It isn't that I have been to busy to post anything on my blog lately, just trying to live through the long boreing winter. Once the holidays are over it seems that there is nothing much happening, so here goes. Maybe I am wrong? I am going to try to recall the events of the past two months. Snow storm, snow storm, snow storm, cold, cold, cold, ice, ice, ice. It has been an unusually difficult year for us here in the north east. For us it is even more difficult because Tom,s job in the winter becomes snow removal for every storm. I am not sure how many days the day hab. was closed for snow, I know for sure that it was more than ever before. Maybe six times. The storms were not all big ones, they were just continuos, one to two storms every week. It was ridiculous, and then yesterday the worst one yet shows up just when we thought we were begining to see signs of spring. The days are getting longer, and the snow had started to melt, but with a heavy wet snow storm it becomes difficult to remain optimistic about an early spring.
For the most part the highlight of most of our weeks were going to Ephrata to visit our friends and attend church with them. I like to think that our family's are very much like two peas in a pod or maybe a male and female ferns. We kind of support each other in a friendly spiritual way. We like the same things and share the same values, and we both have a handicapped child. On one weekend I had the opportunity to go snow mobiling with Karen, it was my first time. I loved it, I am sure if I owned one it would be difficult to keep me off of it. Maybe I would even like winter? Tom and Jim went out after we did and I am sure he enjoyed it as well. Laura was going to give it a try but in the end she chickened out, I forgot the old rule. Do not make her wait because the longer she waits the more worried she gets. Most weekends we share Sunday dinner, chat and play a few games. I never know where the time goes when we are together?
It seems every year during the winter I see very little of our family. We did attended Hunter's first Birthday and Baptism. It was a nice time visiting with everyone. Laura was very excited to meet her newest cousin, Miles for the first time and see Hunter. She truly loves babies! When Heather and Robert arrived to the party, she was waiting at the door for them. Hunter has become to busy for Laura so it is great having the arrival of Miles 9 months later. She was so happy to hold her new cousin and watch Hunter play. I enjoyed visiting with everyone as did Tom. But as always in the winter we were happy to be back home. Our home may be small but it is a secure and warm place to hibernate.
I have continued to visit with Aunt Mary, she is holding her own but it is very obvious she is begining to fail. Becoming thinner and more fragile with each of my visits. Last weekend we took Hayden for a weekend retreat. He lives with her and is having some behavioral issues. The house is a difficult place for a an eight year old boy to be. We didn't do all that much with him here but he certainly had an awesome time. We let him watch movies loud and play the Wii loud. We went swimming and made pizza Saturday. Sunday we took him to the RV show in Springfield Mass. He had a blast runnng in and out of about 100 RV's. We dropped him off Sunday late. Hopefully our taking Hayden every now and then will be a great retreat for him and get him through a rough time in his life. He has lived with his Grandma his own life and this will be the first time he has to face the death of someone he loves. For Aunt Mary I am just praying she has a peaceful pain free passing. It is sad to see her leave us.
My Uncle Merf also passed away in January after years of living with congestive heart failure he was 81 years old. Merf lived a full life, he was a happy gentle soul full of life. He played the accordian in a polka band most of his life. I always loved listening to him play as a child, it was always the highlight of each family gathering for me. My Dad played with Merf when they were children but he gave it up when he became an adult, I wish I knew why he did that. I would have liked to hear him play. As a kid I was surrounded by music both my Dad and Aunt Mary played the piano and organ at there churches and home. We all loved when Dad pulled out the bench and sat down to play, everyone would sit and beg for there favorite song, such great memories we have. The next few years we will probably go to more than one or two funerals. It will be time for a good part of our family to pass on. I know someday we will all meet in heaven, but it still is difficult to say good bye. Our family is full of love and zest for life, laughter is shared as well as tears. At my Uncle Merf's funeral, my cousin Richard who is a priest talked of his Moms, my Aunt Michelina's 90th Birthday. He had asked her what she thought about life and with many years of wisdom she simply said, " Life is beautiful, it is hard sometimes, but in the end it is beautiful" That is a very powerful sentence. So very true it is!
So here we are at the end of Febuary waiting impatiently for spring. We have just one more month til our first camping trip. Tom and I have planned a trip to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We found a nice campground with its own waterfall. On the trip home we plan to visit Hershey Pennsylvania. I have never really been to Penn., accept a quick stop at an airport to pick up a few clients. That is another story! So we are going to visit the Hershey Chocolate factory and possably the Amish country side. So as I sit here bored waiting for winter to come to an end, I know that it won't be long til we are enjoying our first trip of the year!
I currently have 4years and 4 months til I can retire. I have 29 1/4 years of state service, so by then I will be over the 30 mark. What that means is I will definatly retire then! Woo hoo! Leslie always tells me it will go faster than you think. I hope so! It is not that I don't like what I do for a living, I just don't like the bureacracy that comes with being a state worker. The state is broke and they will take it out on thoose that need them the most. The past few months have been farely smooth at work, its winter here in the northeast and nobody wants time off. Once spring hits we will all be in line for more time off. We all love being able to take the time off, but it makes it more difficult because then we work for long periods short staffed. Running full steam from the minute we walk in the door until the day is over. Just a few more people would be a great help! But that is not going to happen, so 4 years 4 months bring them on! So I say goodbye for now, stay warm and soon spring will be here I am sure of it.
