The months of November and December seem like they only existed of Emory Hospital, the inside of a car, Hobby Lobby and my bed. The eternal optimist that my Mom taught me to be tells me to look back upon this time and reflect on it as a time our family bonded during a crisis, my true friends once again proved their loyalty and never ending support and my boyfriend spent his entire vacation selflessly shuttling my Mom and I back and forth to Emory along with salvaging our very non traditional Christmas Eve & Christmas morning with groceries and a place to sleep.
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| Christmas Eve at Emory |
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| Suni's awesome sign which was a hit with all of the Emory staff |
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| Hall & Margaret with the annual gingerbread house |
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| Demolition of the house |
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| Mini "cujo" KC adapting to holiday chaos amidst Hobby Lobby bags |
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| I was so happy to come home & turn this on every night. Who cares if it's a fake? |
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| Mom after a long Emory day with her KC |
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| JT and Ellie Cat - if she can't make you smile, no one can! I would be remiss in not including a memorial to 2 very special people who left a footprint in many hearts during their life.  In November, JT's Granny, Betty Johnson, went to heaven. I never had the opportunity to get to know her as well as I would have liked; however, after listening to the many family stories and her funeral service, there is zero doubt that heaven gained another angel on November 10th. I am forever amazed at the family she built out on Walkers Mill Road. It's as if she was a momma bird gathering all of her babies to keep them in a nest to nurture them for a lifetime. She had 3 daughters and many grandchildren to all continue the traditions of family dinners, holidays and gatherings. Tears were shed but more importantly laughter echoed throughout her house the afternoon of her service. How awesome is it that an entire family can gather and smile, laugh and reminisce about their Granny -- what a life to celebrate!  Larry Neill 2/3/37-12/16/10 "Granddaddy Cookie" December presented another tough loss -- April's Dad, Larry and Chan and CAE's Granddaddy Cookie. I love the picture of him above because I feel it represents his jovial personality. I can hear him now laughing at Chandler, fussing at Claire Ann and talking to Griswald. I believe God works wonders and I know it was meant to be for my last visit with Larry to be one of laughter and hilarious comments to the nurses. Our ongoing joke was about JT, his red hair, our dating and his "weird name". I like to think of Larry leaving us exactly as he came to us -- loving, smiling, joking, betting and golfing. It's rather comforting to think that when the tears eventually dry up, everyone is left with all of those fun traits for memories. I shared this with a few loved ones this week via text but I love it so much I want to close with it as well. "They are not the stars but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy." Food for thought.....what do people think about you? what footprint are you leaving on hearts? |
