And Jill Came Tumbling After

My sons and I went with my sister-in-law the week before Memorial Day. We were cleaning and decorating the graves of family members so they would look good when others made their visits.

First we met at the cemetery where my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law are buried. My children's father's ashes were sprinkled there as was his request. Also the parents-in-law of my sister-in-law are there too.

Since that is so many "in-laws" I will now drop the term. We are all family. I have no family members that are related by blood here so everyone I mention can be considered to be in-laws.

We trimmed the grass and brushed off the headstones. We picked up a couple of small branches that had blown into the section. We left a few decorations to make it all pretty.

My sister had picked up a set of a mother wolf and three babies somewhere. They needed some sprucing up so my son volunteered to paint them. He did such a good job. I was impressed. He decided to paint a single letter on each one. When they were placed in order they spelled "Love".

Then we went to the cemetery where my brother is buried. He was so young when he died. He had contracted meningitis when he was a baby and was paralyzed until he died when he was about 14 years old. We cleaned everything and placed a cross with pretty flowers on it.

Then on to another cemetery. My sister's husband is there. The cemetery had done a good job of getting ready for the holiday. All we did there was to pretty things up a bit.

Then we went up the hill to where our aunt and uncle were buried. We left decorations for them too.

It was not hard work but it took some time. We were all ready for some lunch.

After lunch we had to get back. My son is still on a tether and is only allowed to be gone from the house for a certain amount of time. With permission of course.

My sister was in the mood for a rhubarb cobbler. She said she was going to go pick some rhubarb on her way home.

The next day she called. When she finished picking the rhubarb she was ready to go home too. She stood up and began to slip. The rhubarb was up a hill. She slid all the way down and then landed on her face on the road.

She is all bruised up. Her face is totally scraped. She broke a vertebra in her neck. At least her eyes are no longer black. She looks so banged up.

So she is house-bound for 2 weeks and cannot drive for at least 6 weeks. She has a "collar" that she has to wear 24 hours a day. Her daughters have been spending as much time with her as they can but they do not live real close and they both work. Her son and his wife are closer but they both work also.

We drive into town to check on her as often as we can. And she has many friends that are helping her too.

What about the rhubarb? Her friend made her a pie. He was supposed to take it to her today. I hope it was good.