Wait you're still here? OK then I'll give you a synopsis of the events of the week. I'd say highlights but that makes it sound all glamorous and glorious.
- Saturday, arrived in Sacramento on the afternoon of May 24th with mom and was greeted by dad and eldest sister. Proceeded to wait a ridiculous amount of time for our luggage. (Apparently two planes arriving at the same time was WAY too much for the ground crew.) Made our way to the rental car area to meet aunt, uncle and cousin. Uncle had locked their luggage into the trunk of the car he was told he was given keys to but wasn't and then we had to wait an hour while rental car people searched for keys to that car only to have a tow truck finally arrive to break into that car so we could then move the luggage to our actual car. While waiting we witnessed a 4 car pileup in the rental car lot. A driver couldn't find that break pedal but instead floored his rental into three others. Very dramatic. Finally loaded ourselves (me, mom, uncle, aunt, cousin) into rented Ford Taurus. I was back seat in the middle with the hump gal for the grueling two hour drive up to Magalia. Uncomfortable is best description for that seat. Dad and eldest sister are spending the night in Sacramento and driving up the next day (there was a hotel shortage in the area near grandpa's house for that night).
- Saturday evening prepared the house as well as we could for after Memorial gathering the next day.
- Sunday, the Memorial for which there was no actual plan of events and at the last minute my mom asked me to read the article she'd written about Grandpa as a sort of eulogy. Glad I had no time to fret about it and was able to get through it fairly well. Then the Memorial gathering which was nice.
- Monday, the day of the Big Record Boxing TM. Grandpa had a MASSIVE record collection of mostly big band era music. 15 of us spent most of the day boxing records/tapes/reel-to-reels from every nook and cranny of the house. The music was every where; attic, loft, garage, bed room, bathroom, every where! In total we were able to load 150+ boxes into the truck before we'd reached its load limit. There are about 15 perhaps 20 more still waiting in the garage for a later pick up. The records were donated to a historical survey that will sort through and catalog the collection keeping it all in Grandpa's name. We are thrilled that it gets to stay together and be a part of history.
- Tuesday morning we drove up to Bottle Hill to scatter some of Grandpa's ashes where some of Grandma's had been spread a few years ago. It's about a half hour up into the hills past Grandpa's house and way past where the road turns to red dirt. I got to carry Grandpa up the hill which was rather moving for me. I could almost picture him trodding along with me as I ascended. It felt nice to be that near him. Hope that doesn't sound too strange but I can't describe it properly. And because we are now going to be voted the most irreverent family on the planet we used a 1/4 cup measuring scoop to scatter the ashes. We couldn't figure out what else to use. After that most of the family was scheduled to head back to their respective homes leaving just 5 of us for the rest of the week (me, mom, eldest sister, aunt and uncle).
- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was spent cleaning and sorting through all of the remaining contents of the house. My mom and aunt also had a lot of errands to run to various banks and legal type places. By Thursday my allergies had started to turn into a energy draining cold and I spent much of the last two days hovering between awake and asleep and the Kleenex box.
- Saturday the journey home was smooth and uneventful. After getting picked up at the airport by Molly (Thank you Molly!!!) I immediately dropped my bags inside my house and went to pick up Tally from Amy's. I cannot tell you how great it was to see her again. I am fairly certain that she missed me nearly as much as I missed her. That evening she couldn't get enough attention from me and became my shadow.
And now back to real life. Still tired and suffering the lingering effects of the cold but blissfully happy to be back with my adorable little dog. And just so you can experience her adorableness for yourself and as a reward for slogging through the above here's the best picture anyone has yet to take of her. Photo credit to Amy the best dog sitter on the planet.
2 comments:
I think I love you even more knowing you used a measuring spoon to scatter the ashes.
And Tally is adorable! Like a little bear!
Shauna you are too too sweet and I love you more for saying that. :) p.s. wait till I tell you the part about posing grandpa near a full Mike's Hard Lemonade bottle we found on the trail and taking a zillion pictures of it. We are so going straight to hell.
I often call her Tally Oso cause I'm so multilingual and all. If I smoosh up her scruff towards her face she looks even more like a little bear.
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