December 29, 2017
8:38 p.m.

Well, the past few days have been wonderfully hectic. I had a house full of grandchildren, messes everywhere. noise, noise, noise. You know the drill.

It was great.

My daughter and her three children left today to return to Oklahoma, and we're down to two kids in the house. The noise level dropped dramatically.

I'm not sure that's an improvement. Ha ha!

Now I am just waiting for the phone call that tells me they have arrived home safely. That's the hardest part, second only to saying goodbye. My daughter told me that I have to keep watching until they turn the corner and drive out of sight, but I have never been able to do that. Once they're in the car and I say "Good-bye! I love you!" three or four times, I have to turn and walk away.

When we were kids, we would come to Denver to spend Easter with my father's parents. My grandmother would tell us goodbye and then go to her room. When we asked why she didn't ever walk out with us, Grandpa explained that it made her too sad to see us leave.

I totally get that now. Totally.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Naturally, I have contracted the end-of-the-year cold. Every year, man. It never fails. I'm sitting here all hot and cold. chest congested and nose stuffy. eyes too heavy to stay open and instead of being smart and hauling my big old butt off to bed, I'm writing.

Silly old woman!

I'm noticing a marked increase in typos. I guess it might be time to curl up under a big pile of blankets and watch a movie.

Oh yeah!! I just bought "Fiddler on the Roof!"

Hmm. I might actually fall asleep. I don't want to miss any of that movie.

I can wait. Can't sing along right now, anyway. *Cough, hack*
_________________________________________________________________________________

This turned into just a quick check-in, didn't it? But I'm out! Good-night!!