The Passing of an Era

So today, my grandpa's best friend's father died - Mr. Gray. He was somewhat of an icon in Ashfield, MA and I am sad that he's gone :( But my grandpa was there with him in the hospital during his last few days and I'm so glad for that. Hang in there gramps - I love ya.

When my mom was a little girl - her dad (my grandpa) used to take her, my Uncle Donny and my Aunt Laura to Gray's Sugar House every year. It was their tradition. They used to all wait outside in the long line...in the cold weather...when it was sometimes snowing...and wait - smelling the sweet smells of pancakes flipping, bacon frying and sugar on snow melting. It was, to say the least, one of the best memories mom has from her childhood.

They used to sit on these old, handmade tree trunk stumps when they ate and at the end of their meal they'd go up to the register and pick out a couple of pieces of maple candy. Since grandpa was best friends with Raymond - (who's family owned the place) - mom, Donny and Laura got to head back to the house and get maple candy 'scraps' for free. Auntie Laura and mom would make themselves sick off of it b/c they'd eat so much!

Secretly, mom always wanted to take her kids there when she grew up. But - the sugarhouse has been closed now for quite some time. Maybe someday someone will reopen it? I never got to meet Mr. Gray - but I heard he was quite a nice man.

Dad left for Vegas today and I miss him already. But I know he's probably having a great time and he said he'd place a bet for me on one of the teams. Go dad!

It was quite a trying day for mom and I. We had yoga this morning which dad was able to come to - and I held up pretty well considering I didn't take a nap on the way there like I usually do. I fell asleep on the way home, ate lunch, played and then mom tried to put me down for my afternoon nap...yah right mom. We found ourselves back in the car on our way to Springfield for the 2nd time today. Definitely NOT what either one of us wanted to be doing. BUT, it got me to fall asleep for at least 30 minutes...and mom splurged at Starbucks and got a frappacino which she hasn't had in like 10 million years. It was just one of those days where a bit more caffeine was needed and mom didn't feel like counting any WW points.

I have my 15 month checkup tomorrow and Bailey is getting groomed...so it's another busy day. Maybe it will be better than today? I sure hope so.