Not in Kansas Anymore...

What a wonderful trip we had up to Kansas this last week! When we got up there on Wednesday, we went to Jared and got my ring cleaned. By then Julie and Doug were in town and we all met up at the hotel. We went to Bob Evans to eat and then went over to Applebees to visit with Mom, Dad, Jill, and Marilyn. Thursday, we had Carol's bridal luncheon and then celebrated Mom's 60th birthday. Friday, Jill, John and I went with Carol to get her make-up done and then went to the Plaza to Winsteads to eat. Winstead's is where my grandparents were when they heard about Pearl Harbor. It is also the place where Julie and I thought Mom and Dad had their first date though now they are trying to change their story on that!! After a classic burger and shake it was off to the hotel to change and head to the hawaiian wedding. It was a cool evening and a beautiful wedding on the lake. It was fun to visit with all the family!! Saturday we had a family reunion out at Tim's complete with swimming, football, volleyball, photos and more!! We stayed til 1:30am talking and goofing around. Yesterday we all had breakfast at Grandma's and John and I left to come home. Julie and Doug flew out earlier that morning. It was so hard to leave knowing that this won't ever happen again. All of us cousins won't all be hanging out at Grandma's....The way it looks now will be way different- Grandma's perfectly placed treasures won't be there...even if I do end up making another trip there in the next year. It's different now. Grandma is gone. An era has ended. I miss Grandma so much. She would have loved all the festivities.... I looked around trying to memorize every part so it stays ingrained in my memories....the smells...the decor....all the heirlooms....the house full of all the family...the family tree... John was really sweet trying to get me to stop crying as we drove away talking about making new memories with what will be our family... I wonder if it will be possible to try to get all the cousins together every 5 or 10 years....Several said they might make the trip down for our wedding, which would be fun if they do... Surely with that much notice we can try to put something together....Whether it is back to Kansas, up to DC, down to Texas....or a cruise or something else entirely....I guess it's just a matter of want to.... Sigh...So many wonderful things ahead....but I don't want to let go of my wonderful memories....Part of me is still that little girl that loved making graham cracker cookies with Grandma, playing cards with Grandpa and pool/ping pong with the cousins in the basement.....sifting through games my mom grew up with and playing with the player piano.......swinging on the front porch swing....looking at photographs....trying on Grandma's jewelry....hiding out from the grown ups...Don't make me go....not yet.....