An unexpected Thanksgiving

It's been a while since I posted last. Life has definitely found a way get in the way of my weekly post. Today we are somewhat back to normal so I think it is long overdue that we catch up on everything that has happen these last couple of weeks.

Great - Grandma Verna (also known as Grandma Mackey) passed away peacefully on November 22nd right after the last play of the husker game. So fitting if you knew my grandma. All three of her kids were with her at her side in the nursing home watching the game when she grew her angle wings and took her last breath. For that I am thankful. I also got to tell her goodbye over the phone on Friday as she was earning her wings which I am every so grateful for. Death is never easy, even if you know they are in a better place.

Watching the slideshow of all the memories that grandma had with each one of her family members at the funeral home was hard. She was as my Uncle Jim would say, "not one in a million," rather she was "the only one." Ben and I choose to take Bridger to the visitation the day before the funeral to say our last goodbyes and it never crossed my mind, if Bridger would understand it. However when we arrived he insisted on seeing Grandma Verna and reassured me that, "mommy Grandma Verna is sleeping." It was such a tender moment. I choose to listen to him and not try to correct him, knowing he was just too young to understand, but to him it made since and at the time that is what mattered.

It was a hard week but so glad we could be there for my mom for the short time that we were there. Although we didn't plan on being back home for Thanksgiving we were lucky that we got too see a lot of family and spend extra time sharing memories and laughing a lot.

On Friday after Thanksgiving we hooked the rabbit ears up to the old tv in Grandma's house in desperate hope that we could get the Husker game against Iowa on. After a few trips to Wal-Mart and a some manipulation of wires between Ben and Mom we got a pretty great signal that included a plethora of 2 channels. ABC and FOX. Good enough, the game was on ABC! Husker managed to pull off a win after on overtime but in the end Bo Pelini didn't make the cut and ended up getting fired that following Sunday!

Friday after the football game we headed out to the farm where Aunt Jane lives. Bridger was completely enthralled and wanted to play all afternoon. Aunt Jane got a new puppy a few months ago and Ben said it reminded him of "snowflake" one of his dogs. I can't remember what kind of puppy it is but Aunt Jane named her Mattie! It was a great afternoon.

We headed back home from McCook early (4am on Saturday) and drove the entire way and made it back to Boise around 5:30pm. It was a tough week, emotional and exhausting but so thankful that even the unexpected thanksgiving turned into one that we will always cherish for a life time.