West Coast Update

The last few months have been a whirlwind for us.  We moved across the country (again), and are living back on the West Coast.  We are loving being back and have been busy seeing old friends and family.

We are settled into our rental house.  We really love it.  It's across from a lake (which we have lake rights to), and it is quiet and peaceful.  Our stuff fits in here perfectly and everyone that sees the place says it was like it was meant for us.  We feel that way too.  Come visit us!  We have extra bedrooms!

 We spent a few days at Long Beach with Colin's parents and the dogs.  We had the beach basically to ourselves and it was so fun to be able to let the dogs just run free (which they don't normally get to do), and see them enjoying the beach.

We celebrated Colin's 39th birthday.  He is FINALLY as old as me again!  :)  I always love that!  His parents came up to celebrate with us.

Colin is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan, so for his birthday I got him tickets to a game.  We had a lot of fun, even if we were in the nosebleed seats!  And the Seahawks won!  Yay!

Colin is settling into his new job and really likes it.  When I found out we were moving back here I decided that I wanted to get back into dispatching and just got hired at the Issaquah Police Department.  I start in a few days.  Working shift work again will be an adjustment for me, but I'm looking forward to once again doing what I loved to do.

It was a big decision for us to move back to the West Coast.  We had a house and good jobs in New Hampshire, but it felt right from the beginning and everything has fallen into place since we've been here.  It was definitely the right decision for us, and we are very thankful.

I'm Not "Ok"

It has taken me 10 months to admit that.  If you had asked me how I was in the days following my brothers death, I would have answered "I'm ok."  It's the standard answer many of us give when we're asked how we are, along with "fine" and "good".  I clearly was not "ok" then, I'm not even "ok" 10 months later.  His children are not "ok", although if you asked any of them how they were doing they would also tell you they are "ok", "fine" or "good", because that's the answer you're suppose to give, because that's what everyone wants to hear.

After my brother died I threw myself into home improvement projects to keep busy.  After that, I was busy planning the move back to Washington State.  Then it was keeping busy unpacking and getting settled in a new place.  Now that everything is all unpacked and I'm not working yet, I have a lot of time by myself to think.  Specifically, time to think about my brother, something I've tried to keep from doing for the last 10 months.  Oh, I know he's gone.  I know all too well that I can't pick up the phone and call him or text him or see him.  But now I'm left with time to think about that, to actually allow myself to grieve that loss.  In some ways, losing my brother was harder than when I lost my dad because I had my brother there to share the grief with, someone that had just lost their dad too.  But, I don't have any other siblings that I can share the loss of my brother with.  Maybe instead of saying "I'm ok", I need to share my grief with others that loved him as much as me, like my nieces and nephews.  They know that I loved their dad but they need to know I miss him every day and I'm not "ok" with him being gone.  They need to know that some days I wonder like they do if everything will ever be "ok" again.

When someone close to you dies, the rest of the world stops for a few days as you go through the motions of planning and having a funeral.  When that's done, you see other people going about life as normal.  You think, "the rest of the world has gone on, I need to go on".  So you get up every day and do those things that you need to do because you have responsibilities and people counting on you.  You go on and make the best of this new life without the person you loved.  But that doesn't mean that you stop missing that person, that you don't still think about them and love them.  It doesn't mean that anyone will ever replace them, because no one can.  It doesn't even mean that you're "ok".  It will be a year in January and I'm not "ok" with this new life without my brother in it, but I'm finally ok admitting it.

Moving Back To The Best Coast-The West Coast

Big changes are coming for the Battersby's.  Colin has accepted a job with Radiant Zemax in Redmond, WA, and we will be moving mid September.  We are excited for this new opportunity to be back in the Seattle area (where we met), and closer to our families.  Colin's parents will be a 3 hour drive away and my mom and nieces and nephews will be a 6 hour drive.

We have many friends there that we are looking forward to spending time with again after being away for so many years.  We've enjoyed the last 10 years on the East Coast (except for all the weather related events that left us without power for weeks at a time!).  We will miss our cousins the Jurgies in Vermont, our friends, the Maine coastline, Manchester Monarchs hockey games, and the fall in New England-but the Pacific Northwest has always been "home"-and there's no place like home.

