Here and Gone

Playing the game Monopoly on New Years Eve


Driving Rob back to the airport :(


Some of the Christmas decorations to be packed away

It has been a wonderful vacation! Although at times, it felt as if I was in the middle of a whirlwind. It all went by so quickly. I knew that it would.

Rob spent a lot of time with his dad. He went to work with him and helped with the chores around the house. It felt so good to have him home. It felt as if my family was complete. I guess that is the way a mother feels when her little birds fly away from home and come back for visits.

On New Years Eve we decided to play the game of Monopoly. I asked the question why they picked out the token that they did to represent themselves.

In their own words...

Charlie ~ the wheel barrow... to haul all of the $.
Nessa ~ pot of gold... rich in quality.
Rob ~ car... likes to drive and travel. If he loses all of his money, he figures he can sleep in it.
Diandra ~ horse... wild and free spirit, adheres to no rules. Defines self.
Me ~ dog... love unconditionally.

It was Nessa's first time playing Monopoly with us. I have to tell you that my family are serious Monopoly players. The object of the game is to become the wealthiest player through buying, renting and selling property. A few "new" rules try to get through the game and the trusty rule pamphlet gets pulled out to go over the rules that have already been printed. I personally do not like this game. Nessa at one point said, "I am not having fun... I didn't know that I was playing with professional Monopoly players!" I have learned through the years to take this game with a grain of salt. It always starts out fun, but I find it interesting what money and wealth can bring out in each person. All of our boys wives can not believe how we (not really me) get over this game. It all started with Charlie's family.

The next morning, Nessa and I took Rob to the airport. I feel like I should explain... Nessa will be staying with us for the winter and spring semester to finish up her senior year in college. While she was in Nebraska, she continued to go to college and had a problem transferring those units to/from California. It all couldn't be helped. Rob will be coming home some time in March or April so that they can see each other in the mid-point of her stay here. It will be hard for them, but it will be really good to get college all wrapped up and get started on her career.

So it came to the dreaded moment of driving to the airport. We tried listening to the radio on the way to get our minds off of the separation. It seemed like every song that came on had to do with missing one another. I could hardly take it. We had to laugh every time the radio channel got changed to another station.

I kept all of the decorations up in the house, including the Christmas tree for the duration of his visit. When we got home from the airport, Nessa and I drove up to the house with both of the Christmas trees sitting outside. I don't know how Diandra got the bigger one of the two out by herself; her dad even questioned her about it. Diandra was trying to get a head start for me, and had left the living room with all of the decorations. I left it for the remaining of the day. I told myself that I would do it tomorrow.