We said goodbye again...

The Memorial Day weekend came and went. I'd like to say it went fast...well sometimes it did, but it seemed to drag to me.

The Niece and I took off bright and early on Saturday morning. We made our traditional stops on the way to Odessa and arrived at the cemetery around 2pm.

Seeing Mom's headstone next to Dad's really jolted me that this is real. I mean, I knew it was real, but seeing Mom's headstone made it REAL.

We dropped down into Odessa and found the family sitting around in the hotel picnic area. It was so good to see the St. Louis family. I hadn't seen them in so long (while I hate the reason why I was seeing them). Hugs all around and quick catch ups.

We hung there for an hour or so until we went to dinner at the local restaurant, Chiefs. Mom bought dinner for the family again. Well, her estate did. We all knew she'd try to buy it if she was alive, so why not.

After dinner we took off up to the cemetery to fix the headstone and make sure it was all pretty. The local headstone guy put the headstone too close to Dad's and so I had the middle brother move it back a bit.

On Sunday we all woke, hung out at the hotel and chit chatted. Around 11 ish we went up to the cemetery and had a little memorial for mom. Biggest Brother read a little something and then we opened the floor for stories. My two favorites, Mr.Braspir and the bathroom and how we got the crap hats.

Following that, we went and sat around at the hotel and shot the breeze. The Family is a talkative bunch.

In the afternoon we had our little picnic at the hotel. We were going to move to the park and then decided we might as well stay right where we were. We BBQ'd burgers, ate a ton of food and had a good time just being around each other.

These people...I love these people. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins galore, friends who are family and a couple of dogs. What's not to love?

After the BBQ started whining down, a couple of us took off to Irby to pay our respects to where we scattered BigBro's ashes.

Back at the hotel we sat around for another several hours and just talked and told stories. We all knew the next day was going to be the final day. I couldn't help but sit and wonder what tomorrow and the next day would hold for me. I knew it was going to be hard...and I still am not sure just how hard.

Monday morning we headed up to the Bohemian Cemetery to celebrate again.

Even now as I write this I just cannot believe what I'm looking at. How did this happen? How did I get to a point where my mother was no longer with me?

The Niece and I took off immediately after the service because we knew traffic would suck. We roasted all the way home in Sparky...

And now I need to hit the ground running to get myself prepared for Ireland next weekend. I hope I can do it...