Memories

For the past three+ years we have been living (renting) a house in the court where I grew up as a child...and that my best friend growing up lived in. It was weird moving in and seeing all the rooms that I used to play in and now watch my kids play in. My friend Sarah also has a little girl and our kids are now friends (Even more weird!). One day in May we had Abby over and the girls had a blast eating a picnic dinner on the front porch and watching a movie together....a totally like mother-like daughters moment....I want to find some pics of Sarah and I doing the same thing and post them together one day! They definitely had a lot of fun!

Finally....a fun get together

When I was growing up we lived here in Bremerton for about 5 years. We made some life long friends and stayed super close over all these years and it has been wonderful to live back here close to them. Every Christmas we would all get together to visit and all of kids would play. It has been several years since have done this but this year it actually happened!! It is so different to be together, except now "us kids" are grown up and talking jobs and mingling with each other's husbands and watching OUR kids play!! Amazing, surreal and such a blessing and gift. I have got to find a picture of Sarah and I when we were young to put next to the one I took of her daughter Abby and Angelica. We enjoyed the get together, the yummy food and Alli even serenaded us with a Christmas Carol concert....as well as she could with three little girls trying to "help" her play! Looking forward to doing this again next year!!

Decades Apart

Here is a picture of the Christmas dresses my mom made for me and my sister years ago and one of us with my grandparents.....followed by my girls in the SAME dresses and then with their grandparents!! Too Cool!

I hope they are dancing!

Today would have been the 57th Wedding Anniversary of my beloved Mamasan and PopPop. They were blessed to be able to share 52 of those years together. One of their favorite things to do their entire life was to ballroom dance, so I hope they are twirling around heaven enjoying one another today! Some pics I had fun looking at today.....miss and love you Mamasan and PopPop.

Memories at Marmee's

When we first brought Michaela home...those first two weeks were really tough. My mom took the big girls several times for the day....the girls had a blast at Marmee's house...having all kinds of adventures outside and being silly inside!! I am so blessed to have a mom that can and wants to help out (they are over there again today!) and my girls are so blessed to be making so many memories with their Marmee (and man they missed her when she was in NYC!!) Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day (a little late)

We have always loved this day in our family....not just because St. Patrick is an amazing Saint to read and learn about and celebrate....but also because we have a wonderful Irish heritage to celebrate. My Mamasan (whose maiden name was Collier and where the Irish heritage comes from) gave all of my sisters and I an Irish name. I was the Irish Shamrock and with a name like Erin...she always would send a special present to Her Irish Shamrock on St. Patty's Day....I miss her and those memories on this special day. I will forever be grateful to her for finding our Irish relatives and making that connection for us. One of our cousins, Father Val, married my parents and he and his brother Christor have made several trips to visit us here in the states. When I graduated from college, my Meme and Pepe took me on a trip to Ireland and Scotland and at the end of it we met up with my family and stayed on the original family farm for several days. I treasure those relationships I made and memories forever. It was so neat to go stand in the exact spot at the old train station where my (great +) grandfather left Ireland for America...the only family member that left.
One day I hope to go back and visit again. So on this day I also enjoy looking at the pictures from that fabulous trip (slide below) and reading my journal of our adventures....I laugh when I read about the foods I ate, the sayings I heard, the things I saw...so fun being part of a different culture! Enjoy.

We did at least manage to wear green, enjoy some time outside (Emma LOVES looking and finding birds) and did have a traditional corn beef and potato Irish dinner!! Can't wait until next year to hopefully include more of the Irish ideas I was planning. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!!!

Nature vs Nurture

The other night at dinner we had such a funny and memorable moment (definitely baby book worthy) with Angelica. We were talking about our day and Jason mentioned something about work.
Angelica "Papa, you were gone all day at work."
Jason: "Yes I was....would you like to go to work?"
Angelica (with one of those "you know better" tones): "Papa...only boys go to work and I am a girl, mama is a girl, Emma is a girl and you are a boy so you go to work!"
We were laughing so hard and then Jason reminded her to make sure she tells her husband that one day. It was so cute but it is what she knows....

