Grief is Weird

Somehow 6 months have passed since you left. There are days when it feels like yesterday that I woke up with you, heard your voice, kissed you - and then there are days that feel like it was forever.  My thoughts lately have been about the projects that we did together. It's hard to believe that 5 years have passed since the world shut down. Randy and I spent a good deal of the pandemic in Tennessee. Neither one of us could go to the office so we needed something to keep us busy. We were having the logs replaced in our house, so Randy & I decided to undertake our own project (while the professionals were here, just in case) by installing hardy board siding on the 2nd story of the house. I think Randy's favorite part of the job was the lift that we rented to reach the 2nd story. He was like a little kid and loved going up in that thing. Me on the other hand, who is afraid of heights, was not a fan. It must have been love for him to be able to talk me into going up really rea...

Most people who know me know that I am a runner. I've been running for over 25 years - I started when Ben was about a year old as a way to lose that stubborn pregnancy weight. At first I just ran in the neighborhood, and then another mom from church introduced me to running The Peachtree Road Race (for anyone not in Atlanta, it's the world's largest 10k run on July 4). I was hooked. I started running the Peachtree in 2000, and have run every year since then (virtually during the Covid years). Then I found other races, and have a collection of race bibs, medals, t-shirts, hoodies - you name it, I've got it. I just finished my 13th Hot Chocolate Race this morning with a PR (definitely getting faster with age - who knew?) In 2011 I signed up for my first Tough Mudder in Cedartown, Georgia. I had no idea when I was getting myself into, but I thought running and obstacles - how much fun would that be? I managed to survive that one, and did 6 more. My Dad used to ask me if th...

It's been a minute... I feel like January is lasting forever.  This month we've had 21 of 23 nights below freezing in Tennessee, which is really unusual. There was a snowstorm that closed everything down for a few days, followed by temps in the single digits which also closed things down.  In the midst of all of that, I closed on our house not once, but twice. It's a long story, but I'll just say if anyone is ever considering a loan with the USDA Rural Development Service - do. not. do. it.   After the holidays are hard - everyone goes back to work, it's cold and the days are short. Sometimes I forget and think that Randy is at session in North Dakota - it was part of our winter routine. Even when he wasn't in session, he was usually back in ND at some point in January for meetings and appointments. I admit I've read the papers to see what the legislature is up to this session, and I even watched the inauguration this week. Randy would be pleased. There are ...

The end of 2024 looks very different than what I thought it would look like back in January. I think many people wouldn't blame me if I said 2024 was a horrible year. It wasn't all bad though. January brought the news that Randy's scans were clear and his feeding tube was removed. He was also cleared to get back in the gym, which, if you know Randy, was awesome news. In March he went back to work, and we tried to navigate our new normal. In April my mom celebrated her 80th birthday with a surprise party. The weather got warm (and then hot) and we did our porch sitting on the weekends, worked in the yard, went to the gym, all the normal things. And then came June, and things went downhill quickly. Randy was a lone wolf and if something went wrong, he fixed it himself. Cancer frustrated him to no end because it was something he could not fix. When I think about the last few weeks of his life, I think about how difficult it must have been to give up that control and need to fi...

I made it through Christmas.  I spent Christmas Eve at my mom's with Frackie (she's become quite the backseat driver) and most of Christmas Day there too. It was a group of 14 (my nephew was sick so my sister stayed home with him) and it was a chaotic day of opening gifts, the kids playing with toys, eating way too much and just being with family.  The hardest part of the day was coming home to a dark house. Since I left during the day on Christmas Eve I forgot to turn any lights on for when I came back home. First thing I did was turn Christmas lights on, but it didn't feel like Christmas. The house still felt empty. Christmas was when Randy first told me he loved me, so I think the holiday will always feel bittersweet.  I discovered our first Christmas together that Randy liked to wrap small presents in big boxes. I always wear Chanel No. 5, and that is what he gave me last year. He wrapped that small bottle in a huge box and put a 10 lb plate from the gym in the box to...

Well, I made it through Randy's birthday and then my birthday 3 days later. I am 362 days older than Randy, so for those 362 days he would call me a cougar and tell me I was robbing the cradle. On my birthday he wold happily wish me a happy birthday and tell me that I was back to robbing the cradle again.  In 2023 Randy's birthday was a little different. You don't realize how many of life's special occasions revolve around food until you have experienced life with esophageal cancer. Randy was recovering from surgery last year, working on getting off the feeding tube, slowly introducing solid foods. We talked about how we'd be celebrating in 2024 when he'd be able to eat somewhat normally again. Little did we know. Anyone who knew Randy knew that he had his favorites, and he rarely deviated from those things. One of his favorites was Ocoee Dam Deli where he'd get the open faced roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans and extra brown gravy. His other favorite...

I made it through Thanksgiving. The day itself wasn't horrible because I was busy and spent the day with my family, which was good for my soul. There's nothing like hearing Axel say he wants to play cars with Oma.  It was Friday that was hard. Randy & I would always go get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. There is a tree farm not far from us where every tree is only $25. Doesn't matter how big or small, they are all $25. When we got the UTV, Randy figured out a way to strap the ladder onto the UTV so that we could take the it to get the tree. I carried on the tradition this year, ladder attached to the UTV, put on Randy's flannel and headed to the tree farm in the 40-degree weather. I'm sure people probably were wondering why I was crying as I looked at trees. More than once I thought about just going back home, but I knew I'd regret it later. I found my perfect tree, checked for a straight trunk and got to sawing. I securely strapped the tree ...