Thursday, March 23, 2006

Florida follow up

Families give us perspective on our lives, as I was reminded this past weekend. I flew to Florida last week to join my sister and other relatives for a happy/sad farewell.

My Mom and Dad passed away several years ago, and then last year my Mom's older brother and his wife both passed on. At the time that my Mom died, the two couples had lived in the two sides of a duplex, and had always been very close. We decided to take the ashes of all four of them, and send them off in the ocean near Ft. Lauderdale. So the gang - all 14 of us (including my cousin's grand-daughter), spanning 4 generations - gathered for the weekend.

We rode out Saturday afternoon on the Lady Chateau (see Escape from the Ordinary below). It was a joyful occasion, and after the send off, we enjoyed a short cruise. The rest of the weekend was spent simply enjoying one another's company. Since we are scattered all over the country, this is a rare event - and could very well be the last one for a long time.

The other special event was a micro-meet with Keith of My Army Life. I had emailed him and set up a quick get together for Sunday -- Much, much too short, but great fun! Thanks for dinner, Keith - Love the hat!

I've updated the sidebar ... I love adding bloggers to the list of folks I've been able to meet!