Christmas 2022: Day of Shock and Mourning

Second post of the day.

I have decided that I will go ahead and write about this past  Christmas - while James' passing was incredibly sad for us, we did have many moments of joy. If you don't care to read about it, just come back in a few days and the blog will be back to usual. 

December 22, James died of a heart attack at home. First responders made it to him before he passed, and we find comfort that he did not die alone. Our entire family was knocked sideways with grief and disbelief at the news.

An immediate worry was getting down to Indianapolis to check on James' four cats as the storm had finally hit Indiana and the winds were howling, the temps dropping, and the snow blowing. The first responders, though, had taken care of that - they told Lisa that she did not need to come down for a couple of days. They had cleaned out the cat pans and added fresh litter, filled water bowls, and put out enough cat food to last for several days. The cats would be okay. Those folks will always be heroes in my book.

While Craig and I were at Lisa's helping her through the first hours of loss, Sarah made sure her siblings knew what had happened and the rest of the family all gathered at our home, subdued and quiet, wondering what they could do to help Lisa through this terrible loss. 

She joined us mid afternoon, and the family closed ranks around her, offering shoulders to cry on, solace, and privacy if she wished. Craig and I told her to take over our bedroom - there was still just a smidge of room at the inn left. In fact, Lisa stayed all night with us.

Christmas preparations continued and we tried hard to not totally derail the holiday for the eight younger grands; they knew that James had died and that we were all sad, but I don't think they really understood much beyond that.

Aside from Todd making his famous Oreo balls and Ritz Cracker Tagalongs, the only other pictures from that awful day are very personal ones of Lisa so out of respect for her, I won't show those.

Late in the evening, Curt, Vanessa, Cole, and Emily took their families back to Curt's home for the night. Instead of going back to her Aunt Lisa's home, Trinity stayed at our house and slept on a couch upstairs. Craig slept on the living room couch, and I slept in the recliner in our bedroom where I was close to Lisa if she needed me.

I cried myself to sleep that night - I cried for James, I cried for his children, and I cried for Lisa.

Christmas 2022: Kids on the Road

I have decided that I will go ahead and write about this past  Christmas - while James' passing was incredibly sad for us, we did have many moments of joy. If you don't care to read about it, just come back in a few days and the blog will be back to usual. 

Due to the tremendous winter storm that was blowing across the United States, our kids all decided to leave their homes a day early to beat that storm to our home. In retrospect, this turned out to be a very good idea.

Jessica and her family had the farthest to go, coming all the way from Santaquin, Utah and through the Rocky Mountains and then across the high plans of the West on 80. They left on Tuesday and drove into the wee hours of Wednesday morning when they pulled into Sarah's home in Iowa City and crashed for a few hours.

The storm was barreling down behind them, so they only slept a few hours, and then they piled into cars and continued on to Indiana. Jessica, Andrew, Todd, and Sarah went in one car so that Jessie and Andrew could continue to sleep,

while JC and Trinity, both university students who were home on break, drove the "cousins car"

where Cambria

and Titan caught some shut eye, too.

 

Aside from a stop for lunch in Peoria, Illinois, the two families kept moving and made it here before the weather turned nasty.

Craig and I had worked hard to prepare for everyone - Cambria and Titan would be sleeping on air mattresses in my office/horse room,

Sarah and Todd in my sewing room,

Jessie and Andrew in Craig's library,

and last but not least, JC had the bed in Craig's office all to himself. (Trinity was staying in her Aunt Lisa's spare bedroom across town.)

It was good to have them safely in town and to know that Cole, Emily, and their crew had made it up from Nashville, Tennessee safely and arrived at Curt's home.

I would be even more grateful for that when I got a phone call at 6:30 the next morning from Lisa.

Another post will drop around 10:00 EST.