Well, I can't believe I am finally home, at least for a few days.  I left my home on April 6th and returned home on August 13th.  That is four months and one week!!  I must thank Donna Shrider because my peace of mind would not have existed without her checking on my apartment and picking up my mail!! Thank you, thank you,  thank you Donna!!!
       It was so hard leaving my friends, Johnny, Nancy, and Jill Vaught in Oklahoma, as it was everywhere I visited!  I have said it before but will say it again, how I would love to gather up all my friends and family and plop them down next to me!!  That would be a perfect world!!  No, a perfect world would be having Jeffrey back, along with sister Sandy, Aunt Esther, and Joe.  Oh well, it is not a perfect world so one must move on with life!  Well, I guess that is enough pontificating for today.
        I left the Vaughts and Oklahoma on Monday morning, August 11th.   That day I drove to Denver, Co., where my niece, Danielle Paullin, lives. It is a nine hour drive, but it took me, I think, about 11 hours with stops.  I helped Danielle around her apartment with a couple projects and then I took her out to the Olive Garden for dinner.  We a delightful visit and then it was off bright and early the next day.  On Tuesday I drove to Jerome, Idaho, and spent the night at a Days Inn.  This was only the second night I spent in a motel in 4 months of traveling!  I have very gracious friends and family!  Again I rose early and was on the road by about 6:30AM. That got me home later in afternoon on Wednesday, August 13th.  It nice to be back in my own space, but kind of strange at the same time.
         Once home, my focus was back on Jeffrey with his 28th birthday coming up on Monday, August 18th.  I had planned a birthday celebration to remember him and dear friends, Mike and Becky Blick, agreed to hold the celebration in their beautiful backyard.  Like I said before, I have very, very good friends and I am forever indebted to them.
        It was great to see my dear Washington friends when I returned and it started on Wednesday before I even arrived home.  One of Jeffrey's best friends, Brandon Romig, texted me while I was driving in the Columbia Gorge and asked when I was going to be back.  He wanted to see me. We coordinated and met at the Starbucks on Mill Plain in Vancouver, Wa.  When I got there he surprised me with another friend of Jeffrey's, David Nisbett!! What a delightful surprise!!  David lived with us a few weeks after high school and joined the Navy a couple months after Jeffrey.  David is a CB, construction battalion, and still in the Navy.  Thank you David for your service!!
And thank you, Brandon, for setting up this meeting with David and it was equally wonderful to see you!! Brandon, your home was Jeffrey's "home away from home" in high school and I will be forever grateful!  Love you both!!  You are a couple of my "sons" because you were good "brothers" to Jeffrey. Thank you!!  After I left Starbucks I drove to the cemetery to take flowers to Jeffrey and say hi.  Jeffrey is well loved and not forgotten because there are always lots of flowers left at his grave.  I know his dad comes, but others do to and for that I am so grateful!
       On Sunday I was able to reconnect with another of my "sons", Tommy Chau.  Tommy lives in Portland and text me and asked what I was doing Sunday.  Since nothing was written in stone, we got together and had dinner at Island Cafe.  I highly recommend this place on Hayden Island.  It isn't open all year so don't plan on going in the winter.  It was great visiting with Tommy and getting caught up on his life and just spending time with one of my boys!  I am blessed!
            Monday, August 18th, was Jeffrey's 28th birthday.  Last year I celebrated with him and his friends, Travis and Robert, by taking them all out to Joe's Crab Shack.  I really felt the need to do that again this year so Travis, Robert and Tyler (he had to work last year and so missed the dinner) and I went to same restaurant this year.  It was a lovely time of remembering Jeffrey with perfect weather dining outside next to the river.  Jeffrey would have enjoyed it immensely!  The rest of the week was spent visiting with friends, oil change and prepping for Jeffrey's party on Saturday.
            Oh! I almost forgot that I talked to Jimmy during the week.  He had been hired by UPS to drive their semi trucks between their big sites.  It is usually a three to four hour drive between destinations.  He had to train in Casper, Wyoming, and was gone for a couple weeks. (Hmmm, maybe Brittany could use help with the grandkids in Jimmy's absence!)  I call Brittany and ask and she said, "Sure".  (Well, this certainly makes my day!!)  I asked if she would like some peaches and pears that I could help her can and again she said yes.  So on Thursday my friend Lupe, Travis's mother, and I picked pears and on Saturday morning before the Jeffrey's party we picked peaches. Needless to say, I had full car on trip to Jimmy's.  I ended up canning 21 quarts of peaches and and 27 quarts of pears during the first week of my visit.  I always feel so great when I look at all those jars and they taste soooo good!  I think the grandkids favorites were the pears.

       Oh my, I did not get this last entry to my blog finished, or I thought I had not finished it and now it is December 7th and I am bound and determined to post this last blog entry today. Not a lot to add to this blog entry aside from an update. When I opened this entry I had forgotten I had drafted the entry and so thrilled to find I had. I would never had remembered it all.
       While I was visiting Jimmy and Brittany the nurse coordinator for the school district called to see if I would be interested in subbing for a school nurse who was going to take maternity leave. I had in my mind that it would be three months and I would be finished at Christmas break.  Imagine my surprise when I find out at first nurses meeting that I was working till June! YIKES!!  That will teach me to ask more questions!  Actually it is turning out OK. I now have much cheaper health insurance and I will have some foot surgery done while I am working.  I am working with great people and so allis good.  Will I offer to sub again?  Probably not. :-)) I am a slow learner, but eventually it sinks in!
      On November 9th it was one year since Jeffrey passed away.  It just does not seem possible!!  That was a Sunday and after church I went to house where Jeffrey lived and spent next couple days with Jeffrey's "brothers" aka housemates, Robert and Travis. It was wonderful to spend time with them and their mothers.  We are all family now and all very supportive of one another. I even spent a couple nights in Jeffrey's bedroom and was hoping he would visit me but disappointingly,  it did not happen.
      This next year, 2015, will be an interesting one for me.  I really need to move from my rental to a slightly bigger space and my dream would be to build and call it "Jeffrey's Place".  I would hope it could be a gathering place for his friends and those who need a little respite time.  I say a dream because that is exactly what it is!  Will it come to pass?  Time will tell, but everything starts with a dream and it is to be, God will provide the way.  As we all know, life is full of twists and turns and what the next day brings, we never know.
      Well, I guess I need to wrap up this blog. I have rambled on long enough and all of the readers have been very kind in their comments of which I am very grateful.  I pray everyone has a blessed Holiday season and that 2015 will be filled with many blessings.