What a week!

I end this week with a new perspective on life. First, I learned that miles between friends and family is an easy obstacle to overcome. Secondly, those miles should be covered more often. After driving to Amarillo, a nine hour drive, with a 5 year old and a 20 month old, I realized how much I have missed out on by using the miles excuse. I drove all that way to visit one of my closest friends who happens to have a newborn baby girl (and an adorable 3 year old son). Her husband was out of town on business so we basically threw all unnecessary responsibilities out the window and gave each other permission to pretty much just lounge around for a few days and simply enjoy each other's company. It was restful and therapeutic. We went to a pumpkin farm with the kids, played at the park and fed the ducks, ate some delicious brownies at 2 a.m., and talked, talked, and talked some more. I loved it. I needed it. Oh, and she took me to Red Lobster to get my fill of shrimp for my (early) birthday. It was so yummy!

What I didn't mention, is that my mom called me a couple of hours after I arrived in Amarillo on Saturday night to tell me that my sweet Grandma, who has been battling cancer for 7 months, was just told she only had a couple of days left on this earth. This is where the fresh perspective started to really sink in. That is a phone call that no one is ever really prepared to receive. She was surrounded by loved ones and angels during her last days here on earth, and she went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday morning. That night my Mom and her sister, my Aunt Tracy, were looking through her Bible and found a church bulletin from the previous Sunday. My Grandpa attended the service and laid the bulletin on the dining room table when he got home. No one knows how it got in my Grandma's Bible, but the verse it was marking was sent from heaven. 

"It was but a little that I passed from them, 

but I found Him whom my soul loveth:

I held Him, and would not let go."

Song of Solomon 3:4

In loving memory of my Grandma, Ruby Lee Schwab

January 20, 1941-October 16, 2012