had a busy day at work yesterday…

then Crystal picked me up and we stopped for a bite to eat before fetching her truck from the auto hospital and picking up a few final Christmas gifts…  it was good to have someone to shop with…

I was reminded of all the times that George would have done similar things and run here and there, to fetch just the right gift for one of the girls or boys…

I still dislike doing things on my own, although I am getting much better at it, but some things just need someone else to make them more fun… such as shopping…

I am proud of myself every time I do one of those – for me – difficult things… on Saturday, I took the car in to the dealership for an oil change…  I also had a lesson on how to put air in the tires – a George job – and put the back seats down so that larger items can slide into the trunk…  the service folk were very helpful and happy to show me things that up until now I didn’t need to know…

tonight I went shopping with my friend after work… we went to Costco and had lots of fun…  it is always fun to wander around and see what’s new and interesting…  of course we both bought stuff…

I bought lobster for New Year’s Eve dinner… since before the girls were born we would have barbecued steak and lobster…  it started with our good friends and a kettle barbecue and a huge ring of melted snow all around it…  since then it just became a tradition…  New Year’s was for the grown ups and the kids would get put to bed and a leisurely dinner would take over the evening, often with friends…  then the kids grew up and started to come for dinner on their way out to their parties and for the last few years the kids and grand kids have been here for the tradition…

of course, this year will be different… likely Jeff and Crystal will do the barbecuing… we will toast a new year without George to make us laugh… I think we will enjoy some good stories and remember Cajun (code for burned) steaks of the past…  we will have to figure out how to get the lobster out of the tail and sitting pretty…

an eternal reminder of over 40 years of companionship

but I know that George will be with us in spirit and in the faces of my loved ones around the table…