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I picked up the brass plate for the framed flag today. I guess that is the last thing I have to do for him, really. I had Betty and Jim Sweeney over today for lunch as they asked to see the video of the Arlington service. Betty was such a good friend to Dan and they had a very close relationship. She cried all during the video. Now, that’s friendship!

I’m so proud of that video, thanks to Bob and Jeb. They have given us a permanent memory to watch again and again. Last Saturday when Grant and Jami had a birthday party for me, Michael asked me if we could watch the video of Grandaddy’s service. Of course, I was delighted and we watched it together.

So, here is the flag, all framed and finished!

We all left Massanutten VA this morning between 7:30 and 8:30 and I arrived home at 6:00 p.m. I just want to tell you about Dan’s service on Wednesday.

The morning started out rainy and then overcast as we made our 2 1/2 hour drive to Arlington. After meeting with the priest and friends who came for the ceremony, as we started our march up the hill, the sun came out and stayed out. Now what does that tell you? I know Dan was right there with us. It was just a beautiful, awesome ceremony.

We drove to the bottom of a hill and met the horse drawn carriage with caisson, and a full Naval band. The naval men transferred the ashes to the caisson and the band played. That part was amazing. There were 16 of my family, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew, and 5 other friends who marched with us. When we got up to the top of the hill, the ceremony began to remove the ashes and place the container on a table under the covered pavillion. Some of us were then seated for a prayer service led by Fr. Finnagan, along with the flag unfolding and the 21 gun salute. Taps and America were played. My 4 children were invited to carry the ashes to the niche and Carol carried the box and placed it inside. She got to say “goobye Dad” as she placed them inside. There is a beautiful fountain there and it’s up on a hill overlooking the grounds. It couldn’t have been more special. i wish you could have seen Fiona (6) and Michael (4) standing hand in hand by the fountain, their backs to us. Fiona is such a little mother to him.

My brother and sister-in-law had us all over for dinner afterwards and had set it up in their backyard – so festive and pretty and fun. There were still predictions of possible showers, but I just told Dan he needed help get us through the party before it rained, and he did. We arrived there about 4:30 and left about 8:30 for our long drive back to Massanutten.

Our week was called “The Arlington Journey” and Wednesday was the day we had all been building up to. We had a wonderful time being together and celebrating Dan’s life.

Julie

I just hung up from talking with Nicole. It was 8:30 p.m. over there and 11:30 a.m. here when she called. She is so thankful that she has a wonderful family to live with and they are feeding her well. She walks everywhere she goes and loves the scenery. There are several very old church ruins from the 5th century right near her, the mountains, the flowers, the sky at night is awesome. Weather is around 80 in the daytime, but dry heat, so very comfortable. She has her own room in the house (where 10 people live), with a bed and chest and desk. She’s working so hard 7 days a week so has very little time to goof off. She’s made a good friend – a guy who is 25 (a volunteer). Two of the girls have already gone home – one because of sickness in her family and the other because she just couldn’t do it. She was assigned in a remote village – no running water and squat pots – and she couldn’t handle it. Nicole hasn’t gotten any mail, yet, but hopes she will tomorrow. The big group will get together tomorrow and she will have an opportunity to go to the post office.

She’s not getting to get on line very often and very little time to blog. She just asked me to give each of you her love – so here is some hugs and kisses from Nicole XXXXOOOO.

Love,

M,J,G

I like the new pink background on the blog. Thank you for changing it. It looks very Valentinish. Maybe you could do kelly green for March and St. Patrick’s Day.

David will be in a GeoB tomorrow morning at Resurrection. Everyone in the 8th grade is required to take a test on geography and there will be one finalist from his school. If he makes it, he’ll go to state and then if he makes that, he’ll go to nationals in Washington, D.C. If he goes to Washington, D.C., I am definately going with him. He is a wealth of information on geography. He knows all of the countries and capitals in the world, practically, and all sorts of geographical facts about locations and happenings. The first round was last week and he and another boy scored the highest in the class.

