Father's Day.  Dave and I celebrated by taking a trip to Dave's favorite store (Costco) followed by a visit with an old friend. Matt, who had worked until 2am, slept in. 

The celebration, instigated by an unusual gift idea of Matt's, began around noon with the presentation of a charcoal smoker/grill. Until yesterday I had virtually no idea what a smoker was, but Matt was adamant - Dad needed a smoker.  Found it at Meijer. Got accessories. Charcoal.  Flavored wood chips. Dave got it all opened and discovered we had the wrong parts.  Family excursion back to Meijer. Home again, now a thorough examination of the manual. Turns out we only need the wood chips which can be "smoked" in our exsisting grill. So the smoker/grill goes back, but Matt is undetered and tomorrow the hunt continues. Dad is getting a smoker.  We'll see.

Meanwhile, my very techno-amazing boys and my dear friend Bob have made me mobile and wireless. Now I can compute while watching my favorite tv shows at home or my favorite people out in the world.  I'm looking forward to dramatically increasing my productivity by having internet access on-the-go.

Recovering from these last weeks has been steady, but more gradual than I would like. I do however, feel much, much better; happier and significantly more hopeful. But there is a good news/bad news aspect to our life that we just accept: we are rarely all in the same [emotional/spiritual] place at the same time.  I think we all know what is required during these periods, and we always manage.  We are so grateful for all your love and support, for never forgetting us or our precious Mary-Kate, for sharing with us how much you miss her too, and for understanding that we can't always predict or control when our loss will back up on us.

Tomorrow is a brand new day, and for a change I am looking forward to the challenges it will bring.

Love to you all.
God Bless.

Beth.