Pope Pages

Well, once again I've fallen behind in keeping up with the Blog. Here's a quick recap from March:

March roared in like a lion with a blizzard, so we finally had our snow day, but within a week and a half the weather was in the 70's.

On March 2, Addie's school celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday.

We made a quick trip to KC to visit the Menke family March 10-11. Anita was doing well, but ready to have that baby! Addie had a good time playing with Arden and Aislinn. Dennis had to work at a camp nearby KC, so Aislinn was pretty disappointed that Dennis wasn't there for her to play with. She got teary-eyed when she woke up on Saturday morning and Dennis wasn't there to play. It was pretty cute!

On March 14, Grandma Ruth passed away. It wasn't unexpected, but it was still hard. Addie and I flew back down to south Texas to attend the funeral. I was apprehensive about flying that far without Dennis, but Addie was a angel.

We arrived in the valley on Friday night and the funeral was the next morning. Uncle Dicky and Aunt Charlotte were there, with Uncle Dickey officiating the memorial service. Aunt Charlotte kept Addie entertained while I met mom's old classmates and some long-lost relatives I hadn't seen since I was a baby.

There wasn't a full-fledged funeral. Grandma always insisted she didn't want one. "Come and see me when I'm alive!" she'd always say. The service was simple, but full of wonderful touches. Aunt Charlotte made a beautiful "memory board" made up of photos highlighting grandma's 92 years. A guitar trio played some Mexican spirituals, then Grandpa's nephew, Grandma's niece, Uncle Dicky, Aunt Charlotte and I got up and spoke about grandma. The comon theme among all our memories was grandma's love of life and spunk. The thing I most wanted to say was to thank grandpa for taking such good care of grandma all these years, esp. the last couple when she was so sick. I was thankful to have had that opportunity.

I was really touched by Grandpa's open and shameless grief. For the rest of the time we were there he'd just quietly start to cry and talk fondly about grandma. It wasn't blatant or uncomfortable, just sweet sadness. They were married 30 years.

I am so glad we were able to be there. It did me a lot of good, and I know having Addie and I there meant so much to grandpa and mom. The morning we flew home grandpa called and said "having you here made everything better."

Now I know grandma is in heaven and in no longer in pain and confusion. In fact, mom and I like to imagine her up there cackeling with Ann Richards and Molly Ivans. Heaven just got a lot more fun! : )

The last full weekend of March we headed to Cozad for a quick visit. It was fun to see how much cousin Katherine has changed since Christmas. Dennis helped dad load up some honey barrels, and dad told us all about their trip to CA to scatter bees on the almond orchards. Now, why didn't daddy keep bees in southern CA when I was growing up instead of Whishek, ND?!

The rest of March has been taken up by being sick - first me with some horrible stomach bug then Addie with a nasty fever and cold, which I promptly caught. Thankfully Dennis has avoided our crud! I think Addie and I are finally on the mend.

We had a nice Easter at Dennis' parents. Addie was thrilled to spend time with her grandpa. She would ask for him as soon as she woke up from her nap and say "where grandpa go?" whenever he'd leave the room. Uncle Derek helped Addie have her first Easter egg hunt. She helped hide and find the eggs. Addie made quite a splash at sunrise services in her bunny hat! She was needing her Easter nap when this photo was taken!