Valentine's Day Weekend - Part 3 (Visiting Family)

As I wrote in two previous blogs, my hubby gave me a wonderful Valentine's weekend in Nashville. Part 3 got delayed a bit by the continuing frustration of dealing with medical issues.
My mother was one of 7 children. She was born and raised in central Tennessee. When she met and married my Dad, they moved to NJ with him promising my grandfather that he would bring her to visit at least once a year. My Dad kept that promise his entire life.
For me that meant every summer spending time with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. They were some of the happiest times of my life.
Every summer my family would stay with my Aunt Beulah and Uncle Robert's family, where my grandparents also lived. My sister would go to Aunt Rosie's house. All of the good times I enjoyed there were spent with my cousin Don. He is about 8 months younger than I am. We laughed, we cried, we got into mischief, we joked, we explored and anything else that we could think of. But no matter what it was, we enjoyed our times together.During the months apart, we would write to each other. Probably except for my grandparents, I loved him and was closer to him than anybody else.
Don was born with a sweat gland problem. As a result he has what looks like scabs on most of his body. HE always struggled with feeling unloved and rejected due to this. But I always knew he was special. I was there when he accepted Jesus into his heart and was baptised in the river.
Of course as the years flew by, we grew up, got married, had families and although, we did not see each other as often, I still felt that close connection with him. He traveled some rough roads in his life.
In the last few years he has struggled with back problems and other medical issues, which for a long time went undiagnosed. When they were finally able to figure it out, he has MS. His digestive system seems to be the worst hit by this disease so far.
It seems we travel a similar road these days, in dealing with medical issues and back problems.
SO for Valentine's Day weekend, part of my gift from my sweet hubby was to visit with Don, his mother and his sister (my Aunt Beulah and cousin Helen) and his friend Richard.
Aunt Beulah is in her upper 80s now and cannot get around as fast as she used to, but she has maintained her wonderful sense of humor and her loving ways. She immediately noticed I had lost weight. Except for my hubby, my SIL Sharon and my friend Barb, really no one else has noticed. She says she cannot keep up with the house anymore, but she still cooks for Helen and her.
Don was in his big, comfy recliner (which is exactly like mine except his is red, mine is black). His knee was hurting pretty bad. He and Aunt Beulah both walk with the support of a cane. Don uses one that our grandpa carved.
The visit was such a happy one for me. All of those delightful childhood memories came flooding back. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we shared our stories, we drank in each other. For me it was like healing balm.
I wish time had allowed us to visit Aunt Rosie, but hopefully next time.
My hubby gave me the best Valentine's Day weekend I can imagine. Thank you, sweetie. I love you.