e., back to reality time of year) bearable.
The party was fantastic as always. Mark and Cath are amazingly generous and hospitable. This year the party was even more special than usual because there were FOUR grandchildren, double the number from last year :) Baby boom! Cathy and Mark's son Jeff and his wife Andi have two children, Mason (4 years old) and Lila (16 months). In February, Adam and Kristin had a baby girl named Savannah and in April, Chris and Krissy had a boy name Casey. How blessed are they all? And they know it which is the best part.
We had fun passing around the babies and enjoying each other's company. And some amazing food and drink.
So thankful to spend time with folks like these wonderful friends.

Kids and grandkids :)

love my girlfriends

Sally, Matt, Julie and Wayne

Mason having a serious conversation with Mamps

Showering our Britt

Last Sunday, a week ago today, we celebrated the upcoming wedding of Brittany and Chase. It was a such a lovely afternoon and the culmination of weeks of planning with a fun committee. Sally and I co- hosted the event with Ellen (Britt's grandmother), Colleen (Brittany's aunt) and Robin (Brittany's godmother). We had several Saturday morning meetings at Starbucks and many email exchanges. The planning was fun because of the ladies involved and we were all there for one reason...to shower our bride with love.

The hostesses arrived at 10am at the country club where the shower was being held, with guests scheduled to arrive at 11:30. It was such fun to watch the planning come to fruition. The room was beautiful, the food delicious, the flowers exquisite and the mood light-hearted. We had a cocktail hour, then a toast by Colleen followed by  a buffet luncheon. We played a game that Sally suggested between lunch and dessert. It was called "The Brittany and Chase Game". There were 11 questions about the bride and groom and each table had a white board and marker. Each table wrote their answer on the white board and then shared it. The final question was "What piece of advice would you give Brittany and Chase...about the wedding, marriage or just life in general?" We started opening presents and then used the pauses to have each table share their answer. It was awesome. Lots of wisdom in that room. My favorite piece of advice came from my friend Deanna's table. Deanna said a proper older woman, married 40 years, had given it to her at her own bridal shower many years before. The advice? "Pick one room to be good at and stick with it". Pretty profound and fun.

It is hard to put into words how special it was to be part of this celebration. Brittany and her whole family have a place in my life that cannot be defined by just friendship. What a privilege it is to have shared so many of life's milestones together.
Here are some pictures from the shower:

Sally, me, Colleen, the bride, Ellen and Robin

Chase and Britt open presents

beautiful MOB and bride

game time 

MOG and groom...such wonderful people

Impromptu Pizza Party

Jack and I hosted a pizza party at our house on Saturday. It was about as impromptu as it gets. It started with Wayne and Julie making plans to spend the night at our house on Saturday. I mentioned this to Sally and Matt on Friday and invited them to join us for dinner. Sally asked that I make homemade pizza. Jack and I called Bucky Friday night and asked if he wanted to join us. Sally was texting with Lauren on Saturday and invited her to come over. Lauren then relayed the info to Brendan and Sam, who ended up coming by to hang out, but not for dinner.
We had ourselves a party!
There is nothing like the younger generation to make an evening fun and full of laughs.
Oh my gosh, they are so much fun!
I wanted to get a picture of Bucky and his grandkids. Then Wayne began doing his imitation of me and my (what he calls) random pictures of unlikely combinations of people. Not true! I always have a reason as to why I want certain folks in certain pictures. It's just not always clear to other people what the connections are!
Here are some pictures from our fun night:

Matt, Julie, Wayne, Sally, Bucky, Lauren, Brendan, Sam

one of the groups Wayne called out

I also need to add that the newest member of our family, Otto, Sally and Matt's Welsh Springer puppy, joined the party, too.

party puppy!

By the end of the night, Otto was out like a light at Matt's feet. Adorable.

can't keep up with us :)

We were way past due for family time and it was a fabulous way to spend a Saturday night.

Northwoods

I enjoyed my first trip to the Northwoods this past week. Matt's folks, Bob and Mary, have a place up near Minocqua and they have been asking Jack and me to come visit. Well, we finally made it happen. It did not disappoint!
Jack and I left late Wednesday morning. Our first stop was for lunch at a cozy little restaurant named The Weary Traveler in Madison WI. We pulled into Wausau around 5 pm and had a relaxing evening. There was a restaurant next to our hotel named The Great Dane Pub and Brewery...which of course we had to go to because of our Dane.
On Thursday morning, Jack googled the best breakfast place in the area, like he did when we were coming back from Georgia earlier this summer. We ended up at a cute little place named The Mint Cafe.
Hmmm. There seems to be a theme to this post. It's all about restaurants! I don't want to give you the impression that all we did was go to restaurants. That is not true. We also went to pubs :)
We checked into our hotel, The Pointe, in Minocqua, around noon on Thursday. The Pointe has slips for boats and Matt rented one for his family's boat. Matt, Sally, T (Matt's brother), Bianca (T's fiancee) and Matt's Uncle Brian sailed over to pick us up at the hotel and we began our traveling lunch.

here they come!

 Bob and Mary met us via car at our first stop. This is where I got to experience my first Spotted Cow. I liked it. A lot.

me, Sally, Mary and Bianca

We sailed off to a few more places and then got dropped off at our hotel. For dinner, we went to a supper club named the Red Steer  and had a phenomenal meal.

On Friday morning, Sally and her puppy Otto met Jack and me at the hotel and we walked into town. Jack enjoyed hanging out with Otto for many reasons, not the least of which was all the attention they got.

We had lunch with everyone at The Shamrock. One of the things that is cool about this place is that my parents used to go there with their close friends back in the 70s and 80s. I even have a picture of my mom and her friend Char standing in front of The Shamrock. I just need to find it.

After lunch, we went boating for a while, then rested up for dinner at Norwood Pines. Another fantastic meal!

a little indoor shuffleboard

sailor Jack

A little blurry, but aren't they cute?

We are so grateful for Mary and Bob's hospitality and for our thoughtful and kind son-in-law that they raised. We are blessed!