Weeks Gone By

We're home now...and under piles and piles and PILES of stuff. Laundry, mail, Mom's stuff...piles of it all.

I'm not spending too much time on the computer, but here are a few photos from the last couple of weeks. I'll try to catch up and tell actual stories sometime soon. Once I have my living quarters situated a bit more than they are right now!

Ang and Mike in front of the beautiful Breckenridge mountains.

Dave, Melissa and Mookie in front of the beautiful Breckenridge mountains.

A fun frame photo :o)

It's Tai Chi Mookie

Keeping disco alive...

More, more, MORE birthday ice cream, Mama!

Birthday Girl (May 19, 2009)

Want some cake, Mama?

Mama thinks it's good.

The Mess...

Yes, I think I had more cake on me than Mookie had on her. She really didn't go crazy like everyone hoped for. Maybe it's because it was so late in the evening, maybe it's because she is a pretty tidy little girl. The cake that's on her face was (lovingly) placed there by Uncle Rob. :o)

That's it for now. I'll post more pictures of her interacting with her birthday presents...um...sometime. :o) She's a real cutie pie!

The Final Chapter

I'm in Phoenix with my family. I sent this email out to some friends on Monday. I know some of you have seen it, but some of you haven't...

Nearly two years after her initial diagnosis with Stage IV lung cancer, my mom, Sue, passed away sometime around 5 am on Saturday, May 16, 2009. She had been taken to a hospice care home on Thursday night because her husband (Dale) said she had been in a deep sleep all day, and couldn't wake her. Friday she seemed a bit better, and was able to sit up, be a part of the conversation, and was able to drink water through a straw.

I was in Colorado for my best friend's wedding when Mom was taken to the hospice care home, and made the difficult decision (believing I was doing what she would want me to do) to stay in Colorado for the wedding, and then catch the first flight to Phoenix the day after the wedding. I know you never know how long a person is going to live, but we all expected her to live a few more days, so I thought a Sunday flight would be okay, and I could be the Matron of Honor for Angela, but still get to Phoenix in time. Obviously, we were all wrong, and she passed away before I could get down there.

Mookie and I still flew down to Phoenix on Sunday, as planned, and will stay all week. Dave will work this week, and drive out on Friday for the memorial on Saturday. Mom's two brothers fly in on Friday, and her sister is already here.

Dale is, of course, having a very difficult time with this, and can use your prayers. He is now in the house alone (with 3 dogs, though), and says it is too quiet now. His business is run out of the house, though, so there is activity during the day, but nothing at night. He ate dinner with us the last two nights, and expect he'll eat with us all week.

He's asked that we take care of Mom's things this week while we're all here, but I'm not sure what day we'll do that.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and the way you have reached out to us throughout Mom's illness. We're all sad, but a bit relieved, too. She was in quite a bit of pain for the last year, and the last few months have been very hard on Mom, thus hard on all of us. So we try to remember the woman she was, not the woman she became.

I don't know anything else, really, I don't think. We're doing okay. There is a lot of stuff to be done, and I just hope we do it all right, and in a way that will honor Mom. :o)

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Melissa

Gosh, there's a lot on my mind about all of this! Things like...well, things I haven't entirely processed yet, and don't want to blog about till I know if it's right to blog about them or not.  I know my blog is my blog, but I also don't want to say something that will hurt anyone.

And I need to come to grips with the fact that it was her illness to deal with in her way, and just pick up the pieces as best I can.

It wasn't entirely unexpected. She'd been on a steady decline for quite a few months, and had spent some time in-and-out of the hospital the last couple of months. But you never know when a person is going to take her final breaths, and Mom was pretty sure she wasn't going to die any time soon.

We started the process of going through her stuff Wednesday, and will (hopefully) finish on Friday.  Because Mom never really admitted she had cancer (she called it "The C" or her "Obstacle"), she never identified what she wanted to do with all her belongings, or how she wanted us to celebrate her life (i.e., what hymns to sing, where to illegally spread her ashes, etc.).  This has made it a bit more challenging, but like I said above, I need to come to grips with the fact that it was her illness, and I need to work around that. Like I have for the last 2 years.

Makes me think A LOT about choices. And stuff.  Choices and stuff. And what I've learned. Choices and stuff and what I've learned.

I want to just blog stream-of-consciousness about all of this one of these days, but I don't know if I've got the courage to do it. 

Memorial Day Weekend will never be the same for me again.  Be sure to call your loved ones and thank them for their service, be it military, police, fire, etc. We have freedom today because they chose to fight for it.