Story continues:
Today we were on video chat (sister got us a webcam for our anniversary and know we use Skype to chat and see the kiddies....so cool!)....so I was telling the funny story to Megs who then told Angelica that Aunty Megs goes to work...Angel gave her "the look" and said "No you don't, only boys." So in her mind I guess, if you are a girl you stay home and do the home stuff and boys go do the work stuff...one of those nature vs nurture moments where I am sure her perspective would be very different if I wasn't a stay at home mama....so sweet!! Although she will soon learn that staying home does include work, it isn't all play!!

Celebrating

After the funeral last Friday, we had a reception remembering and celebrating PopPop at my parents house. We were surrounded by lots of good friends, good memories and good food! Angel had a blast playing with all the little ones and she and Abby really had fun taking turns pushing each other in the baby stroller. Angel also thoroughly enjoyed circling the food table and snacking all night long! Thanks to everyone who was able to stop by, your support and love means so much to us and definitely helps us get through the tough times!! It was very helpful to celebrate PopPop and the wonderful and full life he was able to enjoy!

Hard to believe...

...that it has been a week today since we said goodbye and buried our beloved PopPop. I feel like I have been in a bit of a dream...getting through the days and emotions and daily duties...and then when it is quiet and calm, remembering that we have lost the patriarch of the family. Feeling a big void and not sure quite how to fill that emptiness. In a way I am glad things happened so fast so he didn't suffer, but at the same time I feel like there were things not said, done or quite "ready". There are millions of things I will miss and that will be hard to be without over the next couple months. I will miss our Sunday dinners with PopPop sitting across from me, the shouting conversations so PopPop could hear, the LOUD television because PopPop wanted to listen, the loads of sugar we had to put in his iced tea, his frequent request for some Baileys, chocolate milk and cookies...the kisses and compliments he always gave and all the stories he told and memories we made. I was so blessed to have so much time with him and so many memorable trips to Florida...especially those on the sailboat and looking for sharks teeth and sand dollars....him giving me my first time driving a car by myself on the highway transporting their grandfather clock to their new place...sleeping in their loft...eating Juicy Fruit Gum and chocolate milk...dancing in the ballroom...three o'clock happy hour with him drinking his white russian, the hours he spent in his workshop making many a table and footstool, and so many more. He was always glad that I played piano, liked Elvis, had thick dark eyebrows and went to Maryville College where his sisters attended. I was blessed to have him at my wedding, at my girls baptisms and living close these last several years. I feel very blessed to have been there during his last moments on earth and the ability to tell him I loved him and kiss him goodbye....so while last week was definitely hard, we took great comfort in putting him to rest in a way he would have been pleased with. We had some music, some prayers, a blessing, and some heartfelt moments. We found a bunch of old letters PopPop had written to all of us over the years, and my sisters and I read excerpts from them....some were very funny and some were sweet (especially the one that he wrote to my dad after they got engaged)....I will share them with you below...we called it Remembering PopPop: In His Own Words. He was a beautiful and FUNNY writer (and published!)...and has inspired me to WRITE LETTERS MORE!! My sister Alli sang "Goodnight My Someone" while they lowered his casket...she used to sing that to my Mamasan and PopPop every night before she went to bed when they lived at my parents house...I don't know how she managed to sing it but she did a beautiful job and I know they loved it!! We sprinkled sand on the casket...a little bit of his favorite to rest forever with him. I had put inside his casket one of his old pipes he had given me when he stopped smoking, a sand dollar and a sharks tooth we had found together. Thank you to everyone who sent beautiful flowers, who left messages and cards, who braved the cold day with us (although the sun did come out...must be PopPop smiling!), who helped us say goodbye and to all for the prayers for him and our family...please keep those coming!!! It was tough to explain to Angelica about what had happened...but that night while we were saying our prayers, we always end with "I love you Jesus, love you Mary, love you Angels, love you Saints...Watch over me." That night after we said that, she looked at us and said "And we Love you PopPop"...she made more of a connection than we thought as we had told her PopPop went to Heaven to be with Jesus and Mary and the Angels and Saints. She kept coming up to everyone that day and telling us she "was not happy" and that she "missed PopPop"...she spent a lot of time circling the grave waving and saying goodbye and blowing kisses. That night when someone said they were sad...she said, "It's ok, because PopPop is in heaven"...and then went back to playing. I hope to embrace that childlike joy and faith that she shows and we will both now enjoy frequent visits and bringing flowers to both Mamasan and PopPop...together again and forever!!

a group from Cypress Gardens, where PopPop lived, came to say goodbye

Janice...the activity person where PopPop lived, they danced many dances over the last couple years and she always took great care of him.

