Reflection

Sorry for the last post - I wrote so much and then tried to highlight some of it and it all started to delete itself! Bizarro.

To recap our past several months (since I first posted!), I wrote a quick overview of the summer so far...

1. We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on May 28th - watched our wedding video for the second time ever, which I thought was a lot of fun!

2. In June we went to NY two weekends in a row. First with the O'Connor's (a surprise trip!)

Here we all are in Brooklyn before eating dinner at the River Cafe ... they had chocolate desserts with miniature Brooklyn Bridges drizzled and hardened on them -- I saw that on the Food Network one day and was really excited to get that dessert!

Then we went with the Carter family for our cousin Robert's wedding to my friend from high school, Courtney. The after rehersal dinner was at the NY Yacht Club and they got married at the Harvard Club. This was our first family trip together that we have had in a while and we had so much fun. We took this picture at the wedding -- loved every minute of this trip too!

When we came home, Tyler was getting ready to start a new job and I spent most of my time trying to catch up at work from the New York tour.

Shortly afterwards, we found ourselves with the O'Connors again due to the sudden loss of Tyler's great uncle, L. J. "Pop" Bridges. Pop's funeral was held Friday, June 20th. The very next day his maternal grandmother, Betty Darby, aka "Granny" passed away after a 10 year battle with cancer. Fortunately we visited with Granny the day before she died. She couldn't respond verbally, but we knew that she heard us there.

Tyler and I came home and he was finally able to start that job! What a blessing it is to have him home and working in the same town again. The first few mornings that we woke up and got ready for the day together made me laugh so hard -- it was such a difference from this time last year when he was home every few weekends.

But more sad news came quickly. Tyler's paternal grandmother, Janie O'Connor, who had spent the last several months in Birmingham receiving chemotheraphy, died Monday, July 14th from lung cancer and its complications. We drove back to Georgia with Thomas for the visitation and funeral.

Although this summer has brought many sad surprises to our family, it is hard not to be thankful for our loved ones who are no longer in pain and have been lifted up. Each of these three people were kind, loving, and welcoming to all and especially to me as I became a new member of the family. I have so many precious memories of them and I know Tyler has many more. They will be missed dearly.

Here is a picture from 1982 of Pop holding Tyler!

"Grandma" (Mrs. O'Connor) with Tyler at one of our wedding showers in Bham:

Here we are with Granny (Mrs. Darby) who is 3rd from the left, and Pop on the far right -- Thanksgiving 2005:

More posts to follow again soon!

-Maggie