Family reunion

It seemed like we no sooner returned from LA to find out that Dennis's brother John (who lives outside Phoenix) was planning to visit their two sisters, Sandie and Eileen, who both live in Franklin, Michigan (a nice suburb of Detroit). Because Dennis and his siblings had not been with each other since 1998, I checked with Claire at the office to make sure I could get the time off, and when she agreed, I immediately went on-line and booked us round trip to Detroit. We flew back on September 1st—our 30th anniversary. We thought it was a unique way to celebrate. Eileen and her husband John picked us up at the airport and we then went to Miller's Bar in Dearborn to meet up with Sandie and Ray for a late dinner (for them, as it was 10pm; 7pm our body time). When I mentioned that it was our anniversary, we discovered that between the six of us, there was 107 years of companionship—43 years for Sandie & Ray, 36 years for Eileen & John, and 30 years for us. We all thought it was quite an accomplishment. After gorging ourselves on burgers, fries, onion rings, and a beer, we all piled into cars and headed to Sandie & Ray's. Upon arriving, Sandie had a cake awaiting on the dining room table for us, decorated with "Happy Anniversary" on it. I love Dennis's family! Every time in the past when we've visited, we've stayed upstairs in one of Dennis's niece's rooms. But this time, because of his diminished walking ability (especially up a flight of stairs), Sandie had made up the "den" into a bedroom for us because it was on the main floor and Dennis wouldn't have to climb any stairs.

Left to right:
Mary & John, Ray & Sandie,
John & Eileen, Rick & Dennis

The entire weekend was a giant blast. Not only did Dennis thoroughly enjoy himself, I did too. I've posted photos of that weekend on my Facebook page and I will eventually post some of them here as well. You can tell from the photos that Dennis was extremely happy. I particularly like the photo of us that his nephew John took. I didn't know it at the time, but that turned out to be the last photo taken of Dennis and I together. It has become my favorite photo of us, not only because it was the last one of us, but we each look so happy. You don't even have to look at Dennis's mouth to see how happy he is, look at his eyes and you'll see all the happiness you could hope for. That photo was taken on Sunday September 5th during the huge party that Sandie threw. There were over 30 relatives that came that day, and the amazing part was that I already knew about 95% of them.

During the five days we were there, Sandie, John and Eileen each separately and without provocation, told me how much they loved me and how much they appreciated my taking care of Dennis. I told them, "I only do it because I love him so much. It's not easy watching all this happen to him and not be able to do anything but what I'm doing." How can you not love a family that treats you like that, right?

I did get to see my younger brother and his wife while we were in town. I had told Mom that I would not be able to get up to Traverse City to visit on this trip, as it was mostly for Dennis and his family, of which I am a part. She was fully understanding, just like a mother should be. It was great seeing John and Nancy; I had not seen Nancy in such a long time that neither of us could remember when it had been, so I guess it had been a number of years.

The trip home was pretty uneventful, though the airline changed our seats when they saw that Dennis needed a wheelchair. We ended up in the first row of seats beyond first class, which actually pissed me off a bit, as it meant that there was nowhere in front of us to store our extra bag (like we always do). I had to put everything in the overhead bin, but before I could do that, I had to dig out my book, water, etc. because I couldn't keep it in front of me like I always do. Good intentions, but they could have asked.