Getting ready to leave for Iowa today and even though I have had a wonderful time with family and friends it is always a good feeling to know that I will be back home with my hubby in my own house! Happy for that but sad to leave my mom’s, especially. Seems like there is just never enough time to be with her and it is times like this that I wish that we did live closer so that I could pop in every week at least to visit. Ah well….it is not to be at this time. So that is the main reason that I am so grateful that she lives at Copeland Oaks where she has such good friends and support system and care if she needs it. The greatest gift that she ever gave her children was the decision to move here and it makes me think about what Chris and I will do when we get “older”. Ahem….sure don’t want to think too long and hard about that today but need to think about it someday!!!

We worked on organizing the basement a bit since she had a little water leak awhile back and things were in disarray after that. Managed to get a bunch of stuff sorted out, found a bunch of items that she had never unpacked since she had moved here and got a huge amount of stuff sorted for Goodwill. And to make it even better—we actually took the stuff TO Goodwill. That is a huge step in cleaning I think—to actually get the stuff out of the house! So she feels a bit better about working down there by herself since it is not quite so overwhelming and she can do a bit at a time now. We had great fun when we found scrapbooks and old photo albums and I was able to see some of the stuff from her childhood and we even found some stuff of Daddy’s that was pretty neat. Hard to believe that he has been gone 16 years…..where did the time go?

So today I drive….not thrilled about the length of the trip but it is a reality and at least I have a nice car to drive home. It has been great to see all my North Carolina friends, visit with Aaron a bit and see some of my “Ohio family” but now it is time to hit the road and get back to life. Blessed to have had this time with them and already looking forward to the next time!!!