My Brain is Full

My brain is so full that I thought last weekend was Father's Day.  Yep, I gave my husband his present and everything.  Before I tell you what I gave hubby, let me tell you why my brain is so full.

The book I write all my lists and notes in for planning the summer trip

Most of my faithful followers will know that I have had a busy spring, what with getting ready for our eldest son's wedding last month and getting ready for my upcoming trip to France, Bangladesh, and India.  

But that's not all.  I've also been:


- visiting the hospital as my father just had major surgery.  He is doing well, thankfully.


- planning William's summer. The plans are yet to be finalized, but they involve him going out to Manitoba Pioneer Camp as a cabin counselor.

The new duffle I ordered from L L Bean.   If my name was Lucy Lydia Bean, it would even be monogrammed.

- driving an extra 2 hours most days to get Kate to and from her summer job.  Jobs are in short supply around these parts this year and the best Kate could find was working at Canada's Wonderland.  She's enjoying the job and I'm enjoying chatting with her in the car.  She will be off to university in September, so we grab the moments when we can.  


- oh, and it's the end of the school year, so I've been busy finishing up reports and attending parent meetings, etc.


That might seem like enough to do, but there's more.  Here's where hubby's Father's Day gift comes in.  


On April 19th a wonderful thing happened to our family.  The phone rang. One of my husband's three sisters was on the other end.  That may not sound like much, but my husband was adopted at the age of four. He had not heard from this sister in over fifty years.  The sister who phoned had been adopted with one of my husband's two brothers.   So, with one phone call we had an instant new family, a new sister and a new brother (who that same evening also got in touch with hubby), along with nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles.

It has been an exciting emotional journey meeting the various new relatives and getting to know them and their families.  There have been phone calls, emails, and visits and it is strange and amazing and fascinating to discover similarities and bonds between the siblings.


One of the biggest surprises (and thrills) was seeing some baby and toddler pictures of my husband.  We didn't have any photos from when he was very young.  It is delightful to see him when he was a toddler with his five siblings and his parents.  Along with the pictures there have been many stories, so many stories - some happy, some sad, but all of them wonderful to hear for the first time. It is breathtaking suddenly to have his early life and his ancestry fleshed out (more about his fascinating ancestry in another post).    

The two photos I gave hubby for Father's day

As for hubby's Father's Day gift - I had two of the newly found photos of him and his siblings and parents scanned and restored and framed (you can see them above).  He loves them -- and has had an extra week to enjoy them, thanks to me!


Happy Father's Day, hubby - for real this time!