Well, it's been a while since my last post. Sorry guys. In the intervening time, our lives have blown wide open...TWICE.
I mentioned in my last post that Korin, Sam, and Charli were visiting and were planning on leaving soon, weather permitting. The weather didn't really permit, so they left on a Monday instead of the Saturday they were planning. The next day, April 21st (there's no easy way to say it, so I'll just say it) Brent's mom died. Within 45 minutes of hearing, Brent was in the car heading down to Albuquerque. Brent and his siblings (Nathan and Janelle) convened in New Mexico, then headed out to Alva, Oklahoma, where their mom (Margaret) grew up, and where some of her siblings still live. Alan, Brent's dad, met everyone in Oklahoma on Thursday, and they all planned the funeral out there. I drove out on Friday, and on Saturday Margaret was buried next to her parents in Alva Municipal Cemetery.
Everyone (practically) was staying with Omer and Joanne, Brent's uncle and aunt, who put up with far more people under their roof at one time than anyone should. They allowed us all to stay and decompress until Monday, when Nathan, Brent and I drove back to Fort Collins. Nathan stayed with us for about a week (many thousand thanks to my parents, who were the real hosts). I did take him to Grant Farms, but he didn't get the chance to commune with the turkeys, like Sam did. Brent made Nathan strip the deck at our house: a task so slimy, caustic, and disgusting that I'm sure that Nathan will never ever come visit us again. It's a good thing that my Mom and Dad are so cool; we're more likely to see Nathan when he comes back to visit them.
After Nathan left on Monday, May 4, Brent buckled down and started practicing constantly. He was freaking out about a his Friday/Saturday concert, which, among other difficult composers, included Bartok and Strauss. It was about 4 hours of practicing per day; I'm told that he was in the same house as me, but I'd never have known, since I never saw him. Then, on Saturday night, after the concert, thinking that he could finally relax, Brent innocently logs in to check his email. (Here comes the second explosion...) Basically, Brent found an unsolicited job offer in his email...a really good one. Currently, we're still trying to figure out what exactly to do about this. It looks like it's going to change things pretty completely for us.
So it looks like there's going to be some more hiking in our future. Brent wants to do the Colorado Trail this summer, that's about 500 miles, from Denver to Durango. We also have another Alaskan cruise scheduled in July with my Dad's side of the family. Currently, we're in Albuquerque, staying with Nathan in the house he shared with Margaret. We're helping him go through papers, organize, and fix up the house.
That's what's been going on over here! It's been an eventful month, and it always seemed like as soon as I was ready to write a new post some other crazy new thing would happen. I'll keep y'all posted!
kim
