It's almost comical that right about the time that Refinery29 & Lauren Conrad share my DIY hair post & the blog traffic came a-pourin' in, I disappeared off the blog grid.
My grandfather passed away two Fridays ago. A stroke lead to a fall on 4th of July weekend, & we spent nearly all of that weekend at his side, holding his hand & playing his favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber tunes on whoever's iPhone had the most battery left. Jared & I were able to drop everything to spend time with him & my family, having taken time off to spend in Richmond for Amelia's birthday on a weekend that would have otherwise left us both working all day long. We returned to DC on Monday & got the call that Grandpa had gone Home the following weekend. I was able to set off nearly immediately for Virginia to be with my family & prepare to make the road trip back to Missouri for his funeral with the rest of my mom's family.
Over a full three weeks of heartache & goodbyes & travel, it never felt right to stop & write even a This Month post. Mourning always manifests itself in such odd ways, made odder by the fact that I simply haven't experienced the loss of a family member prior to Grandpa McLean. How amazing is that? To have experienced 26 beautiful years with all four of my grandparents - What a blessing! Saying goodbye to my grandpa has taken its form in doing the things he loved... Watching movies with the ones you love most, learning everything there is to know in your own city, appreciating a song you've heard a million times. His life was one of knowledge & acknowledging the glory in how the tiniest of creations works, & I love that legacy.
Needless to say, it's been a heavy month.
I do have photos to share, because you can't spend 16 hours in the car with a 2-year-old niece or 48 hours with your cousins & beautiful grandma without bottling up some sweet moments in photo form. But not today. Today I just wanted to say hi, & that I'm not giving up on this little blog, & that time away from the computer screen is sometimes exactly what your heart needs.
