On 15 May (Wednesday) after work, Susan and I headed down to Louisiana to visit some of our relatives. The trip down was uneventful. We spent the night in Amarillo and arrived Thursday afternoon in time to pick up supper for my parents.
Friday we visited my brother's grave. The marker had been installed earlier in the week, and I must admit is was surreal to see his name marking a burial site. We were not really close, but knowing his once vibrant life is at an end did have an effect on me. My parents seem to be doing well, but I know they think of Carl every day.
The weekend was nice. Temperatures in the mid-80's allowed me to wear that sundress I always wanted to wear (see post #640)! My sister-in-law thought it was a bit short, but she agreed that I could get away with it -- after all I'm only 15 months old! She also mentioned that my chest remodel looked really nice and was proportional, she had been concerned that I may have gone for the Dolly Parton look. Saturday evening Susan and I had supper with my remaining brother and his family. Gene and his family have all accepted me without reservation. During supper they broke some news -- their youngest daughter had officially become engaged! They have not set a date yet, but they are planning the wedding for March or April of next year. Of course there had to be some bad news. Just as we were leaving the restaurant to head home our daughter Kimberly called from New Mexico. It seems while her and her roommates were gone someone had broken in. They stole all of her roommates jewelry and several of Kimberly's rings, along with two PS3 controllers and one game. She is hopeful the rings will turn up. She wears a size 3.5 ring which is not very common, and the town she lives in is pretty small. They have replaced all of the locks and a portable alarm system is on the way.
We left for home after lunch on Sunday, once again spending the night in Amarillo. We had supper at an IHOP, and the waitress remembered us from our previous visit in early February. I asked her what made us memorable, and she said it was my soft, sweet voice! Yes, she got a big tip for that! We left Monday morning, and unfortunately the weather was not very kind. We started the day driving through a thunderstorm with heavy rain and sporadic hail. After an hour or so we got out of the heavy stuff and were driving in light rain. A little while after crossing into New Mexico we hit heavy fog for about 45 minutes, then finally some sun as we neared the Colorado border. After an hour of really nice weather we encountered more rain, which turned into snow as we reached Colorado Springs. Monday night into Tuesday we received over 6 inches of snow!
The only other newsworthy item happened today, an appointment with the Sheriff's Office to update my concealed carry permit. I worked with three different ladies, and all of them were awesome! The only painful part was adding my dead name to one of the forms. I was surprised they printed out my new permit on the spot, complete with new name and photo! The entire visit only took about 15 minutes, and there was no charge.
