OFF TO FLORIDA

Off to the land of palm trees and fresh oranges - Florida - and, for me - FAMILY.

This is my mother (on the right) with her sister, Eleanor, and her brother, Leonard. Mother's brother, Leonard Tucker, passed away last month. He was the kind of older brother to my mother that every little girl dreams of having. She recalls never having to carry her school books a day in her life because her brother always carried them for her. That was Uncle Leonard - always a gracious gentleman.

Mother says that all her life her brother was SO good to her - and now his children are carrying on his penchant for kindness. She is VERY touched and appreciative. There will be a celebration of Uncle Leonard's life Monday evening at the River House in St. Augustine. Mother did not feel able to travel that far, though she wanted to go very badly. Uncle Leonard's children wanted her there so much that his son is flying up this morning in his private plane to pick us up and fly us there!

Mom's looking forward to time with her sister while we are there. She hasn't seen Aunt Eleanor in nearly three years and during that time Eleanor has had a somewhat debilitating stroke. Mother has always been very close to both her siblings so this trip is very special to her. Florida - St. Augustine, in particular - will always be "home" to Mom and I think she's viewing this as possibly her last trip home since the struggles of aging make travel increasingly difficult.

A side benefit of the trip is that we will have the opportunity to spend a couple of days with my dad's two sisters, as well. Aunt Nelle and Aunt Nancy are pictured on the side bar above. If you want to know just how precious these two are to me click here and read the post I wrote about them last time I got to go for a visit.

Time with family is always special - but it's hard to go off and leave the family I live with too. Pray for us as we are - UP, UP and AWAY.