I just wanted to give my loyal readers a little farewell shout out.  I've decided to take a little break from blogging.  I'm not sure if I'll come back in a month, in six month, in a year or not at all.  I feel spread thin like butter and I'm not putting enough focus on areas of my life that should matter more than the cyber world. 

Farewell for now.

kisatrtle

Dear Neighbors,

Is that really a U-haul in your driveway?  I so hoped you would change your mind.  I so hoped that you would decide that living beside me totally outweighed everything else.  Sadly, we all have to make money and it looks like work and family trumped me.

We sure have had a lot of laughs over the years.  Whenever I'm singing along to a song in the car and I don't know the words forevermore I will always say "Watermelon."  I will never be able to hear the words "last call" without thinking, "Why is is always last call?"

When we moved in my kids were six, three and one.  I remember when C joined all the Gs.  I still have a copy of the birth announcement I made for you.  Your little one looking so angelic in that picture.

Who am I going to borrow sour cream from?  Remember when Little G. wrote a story at school about all the food we "borrow" from you and his teacher asked me if we were having problems.  That's almost as funny as the time one of the kid's convinced their teacher we were Jewish.

We've been minature golfing, hayriding, and trick or treating.  We've been to the beach, where we found your husband in a radom parking lot, we've been dancing, we've had smore-making, crab cracking, siting my the fire with a drink fun.

Who can forget all the pool days and book club?

We've watched each other kids, we've put kids on the bus, we've taking kids off the bus.  We've been each other's emergency contacts.  We even lived through the 2011 floods and the 2012 Cholrine Gas spill. 

Every time 30 Rock is on, I will think of you.

Promise me this.  You will skype us for Modern Family in the fall.  You will still participate in book club and you will come and visit. 

The thought of watching Little C grow up on Facebook doesn't seem fair.  And Middle G has taught me that things should always be fair! 

I will miss you, my friend. 

Who knows, I may drive two hours just for some sour cream.

Best wishes on your new adventure!

~kisa~

The news of your passing came like a swift kick in the gut.

You were just here last weekend. You were goofing around with the kids. You took your oldest grandchild to the bookstore.

I don't think she will ever enter a bookstore and not think of you.

I will miss many things about you, like how you always said, "and then you said."

I will miss the way you let my kids just climb all over you and how you would tease them that they were messing up your hair.

I will miss the way you always teased me about having stuff all over my kitchen island.

I have known you for more than half my life. We've shared weddings, graduations and, lately, far too many funerals.

We've shared birthday dinners and Christmases.

We've even shared an occasional dance... Although that was very occasional.

I will miss talking about conspiracy theories and football with you, even though I'm pretty sure I had the upper hand.

I will even miss the way you never wanted to make a decision about where to have dinner.

We are all trying to find comfort in knowing that one day our paths will cross again.

Until then...

No one knows how long they will live. No one can predict how much time they will be given on this earth.

Look at any obiturary page on any day and odds are you can find the very young as well as the very old.

This weekend we said goodbye to my husband's grandmother. A women who had 9 children, 25 grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren and 7 great great grandchildren.

At the funeral this morning the pastor asked for just her direct decendents to stand and it was truly breathtaking. Her legacy lives.

Things I, as an inlaw, will remember. She always had those pink mint flavored candies. She loved to read. She always seemed honestly happy to see you. Her front porch swing. How good she was at tiddly-winks. How all her children were convinced they were her favorite. How she never wore jeans, but had slacks in all colors. How she knew her scripture. How deeply she loved her family.

I am blessed to have known such a woman and amazed at the memories my own children have of their great-grandmother.

I imagine, Raymond, her husband who passed nearly 20 years ago, was eagerly awaiting her arrival and that this holiday season they will be together again smiling down at they legacy they left behind.

RIP Grandma.

My grandma had to put her beloved little Yorkie dog to sleep yesterday. She is very sad about it and it hurts me that she is so hurt.

This weekend, like all weekends, flew by. We lost our soccer game and my craft show wasn't very fruitful.

I learned late Saturday night that my grandma wasn't doing well and sadly she died this morning.

I am very lucky to have known her for 37 years and I have many fond memories of times we shared together.

My grandma was a pint-sized powerhouse. She barely stood five foot. She had six kids, one of them my father. She lived as a widow for 8 years, until recently at her home caring for herself.

Last year we had a surprise birthday party for my dad. This is me, my gram and my sister. She was so tickled to be there (as you can tell).

Throughout my childhood we spent many a camping trip with both my grandma and my pappy. She was a fierce card player and didn't like to lose. We played dominoes and uno.

She loved having the family around for holidays and was able to visit me in Ohio numerous times.

I saw her grieve for my grandfather, mourn the loss of a grandchild, as well as a great-grandchild.

The last time I saw her I held her hand at the nursing home across the street from my in-laws house.

My 10 year old daughter was with me and she let grandma repeat her story about lunch over and over again without correction.

We shared cookies together.

I hope my daughter remembers this because I know I will never forget it.

Rest in peace, Gram. Give Pappy a hug from me.