The second weekend of November there was another one of those work parties at my house.  This time around I had quite the list of things that I needed help with. 

Steve arrived at the crack o' dawn Saturday morning and used a skid loader I rented to dig up the area where the new cobblestone patio would be off the back door.

Lisa, Kimmy, Chad and I had stayed out WAY too late and drank far too many cocktails to be functioning at that hour...but we got up and pretended we were ok.  =)

The rest of the gang arrived within a couple hours after that and the results are nothing short of miraculous.

I now have a 16 by 16 foot cobblestone patio off the back door.  I have a gorgeous fire ring where there was a huge old tree stump before.  The wash machine tub that was in the backyard was dug out and the south side of the house has dirt grade leading away to help keep water from my foundation.

It looks so awesome.  I absolutely can't wait till next year to put the grill out and use the patio.  It will be wonderful!

In the evening Jeri and Joe hosted a "Celebration of Gregg's Life" party at their house.  Somehow I convinced a doctor from Wisconsin Rapids to drive all the way to Oshvegas and do a shrimp boil for my friends and family. 

It was fantastic!  We ate spicy shrimp, watched videos and pictures of Gregg and made toasts to Gregg all night.  We laughed and celebrated heartily after our hard days labor.

Not only was the party a celebration of Gregg but also a big Thank You to my wonderful family and friends who have supported and helped me this far.

I wish I could do more to let them all know how much it means to me.

Here are some pix of the day.  I'll add more as I get them.

T

Notice the large pile o' bricks back there.  One of two piles.  Jim and Steve working hard!

Kimmy and Jen rakin'.

Jeri's on FIAH!

Chaddy cleans my gutters.

Tam and I conferring.

Ummmm.....

Shelf Building 101 with Crystal, Adam and Pat.

Manly tools.

Mmmm, belly full o lasagna.

Waitin' for the shrimps.

Spicy shrimps are good!

Drinky drinky.

Diggin' in.

The Gang

Pooped out doggies and a Grayson

Joe and Lisa singin'

Heeeyyyoohhh!

Yesterday the mother of a friend of mine was killed in a car/pedestrian accident in my hometown.  It was a very public affair as her identity was unknown for several hours because she was not carrying any ID and the local news was on the scene for several hours before my friend and her family even knew. 

How devastating for them to possibly have been watching the TV and not knowing it was their loved one.  How devastating that there were no good bye's.  Keep them in your prayers.  I am sending virtual hugs to my friend from here.  Sometimes there are no words; the hug of someone who cares speaks so much louder.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of when we found that Gregg's cancer was back and that it had gotten desperately worse by manifesting in his brain.  I now look at that day as the beginning of the end...and I think back to it and somehow I think I knew.  When the doctor said those words I really lost it for the first time.

I never told Gregg this, but late last year, after his operation I had a sort of feeling/visoin of the future.  I was standing at the copy machine and all of sudden I looked over at my hand and saw another man's ring on my finger.  I remember being completely overwhelmed with fear and sadness and went and hid at my desk and cried for a while. 

I don't know if God was trying to prepare me for the future possibly.  It's not that I gave up, because I most certainly didn't, but I think the worst case scenario was just hidden there in the depths of my psyche.

Since that moment, there were several ocassions where I sort of looked at us from the outside and saw that I needed to remember every detail because that would be the last time.  My birthday was one of those.  He took me to Lion Kind at the PAC and we just had fantastic time.  Our time in Europe I remember thinking I needed to spend more time cuddling with him in bed at night because I just knew I wasn't going to get to do that much longer.  I watched him sleep (when he could) and listened to him snoring.  These memories, everything about them, from the colors and smells and sounds, will always be permanantly ingrained in my memory.

Yesterday I went to the gravesite for the first time since the headstone was erected.

Somehow it is beautiful, even though it represents all our lost possibilities.  It still represents my love for him and the love of his family and friends.  It somehow shows his personality and love of life.  It shows his wonderful smile and even shows his love of flying and the airplane that made him so happy.

I'm attaching some pictures of the stone.  If you look close, not only can you clearly read the N number on the Cub, but you can see both Adam and Gregg flying it, forever....

T