Back from our trip

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but we went on a trip to the Northern Virginia/DC/Baltimore area. My mom, sister (and her friend Ashley) and the kids and I all had a different reason for going. My sister started it because she and Ashley were going to an audition in D.C. Mom wanted to go too, because Dad's "place" in Arlington is now complete with grass and a headstone, so she wanted to go back to the cemetary to visit. I wanted to be with her when she went, but I also thought about taking a side trip to Baltimore to meet Jessie and her family.


So sit back and relax.... this is a long blog.

Thursday we drove up and bunked in at Grandma's house. On Friday we went to Arlington Cemetary to see Dad's burial place. It is very surreal that our Dad is gone because he was such a "larger than life" kind of guy. He was defined by his service to our country, as well as his role in our family. My mom once said that his death is sort of like when we moved as kids - he would go to the new post first, and then we would close up the house and come at the end of the school year. All I know is that each of us misses him each and everyday, and while I may not cry about it everyday, I definitely feel the emptiness.

After Arlington we went on the Metro to eat lunch, and discovered Cheesie's passion for the DC metro. Truly. She wanted to ride it from one end of DC to the other, so we began to ride it at every possibility.

We rode the metro up to Chinatown. Unfortunately it was more like "Chinablock of restaurants." We were hoping for more, but looked in a couple of shops. I then realized that we were close to the National Academy of Sciences where Einstein worked, and being a math and science teacher, I needed to make a pilgrimage to the Einstein memorial. So after dragging my kids to the building, and making purchases from the gift shop, I asked the lady at the desk where the statue was located. I was STUNNED when she said it was at the OTHER building. The other building being an incredibly long walk for small children and not being very near a metro for Cheesie, I decided to satisfy myself with a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and mug.

Saturday we drove in to Baltimore to see Jessie and her family. This family is just going through the surgery process, and SOMEHOW has the time to set up a hemi foundation too (I salute you). Jessie is 6 and just finished Kindergarten too. They are incredibly energetic and seem to be coping well. I hope it helped them to see Blondie running around acting like her goofy self, but what surprised me the most was how much it actually helped me. Looking at this little girl who was past the hard part (in my opinion the seizures and the surgery are the hard part) took me right back to the moments where Blondie was getting better, but she looked SO far from normal. To look at my healthy girl now made me realize how far she had come, and how thankful we are for her to still be here with us. She shows us new things everyday and we are so proud of her. Hang in there Jessie!!! We know you can come just as far as Blondie.

Y'all get out your checkbooks and creditcards, and go buy something, or make a donation at http://www.prayforjessie.org/ . This family is giving out a scholarship in the fall to kids like Blondie to go to college.


I'll blog some more tomorrow about the trip because I DO manage to complete my math teacher pilgrimage and I'm sure you all want to read about THAT.