Time Flies...even when you're not having fun.

Has it really been 2 years since I posted? Wow. Sometimes life takes us for a wild roller coaster ride. Just this last year has had many ups and unexpected downs. It's shown me again how unexpected life can be.

Last February, Tom and I flew down to Florida for a new and somewhat experimental surgery. Little did either of us know when he joked about 2015 going to be the "year of pain" how true he would be. His surgery was a success and it took away a majority of the pain he had been living with. We had the normal ups and downs related to living with his PTSD and my anxiety.

In July we converted my craft room into a school room since we decided to homeschool this year. School was going okay and we dealt with the normal "kid not wanting to do work" that we would have even if they were in regular school. August seemed to go by and school was starting to smooth out.

Then in the early hours of September 14th that my world tilted. My parents, who I hadn't talked to for over a year showed up at my door. They told me that my cousin had been killed. He was only 31 yrs old. He was a Kentucky State Trooper. He had pulled a man over for going 103 mph on the highway. The man had a suspended license and neither of the other two had a drivers license either (I assume one of the minors was 16/17). Cameron noticed there were 3 other occupants in the car (an 18 yr old and 2 minors). Instead of issuing the man a ticket, he was in the process of arranging lodging for them (out of his own money) until they could get a licensed driver to come pick them up in the morning. The driver took off and it became a chase. Then the man stopped, causing Cameron to nudge him. Then proceeded to shoot Cameron in his cruiser. the man was later found after a manhunt and killed. I'm comforted in the knowledge that there were a couple of good Samaritans who decided to stop when they came across the scene and were there with Cameron in his last moments. ...  Cameron he was a good man. He was a Navy veteran and worked along side the Navy Seals on their missions. He got out in 2013 and had been with the KSP for only 8 months. He was one of those magnetic people that drew you to them and you couldn't help but be happy around him. The magnitude of people who showed up for his viewing and funeral is amazing. He touched so many people. The church his funeral was in held 1100 people and there were still law enforcement people standing in the aisles because every seat was filled. The procession took 3 hrs to go what would normally take 20 mins. It was all so very overwhelming.

 The rest of September and the beginning of October went by in a haze. Then October 24th came around. We got the news that my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in his lungs, liver and brain. He was given a couple months. We tried to spend as much time with my in laws as we could. Every day that we had with him was a blessing. Then on the morning of December 2nd, my father in law passed away at home. A day we should have been celebrating Tom's birthday, we were mourning his father's death.

So here I sit in my dining room. Packing boxes in various stages of fill surrounding me. Contemplating the past and wondering what the future will bring.  We had traded my Charger in on an RV with the plans of taking my inlaws on trips to help check items off my father in law's bucket list. We are going to continue knowing that he will still be there with us in spirit. So, my blog will be changing with us. I hope to fill this with whatever the road ahead of us brings.