In the Meantime...

Hey guys, things are just a bit busy here still.  We're all in the process of adapting to the realities of life without Mom (Gma).  The great-grandkids called her Gma, so that has sort of become her name.  The most difficult adjustment, of course, has been for Gpa, her husband of 69 years who is now facing an awful lot of quiet time.  Gma was a talker, so his life has been altered in ways that are ever so difficult to fathom.  I have been spending as much time with him as possible, knowing full well that I cannot fill the void that she has left, but maybe I can fill some of those quiet spaces that must be so hard for him right now.  Dad is doing as well as any 90-year old widower can manage under the circumstances, but the stroke that he had several years ago makes living without his wife even more challenging.

So we're all jumping in to love, support and keep Dad going through this most heartbreaking of life events.  As I said, he's managing fairly well, but until all of the support pieces are in place, I will continue to spend large parts of every day with him, which as you can imagine, still precludes any blogging efforts on my part.  I'm fairly certain that we are very close to getting him set up and I will be able to return to my little corner of the internet universe.  I do miss it, and you, so very much.  I hope you have not given up on me, but maybe I'll have to post some life-changing recipes in the near future to woo you back.  :-)

Before I sign off here, I HAVE to thank all of you who have sent such incredibly loving, supportive, and inspiring emails.  I so wish I had the time to respond to each of you individually and thank you in the way that you each deserve.  But please know how much each email has meant to me and how much I have appreciated each word, thought and wish for my well-being through all of this.  So many of you have been through similar experiences and your wisdom has been invaluable.  So many others have written just to wish me well or offer words of comfort, and I cannot thank you enough.  But I do thank you.  Very, very much.  I hope my next missive will be about something delicious.  Food.  A recipe.  Oh that sounds so fun.  XOXO  

Patrice