And the Healing Continues…

After hugging my mother last week after 16 months, I wasn’t sure it could get much better, but then this past weekend the grandchildren arrived! Upon returning from Florida, we regrouped for a mere two days, jumped in the Jeep, and headed for NJ – and did I tell you we’ve “settled down?”

Even while full-timing in the motor home, we were usually in the Garden State during April to visit doctors, kids, and friends, so we had decided to keep all of our appointments. Also, we had very seldom been with family at Easter, so that was an added bonus, and my daughter, Kelsey, and her husband, Ed, along with Abigail and Soren coming east from Indianapolis was the icing on the cake, or in this case, the dye and glitter on the Easter eggs!

I couldn’t possibly enumerate all of the stops the kids made to connect with friends, but they made the most of every waking moment! If my grandchildren received one more Easter basket or gift, or participated in one more egg hunt, I’m sure a record would be set!

The highlights for me include…

An afternoon/evening with Matt and Nicole…great food and wonderful company, and yes, Easter baskets for Abigail and Soren.

A visit to see my dear friend, Ginny, who hadn’t seen Abigail and Soren since infancy, and again, a bag of Easter treats. Comically, I believe Ed and Bill had more fun with the Nerf blasters than the youngsters!
Abigail and I made a Taco Skillet for dinner. She has become quite the chef, and although she rarely eats what she creates, she loves producing new dishes.

Ed began a jigsaw puzzle to which we all contributed…I just now sent Ed a picture of the finished product!

We dyed eggs and glitterized them in hopes that the Easter Bunny would visit, hide the dyed eggs – plus the 20 more plastic ones – which of course he did, along with leaving beautiful baskets – in addition to the treats that Bill and I gave them.

Before they departed on Sunday, Bill, Abigail, and I played a game of Charades for Kids (from one of the baskets), while Ed and Soren took a trip to the beach. Needless to say, he loved the sand, shells and freezing water while back at the house the best line in our game of Charades was when Abigail looked at Bill and said, ” Grandpa, you must put your phone down!” How ironic is that? Of course he obliged immediately!

It was a short, but absolutely wonderful, Easter weekend, but wait, it wasn’t over yet! When everyone left us, we ventured to Manasquan to spend the afternoon with Bill’s daughter, Cara, and her husband, Pete, who had celebrated his birthday on Saturday. Neither of their boys were home – Van is visiting his Aunt Sarah in Los Angeles and Adam is at college playing baseball – so it was just the four of us, which is very rare. We agreed to go see them if Cara promised not to cook, as she had been away for a week, but I must be honest…I am so glad she lied! We had an amazing dinner of baked ham – the photo just shows the left overs – along with mashed potatoes, asparagus, green beans, and acorn squash, followed by a birthday celebration for Pete, complete with carrot cake, Napoleon, and eclairs! I thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the company of course! The perfect ending to a truly wonderful weekend.

We were in our family bubble, with the majority of us having been vaccinated, and it truly was healing in so many ways. The road to normalcy is not an easy one or an immediate transformation, but the hugs, the touches, and the face-to-face conversations and activities sure do feel fantastic! I know the pandemic’s not over yet, but I can’t help but think we are well on our way to healing!