a beautiful lady!!

on monday after a weekend with my sis, we found out that granny (nicholas' moms mom) had passed away that morning. even though it is somewhat expected it is always a shock! thats when the crazy day from hell started! we immediately began trying to decide what to do and how to get home. oh yea...and what to do with suzy who was still at our apartment. bless her heart...we had to drop her off early at the convention center. really i dont think she minded. it was at the gaylord texan resort which is unbelievable.

back to our day. we started looking at flights. well for one person it was like almost 700 dollars...so for both of us and molly it would've been over 1500 dollars, which we do not have. unfortunately...our car was in the shop for the third time in 3 weeks (air conditioning problems). we had had a rental car since saturday. we asked about driving the rental car home. that was going to be an ungodly amount of money and not mention...it was a focus...not a very comfortable 10 hour ride! i started stressing out just a lil bit! we went to the car place and pretty much told them we HAD to have our car today! they said we could have it ready by 5pm. we were ready to go at lunch time!! long story short we headed out of dallas around 5:15pm...yes...rush hour. it took us over an hour to just get out of dallas. we made it to excel at about 4:15am on tuesday morning. it was a VERY long drive!

nicholas was VERY close to his grandmother! she is really the only granparent he grew up knowing. i had actually grown quite close to her myself! i loved her and she loved me. granny didnt like just anybody! i felt very blessed to be able to call her my granny! she was a beautiful, kind, caring, and very generous lady! one of my favorite memories of her was at our wedding. her just being there was a huge blessing, but she had such a wonderful happy time! she was so excited for us! she looked absolutely stunning!

she was also a very very funny woman!! she loved her bubble gum, snuff, gawdy jewelry, and gummie bears! her daughters, granddaughters, and great granddaughter all got to choose some of her jewelry to keep! i inherited some beautiful rings and earrings! i cant wait to wear them! she was a beautiful lady and she always had beautiful things! the gummie bears and bubble gum were pretty much all eaten during our visit! nicholas sent some snuff and gum to heaven with granny!

i was very excited about getting to go home...to excel for a few days. its terrible that it was for this reason though! although i knew i would have a hard time coming back. my parents were able to take off work and come down for the funeral. it was great getting to see them and spend a couple of days together! it was one of the greatest visits to excel i think we have ever had! mom and dad went on their first scout ride and had a great time! molly was also very excited about seeing her nana and papa! we really rested and enoyed our time with family. of course all of nita's family was there and some of pop's (nicks dad). it was great getting to spend time with alan and whitney!!

like i told whitney and nicholas...i dont know what it's like to lose a mom and i hope i never do, but i do know exactly what it's like to lose a grandmother who you are very close too! it brought back a lot of memories for me! it's hard to believe but it does get easier! i still dream and think about my grandparents all the time! they are a part of my daily life, but the grieving is gone! i still talk to them and i know they, and granny are now looking down on us, and they are VERY proud of us! that's encouraging! they were all such huge cheerleaders for us! i am sooooo blessed to still have one of my cheerleaders! i love my mawmaw and miss her very much! nita actually gave my mom a ton of granny's clothes to take to her! she takes her a few pieces everday to try on. when i asked mawmaw about them she was very excited about them! she told mom she is so blessed and will never have to buy clothes again! that makes me feel good to know that granny's beautiful belongings are being put to great use!

i already miss granny very much and i know there are a lot of other people that do too! she has a huge family! lots of brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, 2 daughters, and several great grandchildren, who all love her dearly! i know it's gonna be hard for a while especially with the holidays coming up! PLEASE pray for our family! nita was VERY VERY close to her mom and took amazing care of her! she will be greatly blessed and will have many many crowns in heaven!