Saying Goodbye

Goodbyes are so hard. Yesterday we said goodbye to my aunt and grandma because they were heading home to Ohio. Their visit lasted less than 48 hours.

They arrived at my parents on Friday evening so I took the kids over for a while. Saturday they went shopping and in the evening we all went to Glorious Christmas Nights. On the way back we stopped for coffee and hot chocolate at Starbucks. Dad made apple dumplings earlier in the day so he served them up while we cheered for Pittsburgh. (Disclaimer: "We" does not include Stephen's girlfriend, Kristin, though she handled the WV loss gracefully. : )

Sunday morning Brenna sang with her choir at church in the traditional service. Afterward the tears began to fall as we said our goodbyes. For 20 years we've been saying goodbye as one of us leaves for home, but something about this time was particularly difficult. Even Brenna cried as she hung on to Kalf. Watching a 5 year old cry with such sadness is hard on the heart. She and I sat on a bench to settle our emotions as Kalf and Grandma walked down the hall to the door of the church. It was a rough morning.

Grandma and Brenna - roughly 11:30 PM Saturday night

Daniel and Kalf - sometime late Saturday night