Well. we’re home. It was a quick trip but turned out really great. We were up early yesterday and getting ready for the party. Lori and Kristin took off around 8:30 in the morning and then the boys and I and Dan headed out at 10. The place looked great, and people started showing up right on time at 11.
Lots of cousins and family and friends from all over. We had about 60 people in total. After 30 minutes of mingling, Lori and Kristin stood up and started the video. It was a great 5-minute tribute to Dix who was one of a kind. Lori held it together really well and after the video, a few people came up and told a few stories. The most moving though was Annette, who came up and said how thankful she was for Dixie and how they had become such great friends. Not easy (great job Annette!) but it was really touching and heartfelt.
The party then went on for another hour with everyone visiting and of course, having cake! The boys then left around 1 in an Uber to catch a 3:41 flight home. We moved them up so Jag could make some graduation parties. Lori and I and Dan (who was riding with us) went back to the hotel to change and grab our bags. We then went downstairs where Kristin and Dan had a martini. We hung out for around 30 minutes before heading to the airport. The drive was quick, and we walked right on the bus after dropping our rental car. When we walked through security, I said, “look, the boys flight leaves in 12 minutes! Want to see if we can get on?” Lori looked at me and we ran down the concourse. Dan, who was on our 6:20 flight, was still going through security. We ran to the gate, and I yelled to the attendant, “is this the Denver flight?”. She said yes and to hurry. She called down, saying 2 more people and we ran down the ramp, but the door was already closed. Super bummed as we were so close, I said, “oh crap, our kids are on that plane” the super nice gate attendant then said, hang on and knocked on the window to the pilot and they opened the door for us and let us on! Not sure if you know, but this never happens! Normally they have to call operations and jump through all kinds of hoops to open a door once closed. So, we ran on and Jag looked up from his First-Class seat in shock saying, what are you doing here? Ty was a few rows back and saw us too. All was great as we even had the exit row.
This meant we were arriving at 6:45 instead of 9:30! On the flight a guy walked past us going to the restroom or something and Lori said, “that’s Jeff from Tesla”. Tesla is a super popular band from Sacramento that’s been around for 40 years or more. Lori was a waitress at a club called the Oasis when she was 18 and all the big bands played there. She wasn’t sure but he was a few rows behind us, so I said, let’s wait until he gets off and say something. When he walked off the plane I said “Jeff” and he looked up and said yea, which is when Lori said, I’m Lori from the Oasis! He said, I thought I recognized you! We talked for a few minutes with them catching up. They were on the way to a show in South Dakota. Looks like we’re going to their show in Denver June 11th. What a small World for Lori to reconnect 40 years later.
We grabbed our car, said bye to the boys and headed up the hill. I listened to the Nuggets game the whole way and we arrived home about 9:45. Great game!
That’s it, Lori and Kristin did a great job. The boys did too. Everyone wanted their picture taken with us or one of us. Now I knew Dixie liked me, but at least a half dozen people came up to me and told me how much she adored me. Good to hear. The video is priceless, (Robi, we’re sending you the link). We did one for Mom when she passed too.
Everyone had a great time, and it really was a celebration of life. Dixie would have been proud and enjoyed it. She was a good ol girl and we miss her every day.
Tonight, we’re supposed to go to Denver for Shultz’s 60 birthday party. We said we’d make it, but we’ll see how tired we are. The boys and Ava will both be here tomorrow for Mother’s Day. It’s been a busy couple of weeks but all good.
That’s it, time to get moving and go to the gym and go get our crazy dog. May God Bless you all!