On October 30, 2013, my nephew & his wife welcomed their 4th & final son, Ryan. And I was honored to be asked to be his godmother. He lives only an hour away, but life has gotten in the way too many times. I've only visited him 4 or 5 times. Thanks to Facebook, I've been able to see him grow. I've not seen great-nephew Tristan enough either. He's nearly 18 months old. He doesn't live far either, but they live a very busy life. Again, I know him through pictures. I pray circumstances allow me to see them both more often. Soon enough, they'll be busy with school & sports. This is Ryan, Mike (Ryan's dad), & Tristan, just a few weeks ago:
We had a low key Thanksgiving with my parents, and an even more low key Christmas at home. I'd crocheted gifts for all of the kids. But they sat here for a long time. G kept asking why I didn't just mail them. My thinking was that if I mailed the gifts, I wouldn't see the kids. I needed to deliver them. We had an unusually cold winter. The caps & scarves I'd crocheted could have been used many times, but they sat here. I finally did mail the gifts, before Easter, but not by much. We did have one cold snap after I sent the gifts, but it really made me determined to get the gifts to them before Christmas. If we get to visit, wonderful! But if we don't, the gifts will be taken care of. Right now, I have no idea what I'm getting any of them, but it will come together before Christmas.
Then January 9th, Hubby G fell in our kitchen. In trying to break his fall, he tore his left bicep and his right rotator cuff. In March, he had surgery on the bicep. The doc was unable to pull the muscle down to meet the elbow, so it was pulled as far as possible, and stitched to another muscle. It has a bit of a Popeye look. That's healed well, but he needs to work on rebuilding the muscles. In June, he had surgery to repair the rotator cuff. In the beginning, the doc didn't think the cuff was torn because of the mobility & strength Hubby had. An MRI showed 2 tears, and after surgery, the nurses & doc all referred to it as a large tear. That's healing well too, though he does still have pain with little exertion. He needs to exercise them both much more than he does, but... He still has back pain too. Exercise would help that too, but...
Sometime in early spring, DS G became interested in basketball. It started with an NBA video game. Then he found a ball in our garage. With little searching, we found a family with a goal they were willing to part with. He plays a few hours everyday. His dad & I play with him often, and he'll have a friend over now & again to play with. He went to a few beginning practices with a team, and though he's glad for the experience, but that was all he wanted. So he's retreated into his young-man-cave again. I was so impressed with how he handled himself meeting boys he didn't know & how he followed coach's instructions & how well he did in that environment.
He continues to play his guitar from time to time. It's going to be something he always has, but he's not interested in expanding that into lessons (he's self taught) or being part of a band. It's just for enjoyment, as basketball is. From time to time he'll mention a possible vocation, but I think he'll be like his dad - working for a few years before figuring out what he really wants to do. College may or may not be a part of that plan, but I doubt it'll happen at 18. But who knows? The kid can handle himself well and can learn anything. This weekend I found him talking with a new neighbor who was practicing archery. Maybe he'll want to learn about that too.
We've also had some loss in the year. In early August, my 101.5 yo great-uncle passed away. He was healthy, but in a residential home. He truly lived until he died. Here he is with 2 of my great nephews, JoJo & Mikey:
Then about 2 weeks later, we lost my cousin Brandy to brain cancer. She'd fought for nearly 6 long, hard years. She passed just days before her 10th wedding anniversary. She leaves behind a husband, 8 yo son, a sister & a niece & 2 nephews, and her parents. She also had a large in-law family and was very active in the local community. She never stopped, never gave in. I love this picture of her. She's carrying her heels, turning to walk away, wearing her ever present smile. It's as though she's saying "See you later!"
Then, on September 2nd, we lost our dog Sugar. She's left a big hole in our family. I notice the other dogs looking for her. It's been bittersweet watching Bullitt & Missy learn to play together. I miss her terribly. She caused so much chaos in our lives. I miss it. We had to let her go because she began attacking Bullitt. Every time it would happen, we thought we'd found the trigger, and changed things accordingly. The 2nd to last time it happened, DS G & I both got bitten trying to pry her jaw open. I have nerve damage in my finger, and I am so thankful for the reminder that she was here. She was dumped in our neighborhood about 6 years ago, and I know she came from an abusive home. But something from that was still in her, & she'd just snap & attack him. The last two occurances were just 5 weeks apart, & there was no trigger for the last one. We looked for a way to rehome her, but realized she'd be untrustable. So we move forward, knowing we gave her a great life for 6 years. She was never left alone, never felt fear, never felt pain. It totally sucks, it was not her fault. She was a good dog who had a bad life before coming to us.
