Taking A Break

I've been absent from my blog for a while - My husband died 63 days ago and, as executor of his will, I have had a lot of details to take care of.  Our children had been here to visit him several times since his cancer diagnosis last year so the two that live out of the area did not return the last 2 1/2 weeks of his life.   They had had a good visit with him earlier in the year which was the way I think he would have waned to be remembered. 

Our oldest daughter married a Brit and lives in England with him and their teenage daughter.  They were scheduled to arrive in June for a planned 3 week visit so our son came from Florida for the first two weeks of their visit.  The daughters planned a Celebration of Life for their father then we all made a trip to Mount Rainier the following week to spread his ashes in the valley he had shown me last September when we traveled through the area.  He had even made the contact and had the forms we needed to gain permission to spread his ashes which turned out to be easier than I expected.

Our daughter here found a house near Packwood that was perfect for the group of us going to spread the ashes.  It was large enough to comfortably house our 2 adult grandchildren, our 3 youngest grandchildren, our two daughters, our son, me, and our son-in-law.  We had room to spread out and a large kitchen and dining area in which to prepare meals and dine together and there were games!

We stayed there two nights and spread his ashes on the morning of the second day and spent some time exploring Mt. Rainier Park.

All of the children and grandchildren have gone home except the daughter and 4 grandchildren who live near me.  After our England clan returned home I had a couple of days to prepare then went to my local daughter's lake place to spend a few days there with her and my 2 youngest grandchildren.  We finished watching the third season of Netflix's "Stranger Things" which the two teenage grandchildren had us watching the first two seasons early on in the English cousin's visit so we'd be ready for the third.  My daughter is also catching me up on the Marvel movies in order.  (My husband wasn't much of a movie goer in later years and especially after his diagnosis.)  Yesterday we went to see Toy Story 4 - cute!

They returned to the lake this week and I am staying here.  I've been diagnosed with peridontal disease so have two separate deep cleaning appointments in the next week as well as planned lunch dates with two friends.  There is still a to do list to accomplish to shut down my husband's company and finish settling his estate.  Everything takes so much more time than I think it will so it is going slowly as I try to live my life around those "to do"s."

I still don't want to read and reading has always been something I loved to do!  I'm currently binge watching NCIS and looking for other shows to watch.  I restarted an every other week delivery of fruits and vegetables and my first order arrived today so I am working on getting back to my healthy plant-based eating.  I haven't entirely gone off it but I've allowed myself to eat some comfort foods off the list and I've gained 5 or 6 lbs. since my husband's death.  My husband's death hit my children and grandchildren very hard so I need to take care of myself -- don't want to compound their grief by becoming ill myself.

I am so lucky to have the support of my family and friends and now I have to learn how to live this new life without the man I was married to for 57 1/2 years!  pazt