The theme for the last month was: Emotion! From the great fun of having a professional photograph take first-ever family photos (thank you Eric and Zanna!), to such sadness at my mom’s passing, to also great joy at seeing her kids, grandkids and great grandkids all come together to celebrate her life.

In October, Karen and I took our second annual trip to Oregon for the Friends of Timerline fundraiser. Cal and Susan invited us out again and we joined Richard, Judy, JoAnn, Roger, Amber and Cal’s cousin Tom and wife Kathy in all kinds of adventures around Portland (including a fountain tour with Richard as tour guide) and Mt. Hood. A few days into this trip Mom’s condition worsened and JoAnn, Roger and Amber flew to Kansas to be with her as she died, for which I am so grateful.

All the family then drove/flew/gathered in Kansas to say goodbye to Mom. It was a great pleasure to look around at those who loved her and she them. The outpouring of grace to our family at this difficult time was unbelievable.

Since our return from Kansas, I’ve been exhausted. The travel, stress, and emotions just overwhelmed me I think. But Thursday, I watched Gus and Eric at soccer practice and felt better, more like my ol’ self!

On a silly note, one afternoon I brought Gus to his house and was looking through his school folder and saw the note from his teacher saying how much he enjoyed all kinds of sausage and in particular, Karen’s sausage pizza. That kid just makes me smile!