Weekend Update

First of all, hows about those Seahawks? Todd and I only saw the first quarter of the game in Bellingham, and that was enough to completely depress us. But Darragh, gawd bless his little football hating heart, texted me to talk some smack and ended up keeping us up to speed on the game until we got home. 31-6, baby!

However, the real story of the weekend was our trip to Bellingham early Saturday morning for Opa’s memorial service. There was a bagpiper and other special music, along with a flag ceremony, since Opa was in World War II. There was a nice reception afterward at the church, and then after that, a lovely casual hang out at Omi’s. Soon after we all arrived when Bob broke out the wine and everyone talked over everyone and I bonded with new family, Judy and Kat, who were in town from Sacramento and Florida.

And as Kat’s birthday was coming up, the grown ups went to Anthony’s for a late dinner, while Kayleigh and Zadra camped out with Omi and had a girls’ night, and Tyler went back with Gavin and Michelle to take care of the kitties.

Todd and I got a room at the Best Western for the night, which was handy after all of the wine and the crying, but also so very disappointing. I spent hours trying to find the nicest, yet affordable, room in Bellingham. I am very selective when it comes to hotels. I compared pictures, reviews, amenities, the whole shebang. And the Best Western appeared to have the nicest room, and the reviews boasted of it’s thick walls and quiet environment.

HA!

May I vent for a moment?

First, we were placed on the ground floor. And since that building was against a hill, it was underground. Not horrible, not great. But we checked in at 10:30pm after a very long and exhausting day, so I wasn’t going to complain about that. Next, there was no oversized tile shower like every photo showed. It was a shower stall. A small shower stall with a $10 white, plastic detachable shower head.

I am very particular about my hotel bathrooms. Very. And this one did not live up.

If Todd and I had been hanging out in the room, relaxing for a chunk of the day, these are things I would have bitched about. But it was late, and we were simply going to sleep, then get up and check out, so it really wasn’t worth the effort to complain.

Oh, but sleeping was no good.

The pillows are these huge, fluffy, break-yer-neck things. In the Frequently Asked Questions that sat on the desk, there was the question “How do I get a smaller pillow?”

Um. If that’s a “frequently asked question”, maybe your pillows are too big and you should think about also providing flatter pillows. Just a thought.

In addition to the bigass pillows, the doors to each room were heavy as shit, so anytime anyone shut one, the walls would rattle. And! We very clearly heard our upstairs neighbors’ conversation, even though they were yelling or partying. It sounded like they were just lounging around, shooting the breeze.

Thick walls my butt.

And we were placed right across from the Virginia Room, which is where they serve breakfast. I didn’t think too much about it when I checked us in, but boy howdy at 8am, I figured out why that was crappy placement.

Criminy! The clanging of the dishes, the way-too-loud-and-perky people walking down the hall, the slamming of every freakin’ door. Word to the wise – do not accept a room across the hall from the eating space. Not worth it.

So, while it wasn’t a romantic impromptu night together, at least we got to crash up there, rather than driving two hours back home after a long day of wine and crying.

And Sunday, we got up and had coffee with Sara and Kat, then dropped by Sara’s jewelry store to look at wedding bands. I’ve grown tired of mine.

Hee. Just kidding.

I have a very dainty, plain platinum band right now because we were running of time, options and money before the wedding. We decided a pretty, thin band would go just fine with snazzy engagement ring. But now, when I take my engagement ring off and just wear the band, it gets lost on my finger. And I’d like mine to have Celtic knot work like Todd’s. So we were exploring our options on Sunday.

After a little mall shopping, it was time to meet up with the rest of the family for lunch at one of their favorite spots. That’s where we watched the first quarter of the Seahawks game, and took a ton of crap from Judy. She’s a big 49ers’ fan, being from Sacramento and all, and she didn’t let up. I didn’t mind so much. Judy is very much a one liner kinda gal, so I felt like I was home.

And when we were all hugging goodbye for the day, before Todd, Kayleigh and I headed back to Seattle, Judy hollered at me “Come here and give me a hug, you little shit.”

That’s when I knew I’d found more family.

Once home, we all just kind of deflated. We got in our jammies, and snoozed on the couch and went to bed around 8:30pm. It was a long weekend of visiting and eating and remembering and crying, but I think we gave Opa a very loving and warm send off.