The hardest thing I have ever had to do was say good-bye to my mother when she lost her battle with cancer.  We found out on April Fool’s Day 2004 that she had less than a year to live.  It is a blessing and a curse to have some notice.  It is a blessing, because you get the chance to say everything you need to say, but it is a curse because your remaining time is colored by the knowledge that you do not have much time left.  When we knew my mom didn’t have much time left, she moved into Hospice.  My dad and I basically moved in with her.  At the end, when she just slept all day we would play cards and talk, trying to take each others’ minds off the fact that she was almost gone.  When she took her last breath, I just held my dad while he sobbed.  That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

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I absolutely love to visit wineries.  Before my husband and I had children, we would hop in the car on weekends and drive to explore wineries we had never visited before.  We were pleasantly surprised by some and unpleasantly surprised by others, but we always had a wonderful time.  At each winery, we bought a wineglass.  Now, we have a large, mismatched collection of wineglasses and each one has a story.  We have explored wineries in Texas, Missouri, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Australia.  We plan to start up exploring new ones again when we retire.  That way, we can travel to new places and stock up the wine cellar we hope to have.

When I was fifteen, we lived in Spain.  For spring break, my parents decided to take my sister and I to England.  We went to Piccadilly Circus, Windsor Castle, and Stonehenge.  But the part of the trip that remains the most vivid in my memory is the day we spent at Stratford-Upon-Avon.  We went there to see Shakespeare’s birthplace, and I must say that my sister and I were less than enthused.  We saw the house he lived in and other things that were mind-numbingly dull for a couple of teenage girls.  Finally, it was lunchtime.  We strolled by some restaurants and stopped to read the menus posted in the windows.  At one, my dad nudged me and glanced over at a couple standing next to us.  They were very proper and very British.  Unbeknownst to them, there were a couple of pigeons standing on a ledge over their heads.  My dad and I waited and waited and were finally rewarded.  I am not sure why that was so funny, but we still laugh about it to this day.