6 months

Laura here. I usually write for the blog anyway, Troy usually does the final editing.

I miss Jenny so much. Today is Wednesday, November 26, 2014. It is the day before Thanksgiving. I have so many mixed feelings about Thanksgiving this year:

• dread for this happy occasion without Jenny
• sadness/grief/loneliness that Jenny is gone
• excitement to be with family for Thanksgiving
• happiness to be with my parents and with Jenny's parents and family
• and fear about how I will react. Will I cry the entire time? Worse, will I not be able to cry at all? 

Because today also marks 6 months since Jenny's passing.


6 months. Six months. S-I-X  M-O-N-T-H-S.


Thanksgiving was Jenny's favorite holiday. It's mine, too. (Who doesn't love a day dedicated to good food, good company and lounging? And giving thanks, of course.) But I don't know that I'll want to eat a whole lot this time around. I don't know that I'll be able to eat. Grief takes away my appetite.

*sigh*

I hope everyone has a wonderful, thankful holiday. I hope you are surrounded by good food and good company. I hope we all remember to be grateful. I hope we all remember to express love to our loved ones.


Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Playing Catch Up

It has been a while since our last post, and a lot has happened since then.

There have been a few times that we wanted to update the blog, but every time I (Laura) logged in, I saw the last post, and became too sad to add anything.

*Sigh.*

So here's what's been going on since July (not necessarily in chronological order):

We celebrated 4th of July in Oceanside with a bunch of my family. This is only one family (from Utah). I don't think we got a group picture of everybody, and this picture isn't even everybody in this family, but it's the best picture I have from that weekend. Yay, cousin love!

Diamond and Chloe made the first steps to becoming friends. From the safety of Troy's backpack.

We hung out with Brooke, Erika, Harold and Major in San Diego before they moved to Washington D.C.

San Diego is nice. That's Mexico in the background.

CSUN's Music Therapy program turned 30. CSUN Music Therapy alumni went and bugged the director and founder of the program - Ron Borczon.

On CSUN grounds. College students are funny.

It took me a month to get the cats to the vet for routine shots. Diamond destroyed her previous carrier, and when she was forced into this new one, she forced her way out. No words can describe the frustration.

I quit my job. My co-workers threw me a farewell party, and one of my co-workers (also named Laura), gave me farewell flowers. The note says, "Laura, I hope your last couple of weeks here are happy ones. Laura" So sweet!

Troy quit his job, and his co-workers threw him a surprise farewell party.

We moved to Phoenix for Troy to go to school. It was a bittersweet farewell from Long Beach.

Our first (and second and fourth) meal(s) in Phoenix.

Our first encounter with the local street youths (in a neighborhood around the corner from us).

Diamond and Chloe are still working out their issues.

But they're friends, whether or not they realize it yet.

Phoenix was hit with a few monsoons.

We found a bird struggling to get dry after all the rain.

We went to the Phoenix Temple open house.

I went back to Long Beach twice. The first trip, I went back to assist my friend in the birth of her baby. (She's a really good friend.) And the beach was calling me.

The second trip was an overnight drive-there-and-back-really-quick-trip, and Troy was able to join me that time. He also let me french braid his dreads.

I dressed up as Cleopatra. Troy "dressed up" as a Batman Fanboy.

Troy got a cat toy stuck in the ceiling, and Diamond almost convinced herself she could jump high enough to reach it.

Chloe discovered a new favorite observation point.

I ran a half marathon. It took me 2 hours, 33 minutes, and 11 seconds. I almost fell over after I crossed the finish line.

Thanks for reading this very long blog post! Till next time, internet.