P.S.  It's probably only fair to warn those of you in the general vicinity of where we will be living that historic storms and other such "that hasn't happened here in 100 years" events seem to follow us wherever we go, so don't be surprised when Mt. St. Helen's erupts again!  :)

Chicago, Chicago!

I mentioned in the previous post that we flew into Chicago and had Colin's parents pick us up there to go to Aunt Val and Uncle Bob's surprise party.  We arrived in Chicago in the early morning and had the day to spend sight seeing. 

Chicago is one of the cities that I have wanted to visit for awhile.  We started our day off at the Willis Tower where we had a view of Chicago.

It was a little foggy in the morning, but we were still able to see pretty far.  I got Colin's mom out on the sky ledge and you can see the look of uncertainty on her face!

Lunch was our next stop and we ended up at Perry's Deli.  The portions were huge and the food very good.  I would definitely recommend this place.  We all gave it 2 thumbs up!

After lunch we hopped on a double decker bus tour to see downtown Chicago.  The bus makes several stops and you can hop on and off at any stop along the way.  One of our stops was Navy Pier.

I think Chicago has the most beautiful skyline of any city that I have seen thus far.  The architecture is amazing.  Colin and I can't wait to go back when we can spend some more time there.  I was surprised at how clean the downtown area was and how friendly the people were.  I told Colin I think we have been living in the northeast too long!  Colin was wearing his Bruins shirt (the Bruins were playing the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals), and he expected to hear some ribbing.  Every single person said what a great series it was and good luck to your team.  If the situation had been reversed and a Blackhawks fan was wearing his teams shirt in Boston, he would have been heckled and swore at.  It was a different experience for sure!

You can't go to Chicago and not have pizza, so we ended the day at Vito & Nick's.  They are known for their thin crispy crust pizza that we love and can't get in the northeast, so we opted for that over deep dish.  We were not disappointed.  It was great pizza.  Next time we are there we will hit up Gino's East, which was recommended to us by a few people.  Until next time, Chicago!

A Well Kept Secret

A few months ago, we were told about a surprise 50th anniversary party for Colin's aunt and uncle in Indiana (Colin's dad's sister Aunt Val and her husband Uncle Bob).  Colin's parents were planning to drive out from Oregon to go to the party.  Then they were going to drive to NH to see us for a few days.  We decided to fly out to meet them at the party, and drive back with them to NH.

When I first found out about this party from Colin's mom, we were a little worried that she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret.  The party wasn't until June, so she had to keep it a secret for about 5 months.  She emails Val every day and they are very close.  Colin and I had bets on when she or his dad would spill the beans because neither of them are known for keeping a secret.  Since they drove from Oregon, Colin's mom spent the week before the party emailing Val from whatever hotel room she was staying in at the time and lying to her about what she had done that day in Oregon.  She almost gave it away once when she sent an email meant for me to Val talking about a deli in Chicago that her friend recommended.  She covered it up by saying the email was meant for a friend that was going to Chicago.  We had to remind her not to post anything on facebook, or say anything in her emails that would give it away.

Aunt Val and Uncle Bob live in West Lafayette, IN, so we flew into Chicago which is a couple hours away the day before the party.  Colin's parents picked us up from the airport.  Aunt Val and Uncle Bob were truly surprised.  They had no idea.  They couldn't believe that all their friends and family could keep a secret like this for so long.  It was wonderful to see them and get to meet other family members we hadn't met before and meet some of their friends.  We spent the weekend in Indiana visiting with family before making our way back to NH.

All dressed up and ready to Par-Tay!

Mom & Dad Battersby

Uncle Bob and Aunt Val

A little dancing

Aunt Val, Colin & Uncle Bob

Us with Aunt Val & Uncle Bob

Colin's parents & Val & Bob

A miracle shot where Colin and his parents are all looking at the camera at the same time!

Jerry and his sister Val

Colin's mom thought that she deserved a reward for keeping the secret for so long and so did we- so we bought her a lobster dinner when we got back to NH!