In which two people I haven’t seen in at least five years are going to drop by.

Six years ago, my grandfather was dying in the hospital. My mom called and said I needed to go out to Walla Walla and see him one last time. She offered to fly my boyfriend out, too.

So Bread and I rushed to the airport and flew to the west coast, where he was absolutely inundated with my family. They loved him. He loved them. He fit right in.

We got to see grandpa. The next night he died. The night before we left to come back to Iowa, Bread proposed.

That was the last time I saw my uncle Gale.

The following May, we got married and my aunt Kathy came to the wedding and stayed here at the house. That was the last time I saw my aunt Kathy.

This is a brief picture of my aunt Kathy:

Way back when my folks were still married, we were all at the Hall’s for some holiday. Kathy, who works with retarded and autistic people, told a joke with the word ‘retard’ in it. My dad said, “‘Developmentally disabled,’ Kathy, you can’t say ‘retarded’ any more; it’s not PC.”

She cackled and said, “Please. They are retards! They use the word ‘retard’ themselves! They know they’re retarded.”

Kathy’s way cool.

And today they’ll be dropping by! I have no idea what they’re even doing all the way out here, but it’ll be totally exciting to see some relatives! Bread’s out to lunch with his mom, but I imagine they’ll be here soonish. I’d better go tidy up. The house is a stone cold mess, but at least it can be an organized mess.