Last weekend I went to Mrs. Chucklehead’s baby shower. I do believe it was the first time, ever, that the only person I knew in the room was the honored one.

The baby shower followed with a birthday party for my friend Susan’s baby, one year old! While at this party, I saw a bunch of people had not seen since the wedding three years ago. The person I was paired with said he didn’t recognize me at first because, get this, I looked YOUNGER. Several other people agreed. I know I HATE my hair when it is all pinned up on top of my head, but now I know this makes me look OLD too.

This weekend, Mark and I went to Findley Lake to see his family for his Aunt and Uncle’s 60th Wedding Anniversary. Plus his Cousin and Uncle came into town from California. I swear I will never meet all the family…every time I think I’m getting close, there’s a whole new group! Mark’s dad is one of seven and his mom is one of five (plus two step-siblings.) Without an accurate count, I can say Mark has at least 7 great nieces-nephews. That’s a whole lotta family! I don’t mind though, they make me smile. And make me long for the days when I was little and had all my family around.

And to top it off, we went to my Uncle and Aunt’s 25th Wedding Anniversary party in Grand Island later that evening. I was the flower girl in this one and Lil Brother was the ring bearer. (We were far too cute, I have to find a picture to scan.)

As strange as this may sound, I was really quite sad when looking at the pictures and realizing how many of the people I love were not there with us anymore. My Aunt lived across the street from the house I grew up in, which is how she met my Uncle. Meaning, our house was the backdrop in a lot of the photos. My dad was in a photo. And there were lots of photos of my Gpa Baker and Uncle Bill. I couldn’t even pretend not to cry…it was hard to see. And then knowing that Gma wasn’t able to be there…and hearing that her sister-in-law passed the day before. Well, let’s just say, a lifetime has passed us by in just 25 short years.

On a much happier note…My niece Toddler A melted my heart when she decided to slow dance “like a penguin” with Mark on the dance floor. She occasionally would stand on his feet and then Mark would spin her. Oh my GOSH. If there’s anything that can possibly make me yearn to have children with the man I love more, I can’t imagine what it would be. Soooo precious. I had already been touched when she climbed off my lap and jumped into Mark’s during the picture slide show…but this? This was WAY too cute.

Of course, since my camera is a piece of crap and 85% broken I don’t have pictures of any of these events. Grrrr. But some things, will stay with you for a long, long time. Like the dance ensembles I might have been watching all evening.