The Birthday / Funeral Weekend
**This post was transferred from the now defunct "The Long Ease" blog.** I decided I'm going to make the weekend a separate post rather than rolling the weekend highlights into today's treatment post. It'll be easier that way... So. Friday evening, my dear old friend, Dawn, from my Colorado days, arrived for a visit. She was amazing enough to offer to stay through Tuesday morning so that she could house/dog-sit for us while we were in New Jersey Sunday to Monday. Only a true friend would come for a visit from thousands of miles away and hang out while you leave - just to help you out. Dawn is pretty spectacular. I'm glad we at least got to hang out on Friday night and all day Saturday. Sunday morning (Ryan's birthday) we threw a bag in the car and headed east. My beautiful cousin, Marna, passed away last week and Ryan understood my feeling the need to attend the service. As a child, Marna and her sister, Karla, were the first people ...