What a week!

It's been quite a WEEK! 

First off, spring was on full display.  Weather was in the 50's & 60's and I was in my weather-heaven.

Tuesday oldest son turned 32 and Wednesday we celebrated with him and his youngest brother (they share an apartment) with take-out Bronzini Pizza and garlic knots.  Yummy stuff!  And a few rounds of the game, Medium.  How do I have no photos of any of this?

After driving a couple thousand miles over three days, artist sister also arrived in the area on Wednesday.  

Sister is in front, I'm in back.

On Thursday my brother's house went from:

to:

We arrived in town a few minutes prior to the scheduled closing and walked around the property one last time.  Before we left, the listing agent stopped by and changed the sign to read SOLD.  That was handy!

At the closing we met the buyer of my brother's house.  He's a young man (mid-thirties) with a vision for updating older houses in lower income neighborhoods.  It was interesting to hear his plans for the little bungalow my brother had lived in for over 30 years. 

Afterwards, sister and hubs & I had lunch and then sister and I drove around our hometown (and sometimes walked) for a while looking for houses that were familiar (of friends and family from our childhood).  Driving through a neighborhood that once housed our Jr. High School, we were delighted to see an old soda fountain/diner from our youth still intact.  Well, not the soda fountain, but the building.  While it looked just like it did in the 60's and 70's,  It had most recently been used as an election headquarters (for either Greg Pence, or Trump and Mike Pence).  We had to stop for pictures when we spotted a cardboard Trump in the window:

We laughed so hard, I imagine the neighbors thought we were nuts.  

But it sure was fun just being silly.

Later in the evening, we came back to our house where we looked through some of our brother's things.  Some items my sister would take back with her, some items were in the category of memorabilia and personal notes created by, or relating to our brother.  It was good to have company sifting through the later things.

~~~~~

Friday I realized I had forgotten to hand over the keys to my brother's house at the closing, so that meant another trip to Columbus to hand deliver them to the buyer.  My sister joined me and we became determined to find a building where our aunt used to have a Bible bookstore in the 60's.  We think we found it.  Her shop may have possibly been in the same space (or in the next store down from) where there is now a sweet little yarn shop:

We approached the store just as the owner was getting ready to lock up, but when we explained what we were looking for, she invited us in to see if it looked familiar.  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the inside, but then again, I didn't want to presume to hang around too long.  This will be a fun place to revisit soon, though.

 ~~~~~

Saturday, we met a niece and her sweet family to pass along some items of my brother's.  We had lunch at Zaharako's, an over-100-year-old ice cream shop/soda fountain in downtown Columbus.  It was old when I was a kid in the 60's.  Now it's something of a relic.

Flowers on table are from oldest sister (sent by way of her daughter, the niece we were meeting that day.)

Saturday evening, my sister and I met with a wonderful couple who knew our brother through the local amateur radio club.  Words cannot do justice to what a gift it was to hear the couple recount memories and thoughts regarding our brother and share the experiences they had had with him over the years.

~~~~~

Sunday was my 62nd birthday.  It was the first time in months we'd attended church just as congregants.  We've been back a few times (even the week before) to serve on sound and computer duty, but it was our first experience since COVID that we sat with other attendees and just soaked in the worship service unencumbered by duties.  I didn't even wear a mask.  Yes, there is life after COVID vaccines!

Monday I took a walk through one of my favorite places: the local cemetery:

Tuesday (yesterday), my sister, and hubs & I spent hours looking at slides from our childhood.  It was bittersweet, but good.  We spent some time culling out pictures we didn't want, and made plans to digitize the keepers.

And this (Wednesday) morning, we woke up to this:

I know the snow won't stay for more than today, but it's very sad to imagine that under the snow, all the beautiful blooming trees probably turned brown overnight.  I'm so glad it was a beautiful drive for my sister as she made her way here last week, and that we took advantage of lovely days to do some walking and taking in the beauty and scent of blooming trees.  

Wednesday (today) my sister began her trek back home.  I pray it will not be hard for her.  Mixed in the good and fun of our time spent together were also hard things.  It's strange how sometimes the hard moments felt like a burden shared, and sometimes it felt like a burden doubled. I'm curious, but I didn't want to ask her if she feels the same. I'm glad we had this time together. I don't want to tinge it with such a negative thought. It's time for us both to do some processing alone again, I suspect.  And it's good (and necessary) for life to get back to some normalcy, but it was hard to see her go.    

While there are still months ahead of probate, I think with the selling of my brother's house, the estate business will all become something that will more easily flow with our days, than our days being directed by things needing attending to. 

I hope to finally start getting back to my "Making Space" challenge I started last year.  And after the snow melts I look forward to enjoying the rest of a beautiful spring here.  

I do hope it's beautiful where you are!  Thank you for stopping by and and letting me share my past week with you.  

This pic is just for a giggle.  

Chick-fil-A really has got good service figured out - even in the rain.