Yes, I know it's (the middle of) October - but I'm just now getting around to posting about September.
Sept was an eventful and emotional month.
We had 3 family reunions.
The first was my Dad's family.
As wonderful as my cousins are (and they are quite the assortment) and as much as I love them (I really do), it was also the hardest.
We spent the day at my uncle's.
Turned out to be the hottest day of the year too.
Later that evening, some of them came here for some swimming, food, fun and drink.
We celebrated our 3rd (can you believe it) 'Gotcha Day' on the 16th.
Not a big celebration (we had a lot going on that week), but we did meet Austin in Huntington and went out for Chinese (of course).
That same week, a sad event occurred.
A good friend of ours at church passed away. He wasn't actually related to us, but he was related to some of our relatives (make sense?).
Anyway, he was only 40 years young.
And one of the most selfless, giving people you could ever hope to meet.
He'd been sick all summer with an unexplained illness.
Turned out to be cancer of the spleen.
He was also Darrell's piano teacher for the last 2 years.
At this point, I don't know if Darrell will ever go back to it.
He says that although he knows Darren would want him to - he just can't imagine taking lessons from anyone else.
David and I have decided to just let things ride for now.
Dad's birthday was also in Sept.
He would have been 74 on the 19th.
We had a big party for him last year.
We had debated about it - do we have one for '73' or do we wait and have a BIG one for '75'?
I am SO very glad we didn't wait.
We did something else that I think is neat.
We took some of the flowers from my Dad's service and had them made into jewelry.
I had never even heard of it before, but my sister-in-law had and mentioned it.
I did some research back at that time, and found the info that we needed.
We dried some of the flowers and sent them off.
I got an oval necklace and matching earrings. I got Leila a smaller round set.
My Mom and sister-in-law also got one.
They all also have a name on the back.
Leila's says 'Papa', mine says 'Dad', etc.
I even got keychains for the boys - since they weren't too interested in jewelry.
They have quite an extensive keychain collection from our travels (and Mom and Dad's) over the years - all over the country and I even think 5-6 foreign countries too.
I think it's a wonderful, meaningful keepsake and so much better than having flowers pressed in a book somewhere that are going to fall apart if they're touched.
Poor Darrell.
He started cross country practice back in Aug.
He did all the practice. (This is his favorite sport.)
He only got to compete in 2 meets.
And then he hurt his knee.
So far, I've had him to the doctor 3 times, had x-rays twice, and now we're scheduled for an MRI.
He had planned to 'letter' his freshman year, and that just did not happen.
Austin is still at KCU - for now.
It's a wonderful school. Small classes. Very personal.
They had 'Grandparent's Day' in Sept.
My Mom, David's Mom and his girlfriend's Grandmother all went down together.
They had a great time.
We've been to a couple of his games.
He looks good in his uniform.
And... he's decided to transfer schools next semester.
Although I do think KCU is great - I also think he's making the right decision.
Even though he denies it - we believe a big part of his decision to go there had to do with the fact that his girlfriend and his best friend were going there.
The problem with such a small school, is that their choice of majors is not overly extensive. And they don't have anything that he REALLY wants to do.
Austin likes (and is good at) drafting. That's not an option there.
It looks like he's headed to Fairmont (in WV) for the spring semester.
They have a drafting program (and in-state tuition).
I really think this is a much more 'grown-up' decision and one that will benefit him in the long run - even if it means the headache and hassle of figuring out what needs to be done to transfer and moving him north next semester instead of south.