Dad, Jason, Chris, Casey and good friends Doug and Alan were pallbearers

Kim & Becca Gray and Alli did a beautiful job leading the songs

Deacon Hamlin did a beautiful job

reading excerpts from PopPop's old letters

PopPop had a brilliant and funny way with words...

sprinkling of sand, PopPop would have loved this!

looking at PopPop's picture board, so many memories

waving lots of goodbyes and blowing kisses to PopPop

Excerpt from PopPop's letters (except for the one to my dad after they got engaged becuase we read that one as a surprise to my mom)

I agree that just talking with each other is the best entertainment of all. As I grow older, I seem to remember more and more conversations I had with my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I only wish I had asked more questions, because sometimes in thinking back, I come up with blank spaces where I want answers, and I especially wish I had learned more about our family history.

I still think that some people are cut out to study and some are not, and I just wasn't. But if I was really interested in a thing, I could study it hard- like literature, or yacht designing or navigation. I just dont think I was ever too bright mentally and I attribute that to having been slapped on my head too many times. Whenever any of us kids got near our grandparents, theyd slap us along side our head, and we'd say "how come you did that? We didnt do anything." and they'd say "THAT is for all the times you do stuff you shouldn't and we're not there to catch you."

We've had lots of rough, windy weather this winter, and a few times I wasn't quite sure I'd make it across the Bay in the kayak, but it's always fun and a challenge, and I love just looking at the sea and sky, and all the wild critters.

I'm having lots of fun with my kayak, and go out an average of twice a week (I think Mamasan is happy to be rid of me for a while). The thing I enjoy most is to explore, mostly places where no other boat, other than a canoe or kayak, could go.

I'm happy to hear you now have a cat. We've always loved cats, and had one or two all the years your mom was with us. I think I like cats because they are so independent-- you dont own them, they own you!

I've always loved running, and every day walked from home to school and back, about 1 ½ miles, even went home to lunch. But instead of usually just walking, I'd run, and try to beat my record every day. I couldn't have smelled very well when I arrived back at school.

Please thank Albert and the girls again for that wonderful gift of having our daughter all to ourselves for a bit.

We've gotten rid of so much stuff the last few years, so thoughtlessly, and I think now we're down to the bare minimum! Your mom keeps giving stuff to the church and other many charities, that I really keep an eye on my clothes in the closet. Suddenly it seems I've only about two pairs of britches and three shirts to wear- but I guess it's all for a good cause!

She wrote of events and persons of the Revolution I was never aware of, and it was fascinating to me. Which shows- we're never too old to learn.

I realize she's had wonderful models in Erin and Meghan, but Caitlin is really an original- and so smart! That must come from the other side of the family!

As your mom and I keep saying to one another, what have we done to deserve such a daughter? And being with our baby grands is magic in itself. It's so wonderful to be able to just sit down and TALK with the girls, they're each their very own person, and yet a very strong member of your team. And again, we ask ourselves, " how come we're so blessed with grandkids like this?? But we'll quit asking and just enjoy!

The Herb Club, thank God, is having their annual dinner with just the club members this year, no captive husbands. I suspect they heard the growls of growing mutiny at the last year's dinner.

For her birthday, she's requested I make her a kneeler, which she can use every morning with her prayers. It'll fold up, so won't take a lot of room. I'll send a photo when I complete it. In the back of my mind I was wondering how i'd make her a gadget to help her up from it???

I thought, when I was a kid, that old people just sat rocking in a rocking chair, and dreamed about the good old days, and only got up when they were called to meals. What a SHOCK. It ain't like that at all, but we're just trying to do the best we can.