An unfortunate reason to meet more family...

Drew's mom, Sharon, had been making trips to Chicago every few weeks to be with her very sick mom. Unfortunately, it came down to Grandma Charlene being in constant pain. We patiently, and hesitantly, awaited her time to leave us; for her to peacefully slip away into her next life. She passed on Sunday, September 20, 2009, before 5am. Sharon was in Chicago with her sisters and other family and was heartbroken to lose her mother.

When Drew spoke to her on the phone he said she sounded more in pain than he had ever heard her. After much prayer and conversations about finances, Drew and I decided that we needed to be in Chicago with his family to support his mom while the wake and funeral services went on.

So, Sunday night we got in contact with Sharon's sister, Terri (sp?), who works for American Airlines! She got us standby tickets for only $100 per person each way. We were so relieved to have a connection to help us financially.

Drew and I got an early start to get to the Salt Lake airport and sat and sat... and sat waiting for our plane. (We had to be ubber early to be sure we would get on the flight we wanted.) Finally, we got onto the flight and arrived in Chicago on Monday evening.

Our time in Chicago was wonderful, even though our reason for being there was regretful. Sharon's family was so inviting and hospitable; they graciously welcomed me into their family. We had great food, great company, and, even at the 5 hour wake and Catholic mass funeral (neither of which we are used to), enjoyed our time with Sharon's family tremendously.

Wednesday evening we returned to the airport, this time meeting some LDS missionaries on their way from from the UK! They were great company! Another great thing happened on our flight home... we got FIRST CLASS!!! For no extra cost! It was SO awesome! And they served us dinner: Drew had chicken teriyaki and I had a great cheese tortellini in cream sauce! Our trays were served with shrimp cocktail, a Caesar salad, and a bread stick or roll. In the words of Rachel Ray: YUM-O! We also got constant refills on our drinks (which were served in GLASSES, not plastic cups)! Haha : ) There's something very fun about first class, I mean, I've been there before, but it was even better with Drew. We had a blast!

So we finally got home to our quaint little apartment in Rexburg, and quickly got back to our lives. I didn't get a chance to meet the wonderful woman we had gone to Chicago to celebrate the life of, but I was able to witness the love she had spread throughout her life. I got to go to a new city, but even more important, I got to meet and get to know more of Drew's family.

(Charlene's obituary was inserted in the Chicago Tribune, and can be view online HERE.)