Happy First Birthday!

Do you see that little ticker above? It says "Happy First Birthday, Mookie!"  (well, I added the Mookie part just now, but still.)

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, Baby Girl!

I don't have a photo from when she first woke up (like I wanted) because she first woke up at 4:34 this morning. And not only was it dark outside, and dark in my room, it was dark in my brain since I was incapable of opening my eyes at that hour. Sheesh!  She was FUSSY! And the only way I could soothe her was to sing Happy Birthday to her. :o)

There is a lot of other, unexpected stuff going on around us right now, so no more about birthdays for now, but I will say more about the birthday and the other stuff as soon as I can collect my thoughts and then sit down at the computer long enough to do it. :o)

A Variety of Bugs (and a lot of parentheses)

The flu kind.
The cold kind.
The busy kind.

These are the things that have kept me from blogging this past week.

Last Monday afternoon, poor, sweet Mookie lost her lunch. Twice. And had a fever for 3 days. :-( Poor sweet Mookie. And that evening, as I was reclining with a sleeping Mookie on my chest (because she didn't want to be anywhere else) (and, quite frankly, neither did I), I heard Dave come home early (as in 6:30 pm) (which is early in Dave's world). I thought to myself, "Whew! What a blessing! I am so glad he's home because I really need to run to Target, and I need to talk with him about some other stuff, and maybe he can help me clean up the carnage from today. Whew. What a blessing." Only to find out that HE had a fever, too! He came home because he was sick, too! Dang!

I did get to go to Target, though. :o) And we spent 3 days as a little family, which is nice. A feverish, pukey family, but a family, nonetheless.

Thankfully, I was spared the Flu Bug. But I've got the Cold Bug now. I feel like a porcupine has crawled up and made a nest in my throat. And, as cold bugs are wont to do, it has come at a time that is not really the best time for me.

See, I'm also quite overtaken by the Busy Bug. I leave Tuesday morning to go to Colorado for my best friend, Angela's wedding on Saturday. Yay for Ang and Mike!! Woo hooo!! :o) But I've got to pack, and clean, and do some stuff for the shower, and write my Matron of Honor speach, and yadda yadda yadda. However, the Cold Bug is a bit stronger than the Busy Bug and I'm just not motivated to do what needs to be done. (which is different from every day how?)


So, I will try to appease you with a picture of Mookie taken last week. And promise one or two lovely wedding photos sometime next week. Oh, and maybe a BIRTHDAY photo or two next week, eh?

But, first, from last week: The shirt (and the point) says it all...

Haha! How cute is that? :o)(no posing at all...just happenstance)

Thanks, Aunt Terri, for the outfit (sent long ago, but still fits!)

Yes, Mookie, you WERE worth the wait.

Kelly said:

I just had to say that I LOVE that picture of Mookie! How did you get her to point like that? Or was it just coincidence? And the face!! Seriously, that's one of the best pictures ever. You should submit that to a cutest kids contest or something.

Anyways, I hope you have a good trip, and I hope your cold goes away soon!!

My Gorgeous Family

Last weekend, we participated in a fund-raiser where a professional photographer took family pictures. It's hard to tell how a baby is going to do in a professional shoot, but Mookie had FUN!

And by that, I mean

FUN!!!

The photographer made THE BEST crazy noises, and Mookie LOVED it. I know I'm capitalizing a lot here, but, seriously, it was a great photo shoot. Heck, Dave even smiled! Now that guy is a Pro! :o)

Here are 6 (copyrighted) photos of us. I only bought these 6 (there were over 30) (and they were all super great), so I'm thinking of getting the bigger package of all the proofs, and a CD with all the images. It really is a pretty good deal considering that Dave was smiling.Oh, and the AWESOME shots of Mookielicious over there. Dude. I wish we could have a video of that day. She was either giggling, or squeaking, or shrieking, or popping the. entire. time. It was great.

Our little family

Pensive Mookie. Wondering what that green stuff was on the ground, and itching to get a handful.

Dave and Melissa on a beautiful California day.

I've never touched the grass with my bare feet, Mama! This is tickly!!

(It was cute -- she kept lifting her left foot and then tapping it back on the grass.)

Mookie and Papa. Look at that energy! Who's having the most fun here?

This guy really is a pro.

And to the family members anxious to get a copy or eight, once I get the CD from the photographer, I'll make a way to let you pick and print some for your very own. :o)