Oh what a tricky winter it’s been! Around Thanksgiving I mentioned that my grandmother (my only living grandparent since my other grandmother passed away over ten years ago) had a massive stroke. On Christmas Day I flew to St. Louis & waited 8 hours for a little propeller plane to take me to the Marion, Illinois airport to see my grandmother, uncle, and my parents who’d driven up from Atlanta. I sat waiting for this tiny plane all day without food because the airline told us a plane could be ready at any moment and we were so far away from the main terminal that I was too scared to leave. By the time I made it to Marion I was hungry, tired, and seriously grouchy. We visited my grandmother in her nursing home, but she was really out of it. In the morning she’d had pancakes with my dad, was talking to people, and generally doing very well. As the day wore on, she started drifting in out of consciousness and finally my mom decided to have my grandmother admitted to the ER. The next morning I learned she’d had another stroke. My mom and uncle were exhausted from staying up in the ICU with her so my brother and I took turns all weekend in her hospital room and amazingly she was able to talk for awhile, knew who we were, and wanted to listen to music. It was such a miracle that she had the ability to speak and read- she kept reading the calendar and white board on the wall with the nurses’ names. At the end of my short visit, my grandmother was trying to drink from a straw and was sitting up in a chair again. It was amazing!

I hate to put all of my personal issues out there on this blog, but I haven’t been able to think about much besides my family and work over my break from school. I made an attempt to take a few days to relax (all this snow & ice in Atlanta helped- we couldn’t leave the house for two days!), but I found myself working more in my three week break than I did over the semester.

I want to post more in 2010. I decided not to make any resolutions this year about blogging or knitting (I don’t want to be disappointed!), but I have already started to make a conscious effort to put out more positive energy into the world. I plan to knit more this year and try more service projects that involve knitting.

All this to say- I’m here! I’m breathing! Despite being snowed in all weekend, I’m feeling great and ready to work hard at school and my life in 2010!

Soaring above the clouds in the tiny Cessna between St. Louis & Marion. Exhilarating!

Our tiny two-prop plane.

My seat was directly behind the pilot’s seat- I could’ve reached up and flown the plane! (But I don’t think our pilot would’ve appreciated that.)