Reading camper – Sept 6, 2002
Here’s Shannon doing what she perhaps most loved to do during a campout – reading. Great Art courtesy of my old SiPix camera, taken at Jellystone Park Resort near Luray, Virginia, and featuring my dear wife Shannon.
That was a fun campout. It was one of the few times we stayed at a commercial campground. Fortunately, this one wasn’t just a big RV parking lot like so many other commercial places. This one had some open space (see the background of this photo, for example), some trees (ditto!), and a pool with a nice, big waterslide.
Another quiet day. Mark started working today on the Android class I’ve been taking. I put it on hold after week one because of Shannon’s death, but it’s time to start it back up. I’m excited we’re going to be doing it together.
My mom and I made a quick trip to Costco today, just to get out of the house. I found a couple things I would like to have, including a TV wall mounting bracket and . . . umm . . . something else I can’t remember right now. We also looked at a whole bunch of food items but didn’t buy anything. The lines were just too long to buy nothing but milk and bread. So we went to (shudder) Walmart for milk and bread. Otherwise, we pretty much watched TV all day.
Starting tomorrow, we’re going to pick something to do every day and go do it. I know my mom wanted to go explore the strip & downtown a bit and so do I. So we need to just go do it. Mark will be invited too, of course. We’ll find some other things too.
I opened the valentine from Shannon this morning. It was beautiful and had a sweet message. I want to share it here:
“Will you be my valentine? I love you!
“Thanks for hanging in there with me right to the end. I couldn’t have done any of this without you!
“I’m going to miss you so much.
“All of my love, Shannon”
Not a huge treatise, but it’s precious to me. It’s her last message to me. A week or so ago, I found myself wondering whether she misses me. I miss her so much. I won’t know the answer to that question for the rest of my life, but I will choose to believe she misses me and continues to love me. I think I need that.
I made this year’s Valentine’s Day cherry cheesecake. It’s not as good as the ones Shannon made for me these past many years, but it’s good. It both comforted me and made me sad. That’s been a recurring theme lately.
And that’s it for tonight. See you on Monday.
February 15th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
Have a great weekend, and let us know what fun things you and Grandma and Mark decide to go do. I need to get the recipe for that cheesecake from you; I even requested it one year for my birthday cake!
I know how much Mom loves/ed you because of how she talked to me about you. She often told me the story of how you met and got engaged and married, I wonder if your memories would be the same. Somehow I doubt it, because she totally told me her side as she experienced it – heavy on perception, barebones facts. I’ll have to tell you all these stories next time we’re together. They’re very cute.
February 17th, 2014 at 6:18 am
I am positive Shannon misses you and loves you. Her Valentine was so sweet and so Shannon. Thanks for sharing.
February 17th, 2014 at 8:23 am
Mom sure read a lot of books on our campouts while Mark and I played in the dirt. Both recurring themes.