Life on the Runn...

Today the Runnells family gathered to celebrate Grandpa's 87th birthday, which was on Saturday Surrounded by his siblings, his children and his grandchildren, Grandpa seemed to enjoy his day.  I am thinking he will also enjoy his newly replenished supply of cashews, MGD, and licorice. We decided to hold the party in the community room at Grandpa's new home, a place he confirmed he loves living at.  We ate lunch and listened to Xavier's piano playing, watched Grandpa open his gifts and enjoyed some birthday cake and ice cream.  Grandpa was a real champ -- he gave a birthday speech and blew out his candles, all of them, in one try. It was a perfectly wonderful Sunday with the sun shining, the family together and Grandpa in good spirits. Grandpa Duey sure makes the big 8 - 7 look good, ha?!   Though it is safe to say all of us would rather not have come together for the reason we did this past week, having everyone home meant we had time to do a lot of cousi

As one of my beautiful cousins mentioned today, our family is in the midst of experiencing the circle of life.  While we await the arrival of the newest member of the Runnells family, Cory and Jessie's baby girl, we must also say goodbye to the woman who helped teach all of us what love, family and faith mean, Grandma June. Though we certainly struggle with the loss of such a wonderfully kind, loving woman, our dear, dear grandma, we know she made the most of her 85 years on earth.  She traveled the country and the world, she raised an amazing family, she practiced her faith and shared her heart and home with whomever crossed her path.  You never left her home hungry, and you always left feeling like the world was a good and decent place; Grandma and Grandpa Runnells both have that effect on you. Grandma touched so many lives; all of us, Grandpa, her children and their spouses, her grandchildren and great - grandchildren are better people for having known and loved her. Grandm

Life, it turns out, isn't short on lessons. One I was reminded of as of late was that you're not alone in anything. While I desperately wanted to help Grandma and Grandpa R. make the move to their new place this past weekend, especially as I was the sole representative of the Brian Runnells clan and clearly the stronger one of us, I have been feeling a bit under the weather.  The thought of taking on the snowy roads with my newly-cleaned car, hopping about moving boxes, and finding myself with another killer headache made me a bit anxious; add to that the hellish week I had, and I wasn't sure I'd be a functional human being fit to be around people.  I decided to suck it up, hit the gym to gather my thoughts and head to the moving zone. It's no secret that I'm about as OCD/hyper-organized as they come. I pride myself on my neat, organized, never an item out of place for more than a few moments, home, which makes me 1) difficult to live with (??) and 2) well-e

He's a real keeper, and I miss the heck outta him! Turns out he's a pretty good computer nerd - climber, too!