A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

Michael's late sister, Dorothy Ann, had 8 kids. Michael helped raise those kids in the absence of their father. And so he is very close to all of them. Since we were just a short drive from one of them, Rose, while attending his 40th High School Class Reunion, we determined to drop by and hoped the others who live on the East Coast could converge.

Alas, only Trisha could actually make it, as the flu had swept the coast and several of Michael's nieces and their spouses were down with it.

Rose's house is located in the picturesque countryside of Kingston, New York, where she lives with her husband, Wayne, and children Max and Cara.

Michael and I were present at Rose and Wayne's wedding. And when our grandson, Zach, was just five months old we flew him to the East Coast to meet all his relatives and he and Max met at that time (although neither was quite old enough to appreciate the magnitude of the occasion).

The last time we saw Rose was at her mother's funeral.

So it was an emotional reunion in a weekend of reunions, and the two stood in the driveway hugging and crying long enough for me to play a game of FreeCell on my phone…which is okay.

Sadly, that's the only photo I managed to get of Rose on the trip. So we'll have to go back and try again!

I was actually pretty zonked from jet lag and dance trauma and took a nap for an hour or so. When I awoke, Wayne was making his lunch for the following week.

I needed to print Michael's and my boarding passes for our flights home tomorrow. Max graciously allowed me some computer time, then personally printed the passes for me when I asked about turning on their printer (which was under a printer cozy).

Trish, who is a frequent visitor, clearly adores her nieces and Cara, especially, worships her.

Michael and I then took turns photographing the other with Trish—the only picture of me from the entire trip!

Rose was also coming down with something so took a nap of her own, which is why she missed out on the camera work. As I said, next trip!

We stayed as long as we could, but inevitably had to leave. We had reservations at another hotel near Newark Airport and God only knew how long it would take me to get there! Fortunately I had better luck with the traffic and highways than I had on my arrival, so it wasn't so bad.

Tomorrow we fly back, making Monday a travel day, and Tuesday I go back to work. I expect to be thoroughly exhausted so it may be a few days before I actually post this, or post anything else for that matter. I still have a freshly-moved-into house to straighten up! But it was a good trip, no disasters or catastrophes and that's always a good thing.