We made our first trip out to dads in months this weekend, a trip was way overdue! With basketball and baseball, we've been busy every weekend and just haven't found the time to make the trip. They've already begun construction on Ruthie's new bathroom and bunkhouse!! (I suppose that's what we'll call it) So exciting! They've poured the foundation and framed most of it, but with all the rain last week they're a tad behind schedule.
It was a nice trip and Ruthie force fed us entirely too much food. I say "force" in hope that I can admonish some of my guilt for consuming mass quantities this weekend. How can ANYONE pass up ribs and cracker crumb fried shrimp? It's just not American to use portion control when presented with such tasty homecooked meals.
Saturday morning Ruthie and I made the trek back to Austin for
Barb's memorial service. It was a beautiful service and I'm so glad that I was able to sit next to Ruthie and take in all of the beautiful stories that were said about Barb. It was so touching to see friend after friend go up and tell about how their lives were impacted by something Barb did or said. It was truly eye opening for me to see how something as simple as listening can change someones life and touch them in ways that we will never really know. A lot of people talked about her energy, since Barbara was in to Reiki, and I really do think I'm understanding more and more about this "energy". I realized how that energy that we create just keeps moving on and on, whether we're in our bodies or not. Her energy passed not only to those that she touched, but even to those just listening to their stories. We are all continuously learning and growing and on Saturday Barb was a big part of that growth for so many of us.
After the memorial Rutie's "girls" and I went to lunch at Brick Oven, where I learned even MORE from these ladies. It's just so beautiful to me that they have continued to have a friendship after all these years. It's neat to hear how similar their relationships are to mine and my friends. There really isn't much difference, the topics change over the years, and they have grown much wiser together, but the friendships really are the same. Age has no impact on what a friend means, although I do think we become more and more accepting and forgiving as we age together. It was nice to see what a difference their little circle of friends has made in their lives.
Ironically enough, after lunch we went to Seton Northwest to visit a new Grandbaby of one of the "girls". Talk about coming full circle! Renae had a precious baby girl, named Emily just after 1am on that same day. She is just beautiful, and Carol was just as proud as she could be and Renae just glowed!
We came home Sunday afternoon to find our yard and driveway buried in oak leaves. This is our first year with trees that actually produce enough shade to be called "shade trees". We love them, but are now learning what it's like to deal with their foliage. We got to work right away raking and blowing and sucking up leaves...and three-ish hours later, here's what we have (my sweetied worked his bum off and did most of the work):
