Weekend Updates and our Trip to D.C.

This past weekend was a whirlwind! As I wrote about in my previous post, my sweet friend and co worker Marla passed away last week. I knew from the beginning, when we heard that her health was failing, that I was going to go out for the funeral, we just didn't know the details. Long story short, I ended up going by myself. It would have been wonderful for Dan to be there, but it worked out well since it was a quick trip and Dan got to spend some quality time with Jake, which I know Jake LOVED. He's constantly talking about "Dadda," and even though he gave me a big hug and kiss when I walked in his room on Tuesday morning, I know he was a little sad that Dad was already gone for work :)

It was was such a hard and good weekend all in one. I was so thankful that almost all of my Trinity co workers could be there and we spent a lot of time not just catching up but sharing our favorite "Marla stories" and that helped so much. Although it was difficult to say goodbye to her at the funeral, I am so thankful for her strong faith and the assurance that I have knowing I will see her again because of her faith in Jesus Christ. I couldn't help but think about eternity and how this life we live here on this earth is but a vapor, which makes each day that much more precious.

Then on top of processing all of the emotions I was feeling, there was a blizzard the day of the funeral. The kind where you white knuckle it on the highways and it takes you twice the amount of time to get anywhere because you can barely see two feet in front of you kind of blizzard. Dan started union negotiations yesterday so he couldn't miss work, and I thought for sure I was going to be spending another night in Chicago. Someone told me over 500 flights were cancelled already as of 1pm that day and my flight was at 7pm. I left lunch early to bear the blizzard and attempt to get on an earlier flight. When I got there at 3:30 they said I could try to get on a 4:15 standby. If any of you know O'hare, it's not the easiest airport to get through, but I kid you not, I literally walked right through security- no line, nothing. Then I got to the gate, they took me right away as a standby passenger and the plane left even in the blizzard. They also put me on an earlier connecting flight but because of deicing the plane, I didn't make it. However when we landed I checked my phone and sure enough it was delayed just enough for me to grab an iced coffee and jump on a plane to Scranton! Seriously, it was not a coincidence I made it home Monday (and earlier than I thought!). Such a huge blessing.

Now for the awkward transition... to talk about another weekend trip Dan and I went on! My dear friend (and college roommate) Steph, lives in D.C. She has always lived either in PA or Charleston, cities that are not that close to Chicago. However she moved to Baltimore. just a couple months after we moved to NY so we are only 4 hours away! Dan has never been to D.C. and I wanted to see Steph since it has been FOREVER so we made the trip a couple weeks ago! Truth be told... I'm not a huge history person. I've never been really good at it (ask my good high school friend Sarah Finnegan) and looking at museums and buildings has never really been "my thing," but we mixed some history with some good food and good company so it was a blast :) And Steph was so sweet to host us- Jake was definitely a little less than himself (maybe we're just hitting the terrible two's where we have wonderful breakdowns wherever we go... lol), however we all survived and even got to see some major sights and meet some of Steph's friends in the process :) Here are some pictures from that weekend!

At the history museum

We got to see the white house! As you can see they let us get real close...

The Washington monument!

I normally would be embarrassed to say this but because I already warned you in my post that history isn't my thing I feel totally ok telling you that I forget what the name of this building was. Dan will tell me later.. and then I'll decide if I'm going to update this caption or not :)