*My dad has his hammock hanging in the basement so I took a turn 🙂

I’m not sure I’ve ever gone this long without blogging. It’s not been that long but it feels like forever! I’ve been a little pre-occupied. I don’t want to go into details right now but…I’ve been in Indiana all week with my family. My grandma, a young 73, is dying and is in Hospice right now.

They always say the only time your entire family gets together is for weddings and funerals…I guess that’s true. It’s been wonderful being with everyone and honestly the support of us all being here has been tangible and blessed. I will tell you more about my Grandma later but you can read a little about her battle with cancer here and here.

Hospice care has been great and we’ve been taking turns with her around the clock. Thankfully, she has been able to speak to us some everyday and is in no pain. She’s the best person I’ve ever known and honestly, if I could be half the person she is, I’d be doing well. I’ll write more on this later.

Autumn in Indiana

It’s been wonderful to be in Indiana during October. I’m not sure the last time I got to do that — we have beautiful falls! It’s similar in DC but here, there are many more trees around and the colors just seem deeper.

I took a little walk/jog by myself the other afternoon and snapped some photos. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my good camera and the iphone wasn’t exactly cutting, but I still wanted to share!

I’m so thankful to work for a place that truly values family. When I told my boss the situation at home, he didn’t hesitate to tell me it was fine to stay in Indiana. I have been working from here, something that is so nice about a job in digital — you can work from anywhere.

I’ve been missing Rick a lot — almost a full week without seeing him is a long time! But of course we talk everyday, can’t wait to see him though!

While I was here, I got a nice little email with my bib number for the Marine Corps Marathon. It’s in like 10 days now, can’t believe it. I ran that 22 miles but haven’t run a ton since. This is going to be interesting for sure but I’m up for it. Let’s do this!

My parents have a gym downstairs so I’ve been working out some there and this morning I was excited to finally drop in at Hoosier CrossFit. Everytime I’m home, I say I will go but never do it. I went to the 7am class this morning where we did a WOD of Clean & Jerks — one of my favorites.

I’m working at Starbucks this morning, then heading over to Hospice House to be with my Grandma. It’s always so hard to leave her side because no matter what, she is always sweet as pie. She always smiles when we tell her we love her and squeezes our hands. It’s so hard to believe she really won’t be here soon. The doctors thought she would be gone by now but she keeps hanging on.

My sister Shelby, her husband and Gunner and Giovanna will be here in a couple of hours — that’s one reason I needed to stay, so we could all really be together. Shelby was so worried she wouldn’t make it home in time. In the meantime, I’ve been hanging out with this cutie, Marshall, who seems to get cuter every time I see him!

At this point, I will be heading home on Sunday morning. Can’t stay here forever! I’m not sure what will happen with Grandma before then…but I’m sure I’ll have to come back soon to say goodbye. I haven’t really let it sink in yet because I am still enjoying her presence while she’s here. The world is about to lose one of the most beautiful people it’s ever seen though — and that’s everyone’s loss.

Appropriately, it’s Throwback Thursday so here’s one of Grandma and me when I was about four. If you can believe it, she was only 43 in this photo! I look forward to tell you more about here in the near future.