Normal Life

I am back home and all went well on my drive home.  I was ready to be back to “real life,” whatever that may be, but was not ready to leave Ohio.  My dad and I spent time together Saturday.  Sunday was a blur.  I asked Jenny if I could pick up her girls after school Monday and hang out with them in the afternoon.  I did just that and we had a blast jumping on the trampoline and playing Sardines, a hide-and-seek game.   It is amazing how good kids are for the soul. Tuesday I painted with my dad and I mentally prepared myself for the funeral and for my trip home.  Wednesday was the funeral.  It was a small Catholic service with Mass.  There was a small meal afterward for family and a few friends.  It was good to just be there with family and talk with them.  I reluctantly said my good-byes to my cousins; remember I did not want to leave.  Amidst the craziness of the past three weeks I have come closer to everyone and it hurt knowing I would not see them for awhile.  That evening my dad, aunt, uncle, and I sat and talked and watched “Quigley Down Under.”  It is a movie that dad and Melody had a lot of memories with so it was good to remember Melody by.  The drive home Thursday was uneventful and I made it in decent timing.  Today I decided that I needed to get my house ready for Spring and Summer.  I wanted to plant flowers and vegetables.  I went to the flower shop and nervously picked out shade flowers and sunny flowers and sweet peppers, tomatoes and herbs.  You see I do not have a green thumb.  Last year I killed my mint, which is almost impossible to kill.  I will keep trying though until I have a green thumb.  I like the thought of garden fresh vegetables and they taste so good!  Last year was my first year with an herb garden.  I absolutely loved that when I was cooking I could use my own fresh herbs instead of the dried herbs from the stores.  Melody and I also talked about vegetable and herb gardens so I was excited to tell her about it last year.  This year planting them made me sad.  I thought of Melody and my Grandma a lot of the time I was planting.  I wanted to send Melody a picture of my garden and flowers like I did last year.  I realized that we take for granted so many things.  We do not realize how much someone means to us or how often we text or call them until they are taken from us.  In reality, today was not so great a day.  Last night was hard too.  I guess I had been trying to stay strong for my dad and not really grieving myself when I was in Ohio.  I know that time will make the pain more bearable and I will learn to live with my losses, but until then…?  Until then, I just decided, I will try to make the most of life.  I will continue to build my relationships with family and friends and I will continue living “normal” life until it is just that, Normal.