To Have and To Blend

Today is Aaron's 6th Heaven Day. Has it really been 6 years since I held my late husband's hand? It seems like a lifetime ago and yet I can't believe it has only been 6 years. Grief has a funny way of messing with your perspective of passing time. Last night, Hubs and I snuggled together in bed. I reminded him that tomorrow would be January 9th, Aaron's Heaven Day. He let me process those last few days 6 years ago. We shared stories of our journeys and were able to compare scars. I didn't need to explain the details of what it was like because he could understand; he had lived it. I am in awe of God's goodness and wisdom. How incredible that God has lavished such love and compassion upon me through this man. He has given me a man who can understand the heartache of walking with a spouse through the process of death. He can understand the painful memories of a life where cancer is a member of the family. He can understand the ability to cherish memori

Entering the Christmas season, I had all the details already formed in my mind. It would be perfect. We would sip hot chocolate, blast the Christmas music, and decorate our home to rival any Better Homes and Gardens magazine page. Naturally, this would all be done while smiling and laughing. This would be the best Christmas season a blended family ever had! I’m sure you can guess that it did not go the way I had planned. Hubs and I were 4 months into blending two families, each with a 7-year-old boy and established traditions. He entered the marriage with a Homer Simpson talking Santa stuck in a chimney…to be prominently displayed on my BH&G themed mantel. Along with Homer, our stockings were mismatched and my boys continued to add random “decorations” making the focal point mantel a bit eclectic rather than classic chic. Within 20 minutes of decorating, my bonus son was sent to his room for some calm down time and my biological son was laid out on the couch sick. Tear