family

These are far from my favorite posts to write. My Grandmother (Grammie) died on Friday quite suddenly. Often this is a bad thing, but as far as sudden deaths go, this was one of the better ones. She was fine on Wednesday, caught pneumonia Thursday and slipped away the next day, surrounded by loved ones. She was in her nineties. That said, all deaths are difficult. It can be very hard to be right there when your loved one is passing, but it’s also rough to be across the country. Her funeral will be Friday, and this is one that

I’m back from Thanksgiving break, and I’m happy to report all went swimmingly (almost). Did I successfully complete every last thing on my To Do list before the break began? Not quite, but I got the big things out of the way. The kitchen was completely decluttered and ready for use. The sunroom was decluttered, though it still has some piles that need to be given away. The wood pile was completely stacked in the shed (thanks to some superhuman help from friends). And our living room was also successfully clean for the first time in . . . 14

I like parties. I like planning them. I like holding them. (I don’t like cleaning the house to get ready for them, or cleaning the house once they’re done.) Ever since I was in high school, I was happy to call up my friends and organize some kind of activity, whether it was getting together to go to a movie, go out to dinner, or just go over to someone’s house and hang out, I liked making all the phone calls and getting it all organized. (Probably a sign of impending librarianship, I suppose.) I still like doing it these

This past weekend, Denisa and I took the family down to New York City for a quick there and back again trip that’s been a long time coming. When we were first married, all our attention was on getting Denisa her US citizenship. It was a long process, filled with many hoops to jump through and fees to be paid, but we got through it all after . . . five years or so? I can’t honestly remember. But once we had children, we always wanted them to get their Slovak citizenship to go along with their American passports. Naturally,