Nate's parents came down last week on Wednesday night to have a mini get-a-way and to get a visit in with us. The couple of days was full of work and papers for the two of us but we were still able to have a full evening together on Thursday night. And because Nate was on spring break this week he was able to get enough assignments completed to spend the day Thursday with his parents.
Having Nate's parents here also made it possible for me to make it to another important milestone for my mom. After 32 years working for the electric company....she has retired. Her retirement party was on Friday afternoon. This so happened to also fall on the same afternoon that Nate had his own graduation ceremony for his chaplaincy unit at the hospital he has been working at for the last school year. So by Nate's parent being here and willing, I was able to work a half day and take the car and drive to my hometown for Mom's retirement party, and then afterward meet Nate's parents only a small distance from my hometown to get Nate and then the two of us were able to go the rest of the distance north to our friends, Alisa and Kyle's.
A while back we decided we wanted to spend a day in Chicago and when we were looking at available weekends, we decided it would be great to go up on St. Patrick's Day when they have the extra festivities. This year, St. Patricks day actually fell on a Saturday which is the only time the parade and dying the river green is done on the actual date of the holiday. Normally it's done the Saturday before whatever day St. Patrick's day falls on.
So we had our plan (and so did thousands of others) Now, I really was expecting crowds but I have to admit the size of the crowds was more than I anticipated. I'm sure, the numbers were partially strengthened by the gorgeous weather we've been having. It has been sunny and unseasonably warm this week and last. And Saturday was no different. So when we got on the train to ride into the Chicago, we quickly found it was already full...which meant we stood for the 2 hour trip. Thankfully the spot we camped out in had a window ledge at the end of the car by the doors, so Alisa who is 37 weeks pregnant did catch a break and was able to sit, although I'm sure it was far from comfortable!
At our arrival we worked our way through the crowds to the river which looked fantastic. It was a brighter green than I had even imagined, and with the sun shining it was quite an unusual and beautiful sight. We enjoyed walking along the river and stopping for several different vantage points along the way before making our way back down Columbus to catch a bit of the parade.
Now, I if you can imagine what seemed to be a living green organism made up of people in constant motion working it's way into a few blocks to get seats for the parade, you would not blame me for putting the breaks on and wanting to stay on the edge of the parade route. So we could see the intersection where the parade "ended" but didn't get closer to it than that. I did not want to get stuck in the middle of that! We just found a nice grassy spot in the park and enjoyed some time sitting down and getting off our feet. So we saw some floats, heard some bagpipes and then were onto our next mission: Lunch.
And not just any lunch but Chicago style, deep-dish pizza!
It was a long but worthwhile wait and the pizza more than satisfied our hungry stomachs. Pepperoni and mushroom never tasted so good!!
Once we finished with lunch we decided to hit the park again and see The Bean, more accurately: Cloud Gate, up close and personal before we headed back, but sadly there must have been some type of disturbance that led the police to usher everyone out and close the park to anyone coming in. We could see maintenance working to clean up broken glass. So we saw it from a distance.
We got to the return train early to be sure we got seats on the way home! They had put a double decker on the line to help with the extra flow of people and even being there 30 minutes early we got some of the few seats left in the last 2 cars. Whew.
But all in all it was a great day, and I think we all slept really well that night!
Sunday was spent visiting Alisa and Kyle's church before getting in a good visit with my brother and sister-in-law and of course the niece and nephew!! It's always so good to have one on one time with them and see what new and fun things the kids have started doing.
Mid-afternoon we got back in the car to make our way back home. As we got close to passing by my hometown, we gave Dad a call to see if he wanted to do ice cream. We ended up connecting and doing just that. And we also got to see Brandi one more time. Brandi is the dog we got when I was a sophomore in high school and Dad has had her with him for the last 8 years since the divorce...she was right around 12 years old. She stopped eating a few weeks/months ago and it was found she had a mass in her throat that was removed and biopsied. It was found that she had aggressive cancer and wouldn't have much life left. Brandi greeted us in a very un-Brandi like way. Quietly. Slowly. If you have ever been around her, you know she was a "talker" she got incredibly excited when people came to visit and would whine and bark her pleasure in being near you and being petted. So to see her so mute and thin, and Dad reported she had mostly stopped eating in the last few days, I could see even before he said it...it was time to put her down.
I cried knowing after so many great years of having her loving and sweet face looking for her belly to be scratched or a pet on the head when we visit, this was coming to an end.. I know she has been a great dog for Dad and know he will feel her absence much more acutely. Good-bye's are always hard, even good-bye's to our furry loved ones.
