Nostalgia - 1 year old Trouble

November 12, 2005 by maternal Grandmother passed away. Trouble was a few weeks away from turning one and Grammy (Travis' Mom) was visiting. I received a call from my mom that Grandma died. I knew it would be expensive to fly home so I decided not to, but knew that I needed to. So we called Northwest, got the bereavement fare (when that still existed) and I flew to Sacramento, CA the following afternoon with Trouble. Aunt Donna (Dad's sister) picked us up (Trouble and I flew in from Minot, ND the same time Dad flew in from Portland, OR) and we drove south to Modesto, where I was born and some of my family still lives.

The funeral went well and it was great to see all the family. My Grandma had a daughter from her first marriage that died 30 years earlier on the same day she died. Grandma lived a long and fulfilling life. Grandpa had died shortly after Trouble was born so we suspected that she wouldn't live much longer after that. I do miss her and am grateful for the time I was able to spend with her. My cousins referred to me as 'little Grandma' because I emulated her so much.

After the funeral, I went to stay a few days with Mom in Alameda, CA (just outside of Oakland). While there we had these taken at Picture People:

Backpack now wears these same clothes! Its been fun to pull out the boy clothes and be washed over with memories of Trouble's younger days.

Anyway ~ Dad flew had to go back up to Portland to work, but flew back down to Oakland a few days later. Then we all drove to Corona (Outside of LA) for Thanksgiving to Uncle Mike's house (Mom's brother). We had a wonderful time there with Aunt Candy (Mom's sister), Beau and Jessica. After that we drove back up to Alameda and flew to Portland with Dad. Then Dad and I put together a 1st year birthday party for Trouble in Portland and had all our friends over to celebrate. Mom was able to fly up for the weekend to party with us!

At the party Travis' sister, Regina, and her family and his Dad, Ray were able to come. Regina commented that it was so weird to hold Trouble, because it was like holding a baby Travis.

So we were gone for almost 3 weeks. But I remember needing the break and loved seeing the family despite the circumstances.