And here we are back on the page....a beautiful fall morning greets us and daylight savings "gives" us an extra hour to enjoy. Family is visiting from Indiana and a flurry of activity surrounds and is omnipresent. Laughter, chatter, yells, scampering footsteps...sounds of merriment and togetherness.
It has been a while, and more people have left this realm of life and have moved on to whatever is after this mortal coil. Grandpa Ted passed in August from a few complications, all stemming from stomach cancer. Eden and I were fortunate enough to be able to fly and get to him in time to say goodbye and spend a few final hours together. He will be missed terribly by his entire family and many friends...words still cannot really do much justice when attempting to capture Ted and all that he means to us. I will do my best moving forward to share more stories and memories of Ted.
My father, Joel, passed shortly after in early September. While it was not completely a surprise, with his failing health, it still was devastating. We rushed to have his body buried in Juneau, and I am thankful to my family, especially my wife, my sister, and my Uncle Fred. They were all instrumental over the years for the care and management of my father over the last several years.
And now we find ourselves in this new territory of life...unsupervised by my parents and elders. It is quiet here, with glassy waters. There are no obvious directions in which to head, and only the whispers of voices past to bring me guidance at this point. Life is finite but at least I know this and appreciate it, and will always have this in the back of my mind, pushing me to do more with whatever time is given. While this isn't an awakening on par with It's a Beautiful Life, I am reminded daily now just how little time we actually have to be here with our family and friends on this Earth....on this level of consciousness with one another.
So I relish in the simple things. The hot cups of coffee on a quiet Sunday morning. The little hugs and giggles with my children. The dog walks and the laughter around the dinner table. Here are some pictures from this past period of time that will hopefully serve as a reminder of how lucky we truly are to be a family and share this time.
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| Luna gives zero personal space. |
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| A visit from Davey last week! |
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| Birthday cousins |
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| Sam waiting to hand out candy on a blustery Halloween |
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| Audrey not happy with how close we are sitting for her evening concert. |
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| Audrey and her section at final band performance and celebration |
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| Sam with a pumpkin on his head! |
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| Family birthday celebration in Indiana. |
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| Dad and Sam being silly at Audrey's band competition. |
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| Sam and Dad finish building Elsa's Frozen Lego Castle over a 5 day period! |
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| Sam and the Band Tiger. |
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| In Juneau for Zayde's funeral. |
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| Rainbows in Juneau! |
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| Rainbows in Juneau! |
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| At Audrey's Band competition! |
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| Cousin Jonathan visited (and Pam) for a day, and it was wonderful. I now own a gorilla suit! |
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| Audrey at the fall dance. |
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| Violet the dinosaur rider! |
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| Ted and Lisa. |
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| Louis and Jake in Juneau walking the Flumme after Joel's funeral. |
