Thursday, August 16, 2007

Dinner with the family

I think you know that my cousin Lynn and family are on vacation in Northern California. Joan is house sitting, taking care of my Aunt as well as Amber the Lab. Last week, Joan and I made arrangements to go out to dinner while she was so close to my office.

After work yesterday, I drove up to Lynn's house. Lo and behold, Rick had decided to join us for dinner and they were all waiting for me when I arrived.

It was decided that we would eat at an Italian restaurant not too far from the house. The place was great and the food was wonderful. Just as I always do since having the stomach bypass, when I order my meal, I get a take out container at the same time then drop half of what's on my plate right into the container so that I am not even tempted to try and finish everything. It really works and saves a lot of overfull stomach pain plus I still have enough food for lunch today.

After dinner, we went back to the house. Rick left for home while Joan and I took Amber for a walk around the neighborhood. It gave us a chance to visit and it reminded me how much I miss the visits we shared while driving to the doctor, before and after my by-pass surgery last year. We are all so busy that making time to just visit in person, aside from family holiday gatherings seems so difficult. Last night was a wonderful catching up time with Joan and my Aunt.

In a couple of years I will be moving to Iowa. I must make more time, while I am still living within driving range of both cousins, for face to face visits, especially with my wonderful Aunt who still looks at me with the unconditional love I have seen all my life.

Yes, I absolutely have to make a lot more time!!!

8 comments:

Michele said...

I'm glad that you had a great visit and it's very important that you spend as much time as you can with family. How many times have we heard people whine about wishing they had spent more time with loved ones when it was too late...

Oh, and that's a great idea about eating out... putting half the meal into a container... never thought of that! Always have lunch for the next day. Neaters....

the moose buyer said...

Actually Michele if I had done this in the past, I wouldn't have gained enough weight to need the surgery. Now that my new stomach is a little larger than an egg,I absolutely cannot handle an entire meal and a friend who had the surgery before me, gave me that suggestion and it really works.

Pam said...

Yes indeed, enjoy as much family time as possible before you move. I still miss my Oregon family...

And by all means, enjoy that climate before you move to Iowa!
(tee-hee!)

Linda said...

This post reminds me of how much I miss spending time with my cousin Amy. We used to do things together quite often but I haven't seen her since Christmas it seems and we live within less than a half hour of each other. It's sad really.

She just seems to be so busy with her life while mine is mostly work, work, work and we just can never seem to coordinate a time to even get together for a phone call.

I need to get a hold of her, though. Thank you for the reminder!

Lynn said...

Two years will pass quickly. Let's be sure to make the time.

Patti said...

Moosie: all I can say is you are lucky to have such great cousins in Joan and Lynn

Joan said...

It was definitely a wonderful evening and I hope we can do lots more of them. While two years sounds like a long way in the future, it will be here before we all know it. [Sigh...]

the moose buyer said...

I know that two years will go by fast. Patti I do realize how lucky I am. While we were sitting in the living room talking, my aunt got up to do something. When she walked past me, she patted me on my cheek as though I was still 5 year old. Always a nice comforting feeling. I know her thoughts and memory lasts only a fleeting second but for that second, it's good to know that I am the little child she has always loved.