The New Normal

Vacation was good for me to keep up on posting what was going on in the Caribbean.  The week was amazing, but ended with a tragedy we never saw coming.  On Friday morning, Josh's dad collapsed on the tennis courts while playing with Josh and passed from a heart attack.  Not to any ones surprise, we had NO idea what to do or how we were going to get home or how we were going to get Mark home.  After much struggle, we were able to do all of it.  It has been a little over a week since we had the funeral services for Mark.  Josh, Jackson and I spent the last couple of weeks in Cincinnati. 

Here is a picture that Mark took of us at Sunset.  It was really beautiful there. (I am going to go back and add pictures to the older posts from the vacation, so go back and check out the posts from vacation!)

 

This is Mark on Caitlin and Nick's wedding day.



We came home a last Sunday and I spent a couple of hours home before I had to leave for Texas. Josh and Jackson managed without me for a couple of days and came to pick me up in Columbus this morning. While I was gone, Josh took Jackson to the library and he was so excited. When he got home, he called me to tell me that he went and he got TWO books. I guess we will be frequently visiting the library from now on. (Not that the kid doesn't have a ton of books, but he loved the experience.)

Jackson is finally at the age where he will actually talk on the phone to you. He told me all kinds of stories from his week. It was so much fun to listen to him. When they got to Columbus to pick me up, Jackson said he didn't want to take me to that airport again and he didn't want me to go on the airplane again either. I assured him that I was coming home with him. He was thrilled!! (And so was I!!)

So now that we are back home (for a few days anyway), we are getting back to the "new" normal.  It has been very hard to go through a loss like this again. Mark was a very special man to me and held such a wonderful place in my heart.  I guess all we can do for now is be blessed that both our dads are looking out for us from above.  And maybe they can play some pick up games of bowling and we can tell Jackson that Papaw and Papaw Dan are playing together in heaven.