A house full of love

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but we had a wonderful week. Richard's brother and sister-in-law, niece and her husband and their little boy (age 20 months), his other daughter and our kids came to celebrate with us. We had a house full of people and a house full of love all week last week.

My sweet friend Michelle (who lives three doors from us) offered her house for the overflow of folks.   Cooking with my nieces and my sister-in-law was a lot of fun for me (I did what I could, as my sister-in-law is a wonderful cook and is in charge of the kitchen!) The guys were playing their guitars and singing and watching football together. It is the way it should be. Noise, mess and a lot of love.

The kids were running through the house and underfoot, but it was glorious.To see my Rosie and Vivian and their little cousin Hudson playing together and laughing did my whole heart good.

I can't help but wonder what Lauren would have thought about all of this. I am sure she would love every minute of seeing those babies, and would probably have had a couple of her own.

For us, everything we do is bittersweet. But instead of dwelling on that, we need to take the joy when we can get it, to be quite honest.

I am exhausted and my house is a mess, but I would not take one second back or have it any other way. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

I remember one time Lauren was watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and she turned to me and said, "Mom, this is our family!" Well, all I can say is "You were right, baby girl."