COZY

It seems I'm falling behind on that "Picture a Day" thing. I did take a picture last night, though, so I'll post it as today's.

Mama, Uncle Darrell, my brother Wayne, and I had gone to Cousin Butch's funeral, and then come back to Aunt Charlotte's, in Hood River. (The funeral was in Hermiston, a drive of something over two hours from Charlotte's.) It's times like these that make me realize that as "close" a family as we feel, there are some physical distances to be dealt with. Wayne lives about four hours' drive from Charlotte's, Mama about three hours, and me one. Uncle Darrell lives near Hood River.

Anyway, the upshot of that is we don't often get together all in one room, so when we do it's pretty special.

After the long drives, emotionally draining funeral, wake, and the lovely dinner we had at Charlotte's, we were all worn out and sagging with fatigue, but no one wanted to go to bed. We sat in the living room, and just talked and talked and talked. Uncle Darrell dozed off from time to time, and we'd look at him and each other and smile, but there were so many stories to tell, so much reminiscing to do.

I suddenly realized what a precious gift we had been given, and got up and got my camera: