Posted by Michelle on Oct 4, 2023 in Jeff, Michelle
Jeff and I went to London for eight days for our 25th anniversary! It was a magical trip – Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey coronation chair since 1200 and the Graves of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, Shakespeare, Dickens, Darwin, Kipling, Churchill, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, etc. MacBeth at the Globe for open theatre in the round, Wicked at the Victoria Apollo. Beatles private taxi tour with walking across Abbey Road. Lillywhites – 5 story, 160 year old sporting goods store. British Museum private tour with Rosetta Stone, Parthenon Sculptures, mummies and the Bust of Rameses the Great. Soho, Carnaby Street, Chinatown, Beefmaster Guards…
Well after Mom, Dad and Cathie all died and all the Covid isolation, I didn’t feel like updating anything much. But it’s time to get back to normal.
As tough as things were, a lot of good things happened too. Trips to Boston, DC, Charlotte, Annapolis, West Jefferson and more. Visits with extended family, old and new friends. New babies, adoptions and graduations. Swearing ins, Galas, all sorts of great events. We even painted the house and I got a new Mercedes Benz (Hayley has my Jeep, lol). I’m healthy and loved – so much to be grateful for in my life.
Everyone lost a ton in 2020 with Covid, mine sucked because both my folks were diagnosed with stage four cancer – I’m an only child to divorced parent who live 30 and 90 minutes from me. 2021 started with losing my Mom in February, then my Aunt Cathie a few weeks ago. Cancer is insidious, it takes everything from you then most of the time it kills you anyway. My Aunt Cathie took her own way out before cancer could take her. I’m still struggling with that.
I feel like I’m untethered and I’m learning way too much about estate procedures. And that Bank of America is the worst place ever to have an account when someone dies.
Intertwined with that, is our our pride and joy over Hayley graduating college (Criminal Justice major, Psychology minor). We are thrilled that Hayley was hired for the first job she applied for and she works for the State of NC in Public Safety.
Graduation was the last time we saw my Aunt Cathie too. I’m so glad she came with us. Bittersweet though.
Posted by Michelle on Jul 6, 2019 in Humor, Michelle
I’ve shared this so many times on social media over the years because it is literally one of my favorite humorous short pieces ever. Melinda Taub, thank you.
Dear friends, family, and Austrian nobility,
Captain Von Trapp and I are very sorry to inform you that we no longer plan to wed. We offer our deepest apologies to those of you who have already made plans to travel to Salzburg this summer.
Mom found a great old video of mostly me but some other family too from 1973. Mom and Dad both young, Uncle Mike playing with me. I wish it had more than just a glimpse of Grandma as well as wishing the original converter from old tape hadn’t removed the audio. It’s still a lovely look back!
Had an amazing vacation to Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls on the Canadian side and Toronto. Can’t wait to go back to Canada – I have family in BC and one of my grandmothers was from Nova Scotia.
Hayley has been begging for a tattoo so I made her a deal. I would pay for it if she did the following things: pick a design and wait a year, get a temporary version of it for a few weeks and ensure her future career will not be impacted. After she complied, we headed off to the only place I consider worthy around here, Mad Ethel’s. It’s appointments only, all custom artwork, just a really quality experience.
The truth is at 20 years old, she was old enough to do this if she wanted without my permission. So if she was willing to make a thoughtful decision, I supported it. Hell I got one in college too. Plus momma wanted some new ink too 😉
We spent eight days in a lovely oceanfront cottage for Hayley’s spring break. I think my favorite part was this amazing deck that overlooked the beach with our own little walkway down there. We had friends staying nearby as well so it was a really fun week. We saw an old college roommate of mine Kelli and then Hayley got her license!
