Castle in the Clouds

My updates here on the blog were almost non-existent during Ken's cancer diagnosis and treatment. I realized this today when I was looking back through some of my previous posts.  I've only written a handful of times about what the beginning of 2021 looked like for our family.  Our rough start was written almost three months into Ken's journey. Then I shared a bit in early May about the ups and downs of pancreatic cancer . A little over a month after that post, I put up a brief  announcement  regarding Ken's passing.  Writing about Ken's cancer here was difficult for a few reasons. First and foremost, he didn't want to plaster the news all over social media because he didn't want complete strangers reaching out. So we created a Facebook group for our family, friends, and coworkers. It was there where he and I most often posted about things.  Funny enough, the man was so well-loved, that group had over 100 members. I made my first post there on February 6, ...

On May 20, 2021, my husband lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. I lost the love of my life, my best friend, my person. My boys lost their father, their rock.  We are devastated. 

This year on October 15, 2019, Ken and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  We did it in style because my husband took me to Hawaii, Kauai to be exact.  The Garden Island. I want to write separately about each day, but for now, enjoy this video compilation that I made using 1 Second Everyday.  A more detailed accounting will be forthcoming, I promise!

I don't remember the year.  It was before we had kids but certainly not the same year we got married and went on our honeymoon to Las Vegas.  I was pregnant most of 1997, which really only leaves 1995 and 1996 as viable options. I don't know why we decided to drive out west for our first vacation. We didn't know anyone in the area and we weren't meeting anyone coming from the opposite direction.  I think it might have had something to do with Ken's dad having served in the Air Force in Colorado Springs.  Ken had heard all about his parents' time there and I think he kind of wanted a visual to go with the stories his mom and dad had passed down to him. Me?  I just love to travel.  When he proposed Colorado, I had no better idea and no reservations.  In fact, I was eager to visit the Rocky Mountains for the first time.  Books and photos can only do so much.  You sometimes just have to experience the world to truly appreciate it. Being new...

A few days ago I wrote about how Ken and I met .  It was on a rafting trip down the Pere Marquette River in Baldwin, Michigan.  In that post I mentioned that my family owned a lot on a little two track dirt road.  On that parcel of land sat a couple of trailers.  Well, I found some old pictures from when we were either dating or just married.  In either case, these are from the 1990s, either early or mid-decade. This was at a time in our lives when money was tight and our vacation options were limited.  Often, we'd drive up to the trailer and stay for the weekend because it was the cheapest getaway we could manage.  The only thing we had to worry about other than food and gas money was refilling the propane tank before we left and, perhaps once or twice a year, handing over a small amount of money to help cover the electricity bill. It was vacationing on a budget for sure! At the time this picture was taken I'm fairly confident the trailer had a...

Once upon a time there was a family that would plan annual rafting trips down the Pere Marquette River in Baldwin, Michigan.  They picked this particular river because it was near the family's favorite summer vacation spot.  Purchased by the sprawling family's patriarch and matriarch (my grandparents), the wooded lot sat on a narrow, sandy two-track road a fair distance outside of town.  Every summer during the warmest months someone would pick a date and notify the family of this family reunion style event.  Someone would call dibs on the trailers - there were two of them on the lot at this time, one trailer suited to a trailer park and one suited more for camping.  The rest of the family would pitch tents wherever they could manage. My family lived two and half hours away from the trailer.  In fact, most of the extended family lived near us and traveled just as far.  Three of my grandparent's children had opted to live in or near Fostoria, Mich...