Veterans Day with our veterans

My dad is one tough old soldier. He’s been in pain and struggling for so long and he is still challenging himself and wanting to do things on his own. Seeing my strong dad having to ask for help even to stand is so hard, so I loved seeing him push himself. We are all kind of regretting having him spend so much time in rehab because it wasn’t the best experience, but I do think it made him stronger. And we’ve done the best we can with the information we’ve had. 

We had to come home Monday so anytime my dad was awake and with it, I invited the girls to come visit and get pictures. 

Sandy calls him dad too, so she’s definitely earned the daughter title! And Shirley is Shirley. 🤷‍♀️

Joe didn’t rent a car so we convinced him to take dad’s car and leave it at the hotel, which meant we needed to go pick it up. Sandy encouraged us to take her convertible, and who are we to argue? We could get used to this. 

After we picked the car up I was able to enjoy Matt who was super enjoying the ride.  

Our girls have such a sweet relationship with my dad. I’m really grateful for the time he spent living here. 

Delaney came and read him the card she made him and shared an apple snack. 

Delaney was having so much fun running around with cousins and their neighbors, but we always have time for papa. 

We made sure to prep our dad with appropriate anxiety meds before we had to say goodbye, and we left when the hospice team came so there were other visitors and that went a lot better than when Joe left. Also, I’m going back this week and the crew is going back for thanksgiving, so hopefully everyone will be seeing him soon. 

Outside hi jinx. 

I was with my dad pretty much the whole time we were there, so the girls were really on their own and everyone was so good. 

We left NY via the George Washington Bridge, which we hate to do but it was supposed to be an hour faster than the other way. I got Matt out of the city and then crashed hard and slept a good hour. Adi NJ freeway drove for an hour and then I took over. Milkshake break!

We grabbed chicfila for dinner and from before the Bay Bridge till we got home we had the best talk with the girls. We love debriefing after trips but Matt doesn’t usually join in, and this time he did and it just went really well. The girls have lots of ideas and opinions and also questions. Everyday they face really hard things and they were very vulnerable and open and Matt and I did more listening than talking and shared stories and not lectures and it was just a lovely sweet family time. 

We got home at 8:30 and got everything unloaded and got straight to bed. We. Were. Tired. 

Today we did seminary and Quentin spent the night because he had an early flag ceremony at smeco, so I got him where he needed to be. I had a ministering appt with Erin but then the rest of the day I have napped and read and have been very gentle with myself. It was a hard weekend and Amy said it was a hard day today and I think that’s what we’re looking at for the next little while. And then after everything there will be all the flood of emotions and I’m just gearing up. It was nice to have a day off today and then tomorrow I’ll shop and prep my family for me being gone and it will be fine. We’ve got this.