We came home today from Florida, following the wake for our son. I’ll have more to write about that later in the week, but I can tell you that I was astounded at the number of people who came to pay their respects. Not just family mourned, but friends, co-workers, and business acquaintances. There were employers, employees, and previous employees, his Realtor, fellow Bears fans, people from six or eight charities, and golfers.
My stepson liked people, and he wanted to see them excel. Over and over I heard “passion” and “excellence.” “Leadership” was another word we heard frequently.
Tomorrow there will be a wake for him in the town where he grew up, and Wednesday morning we will make the trip to the cemetery.
My step-son was an amazing man, and I’ll miss him.

We’re still trying to get our days onto an even keel here. We resume exercise tomorrow, and I hope that will help. Wednesday is our weekly day for dinner with my niece and her sons. She’s trying to talk us out of cooking, so we may go out to dinner tomorrow night.
My sleep patterns have been swinging widely from almost nothing to too much and back to almost nothing again. I ended up stealing an hour in the big chair in the kitchen this morning before I ran errands.
Dear Husband checked in this evening and had some amazing things to tell me.

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I have to apologize to readers who may have been confused. When I posted on January 1st, we had not been able to confirm the death of Dear Husband’s oldest son through the hospital. Since then, DH has traveled to Florida and confirmed that his son died.
Thank you, all, for your kind words, thoughts and prayers.

I really should be in bed.
We decided today that trying to keep to our normal schedule while we are waiting for the family to return from Florida was a good idea. I paid bills today, and Elegante Mother and I worked together to fix dinner. She cooked a rump roast in the crock pot. I would have passed on it, and put the roast in the freezer, but I realized that we both needed something to keep us busy, and we both needed an organized dinner.
I went for about 35 hours with only two or three hours of sleep. Last night I finally crashed at 10:30 and I slept like a rock for more than 12 hours I’m sure that accounts for why I’m still awake, but I think I’ll be heading off to bed soon. I have to be up at 6:00, so I suspect that I’ll be in bed early tomorrow night.
There’s been little Dear Husband could do in Florida because of the holiday. Tomorrow he should be able to find his son’s safety deposit box and hopefully, the will. No matter what, tomorrow will be the day the wake has to be planned. I think there will be a wake in Florida on Friday or Saturday, and then one here early next week.
We’ve all found that it helps to be doing something productive. But, it’s sometimes difficult to find the concentration we need to carry out our work. The family has drawn together, rather like a specialized mini support group. I hope our grandson sees this, and realizes that we are there for him, in the same way.
Thank you all for your kind notes and calls. We appreciate the cloak of support and love that you’ve wrapped around us.

It is with great sorrow that I tell you that Dear Husband’s oldest son suffered a massive heart attack during the night. By law, Florida hospitals are not allowed to give information out over the phone, but we believe from a third hand report that the paramedics were not able to resuscitate him.
Dear Husband is flying to Orlando to be with his son.
You NEVER think that you will outlive your children.

Dance to the Music! Do it for us, won’t you? We celebrate the coming new year VERY quietly. We stay home and generally watch TV or movies and go to bed early. Exciting, huh??
I made baked French onion soup for dinner, and a huge salad. I’ve munched on Christmas cookies for dessert. Dear Husband built a fire in the fireplace for me, and I enjoyed the warmth of it, and the cheeriness of the flames.
I try to hold out to midnight so that I can usher the new year in with the rest of you, but it’s a trial. When bedtime is normally 9:00, it’s hard to last those three extra hours.
We don’t observe the black-eyed peas tradition for luck in the New Year, but I do have one little tradition I observe. At midnight, I walk out my front door with a pot in my hand, and a wooden spoon, and I bang on it to drive away the bad spirits. You may think this is pretty brazen of me, but my front door faces a line of trees and two retention ponds. The neighbors to the east of us are too far away to actually see me beating on the pan.
I may have to set the alarm to be awake at midnight, but it’s worth it to get rid of those bad spirits! *G*
To those of you who come to read my blog, Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I hope that you will have all the best this coming year. We wish health and prosperity will shine down on you and that you will find Peace.
Now, LET’S CELEBRATE!!!!

Go take this quiz to see if you can recognize whether the ten men shown are computer programmers or serial killers. I got seven out of ten right and still think some of the programmers look like serial killers! *G*
http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/

One of Dear Husband’s sons lives with us. I’d asked him some questions concerning a wireless mouse some time ago. He must have made a mental note of it, because that was one of the things he gave me for Christmas.
I enjoy it. The previous mouse had a squeak. I know they don’t usually build that kind of thing into them, but something about the cord made a rusty, squeaky sound as I used it. This one is quiet as a…..well….mouse.
A friend told me I should have gotten a tracker ball, but I’m happy with my ice blue mouse with a red heart light. My needs are simple, so it suits.

At last……
Tomorrow (Friday), we will come to the end of our celebration of Christmas. One of Dear Husband’s sons is married. His wife wanted to celebrate Christmas with her siblings this year, so we didn’t see them Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Instead, we will get together tomorrow to swap gifts and see how everyone’s holiday went.
Second son, who lives with us, and DH’s only daughter, her husband and their baby daughter will join us, so all but one son and grandson will be here.
We’re doing pizza. It’s the universal meal….the common denominator…for this group. Some of them don’t do green. Other’s prefer white sauce to red sauce, so to make sure everyone will find something to eat, we’ll do pizza.
Perhaps we’ll chat for a bit, play with the baby, maybe watch a movie together, and then Christmas will be over. I’m looking forward to the start of the New Year’s celebration.

I had an interesting discussion with Elegante Mother as we ran errands today. She said that she had read that hobby fiction was the big thing these days. I nodded, thinking about the mysteries by Earlene Fowler that I’ve been reading, which all have a quilt block for their name.
“Dove in the Window,” “Irish Chain,” “Mariner’s Compass,” and “Goose in the Pond,” are just a few of the titles in that series. You can find them at Amazon.com by typing in “Benni Harper Mysteries.”

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