Christmas
We had warnings all week leading up to Christmas that we were in for a doozy of a blizzard. And sure enough, Christmas Eve ushered in quite the storm. I spent Christmas Eve doing last minute shopping in the rain, sleet, and snow (in that order.) It was a terrible storm, and the last place I wanted to be was dragging a toddler and a baby around department stores. But... it couldn't be avoided. I won't go into the specifics of that trip since most of you have already read about it on facebook- and those who didn't could probably hear me screaming from three states away. I survived.
Christmas Day we got up early and packed the kids in the car to go to Tonganoxie and celebrate with Justin's folks. They had all but called off the gathering, figuring we would never be crazy enough to make the drive (everyone else in the family is local.) Well they underestimated our level of crazy! The normal one hour drive took two each way (once again saved by the DVD player.) We only tried it (and made it safely) because we were on highways and main roads the whole way. I tried to get Glenna out in her snow pants and boots for her first experience playing in the snow, but she refused to keep her mittens on and was miserable pretty quickly.
We made it home Christmas night in time for Caleb and Jenny to arrive at our house instead of my parents' as planned. My other two brothers had made it out there... barely. (My dad had to tow one behind his truck the last mile.) They weren't going anywhere anytime soon and we weren't getting to them either. Our family celebration scheduled for the day after Christmas got pushed back more and more until we were finally able to make it out by riding in Caleb's 4x4 three days later. A pain for sure, but it made for some beautiful scenery.
Oreo
Finally, the last thing to update about is the death of my beloved kitty, Oreo. Justin came running upstairs the morning of January 5th practically hyperventilating because he had found her dead. I was shocked and not surprised at the same time, if that makes sense. Shocked, because she has been with me since I was 13 and I can't imagine life without her. Not surprised, because she would have turned 17 soon and she had been sleeping all the time and losing weight lately. My next odd combination of emotions was deep sadness and great relief at the same time. My biggest fear for her was being forced to make a decision to put her to sleep someday. I desperately did not want to go through something like that with my best little furry friend. I prayed for years that she would drift off peacefully in her sleep with no pain or sickness and that's exactly what happened.
Saying goodbye was very painful. She has been with me through the difficult teenage years, the many changes of young adulthood, the transition to married life, and becoming a mother. Through it all, she has been a constant in my life. I can't count the times I laid my head on her side and cried or just talked while she purred. We could communicate on a level only achieved by lifelong friendship. I could tell Justin by her meow whether she was hungry, thirsty, playing with a toy, wanting to be petted, being picked on by Scooter, or needing a door opened for her. And I was right every time. He never could believe how we did it. I met her for the first time when she was just over a week old and her eyes had just opened. (She was a gift from my parents for my 13th birthday.) We were only apart for a year in college when she drove my parents nuts by crying at the front door for me all day or refusing to leave my room. It is unlikely that I will ever share that deep of a friendship with a cat again, but I truly hope I do.
