So long 2008...

Well, it's been kind of a long week. Sunday I took a vacation day and actually had to the house to myself for a while. I have had a horrible cold or sinus infection or something the past WEEK. This past weekend was the worst I'd felt. Saturday I felt like poo and ended up taking Grace to Mom and Dad's that night because I couldn't breathe and just wanted to go to bed. I dropped her off, and was back home around 6 or so. I stayed up messing around on the computer for a little bit while Gene and the boys played one our new games on the Wii, but then I laid down at 8. I finished the book I'd been reading, and was asleep by 9. That is so out of character for me, I'm usually never in bed before 11. I did't get up until after 10 Sunday morning. I felt rested though and I felt like my cold was subsiding.

Anyways, Deanne (the boys mom) came and picked them up and Gene was at work so I had the whole house to myself. It was so nice!! I watched Sex and the City: The Movie yet again! I got it for Christmas and I've watched it probably 4 times already. I never thought I would like the show, but not long after I started at the pd, my supervisor at the time and a good friend let me borrow every season to watch becaused she owns them all. Steph and I lived together in our apartment at the time and we would stay up until about 4 am every night watching them!! We were hooked, and of course soooooo excited when they announced the movie was coming out. So, I've watched it a lot. After the movie I finished cleaning my house because Steve and Jennie came over for dinner that night.

Steve and Jennie are the ones we took our Route 66 motorcycle trip with, and we had a ton of pictures from the trip so I decided to make them a scrapbook for Christmas. I got it done, and made dinner for them and gave it to them Sunday night. They loved it! I was sooo excited about giving it to them, and I wish I would have taken some pictures of it. I made twice baked potato soup and cornbread and we all got stuffed!! We had talked about watching Dark Knight but we were all too tired so we called it a night.

I don't think I ever talked about it on here, but Craig Chastain is one of our officers at the pd and has worked there for 11 years. In September, Craig was diagnosed with stage 4 Sarcoma and the doctors told him he probably only had 2 to 4 months to live. We were all heart broken as you can imagine. Craig is such a nice guy and everyone loves him. He made several trips to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Chicago until he was just too sick to even undergo chemo so he decided to just come home and stay home. I never did go out to see him because 1)I didn't want to remember him looking so sick and 2) he had more bad days than good days and it was hard for him to have too many visitors. At about 10 am on Christmas Day he passed away. Our whole department hurt, and still hurts. I think that a lot of us are still in such shock because it all happened so fast. I mean, 5 months ago he was running in marathons and now he's no longer with us. It breaks my heart. His wife, Karis, works for the State Police Crimes Against Children Division and they had only been married a year and a half. Craig was only 42 years old and it was his first marriage. He had finally found the love of his life and then his life was taken. It makes you wonder why things happen the way they do. I do know that God has a reason for everything, even though we usually don't understand them.

So, Craig's funeral was Monday afternoon. Three other dispatchers that didn't really know Craig that well volunteered to work for the rest of us so we could attend the funeral. Thank you so much Julia, Stacy, and Tiffany!! It was a very nice service and I was so proud of our department for standing together and showing our support to Craig and his family. The funeral was at the Harber High School Performing Arts Center and we filled up one whole section of the auditorium. Very moving. After the service all the patrol cars, including ones from area agencies that came, lined up and blocked traffic on Sunset and had it blocked all the way from Jones Rd to 48th where the procession ended. I had to iron Gene's Class A uniform and take it to him at work before the funeral so I rode with him in his patrol car to the service, therefore, I got to be part of the procession. It was so neat to be a part of. They also directed the net (which means there can not be any radio traffic other than for the event that it is directed for) and Teresa did a special announcement for Craig. There was also some very neat radio traffic during the procession and I held it together really well through the service, but when Sgt. Kirmer got on the radio and did a tribute to him I lost it. It was very emotional, and like I said, I'm just so glad I rode with Gene so I was able to hear it all.

Craig, you will be truly missed.

Ok, moving on now before I start to cry again.

Yesterday morning the boys came home from their mom's and for whatever reason I had the energy and desire to take all the Christmas stuff down. I knew the boys would be with their mom this weekend and Gene doesn't do good with stuff like that so I knew I better get it done while I had some help! Corey took Grace next door to my in-laws because toddler hands were not much help! We got it all down though and put away so my house is back to normal again. Gene was excited he had the whole living room back last night when he got in from training!

Today, Mom, Grace, and I are meeting up at Chik-fil-A to see Leah and Kendall!! The Smith family is in from Louisville for the holiday and we're meeting them for lunch today. I'm so excited because we don't get to see them very often!!!

I do have to work today....crime never takes a holiday! I think some people may be coming over to our house to hang out, but at least I'll be here with my family for the big midnight countdown!! So crazy that tomorrow is 2009. I wish I knew where 2008 went!

Tomorrow Granny and Aunt Cathy are driving up, I believe to eat lunch at Mimi's Cafe....yum!! So I'm sure Mom, Grace, and I will meet up with them before I have to go to work. I'm excited to see them too!!!

Then Friday...my weekend! Yay! Mom, Grace, and I are going down to Granny's to stay the night with them!

That's about it, and I've gotta go take a shower and get my child ready to go. Have a good rest of the week!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!