September 2014

September really is a blur to me. I don't remember many details other than that in the first half of the month Nate went to the hospital after work almost every day to visit his dad before he passed away.

September revolved very much around Nate in my mind -- I'd wake up in the morning thinking about how he's feeling, I went through the day with a constant prayer in my heart that he could feel comfort and a prayer for myself that when the inevitable happened I would be able to help comfort him.

There was an almost constant stream of texts saying "how are you doing?" or "how's your dad?" or "have you talked to your mom today?" And we always ended our evenings trying to talk about other things, but always winding our way back to his parents.

In the midst of all of the sadness, September also gave us things that I will forever be grateful for. I'm grateful that we were able to get my father-in-law out of the hospital to spend the last days of his mortal life in the warmth of the home that he put so much love and effort into its beautification. I'm grateful that we were able to have so much time to be together with our family. Nate and I were able to get almost two weeks off of work! Nate's sisters live in Arizona, and that makes it a little difficult to get together often, so it was lovely to have that time together to get to know one another better. Relationships with in-laws are an interesting thing. You love them because they're family and they mean so much to the person you love the most, yet at the time Nate and I married I only really had a solid relationship with his parents. And for a person like me, it takes time to warm up to a state of complete comfort of how my personality and sense of humor meshes with those of others, so I love the time I have to build that relationship.

While we were back at Nate's childhood home he broke loose all of his old Lego sets and spent many hours recreating castles, and pirate ships, and wizard huts! I like to see him doing things that he enjoys. He works so hard all of the time, whether it's at his day job or rebuilding the deck at his parents home, no one could ever accuse Nate of not giving 100% to anything he does. It's one of the things I love about him, but even he will admit that he needs to chill sometimes, lay back in the grass, look up at the blue sky, the fluffy, white clouds, the evergreen trees and breathe. Or maybe just throw grass on our Shadow cat.

During the month of September was my niece's birthday, and to celebrate the whole family went to Chuck E. Cheese! I believe that this was only the second, possibly third, time I've ever been there! I obviously had a deprived childhood. Just kidding! I enjoyed my time there -- Nate and I pretty much owned at skeeball -- and at the end of the night, we gave all of our tickets to the birthday girl to pick out a super-cool prize!

Even after all of the fun, I still love the feeling of coming home. The familiar smell as you walk through the door, sinking into the couch, all of your things exactly where you left them, and sleeping in your own bed! Ahh, sleeping in one's own bed is a heavenly feeling! And it's particularly nice waking to the perfect, overcast light that always comes through my window in the morning.

We ended September in style at my first (and last) LA Dodger game of the season, while sporting my brand new jersey gifted from Nate! They won, of course. Go Dodgers!

I hope you enjoy the pictures here! Please don't judge me too harshly for only posting this now, as we're three weeks into October! hehehe.