So much to tell...

With all that has happened over the past few days even weeks, I can't believe I have time to write this. Last Monday, we went up to the ICU in the VA in Temple to go check on Damon's dad. He wasn't doing so well. He had sepsis of the blood, pnuemonia, and a UTI infection. Well, on Wednesday, Damon, Derrell, & Lonnie went up there because the doctors wanted to discuss his prognosis. They wanted to pull the ventilator off. It wasn't 30 minutes after they took him off the breathing machine and he was gone. On Thursday I went to work for about an hour and then went with Mom Thompson to the funeral home to make arrangements. And then I went with her to go pick out some clothes for Tom to wear. Then Friday we had the full military funeral at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetary in Killeen.

The military funeral was awe-inspiring. They had a chaplain say a few words and then they played taps. I bawled...they folded the flag...I bawled...one of the men leaned down to give the flag to Lonnie and thank her for her husband's service...I bawled. Then they were ushering us out because they basically squeezed us in and there was another funeral coming in. About that time, our friend, Zack and his brother-in-law Mike got there just as they were loading Tom in the van to take him to where he would be buried. Zack stopped them so he could pay his respects. And Mike walked up beside him. I turned around and Mike, who's in the army, was saluting Tom as they loaded him in the van..I bawled. Then Mike presented Lonnie with a gold star pin...I bawled some more. I won't speak ill of Tom now that he's gone, but he and his family had some issues that were mainly his problems he took out on them. Their relationships were strained to say the least. But after he was diagnosed with dementia, I think it was easier for Damon to excuse some of his Dad's behavior because he really wasn't himself. Damon's been fishing with Zack the Thursday before the funeral and their out now, so I imagine he's getting his time in with his friends talking it out.

We left after the memorial to go floating down the Guadalupe river with some friends of ours. It was a blast, and for once Damon got sunburned worse than me, Snow White. We drank a lot of beer, ate, and spent some much needed time with friends.

When we got home, it was so nice to be home with our kids, Landon's fixing to go to bed. He's finishing up Mythbuster's, one of his favorite tv shows, and Emma's in bed. She's not happy about it, but she's in bed. I'm fixing to wrap this up, load the dishwasher, put Landon to bed, take a quick shower, and then lay in bed. Awww...my bed sounds really good. I'm going to try and finish Twilight tonight and start on New Moon. Friday is my last day at work for a month!! Yay!!!! Not that I don't love my job..but a break will be good.