Our Visit with Dad

This Memorial Day weekend we visited my family in St. Louis.  It was especially cool this year because we were able to visit with my Dad who is a new resident, as of last month, again as he moved back from Florida where he lived for 17 years.

My Dad was hesitant about getting out of his comfort zone but also ready to be back by his kids and grandkids.  My brother, who helped him move, was especially aware of some of the hurdles in having him back.  I get it though – you live somewhere for a long time and then, suddenly, new place, new restaurants, new streets, new neighbors.  It’s exciting and scary all at the same time.

It was great to see his new place.  It is an apartment in an adorable neighborhood and it is located super close to my brother’s family, also a plus.  There’s a pool!  We brought the kids to swim in the pool and it appeared they have fun splashing each other and throwing around floaty toys. My favorite part of my dad’s new place, however, were all the pictures.  He has so many pictures of us and pictures of my mom.  It was great to see her again through my dad’s picture collection.

It was a good weekend to celebrate too.  We had Dad’s birthday dinner and we celebrated my last day of work.  It was fun to have the kids together too.  Keaton loves to hang out with Cade and Teagan.  Usually seeing friends isn’t in the plans because we never have enough time, but this visit we were able to see my friend, Bea.  Bea has become a member of the family anyway, at this point.  She is our friend as well as our wedding photographer.  The family adores her and she joined us by the pool too.

We met new puppy, Odie.  She is a tiny pug puppy that my nephew may have asked for as a birthday gift.  She was the sweetest, cutest little dog ever.  I held her and she fell asleep in my arms on Friday night when we were all hanging outside on my brother’s patio.  I wanted to take this dog home with me without anyone knowing – but everyone would know and that isn’t fair to Cade, is it?  Sometimes you just need puppy time.

While in St. Louis, we have few things we must do, besides visit family, however, if we do have other things we must do they are all food related.  The first was Imo’s pizza.  When Mason lived in St. Louis we pretty much had Imo’s delivered every Friday night.  I grew up with Imo’s and you either love the provel or you hate it but we love it.  We ordered Imo’s and shared it with the family on Friday night.  The other food request Mason had was Ted Drewes.  We would take quick trips to Ted Drewes on any weekend evening in the summer.  The last time we had it was when we visited in September for our 1 year wedding anniversary.  It is the best frozen custard, hands down.  We headed there right before our trip back up to home on Sunday, barely made that one happen.

Now that I am on food… Bea and I hung out for a while at Avenue in Clayton.  The place is so cute.  It was within walking distance of the hotel and Bea and I headed over in our first summery dresses of the season to share hummus, feta, olives, red peppers and some drinks in fancy glasses.  This will be a good memory.  This place is very fun.  Mason and I stopped by Avenue in September during our last visit as well.  We had dinner there and then stopped by later and hung out at the bar where Steve Winwood was on repeat.

The visit seemed very fast.  A storm blew in Saturday night and there never seems to be enough time to say or do everything you want – still, it was good and I’m glad we could finally see my dad and his new digs.  He seems happier.  That’s what matters.

In Case You Haven’t Heard…

 

This has been an exciting week and it feels like so much has been impacted by a decision my husband and I made that will change our lives.

Last week, I was able to announce my resignation of a job I’ve had for over 17 years.  The job has been awesome to me.  I met the bridesmaids in my wedding and learned  incredible skills.  I am thankful for the time, energy, and friendships along the way.  I truly am thankful but it’s time for a change.

This life change is so important because it allows me to spend more time with my husband and my son.  We have conserved our vacation days, in the past, and made it to weekends but our patience and ability to cope was wearing thin.  The decision was proposed by my husband and I am forever grateful.  I am about two weeks away now and my last day is May 26.

One would think this would be such an easy decision to make – and it very well should have been.  Our comfort zones give us a state of ease and a weird sense of calm that it can be difficult to look beyond that – but I did.  It took me a short time to understand how this decision would be one of the best we have ever made.

My dad moved to Florida in the year 2000 after we lost my mom to cancer.  He was sad and wanted to be in a warm climate to make a life for himself there where he thought she wanted him to be.  My family got used to this and we visited Dad when we could.  For me, especially, it was maybe once every two years at best.  The last time I saw Dad was the wedding in September of 2015, almost two year ago.  We learned, this year, my Dad was going to move back.  This was fantastic.  My brother and his wife traveled out to Florida to make this happen.  They are truly amazing.  They packed up all of his things and helped him find a new place in St. Louis that would be only about 5 minutes from them.  They would be nearby to help him if he needed to get to the doctor of take care of anything he needed.  Mason, Keaton and I made plans to visit this Memorial Day holiday.  I am happy to know he is closer and we will be able to see him more often now.  The resignation is a gift to my dad as well.  In hopes of more visits and more time to be there for him.

This is also a gift to my mom this Mother’s Day.  I know she intervened in decision making process.  She showed up in my heart and mind and told me, ‘it’s time.’  I don’t know how it happened and I can’t explain exactly what that felt like but it is true.  She was there and she moved me to say yes.  We are doing this for us.  We are doing this for Keaton.  We are doing this for my parents.  We are doing this for Mason’s parents.  We have made a decision that will allow us the time we need to share this life together and it has made me very emotional.  I have so much gratitude for my husband’s success and sincere appreciation for his incredible talent and how much love, friendship and support he has showed to me, to Keaton and to our family.  I trusted myself.  I married my best friend and life is amazing.