This past week of celebrating Thanksgiving and visiting family has left me flat-out exhausted. Every year Andrew and I make time to drive up to Tennessee around the holidays so we can see his family. We usually spend about 3 days but this time around we only had 24 hours + drive time. And yet we still managed to fit in our typical list of activities! The schedule looked something like this:
- Drive to Tennesee
- Visit Andrew’s grandfather and grandmother at their nursing home
- Walk around downtown Franklin while waiting on our calzones
- Visit aunts, uncle, and cousins
- Visit our dear friend Rachel and meet her pup Darcy
- Check in at our hotel and crash for six hours
- Back to aunt’s house and score some sweet vintage tea pots from his grandmother
- Visit Woodlawn, the cemetary where the ashes of Andrew’s lovely mother Deborah are kept
- Head to the Vanderbilt/Wake Forest football game
- Dinner with the in-laws and then back on the road to Georgia
So, yeah. I’m a little bit tired ;) It was wonderful seeing Rachel and all of our family though! I’m grateful we were able to squeeze in that time, even if it was only a day. This past year has seen a lot of loss on my side of the family and it’s a constant reminder to take advantage of and appreciate the time you have with loved ones.
Favorite moment of the weekend: The nursing home staff brought in Andrew’s grandfather’s dinner and he insisted that he pick up the dinner tab for everyone, just like he always did throughout his life. Such a sweet man.