Best and Worst

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times...
We just came back from a wonderful and horrible trip to Louisiana to visit my family for a funeral. It was so good to see everyone, and to smell the bayou air. To see all the places I used to visit. They say you can't go back...and I suppose that's true. In years past we would have been at my Mimi and Papa's on the bayou, walking, exploring and being free. The smell of warm tropical air mixed with the bayou and my grandmother's camelia bushes always greeted me when I walked out the back door.
I got to see family I haven't seen in a long time. I got to have my Uncle's gumbo which I haven't had in an even longer time. My kids got to know people they either hadn't seen or didn't remember.
Of course everything was bittersweet because of the funeral. This is the first funeral that I've gone to where someone just wasn't old enough to pass away. It wasn't fair. Not to her, not to us and especially not to her kids. But they handled it well. My only regret is not being able to stay longer and catch up with them more. But it made us realize that we need to make these trips more often, and not just for weddings and funerals. I guess I just felt like since my grandparents were gone and their house wasn't home for me anymore that there was nowhere to go to. In retrospect that was ridiculous. We had a wonderful time staying with my Aunt and Uncle, my kids had a blast playing with them. I loved reconnecting with my cousins who in most of my memories are children, but in reality are all adults now.
And...this trip was the first time I heard Jon say he was hoping to move into the camper within the month. Oh yeah...time to get cracking.