Tears and Sunshine, Laughter and Snow

     The past week was as varied in weather as in emotions.  The week began with a drive to Denver to attend a memorial service at the University of Colorado Medical Campus. The service was conducted by the med students and was given to honor the families of those who had donated their bodies to be studied.  That is what my mom did.  My dad had similar arrangements when they lived in Kansas, so his body went to the KU Medical Research facility in Kansas City after he passed in 2003.  Andy and I took Mom to the service that they did.  This one was just as lovely.

Mom, Dad and me in 1954 (just because . . . )

     My dear friend, Beth, came with me and we were overcome with emotion during the one hour service.  It was so wonderful to hear the warmth and caring in the voices of the med students who spoke about what a great gift it was to have the cadavers to study.  They learned so much more about human anatomy with the bodies than any textbook or research paper could offer them.  There were 6 students who spoke, their words filled with love, honor and respect.  Then they asked if any of the family members would like to speak and about 8 people spoke briefly on why their loved one was so determined to leave his/her body to research.   The student acapella choir sang 2 songs and the MC offered her comments as well.  A beautifully heart-felt, thoughtful service.
     I knew exactly why Mom wanted her body to go to research.  She had lived with a damaged heart since she was 13.  Her death had been predicted numerous times throughout her life!  She enjoyed telling people that she had outlived all those doctors who had predicted her death over the years :-)  Her heart had mysteries to reveal and she wanted the young medical students to find out and learn from those mysteries.
     After the service they provided refreshments.  Beth and I filled our plates and then sat outside in the beautiful sunshine.  The warmth was most welcome and as refreshing as the fruit, crackers and cheeses on our plates.  Lifting my face to the sun I remembered how much Mom loved for me to help her outside on the patio on those perfect Colorado days so she could soak up that vitamin D.  I have found myself more teary in the past few months than I did in the year after her death.  I know that grief comes in waves and sometimes when we least expect it and are completely surprised by it.  I was blessed to have had the parents that I had and to have grown up surrounded by love.  I miss my mom and dad.  And so the week began rather teary, but was blessed with the warmth of friendship and sunshine.
     As the week progressed I realized I still had not started on the rest of my house!  And, you know what?  I really didn't care!  :-)  I was glad that  I was able to help out a good friend who is going through a rough time.  And I enjoyed spending time in solitude and reflexion.
     Then . . . . we had snow!!  On Wednesday, Andy brought me a tray of flowers to be planted but warned me that they are called "pansies" for a reason and not to plant yet as we were expecting a storm.  It was almost 70 at the time and hard to imagine.  But, we are notorious for our Spring snows so I brought the tray inside with hopes for a quick storm and warmer days to follow.
     It was colder on Thursday and rainy for most of the day until suppertime.  And then we had huge wet snow that came down like rain!  And it continued for most of the night.  I woke up to "booms" on Friday morning and realized that it was thunder.  In the midst of our snow storm we were having thunder and lightning!  We call it "thunder snow" around here.  That continued all morning.
     Then around noon the sun slowly made an appearance and by about 3:00 it was warm enough to sit out on the patio - which is something that CoCo and I love to do.  Here's where the laughter comes in . . .
     I was sitting there, minding my own business, drinking my ice tea and reading my Kindle when I hear this crazy chattering.  I looked up and saw Mr Squirrel sitting at the top of the utility pole which is near the fence which separates my house from my neighbors.  He was mad!  I looked around to see if there was another squirrel that he was talking to and did not see any other critters at all.  Then I realized he was mad at me.  You may remember that I had tree trimmers out last Saturday and they did a great job of cleaning out lots of dead branches from the giant elm in my backyard.  The elm that the squirrel used to be able to jump to from the top of the pole!  And, therein, lay the problem.  He could no longer make the jump.  I was so tickled by his scolding that I came inside to get my camera so I could post a picture of him on facebook.  And it didn't matter to him that I was no longer outside - he continued the chatter for another 5 minutes, at least.  This, after having scolded me for a good 15 minutes while I was reading.
     He finally went down the pole and across the fence and disappeared into the alley.  I'm sure he'll be back and will probably have more scolding to do.  I really messed up his ability to show off his jumping skills to the lady squirrels.  Not to mention that now in order to get to the tree he'll have to go into the dog run.  Poor thing!

Angry squirrel at top of pole

No lower branches on the elm now

     Yesterday was our monthly Wasson HS girlfriend luncheon and there are always plenty of laughs with those gals.  And I loved starting the day with a John Wayne scene as I was flipping channels to see what was on.  I caught the moment when he said, "Douglas, I thought about killing you many times when we were younger.  I'm saddened that I did not!"  Ups and downs, ins and outs, laughter and tears, bends and more bends - the road goes on and on (as JRR Tolkien wrote).  And, as always, I thank you for joining me on mine.  Merci!