Carol and I went to see Dream Girls over the weekend. The music is really fabulous and it was a very good movie. I recommend it to all of you who like soul music. I don’t know who wrote all of the songs, but whoever it was did a great job. One of the girls was an American Idol finalist and her voice is absolutely amazing. Costumes were beautiful, too. It’s a good story and I don’t know why it didn’t get higher ratings. It’s almost up there with “Chicago” in my own personal ratings.

Today started as a pleasent day and got better. Julie was off to play tennis and I left to meet Jeb and watch Kelly play soccer. Kelly was a very determined player but her team was undergirled. They did, however, shut out the other team’s goalie by not letting her touch a single ball. We left for our house and to meet Mom and Ted for a lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs with ice cream for dessert. Ted and Jeb then proceeded to complete a list of “to do’s” I made. They cut the lawns, trimed the three sisters, the nandinas, the box woods, the hedge on the side of the house, the azelias and cleared the dirt and leaves under the deck steps. Since Jeb cut the grass I didn’t have to give up my coupon from Ted. Kelly beat me in a putting contest and received the first metal trophey she had ever received. She was able to run the “around the house” course in 20 seconds and then Jeb and Ted tied at 19 seconds. I didn’t try it. After we all agreed an a job well done we proceeded inside the house and had a drink. My thanks to Jeb, Ted, Mom and Kelly for a very nice day. Dad

Yesterday, Jeb and the girls were over here and we were talking about Dad going to the doctor. Jeb said that I should go with him because I would think of questions to ask that Dad would not think of. I agreed, but I told him he needed to tell Dad that because he never likes me to go with him. So, Jeb did tell Dad and this is the way he thought it would convince him:

“Dad, you should let mom go with you to the doctor because she is scattered and you have lateral vision. Dad, you are smart like a bee. You can put a bee in a jar and he will just keep butting his head against the side of the jar because he just sees the light out there and thinks he can get to it. But, a FLY, not the same. A fly is stupid and she just buzzes all over inside the jar until she finds a way out. So, the bee eventually dies, but the fly lives on.”

Now, I ask you blog readers, who is stupid? The bee or the fly? And, also, what do you do with a son who chooses to convince his dad by making his mom “stupid”?

This was sort of an eventful day, so I thought I’d put all of the stuff that happened on the blog.

1. Today is Jeb’s and Kathy’s 19th wedding anniversary.

2. Fiona had her adenoids removed this morning. She had to be put to sleep and they rode her in a red wagon to the operating room. She has eaten popsicles ever since and did just fine.

3. Michael is better. He had a very serious issue breathing Saturday night and Jami called the doctor and she had to sit upright in a chair all night and hold him and not let him lie down.

4. I played tennis with 7 men this morning. I rode my bike there and back.

5. Carol and David came down to Mulberry and walked a couple of miles with me and Dad. The kids are out of school today because it is

6. Martin Luther King’s birthday.

7. Dad, Carol and I attended the Parish Mission at St. John Neumann tonight. Fr. Carey from Portland, Oregon is giving the mission.

8. Debbie, Larry and the 3 older kids are on their way back from North Carolina where they got to play in snow and passed through Atlanta today. Debbie will meet Patsy tomorrow to pick up Noah (at Wildwood).

9. Laurie & Johnny made an offer on a huge house (4,900 square feet) and it was accepted this afternoon. They’ll close on April 3rd.

10. My friend, Anne Baron, had her first radiation treatment this morning at 9:00 a.m.

11. Dad’s friend, Betty Sweeney’s, son, Dan had a heart attack and has to have quadruple by-pass surgery either Tuesday or Wednesday.

12. Joe and Sandy are spending the night at our house tonight (in Atlanta) on the way to Pensacola to see Margie.

Laurie, Patsy, Carol and I went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch for Patsy’s birthday today and to Ole Time Pottery and some other stores. We had so much fun. The funniest thing that happened was when Laurie (who is 30 something) climbed in the shopping basket at Ole Time Pottery and Patsy pushed her around the store. Carol tried on a fur vest at another store (Home Shopping outlet) that she wanted to buy because it’s suppose to go down to the 50’s on Friday, but it was too expensive and she decided against it. We had a lot of laughs and fun. Happy Birthday one more time, Auntie P.