Absolutely Bushed.

It's 11:30 and I have a 7:30 meeting at work tomorrow. Should be in bed, but this is the first I've sat down today with a minute to myself. After work, Josh and I went and worked out. And I REALLY worked out. Well, as much as this old, overweight, injured body will let me. Already my legs and shoulders are yelling at me. By morning, they will be having an all-out hissy fit! But, it feels good, too. And I plan on going and working out again tomorrow after work. Alert the media. Two days in a row, perhaps!

It was a whirlwind weekend, full of ups and downs, both in circumstances and in our emotions. We received the sad news last Monday that one of our very best friends had passed away from a heart attack. I want to write more about that, but it will take me awhile to get my thoughts together for that one, as it was such a tender experience.

The funeral was on Saturday in Dublin, Ohio (right outside of Columbus). We planned on leaving right after work on Friday and getting to Ohio about 1am on Saturday. Well, life had other plans. Our refrigerator decided to take a break from working on Friday morning. Kelly worked with it awhile, with no luck. He met a repairman there Friday afternoon, who also worked with it awhile. Diagnosis: our coil in the back of the fridge is shot. $250 for the part, and $150-200 labor. Oh....and the part is on back order. It will take 7-10 days to get the part in the shop. He will call when it comes in. Oh, terrific.

So, we cleaned out the freezer and fridge, rearranged some things in our little chest freezer, got out the cooler, bought two bags of ice, and filled our makeshift refrigerator. Josh spent the weekend with his buddy, Zach. Yay for Zach's terrific mom, Michelle. Josh had a great time over there.

We left Harrisonburg around 8:30, stopped at 11:30 on the east side of Beckley, WV. The storms had been horrific ever since we left the 'burg. Nighttime darkness, severe storms, fogs and semi trucks on the West Virginia mountain roads. Yep, makes for a peaceful drive. We decided to get some shuteye. It was a great idea. Got up early and got ready and dressed for the funeral, had the motel's "lovely" continental breakfast. (Toasted english muffins with YOUR choice of jam or cream cheese AND two choices of juice...orange or apple. I'm telling you....a virtual buffet! Seriously, the absolute saddest continental breakfast I've ever seen) Drove right to the chapel for the funeral. I will perhaps write tomorrow about that experience. I will just say that Saturday we KNEW we had made the right decision about going.

After leaving our friends, we decided to get the BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD (Donato's) and take it out to my mom and dad's house and share it with them. They were happy to see us, and we spent three great hours with them, just enjoying each other and enjoying the pizza. Mom always wants to cook for whoever shows up, but I could tell she was grateful that she could just sit. We talked and laughed and I was so glad we went.

We left their house about 9 pm and drove the 40 minutes to Laurie and Jeremy's house. We hadn't seen their new place in Grove City yet. It was so terrific to be with them awhile. Their townhouse is so cute, and Laurie has really done some cute things with the place, and it was fun to see all her little touches there. We played Wii and talked and laughed. Kelly and I slept on their couches.

Mother's Day morning....Jeremy made us all breakfast! A sausage, egg, peppers, hash brown concoction that was TERRIFIC. And orange juice. DELICIOUS. Then we all got ready for church. I loved being with Laurie on Mother's Day morning. We saw so many people at church that we knew from years ago. I had a great time catching up with old friends. Of course, I felt OLD when I saw Jenny Kiehl....who used to babysit the kids a little, and she told me she is turning 40 this year. 40!!!

After church, we went back to Laurie's to change and get on the road. Well, "get on the road" turned into "just one more game of baseball" on the Wii, or Laurie and I looking through the LTD catalog together, or us making crazy faces while Jeremy shot some pictures. It was hard to leave, but we finally did around 2:45. We pulled into our driveway about 9:30 last night. Unpacked the car, got MORE ice, and repacked our "cooler fridge", got a little sleep and was up at 5:45 this morning. Wow...no wonder I'm tired. I'm tired just TYPING this. And if you are still reading this, then YOU must be tired. Sorry for the rambling.

It was wonderful talking to all of my children on Mother's Day. I wish all moms everywhere a Happy Mother's Day.....but I think I am the luckiest mom in the world, because I get to be mom to the 6 most terrific people. And those six have exploded into 17. Seventeen to mother and grandmother. I am indeed a rich, rich woman.

A tired, old, very sore rich woman..... but a rich woman for sure.