Goodbye

Well, after my last post I wasn't sure how the story of John's life would end. Little did I know we would learn the end so quickly. After a last minute cross-country flight back to Seattle, we were able to say our final goodbyes to John. 

Adler traveled well and was, once again, a joy in the room to all of us who were sharing John's last moments with him in the hospital room. 

 Tom and John both showed an incredible level of strength in those final hours. John left this world in peace on the morning of April 13th at 6 AM.

 What followed his passing was a whirlwind of events working on trying to settle John's affairs, find homes for the Glassman pups, and find a new home for Katie. Adler, once again, kept us all smiling through it all.

 We made it through the weekend without a whole lot of pictures to show for it. There wasn't much time for photos in the midst of signing papers, researching housing options, making tough life decisions, and grieving the loss of a parent. 

Once again my mom stepped in to be our nanny. She dropped everything to come to our aide. In fact, she gave the biggest gift of them all, she was the one in the room providing comfort and guiding John into a peaceful departure from this world while Tom and I rested after a full day at John's side after we flew in. 

It's sort of ironic and painfully real that in the moments that Tom was saying goodbye to his dad after having just said goodbye to his mom--I was saying hello to my mom who was quite literally my own hero. But it's not just my mom, my dad is my hero as well. He is going into the busy season of the B&B without his partner in crime. 

My mom and dad, Adler's Nanna and Pappa, have sacrificed everything to help Tom and I get through this incredible trial we are facing. I cannot say thank you enough to either of them. I can only hope I can provide as much love and support to Adler as they have to Tom and I. And the list of thank you's doesn't stop there--I owe so many thank you's to my sister, my aunt, my grandma, my residents, my residency program...the list goes on and on and on. 

 This represents how I've felt most of the past week. Between flying back to pacific standard time while on the night shift my body has had a very difficult time adjusting.

 Our "little" Addie is getting incredibly big. 

She is growing out of her 3 month clothing now that she's closing in on 4 months--as a matter of fact this spring time jacket is a 6 month jacket and it's almost too small!

 She learning to find her hands, to track our movements, and to sit up on her own in a Bumbo seat. She drools A LOT but I still can't help but think that she's cute.

In this time of sorrow and loss, I am so incredibly grateful to have her smirking, smiling face around me each day. Sometimes I think to myself, what did I do to be so lucky to have her? At times I'm overwhelmed with gratitude that she made her way into our lives when she did, just when we needed her most. She got to meet her paternal grandfather, but she won't remember him. But you can bet that Tom and I will be passing along the stories of both John and Diana to her. And we'll be soaking in the moments with her Pappa and Nanna as much as we can because if this past month has shown us anything, it is that life is short and all too often we have no control over when it comes to an end. To borrow a line that I love from Ellen DeGeneres: "be kind to one another."