Weekend in May

I need to backtrack a couple of months.

So I've alluded to the horrible year I'm having and May was pretty much the breaking point. I had plans to pack up the kids and drive to Arkansas the day school was out and regroup and refresh with my family. My nephew was graduating and I was taking my baking gear to decorate his graduation cake. We were all excited to go.

Mother's Day rolled around and the van broke. My supervisor in Grand Island quit and I had to handle that plant in more detail. BIG problems arose in the local plant (production wise and a big injury) and I took on the KC yard. These were just some things I was dealing with (don't forget the knee and physical therapy 3 days a week). Finances were tighter than usual. I even kicked my boss out of my office one day so he wouldn't see me cry and he said, "I've never seen you tear up before. You're not usually the crying type." Little does he know, that's all I had been doing for a month.

I thought about renting a van for the trip, but it was just so expensive, and the other things were a problem so the decision to go or not to go was weighing heavily. My sister said she understood if I couldn't make it, but she really needed me, with her oldest graduating high school. Some of you may understand the sister bond in times like these.

So, I impulse-bought a plane ticket - one single plane ticket - and took only the Friday off work and just left. Alone. I packed up my pans and tips and hopped on a plane early Friday and flew home. Kind of surprised myself and everyone around me. I never thought I'd leave the kids like that.

I went straight to the farm and spent the day with my grandma (my dad's mom) and my aunt Vickie. I really wish I had pictures from that day. I baked the cakes at Grandma's house. We went to the cemetary and decorated for a lot of family members for Memorial Day. It was the first time I'd been there to see the headstone for Grandpa. We walked and cleaned and talked about who was who (so many I knew of, but didn't know). Then we went to eat catfish and back to Grandma's to play cards. Very good day spent together. I used to spend so much time with Grandma and Grandpa in the summers, even when I was home from college my days off work were spent there. When he died last summer, I couldn't believe that so many years had gone by since those special times. I got married right out of college and had kids right away and stayed with my parents on visits back home. I could make a whole post about having family close by and the importance of family ties now that I have kids. But I'm crying again so I'll save that for another day.

Back to the weekend in May. Saturday morning I went to my sister's house to start decorating the cake. My sister is an organized person and seems to have it all together so making frosting and decorating that cake was a breeze. Plus, I had no kids to interrupt, looking for lunch or lost shoes. There was plenty of time and we were able to visit while I was working and there was no drama. Just before I finished, my mom brought her mom over - the grandma who taught me decorate, whether I wanted to learn or not! She's always in my thoughts when I decorate cakes and I've heard that I'm like her in not turning anything down. Anyway, she said she'd help but since I was just about done with the hat she thought the pattern might be different if she finished it, so I finished that up. Then when I started on the border she asked if I wanted her to do that for me and I could tell she was itching to decorate that cake. And this is what we did:
one on each color going around the cake. Another special moment.

I was so glad to have made the trip and have that weekend with my grandmas and with my sister and to be there for my nephew.








Here is Kody with my brother's little girl Zoe.



Unfortunately drama did find us right before the graduation, but I won't spell all that out here. Vickie was flown to a hospital in St. Louis in very serious condition, but is home and doing better now. She had taken such good care of my grandparents and especially Grandma since last fall, and now the tables turned and Grandma was able to take care of her for a while. Family ties.