23 and more

April 29th, 2007 and Jim was still alive. He was putting in a transfer to try and get a job in PA and maybe we could move. I had started a new job in January. His brother had passed a way from cancer just a few weeks earlier and he was struggling with that. It was all just 23 months ago.

I have been so busy at work that I didn't even realize the date till about 3 p.m. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks and my brain froze. I was in almost a meltdown stage when I got home, let the dogs out and looked at the mail. There, in the mail, a card. I wasn't expecting a card, it's not my birthday or any holiday. I opened the card and found a note and a couple of photos of a bush with some pink flowers (forsythia?). The card was from my Uncle Ed and Aunt Audena. It was a thank you card but really it was a note to tell me that they were thinking of me and more, they were thinking of Jim. The bush in the photos had been planted in memory of Jim. I didn't even know they had done this. They said they think of him when they look at it. It made me realize, once again, how many people he had touched.

Visiting my Aunt and Uncle on some of the holidays after my Mom passed away was something Jim and I did and enjoyed. Maybe once or twice a year we would go up and hang out with the cousins and have some fun. Great Halloween and NYE parties were found there. The fun really came in the family togetherness and the way they adopted Jim into the family so easily. They live about an 90 minutes away so we would drive up and make it a day trip.

I really miss driving with Jim. Or rather, riding with Jim on the day trips we would take. It was like we would get in the truck and just shoot in different directions. One time it may be due north and we would stop and see the cemetary where my Mom and grandparents are buried. Or maybe head west and stop in Gettysburg for the weekend, or East and just travel till we found someplace good to have dinner and then head home.

The fun was in the traveling together, the talking and sharing our favorite music with each other. Until I played some Toby Keith for him, you wouldn't have guessed that Jim was a country music fan. Well, he wasn't. Just Toby Keith fan I guess. He loved singing those songs. I learned Beatles music from him. Oh, and a lot of Beatles trivia also. I wasn't a Beatles music lover till I was in the truck with Jim singing it. He would look over and sing it right to me. Those were special moments.