Honeysuckle

This morning I was walking up to the track for my morning shuffle when a glorious scent captured and whisked me 42 years and many miles from Pleasant View.

When I was was just a little girl, my mother went into the hospital for an extended stay. She had a tumor in her adrenal gland. That is serious now, imagine how frightening that must have been 42 years ago! While my mother was at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, my little brother and I were deposited at many different neighbors' homes for a couple of months (it seemed like years) and then we were finally delivered to our Grandparents in Phoenix, Arizona for the last month (year) of Mom's recuperation.

During that month, the honeysuckle in Grandma's yard was in bloom. It's fragrance was intoxicating. I remember sitting under the bush and breathing in that aroma until I felt light headed.

So this morning, I was once again five years old and sitting under a sweet-smelling vine in Phoenix, Arizona. On my way home from the track I couldn't resist picking several branches of sweet honeysuckle. They are in a vase of water in my kitchen where they may snatch me away again at any moment.

From here to Maryland

Kelly and Dani are safely installed in their new apartment in Baltimore. They had a fun trek across the nation to their new home state which involved five hotels and numerous adventures such as Trainland USA, a Pony Express Station, a Danish Windmill and the Chicago Art Institute just to name a few. We are so grateful their car functioned well under its heavy load and that they didn't run into any mean people. In fact at a gas station in Iowa, with "Just Married" still painted across their back window, they came out after purchasing some snacks to find a note under their windshield wiper that read "CONGRATULATIONS" and had a $20.00 bill folded inside. How's that for the kindness of strangers?

It does help to know that they have found kind strangers everywhere they've been and that they are still excited about this whole adventure; but I still miss them everyday.

P.S. Thanks to John Fennemore for these photos. We are still waiting for the pictures from the wedding photographer. We are looking forward to seeing those...Check out Nana's blog: Here Go the Weasels for some of the pictures she took at the reception, thanks Nana!

Missing the Newlyweds

Because the Newlyweds are on their way to Baltimore where they

will spend the next two years (at least).

Because the wedding photographer won't have proofs to us for

two more weeks (at least).

Because I'm missing Dani and Kelly so much

I was just looking at photos and decided to add a few more to my blog.

D-Day

June 6 is historically known as D-Day marking the beginning of the landings in Normandy during World War II. June 6, 2009, 65 years after the original D-Day, we had another D-Day for Kelly's and Dani's wedding.

We were blessed with clear weather for D-Day 2009. The rain we had been experiencing all week and which picked up again the next day, took a break and allowed us one dry day. We were also blessed to have all of our family here for the big occasion. My two brothers, their children, my mother and Aunt Sharon were able to be with us. Both of Rob's sisters, one brother and their families along with his mother were there. We are certain both of our dads were with us in the temple too.

So D-Day takes on additional meaning when we consider 'D'ani's big 'D'ay being 'D'ry and surrounded by 'D'ear ones here and 'D'eparted.

We felt so much love and support from the many friends and family who came to the wedding and reception. Thank you everyone for making our D-Day downright 'D'elightful!

DANI AND KELLY

Today I was feeling rather melancholy as I drove home from work. You know that feeling you have when you realize the world as you've known it is about to take giant shift? Well, that is what I was experiencing this evening. I was listening to the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack as I headed home on northbound I15. It is Dani's CD and her favorite movie so that definitely played into the picture. I was also thinking about Dani and Kelly who were at that moment entering the Salt Lake Temple to go through a session. The thought struck me hard that in just a few days those two people won't be hanging around the house anymore. What a void it will leave in my life when we no longer have Dani and Kelly sitting on any of our four couches or the porch, missing their help making dinner or setting & clearing the table, to not see them holding hands and looking so happy all the time. To not have stacks of wedding gifts in various places, the little piles of partially-written thank you notes or half-packed boxes of miscellaneous items sitting around in many rooms. How much I will miss Dani's little blue car parked out front getting all water-spotted from the sprinklers. How odd to not have Kelly's car parked the wrong direction in front of the mailbox risking another note from the mailman. No wonder I'm feeling slightly blue; without those two young people around we're bound to feel a loss. The summer of '09 will seem a little less bright and green when Kelly and Dani Ahern move off to Baltimore, MD. Our days will be a little less light and our minds will carry a little more worry to bed each night. We'll miss you two more than you can know!