Aunt Nancy, who was like another mother to me, passed away on February 9th. On March 9th, Tamara had her surgery. On April 9th, we declared we were a family of three. So the 9th of the month has special significance to us as the passing of a beloved woman whom we all loved, and the start of Tamara’s new life with us (we are now living with her). It is a celebration of love of family.
So yesterday was May 9th, and we wanted to mark the occasion with something special. I dressed in burgundy sequins, Brad wore black (Tamara’s favorite color) with colorful accents, and Tamara wore all black as usual. Tamara and I did our makeup and Brad put glitter in his beard.
We decided to go on Tamara’s first walk since everything happened, since she has now healed enough to walk. We walked to the UPS store to drop off the hated wound vac (it was a love/hate relationship with that thing) that worked so well in healing Tamara’s wound. Then we walked to Pet Supplies Plus, where I was able to get a tiny stuffed rainbow alpaca for the pups with Alice’s birthday reward. And on the way back, we stopped by Harris Teeter to pick out a hanging flowering plant.
Nancy had a hanging flowering plant every year, so to honor her, we wanted to do the same thing. Tamara let Brad pick it, so it made it extra special, and he picked something called Angel Mist, which is orchid like and in the pea family and has purple and white flowers. It is perfect to honor Nancy.
When we came back, we sat at the table and played Farkle, a dice game that Sabrina let us borrow. Tamara won twice and Brad won once. I didn’t win at all!
Then Brad and I had an online meeting, so Tamara emptied out the guest bedroom during the meeting so Brad can store his photography stuff in it. Afterwards, we ordered takeout from a new local Indian restaurant, and I went to pick it up. Tamara set up the table outside on the patio nicely with a tablecloth and a candle. We enjoyed sitting outside and eating, though we’re not sure we’d go back to that restaurant. It was OK, not great.
After dinner, we came inside, sat on the couch, and spent the evening talking, dancing, and laughing. It was a great way to both remember Nancy, who will always be in our hearts, and celebrate the beginning of Tamara’s new life with Brad and me. We talked about Nancy and hugged a lot.
Tamara took four pictures of us on our outing. They show Felix wearing his new purple and teal wing patch on his pink vest, in addition to us in the outfits I described earlier. Plus one of us playing Farkle. We plan to make this a new tradition and do something special on the 9th of every month for Family Day.
Enjoy the pictures!
