So it's been a while...

... and maybe it will be a while yet again.  In fact, if I were you and you had the opportunity, I'd put big money on that bet.  But for here, today, I'm trying this again.

I can't believe the date on the last post.  July 15.  We were gearing up for a trip to the Keys and I didn't even mention it?  Wow.  It was a sucktastic trip, though.  The boys had a decent time but I cried for most of it.  The first morning we were out on the road, in a hotel room, an early phone call gave me the news that my dear Granny had died.  She had been sick, but not THAT sick, at least not the way the doctors were treating her.  She died July 19th, just a few hours into the early morning past the 1 year anniversary of the passing of her soul mate, Boom-pa.   He died on July 18th and honestly, I didn't realize how much she was suffering without him.  She missed him so, even though he'd been bedridden and barely able to even talk for the longest while.

I flew home for the funeral, that was so hard.  That HOME.  The truest home I had ever known, it was always there and always full of THEM and their love and warmth.  It needed to be emptied and sold.  It was overwhelmingly gut wrenching at times, and then suddenly a rush of warm happy bubbles came spilling out in those tears as we'd uncover a bit of love history we hadn't even seen before.  Finding old notes and love letters that Granny kept for soooo many years, even my old letters I'd written to her back as far as age 7, maybe even earlier.  She loved us so much. She also didn't shy away from telling you something if she felt you needed to hear it.  But she always knew how to respect me and my boundaries and the boundaries of my family...if that meant taking me away privately to say her piece quietly, so be it. I learned a hard lesson last year about people who don't tell you when something's bothering them and instead let it fester and blow up into a hugely disproportionate bomb of nastiness, while walking away from you and out of your life, your kids' lives, forever.  I still feel the shrapnel from that, and perhaps it was one more reason why losing Granny was so hard...she taught me how true family love works and for that I am eternally grateful.

A note we found from Boom-pa, to his beloved.

Forever and always, together again.  Miss you both so much.