{"id":2578,"date":"2010-08-16T22:14:11","date_gmt":"2010-08-17T03:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willandadri.com\/blog\/?p=2578"},"modified":"2010-08-16T22:14:11","modified_gmt":"2010-08-17T03:14:11","slug":"there-is-hope-in-the-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willandadri.com\/blog\/archives\/2578","title":{"rendered":"there is hope in the distance"},"content":{"rendered":"

weekend travel seems to be an every weekend occurrence lately.\u00a0 we just got back from roanoke late last night after traveling in for uncle tommy’s memorial service.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

while in town we were able to visit uncle arnold and aunt sheree at their lake house on saturday.\u00a0 carmen brought ellie in for an afternoon of baby lessons and entertainment.\u00a0 we all had a wonderful time speaking baby babble and learning about car seats, diapers, and bath time.\u00a0 carmen and neil are so blessed to have such an adorably cute and sweet baby.\u00a0 ellie is a charmer.\u00a0 she and james hit it off and had a great time reading story books and playing with ellie’s toys.\u00a0 ellie’s favorite activity was laughing at granny covey’s attempts at baby babble.\u00a0 she’d crack up every time granny came at her with this “abababababa ooooohhhhhh babbabbbyyy\u00a0awwwwww oooochhiieee cooooochiieee babbbbuuuu”.\u00a0 (who wouldn’t be laughing right?)<\/span><\/p>\n

sunday morning we woke up early to hit up blue collar joe’s donuts since they are all the rage these days.\u00a0 our breakfast began with a donut sampling including:\u00a0 botetourt bog, nutty buddy, obx, pretzel, peanut, turtle, pink lemonade, zebra, oreo, reece’s pieces, and the infamous breakfast sampler which includes blueberries, maple frosting, and bacon!\u00a0 we all enjoyed our sugar highs and packed into three cars and headed to the peaks of otter for uncle tommy’s memorial service.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

the fog was dense going up the mountain and i was a nervous wreck.\u00a0 mom was driving the car i was in.\u00a0 mom loves to talk with her hands.\u00a0 mom loves to talk while driving.\u00a0 for the most part of the ride i was in the front passenger’s seat with my hands over my face swatting at her hands every time she’d lean over to point out some attraction off the side of the blue ridge parkway that we “should” be able to see if the fog weren’t so thick.<\/span><\/p>\n

we safely arrived at the peaks and got out to snap some photos around the pond before the luncheon and ceremony.\u00a0 we all enjoyed the scenery including about a dozen deer that we spotted on multiple occasions.\u00a0 at one point we were sitting in the lodge down stairs and a deer came running past the windows.\u00a0 i jumped up to take a photo, but was too slow.\u00a0 luckily i caught his friends after lunch and held a photo shoot with them.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

the memorial service was a time to share our fond remembrances of uncle tommy.\u00a0 everyone spoke about how kind, compassionate, caring, hard working, dedicated, and loving he was.\u00a0 aunt pat and uncle tommy would have been married for 41 years today.\u00a0 they spent the first night of their honeymoon at the peaks of otter and then came back annually on their anniversary to celebrate.\u00a0 pat said even when they did not have enough money to eat in the lodge they’d still come back with a picnic basket.\u00a0 as we began to cry, the rains began to fall.\u00a0 the rain falling on the pond seemed quite fitting.\u00a0 afterwards we took roses and laid them by a tree near where uncle tommy’s ashes had been spread.\u00a0 pat was happy to have all of us there to help her memorialize uncle tommy’s memory and to celebrate his life and their lives together.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

we love you uncle t.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t