Catch Up!

I've been mainly in two places this month (where I've written nothing), either by Dan's side or in the yard working any spare moment I could take because we also had family visiting, a graduation, an accident, and a couple birthdays.   Here's some of the excitement that occurred outside of the yard - the yard will be tomorrow's post!

A couple days after Dan had his second knee replaced, he was walking perhaps a bit too distractedly through the dining room to greet people coming in the kitchen door, when he lost his balance, even with his walker in front of him and he fell hard and split both knees wide open.  I had just pulled up in the driveway, filthy and sweaty from a church property spring clean up, when my daughter Gabe and her hubby Mark came running out the door, yelling that Dan had just fallen!  Gabe had been home with Dan while I was gone and she and Mark were getting ready to leave for a lunch date with Grandpa Deane who had just arrived as well.  Panic ensued, Gabe and Mark called doctors and 911, Grandpa Deane provided comfort and humor, and I ran around grabbing towels to wrap Dan's knees and wipe up blood, shaking and trying not to look directly at his torn, bleeding knees.  Dan sat quietly in shock (after his initial scream) and apologized for falling and creating all the chaos.  An ambulance ride and reparative surgery followed, (no fractures or damage to the new implants fortunately) and Dan spent the next 11 days in a rehab hospital.

Here he is with a little grin after his doctor told him that nothing was broken or damaged except for a lot of tissue.

 Although I had cleaned up all the blood off the floor and rug, I found his life's blood on the door a week later when I was on a birthday scavenger hunt through the house following those paw prints.  Poor guy!  I must have been distracted by the company we had all week to miss that blood while passing by that door dozens of times every day.  Jeepers.

All my kids and their spouses were visiting and together during Dan's fall and rehabilitation time to celebrate my middle child Heath's law school graduation.  He's now a Juris Doctor specializing in intellectual property and will practice as a patent attorney in Boston.  Dan had to miss all the festivities like the commencement and family dinner (two family dinners) but Heath visited him at rehab before the ceremony while donned in his cap and gown.  Below is a scene from one of the family dinners at the Soucy's house and then the rest are graduation pics.

 Heath and Emma

 My beloved offspring.

 My three kids, two with spouses.

 Heath with siblings and parents.

 In honor of Heath's wonderful accomplishment, I made him his favorite cookie - sugar - a soft buttery kind with a bit of chew too, topped with cream cheese vanilla butter cream and lots of sprinkles.

When Dan got home from his long stay in rehab, I made him his favorite cookie too, my version of the famed NYC Levain Bakery chocolate chip walnut, and as he loves raw cookie dough, I brought him a bite to enjoy before baking them.

The day after Heath's graduation was my birthday and I woke up to this, which made me laugh out loud.

 When I got home from church, I found this note taped to the front door.  Hooray!  A scavenger hunt!

 I truly followed dozens and dozens of paw prints on all four floors of the house that lead me to little notes typed with things my kids and hubby liked about me.  It was so fun!

 It ended in the master bathroom to a card that said this.

 The little notes I found which I taped to the original instruction sheet.  The best present ever!

 During the night when I was all alone in the house, I woke up to find that some of the balloons glowed in the dark!

Another event that took place right after Dan's second surgery but before his fall and the arrival of all my children was an auction at our church where the Young Women's organization put on a spaghetti dinner and dessert auction to raise money for the girls' attendance at this summer's camp.  They served us dinner and each family was asked to bake yummy desserts to be auctioned off.  Dan had to miss that event too.  I made these two desserts and I'm pleased to say that they each got the highest bids of the night  $65 and $70 - bippity!

 The top is the famous Raspberry Goddess Pie and then a Strawberry Cream Tart.  The girls made over $1000 dollars that night from desserts - so fun and worthy.  One plate of just four cupcakes with gummy worms on top went for $48 - people were really generous.

 I provided the center pieces for the tables at the dinner/dessert auction and I brought them home after and we enjoyed them all week right there on the island.

Well that's the scoop on May for far.  For my next blog entry, I plan to write about all the pretty things going on in the yard with lots of pics too - hopefully tomorrow!

That Day In Pictures - The Story Of Us

Four years ago this month, I shook the hand of my dear friend Brittany's dad at a Sunday evening social that I didn't even want to go to but my two college kids forced me to go with them.  I'd known Brittany's dad for about ten years, known him by name and face only because he visited her from California a couple times a year and he would attend church with her and her family so from those visits, our whole congregation/ward knew the Reeves.  I also knew that about three or four years before that hand shake, he and his wife had divorced, a shock to us all.  I had been a divorced single parent seven years myself and as per an agreement with my kids to ensure peace, tranquility, and stability, I didn't date after my divorce and wouldn't attempt to until they all left home for college.   For us this was the right decision and actually quite liberating for me.  At the time of the hand shake, my youngest was a senior in high school.

At that Sunday social, the evening was winding up, my kids and I were about to leave and were saying our goodbyes around the room and Dan and I were introduced then;  he as Brittany's dad and I as the mother of Brittany's babysitter (my daughter Gabe).  We didn't even mention our names!  I thought he was kind and I could see where Brittany got her gentle nature from his voice and manner but that was the extent of my impression.  Dan however, (later revealed to me) had a strong impression as he shook my hand that I was someone he should attempt to become acquainted with.  He pondered on this as he drove home from the meeting, had no information with which to contact me or if he would and certainly wasn't going to ask his daughter for my contact information.  Serendipitously it was provided a couple days later when I sent Brittany a thank you note email for the nice evening and invite and my comment that it was nice to meet her dad since I had met and gotten to know her mom and various siblings over the years but never her dad (a note I sent out of friendship and good manners) and she forwarded my email along to him.    Now he had my name and email address and a few days later I was sitting at my desk at work and an email popped in from Dan Reeve.  I felt both trepidation and great surprise at this and then a red hot flush envelope my neck and face and go all the way down my legs as I began to read it; how he had struggled with fear and anxiety all week wondering how to word this email and that he wondered if it were possible to have a conversation at some point, something like that.  It was both careful and charming and I knew how hard this must have been to do.   I called my two older kids and read it to them because I had no idea how to respond or even if I wanted to and they both told me that I must!  Because he was Brittany's dad and they adored Brittany and I just should!  So I did, and we started with a few emails back and forth telling our stories, discovering how similar they were, then weekly phone calls, then both daily emails and phone calls, then cross country visits so we could go on real dates.  For five months my three kids knew and kept this to themselves sworn to secrecy and Dan's kids knew nothing about it nor anyone else.  We kept this friendship a secret because we thought it was best in case it just puttered out and no one would be the wiser, and to not worry his kids, and because we're both really private people, and also, no one loves to watch or give input to a budding relationship more than a Mormon ward or two.  Nine months after meeting, Dan proposed while I was visiting him in California.  At his point, his kids knew and were being really good sports about it, mine were hoping I would eventually marry him so they could be related to Brittany and everyone else found out about the whole thing once we were engaged. We married in Dan's beautiful Alamo CA backyard garden a year almost to the day of meeting surrounded by my parents, many of our siblings and all of our children.  Brittany's husband Jake, who was also my Bishop, performed the wedding ceremony.  I never could have imagined that I would someday marry Brittany's dad nor that my life would change so dramatically nor that I would gain five absolutely wonderful step children and be so incredibly happy and at peace as I am today.  It has been an amazingly joyful and fantastically fun three years of marriage and four years of knowing one another.  I look forward to every day to come with Dan.  Thank you Gabe and Heath for dragging me to that social.  And I thank God, my Father in Heaven for His hand in all this - in everything!

 Below, sealed in the Boston Temple for all eternity a little over a year later.