Jacquelyn's Space

Last Saturday was such a good day. I woke up at exactly 6:00 AM, which is unusual for me. I am not a morning person. It was good I woke up at that time because I had to go pick up my husband from work. He had just gotten off work at the fire department. After I picked him up, he and I went to breakfast, and I had the best French toast, eggs, and bacon that I’ve had in a long time. We went home to change really quick and then headed out to our granddaughter’s soccer game.

We had fun with kids, munching on candy and playing with the pom poms I bought to cheer the girls on when the older 2 were in basketball. The game was over quick! Unfortunately, my granddaughter’s team lost. She was OK with it though. Me and my husband got plenty of hugs.

I had to hurry to work from the soccer game. I had one client Saturday. I dropped her off at her appointment then hurried back home to pick up my husband because we were going out to Durand to hang with the grandkids again. Our youngest granddaughter, the one who is in soccer was marching in the Railroad Days parade.

We all met up at the high school. My stepson and youngest granddaughter went to lineup for the parade. The rest of us headed towards downtown to watch. It was so hot and some of us are out of shape. I didn’t think we’d make it in time to watch the start of the parade, but along came a taxi (a golf cart pulling some kind of trolley wagon) and whisked us to the main street where we found a shady spot to sit and watch. The kids were excited about getting candy. They got lots of candy! It was better than Halloween. This parade was raining candy!

The kids enjoyed most everything except for the clowns. One of the twins has a clown phobia and had to turn her pack to the parade when the clowns came down. I was excited when I saw an old Pontiac LeMans in the parade. My first car was a 1972 LeMans. The one in the parade was a 1971. There was a bunch of old cars, old tractors, princesses and festival queens, church groups, and some politicians. Thankfully not too many clowns. The best part was Spiderman. The kids were excited to see Spiderman. I got a picture of my twin granddaughters with Spiderman but missed it when he fist-bumped SJ. Luckily, he came back at the end of the parade, and I got pictures of SJ and Spiderman too. Win!

Hot and tired, we all walked back to our cars. We hated to cut the day short, and the grandkids wanted us to come back to their house, but I had to go back to work. Me and my husband got plenty of hugs again before we left. It was a fun way to spend the day, and despite getting up at 6AM, I wasn’t too fatigued. I think spending time with the kids energizes me. They are bundles of energy.

The weekend before last, I spent time with them coloring farting grandmas, LOL. I look forward to many fun times like these.

The only dark spot on the day was after I dropped my client off. I was driving my work vehicle back to park it and I wished that the kids’ nana had been there. She would have enjoyed seeing the kids have so much fun, excited to see Spiderman, firetrucks, and so much candy. She should have been there! Unfortunately, nana suddenly passed away not too long ago. I miss her even though I had barely had a chance to get to know her. The more I learn about her, the more I wish I had known her better. It’s not fair that she passed away. Her daughter and her grandkids miss her dearly. It is so difficult…to write about and to process. I enjoyed the times I spent with Jane, together with the grandkids, and I had looked forward to more fun times as a family. The loss of Jane creates a huge void. It just hit me in that moment. I felt it. I cried.

It’s rough. These emotions. I wanna push them away because there isn’t anything I can do about much of anything, if you know what I mean. I just want to concentrate on having fun times with my grandkids, my daughter-in-law, and my stepson. I can’t do that if I am crying because it drains my energy. Crying is the worst energy drain for me. I think that’s why my go to emotion in difficult times is anger. But the kids, the kids, drain that anger away from me with their energy and hugs. And their shenanigans. Plenty of shenanigans.