August 7, 2007

Mom
I will hat you forever
Intel you tet
me have sum
chips by the wae
can I have a dendong
the end?
abawt the dendong if I can have wun
I will luve you agen


This is the note my son handed to me a couple of hours ago.

Why you ask? Because I commited the cardinal sin of #1 taking away the huge bowl of BBQ potato chips he was having for breakfast, and #2 refusing to then let him have a ding dong for breakfast instead.


These are not normally things we keep in our house but having just come home from a family reunion camping trip, my mom sent a huge pile of junk food home with me so it wouldn't be in her house tempting HER. Gee thanks Mom =0P

The family reunion... four days, camping in a place without water, with people I have only seen two or three times in my entire life. I was looking forward to this reunion about as much as I would look forward to my own lynching.

I went upon threat of death from my mother (not really, but she did indicate that she would be greatly perturbed if I didn't go). And upon the begging and pleading of my boys who really liked the idea of camping for four days.

I think my DH was looking forward to it even more than I was.....NOT!

But guess what? We had a great time, we really did. I was so not expecting that!

We played cattle rustling. We each got a picture of a cow, taped to a stick, we had to protect our cow from being rustled by shooting rustlers with water guns. At the same time we had to rustle other people's cows.

My cousin's daughter Faith proved to be quite the little rustler, I think she got 12 cows in all, pretty impressive for a sneakly little ten year old girl!

There was also a river to wade in.

And a night around the campfire (aka the lantern placed in the middle of the circle) singing songs while my Aunt Paula (technically my mom's cousin) played her guitar. We sang all the old songs... The Old Rugged Cross, Ramblin Rose, House of the Rising Sun, Welcome to my World. And my aunt and I sang "Daddy's Hands" I did a lot better with it than I thought I would considering it was the song from my grandpa's funeral. It was fun, and so nostalgic hearing all the songs my mom sang when I was a little girl.

I got to know people better. My Aunt Paula brought her quilting and taught me how to do needle turn applique, I can't wait to get started! I have had fabrics for a while now but had no idea how to actually do it, now I can start! YAY

My Aunt Diane brought beads and string and all the kids spent all weekend making necklaces and such. I didn't get into it until the very last day and then I made a toe ring, and a little beaded toggle to identify my scissors. My DS made a bracelet out of pink and white beads for me, and a necklace that says my name on it. I also made a little dangle thing to hang from my mirror in my car that says LUCEY.

Someone brought boondoggle and it was so fun watching my mom and my aunts try to remember how to do it from when they were young.

I am so glad I went, I enjoyed it so much! My cousin Allison was there with her family. We were friends when we were little but she moved to Texas after she got married and we lost touch. Our kids had fun playing together and it was nice to reconnect with her.

The only sad part was realising that out of my Grandpa's five siblings, only two are left, his two siblings Janice, and Beth. My Aunt Beth is 86 and has really become frail in the last few years. I love her with my whole heart and it makes me so sad to see her get old. She is an amazing woman. Her lifes work was in nursing and when my grandparents got sick she would come to Utah to take care of them. She nursed my grandma through her massive heart attack and she nursed my grandpa through his long fight with colon cancer. Now she has gone from this hearty, spry woman who took care of the world, to having a hard time getting around and having the roles reversed to where she is now the one being taken care of. The thought that she isn't going to live forever just breaks my heart. Loosing her will be just as hard as loosing my Grandpa.

My Aunt Janice has always been larger than life. Very fun, and outgoing. She was right in the thick of things with the kids, shooting us with water and laughing during the cattle rustling. She has such a young spirit and it makes me sad to see that her body can no longer keep up with her. But the real shock was seeing her husband, my Uncle Reed. It has been at least a year since I saw him last and I was so surprised, he has withered in that time. He always seemed so big and burly and in the space of time has become an old man. When did this happen?

I can't bear to see the people I love become old. The thought of loosing them makes me so sad and makes me realize that like them, my parents are aging. I still think of my mom as being 40. I don't want my parents to age because the thought of loosing them is truly more than I can bear to think about.