Author name: Karla Nathan

Grandma Joan has left for her final, big trip.  She had a love of travel, nicknaming herself The Gypsy.  After a life time of hard work (this tiny person was a juvenile probation office on the rough side of Sioux City) and showing love to a houseful of kids who desperately needed her care, she spent as much of her retirement as she could on the road.

Joan would zig zag across the country, going to stay and visit with all of her far flung family.  Terry would take her on exciting trips to Alaska, Hawaii, and on a Mississippi River boat including Joan’s sisters too.  No matter who she was with, she never ran out of conversations and loved to tell stories.  

She always had a smile a listening ear for all of us.  This woman was an ideal grandma, never forgetting a birthday, holiday, and never turning down a request go to the playground with grandkids.

Joan walked miles every day and loved to dance, especially at family get togethers when a polka was played.

Most of all, she was kind.  That teeny, little person had a giant heart.  When I joined her family with my two rambunctious boys, she took them under her wing and they became her family right away, no matter how much of a handful they were.  She made all three of us feel like we belonged and she spent endless hours at playgrounds, bouncing on her tippy toes in the pool, and reading books to them.  She took them to Sunday School and out for donuts on a stick afterwards years before I married her son.
My sons loved her and it gives me comfort to know Ryan is with her now someplace together, on her last journey.  

Well, I went for years and years with regular postings through just about everything.  Then I miss over a week due to our big, family reunion blowout. And here I have gone almost a full week without a new post, and guess why?

Another family reunion!

This time it was my dad’s turn to host the annual Downey Dinner. And since he is gone, my sissies and I took his place.  It wasn’t a week long bash with big events and houseguests like the Nathan party, it was more on the traditional, pitch in style meal type thing and we rented a venue for it.  So not the same, and I could’ve squeezed in a blog post at some point but I was having too much fun being back in Indiana.

I figured that I’d write something, get caught up on work I’d missed while away, and go into Good Juju to spiff up my booth when I returned after my short trip.  I was ready to hit the ground running since I had gone on this mini vacation during a very busy period.  During my drive I was even dictating notes into my phone and making lists about what I needed to get accomplished once I returned.

Nope.

I started to feel a bit ucky about mid Illinois and by the time evening hit in Kansas, I was pretty much under the weather and have been in bed since then.

I’m improving, had some IV antibiotics and am taking some others in pill form that make me wonder if it might be better to stay sick than have the taste of those awful tablets in my mouth all day.  Ugh.

Luckily, I am a planner.  The “what if” sort.  Before leaving, I made sure my booth at Juju looked picture ready just in case I was tied up in some way and couldn’t get back in time to have it set up before the photo day they do prior to the sales event. (There are some things I still need to add, but it looks cute as is)

If you are wondering, why yes, I am patting myself on the back now for being one of those people who looks out for bad things and bumps in the road ahead of time.  Why I have been known to be called a worrier or a downer.

Honestly, I don’t see it as being negative, I see it as being prepared.  Bad things, big or small do happen and I like being prepared.  I give myself extra time to get somewhere, I have a cushion for most events, a padded time schedule that protects me if obstacles arise.  

Usually, part of my planning includes a week or more of blog posts ready to pop up on schedule, so I guess I shouldn’t be too pleased with myself, I only posted enough to get me through the weekend, not the week.

I’m sort of out of bed now, but not out of the house.  I think I’ll take my own advice and prep a few posts ahead because it looks like I’ll have a full week ahead of me once I finally do emerge from this. 

Our Downey Dinner was wonderful, I loved the old photos to sift through,  and hanging with my sisters and nieces was the best.  Getting ill really sucked, but I am blessed that I made the 8-1/2 hour drive before I was hit full force with the worst of it.  And doubly blessed that I stopped at every antique mall on I70 on the way to Indiana instead of on the way home.  My arrival back in Kansas was good timing.  

This is me as a kid.  And yes, my eyes are closed as they are in about 75% of the photos of me.