Family weekend

Today is the letdown after a great family weekend.  Mike, Sandy and their 2 boys flew out for the weekend, and on Saturday we joined members of my family (minus two of my brothers who are from out of town) at my brother & s-i-l's house in a celebration of the life of their son who died from a heart attack back in March.  He had just turned 31 yrs old days before.

Enough time has elapsed that, even though everyone is still sad about his passing, we could enjoy being together and remembering events in his short life.  When we were gathering for photos, my brother looked at me and reminded me that I was the oldest person present.  I said, "that makes me the matriarch?"  I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I can't change it so I might as well play it the best I can!

I had to say goodbye for now to Mike & Sandy a couple of hours ago.  Steve had tickets to the baseball game in S.F., and had taken his son (Liam) and Mike's two (Joshua and Justin), so they had plans to meet up post game and hand off the boys to their parents - they will stay in a hotel tonight and leave to return to NY tomorrow morning. 

I still dream about driving across the country to see Mike & family in NY next year, but can't figure out a decent route to keep me out of congested areas.  I try to avoid interstates and once drove across Michigan's Upper Peninsula and down thru Michigan, but still got too close to Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland for comfort.   One time I had planned to drive across Canada for part of the way, but I'm not comfortable driving in Canada.  I can dream about another trip, but it will probably remain just a dream.

I love the new sandals I bought - wore one pair yesterday and have on another new pair today.  I don't often buy things for myself, especially things as costly as those two pairs of sandals.  They will last me for the rest of my life no doubt!

I have plans this coming week to get back to my sorting of photographs.  I started this project months ago and got so burned out that I quit when only about 1/4 finished.  My sister-in-law and I were talking about it yesterday and she told me she has been doing the same thing with the thousands of photographs she has from over the years.  She said she is organizing them and putting them into envelops, which she then stores in photo boxes.   I like the idea of envelopes because albums take up way too much room for all I have.  I will feel so virtuous if I can make a further dent into the picture project!  Also, I will really enjoy holding and looking at the pictures - there is no comparison to digital photos on a computer or iPhone!  I love the old style photos, and I think I actually feel more involved when holding the picture and remembering the event, than I will ever do scrolling through pictures on a screen.  But I'm old-fashioned, and I guess I can be that way now that I'm the matriarch of my family!