My laptop works everyone!!! You might not think it’s that big of a deal but I sure as heck do. I’ve needed it to do some homework, which is now done by the way, but oh my goodness, wowza, I’m so happy. Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and have had safe travels getting to and from places if you traveled for the holiday. I shared this in a recent blog, but some of you may know that my grandpa passed away recently. This past week, we held his celebration of life and my sister and I had the honor of speaking at it. My family and I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving with my grandpa in addition to my aunt and uncle, but things were different this year. Things are going to be different now. Different is never bad, but it can be a little scary going into the unknown. Regardless of that, here’s to new beginnings.
My family and I left for Farmington, New Mexico on Thanksgiving day and roads were good for travel. Thank goodness. My sister and I passed the time napping and talking with our parents. There was no radio because my mom’s car decided to lock us out of the radio so that was a fun time. We saw a lot of snow on Wolf Creek but regardless of that, the trip was great.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at my great aunt’s house and it was great to get to spend time with them outside of our traditional Christmas morning breakfast. It was strange though. It was different from what I’ve been used to around that time. It felt good to be with family of course but it just wasn’t the same. My grandpa wasn’t there. Marty wasn’t there either. Losing family is hard.
After our incredible meal, we went back to my grandpa’s house where my dad and aunt have been doing a lot of packing and moving of things. The house was practically empty when we arrived earlier in the day and it would continue to get more and more empty throughout our time in Farmington.
On Friday, my family and I attended my grandpa’s memorial service. It was incredibly touching to get to meet all of the people that had the pleasure of getting to know my grandpa. He was a wonderful person and it really warmed my heart to see how many people he had an impact on. Getting to speak on behalf of some of the teachers that worked for him was also such an honor. My sister also crushed it up there when she spoke, so I’m very proud of her. The service was great and the food following the service was also great. Olive Garden catering is thebomb.com let me tell you. The rest of Friday was spent packing up and cleaning up around my grandpa’s house.
Saturday was also a lot of cleaning and moving things. It was also a day that I did a lot of homework that I hadn’t finished earlier in the week. I promise I don’t procrastinate it’s just that I had a horrible cold earlier in the week and sleeping was more important to me than homework. Priorities! We also visited the Salmon Ruins which is about thirty minutes from my grandpa’s house. It was SUPER cold but it was still really nice to get out, walk around, and revisit a place that I had been to when I was younger. I’ve also always really enjoyed learning about the history of the Anasazi people and ancient civilizations (this place isn’t exactly what I would call ancient but I hope you get what I’m trying to say here haha) so this was fun.
Sunday we left and spent a wonderful TEN HOURS in the car. Kenosha Pass was closed which resulted in a two hour detour for my family back through Colorado Springs. New beginnings = ghost towns through desolate parts of Colorado? Haha. It also did not help that I had a HORRIBLE headache today. Fun fun. But now, we are all safely home and I will be heading up to finish out this semester in the morning.
As I said before, different is not bad but different can still make you feel bad. Maybe bad is the wrong word. Sad maybe? I’m not quite sure what the word I’m looking for is yet. I’ve spent a good portion of my life in New Mexico visiting family, living in my grandpa’s house, climbing the trees in his backyard, and calling Farmington practically a second home. So many traditions, so many memories.
What’s next though? I honestly hope that my family and I continue to visit New Mexico because I’m not sure what I’ll do without the three to four trips we make to New Mexico yearly. I want to continue to see my family in New Mexico and Durango. I want to continue our traditions and even start new ones. Things have changed, but that doesn’t mean that everything has to change. Of course I’m still struggling with the death of my grandpa and also Marty, but with each of these endings, there are new beginnings.
If any people reading this attended my grandpa’s service, thank you so much for being a part of his life and thank you for also being here. As I said earlier, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and I hope you also have a great week. Here’s to new beginnings. See you next Sunday.