Armpit of the United States

HAPPY EASTER!!!

The world lost a wonderfully sweet lady this month—Kevin’s Grandma Pursel passed away after dealing with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. I never used to give the death of an elderly person a second thought before because, well, they were old. I didn’t think a death like this would cause a spouse to grieve as another might who had lost a mate who is still young. Then I realized that a loss like this is still more than I can imagine. They are couples like this who have been companions, lovers and best friends for decades—much longer than the time they were without one another.

With this event I have come to a realization…life really does go by too fast. All those “older” folk that continue to say “time flies by” or “kids grow up too soon” might really know what they are talking about. Who knew?

Accompanying this realization I made a decision…I don’t want to let the days slide by without making the most of my time while I am still “younger”. I have heard people talk about life lists before, but had never thought to make my own. During my time in Nevada I was reading a book that once again talked of life lists. With my recent epiphany I decided this was a great idea. So, here is the beginning of my life list (I figure if I share some with others I’m more likely to actually follow through):

*Read the Book of Mormon (pathetic, I know, I’ve started several times, but never finished)
*Go sky diving
*Run a marathon
*Go deep sea scuba diving
*Learn to play the guitar
*Learn patience AND humility
*Publish a children’s book

These are just to get me started…we’ll say this is my five year plan.

While the trip our family made to Nevada this week was due to a sad event, we also had some sweet moments. The trip always starts and ends on a bad note—I never have been one to enjoy road trips. However, you have to love the comatose state automobile DVD players inflict on children.

We made it to Nevada with making only one stop halfway for gas and grub. However, the trip home was not so smooth sailing. Eight stops. Eight stops. Seriously, eight stops. Jace had to go potty right out of Fallon. If you’ve ever been to Nevada you know its pretty much barren wasteland, so you know you don’t have convenient stops along the way for potty breaks. After two separate stops I finally got Jace to go potty at the side of the road—we did have to find a secluded area to conceal his manly girth, which is a chore in itself because of the “amazing” flora and fauna of the armpit of the United States. He did succeed and was so proud of himself he figured he’d encourage Hallie to do the same. This excitement didn’t last for long because 15 minutes later he had to go “poopoo”. Well, mama don’t play that at the side of the road, so we cruised as quickly as we could to the next trailer park town. This routine repeated itself several times because as it turned out…Jace had the ol’ hershey squirts. I’ve never been so excited to be home in my life. We did have some sweet moments while we were there, though.

Kevin’s sister, Natalie, and her two oldest girls made it over from Alabama. It was really good to see them—Brielle and Brooklyn are like a couple of spirit leaders. We got to visit Kevin’s Aunt Robyn and his purple-haired Grandma Robbins, who spoke of giving strip teases for her guests. We also went bowling where Hallie outscored me, and she didn’t even get to finish all her rounds. Jace was a bit of a different story…he scored 12 and that was with the bumpers up. He had one ball that didn’t even make it to the pins—apparently, he has Kevin’s former arm strength. (Disclaimer: Kevin is waaaaaaaaaay burly and brawny now!) As for Emerie, when she wasn’t sleeping she was wowing everyone with her content, sweet nature and dimpled leg rolls. It was really good to spend this time with my family—they make me laugh and that is one of my favorite things to do!