My Weekend

Well, I was in the process of writing a post on Friday before I left for the weekend when all of a sudden the internet was turned off for the weekend by my Dad. I was going to tell you all that my entire family and I were heading up to my Grandma's house in Traverse City, Michigan and that we don't have internet at the house (gasp!) so I wouldn't be posting but I would be back on Monday with a run down of my weekend.

Guess what...I was at my Grandma's house where there is no internet, but I'm back now and able to post about my weekend.

I have always loved going to my Grandma's. The house is right on the lake so there is always lots to do. My grandparent's house in Traverse City has always been a special place for my entire family. Now that both of my Grandparents are gone I think it has even more meaning to our family. The last 9 years or so I have only gotten the chance to go to the house once a year because Shawn and I always lived too far away to make the trip more often. Shawn and I usually would spend the entire July 4th week at the house for our yearly vacation.

While I was looking forward to going to Traverse City I was also very anxious about it as well. This was the first time that I was going there without Shawn and I knew I was more than likely going to have a few difficult moments. At first I thought about just staying home. However, I knew that if I stayed home then the next time I went up there it would still be hard. So like most things the last 9 months I faced it and decided to go up and spend the weekend with my family. My sister, Katie and I drove up on Friday after she got home from work. As I pulled onto the road the house is on I got very anxious, almost like when you get butterfly's in the pit of your stomach. I walked into the house and was fine. Phew the longer I was there the more the anxious feelings went away. Later that night my cousins, and Aunt and Uncle arrived and we just sat around in the living room talking. It was nice to talk with them because I had not seen them since Shawn's funeral.

As bedtime approached I started to get that nervous/anxious feeling back. Typically Shawn and I always slept in the finished basement. Since the house was full and the bedrooms were occupied I knew I would again be sleeping in the basement. I was fine with this and I had prepared myself for it. However, when the time came for me to fall asleep for the first time in the house without Shawn it was too much and I ended up crying a little bit. It's hard enough to go to sleep every night without him, but for some reason it was especially hard falling asleep there without him. As I tried to fall asleep I texted my friend Sarah and we talked about how sucky it feels to be a widow and to continue to live when you miss you husband so bad. After a short while I fell asleep and ended up sleeping fairly well.

Saturday morning was rather cloudy and a bit chilly. Gotta love the Michigan weather...NOT!! The morning was spent hanging out and talking with my family. My brother Matt and his girlfriend Erika made it to the house by late morning. Before my cousins, Aunt and Uncle left we ate a great lunch together. After they left my Mom, sister and I drove into town and went shopping for a few hours. You can't go to Traverse City without shopping. I'm glad I went, many of the stores were having great deals and I got a few really cute summer things for really cheap! After we got back from shopping we all sat around in the living room eating pizza and playing with the dogs. My brother has a Boston Terrier named Porter, so Bo had an amazing fun weekend as well and is one tuckered little puppy. After the dogs had went to sleep my Matt, Erika, Katie and I all decided to play cards. Well actually Matt and Erika taught Katie and I to play Eucher. I'm still not sure I totally understand how to play, but I had a good time anyways and the four of us shared many laughs.

The sun was finally shinning by Sunday morning. The air was still cool and there was a chilly breeze blowing off the lake but it was nice enough to "play" outside. We all took the dogs down by the water to play in the lake. Matt would throw a tennis ball and the dogs would swim out after it. Well, technically Porter would swim out after it and Bo would go out just enough to get his little paws wet, I think he was a bit scared. Then we threw the ball in the backyard for the dogs and watched them run around like wild little creatures. I also took Bo for a really long walk. It was great walking up there and gave me a little bit of time to think about a few things I had on my mind. Sunday afternoon I spent most of the time sitting on the deck reading my book in the sun. It was nice and relaxing and most of the family did much of the same thing.

Sunday night I met a friend from Midland for dinner and drinks and got to meet two of her four children. Once a week I meet with three other ladies here in town. All of our husbands died very suddenly with in 3 weeks of each other. We started meeting in October and have really gotten to know each other and support each other as well. We have our meeting once a week, but have also started to do "fun" things outside of our meeting. Anyways, one of the ladies has a cottage not too far from my Grandma's house so we decided to go out for a while. Like I said I got to meet two of her children, but her and I also got a chance to talk about being up north with out our husbands. I'm really glad her and I got a chance to hang out and we had a great time over dinner. Once I returned back to the house it was another game of Euchre and then a semi early bedtime.

The sun was shining this morning when I woke up as well and was even a bit warmer than the previous days. Thank goodness!!! For a few moments this morning out of nowhere I began to cry. I'm not really sure why. I think it is because mornings like today were always the types of mornings where Shawn and I would hang out, spending time with each other and then go for a nice long walk. I found myself really missing Shawn this morning so I think it was good to get a few more tears out. After that I spent some more time sitting on the deck with my book taking in the warm rays of the sun. After lunch we threw the balls in the water for the dogs some more and played with them in the back yard.

The entire family then ate a lunch of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, chip, corn on the cob and chocolate chip cookies....YUMMY!! After that Katie and I decided it was time to head for home. We packed up the car and then were on our way back to Midland.

Katie and I spend the night in front of the TV watching Jon and Kate plus 8. I don't even know what to think about that. I know it is only a TV show, but I had tears in my eyes at the end when Jon and Kate were talking about their future and about the future of their marriage. It sounds crazy and cheesy...but I really hope they are able to work things out.

So there you have it my weekend in Traverse City. I did have some hard times, but there were many good times as well and new memories were made. I'm glad I decided to go up north instead of staying home. I needed to face Traverse City without Shawn and I did as hard as it was, but just like everything else the last nine months I faced it and I did it. All in all it was a good weekend.

I hope you all had a good weekend as well!