Spring?

 Sign of Spring? What A Tease!!!

 On the way to my office last week I noticed some sure signs of spring these were growing near the sidewalk on campus!

 

...today we were reminded that it is still Winter for one more day!!! Only in New England though can you see the sun come out while it is still snowing! Is there such thing as a snowbow?

Dad had a good week. A good sign :) He goes back up to 1A status on Friday! This means if a heart becomes available he is at the tipity top of the list. He will remain at the 1A status for 29 days. So here's hoping a new heart comes in and it is as physically fit as they want it to be.  It's both exciting and scary at the same time to know that you are "on-call" waiting for the phone to ring.

Dad has an appointment on Thursday and the day after his appointment if all systems are go they will move him up to 1A. If anything is off, level wise I don't know if it will delay the start of going to the top. Here's to hoping that all the pieces fall into place and he will be moving on up...to a delux room in the Shapiro Tower at Brigham and Women's!

He had a very busy weekend this past weekend as did we all. The Catholic Men's conference was at the DCU on Saturday and he had to provide the music. So Mike Curry came by and packed up all of Dad's stuff to bring down to the DCU.  It's kind of a lot of stuff, so thanks Mike.

I wasn't home to pack it all up because I was helping prepare for a St. Patrick's Day party. It is amazing what a small group of people can do in 48 hours. We had a great crew of people and everything was perfect. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun along with some REALLY good food :)

This was our table and behind us my Aunt Irene and my cousins Steven and Lee, joined us at the next table. My cousins came all the way from Alaska! They are visiting their Mom and she wanted them to come to the party too. It was nice to see them.

The McInerney School of Irish Dance had a large group of Irish step dancers who were truly amazing. Some of them are even competing in a World competition that will be held this year in Boston!

The set up for the party was fun, the decorating was great but at the end... it's a little bit like taking down Christmas decorations after Christmas is over, kinda sad to put it all away until next year.

We had fun even taking down the decorations! I told you it's a great group! I know this looks like I am beating up the green guy and winning. Truth be told...this guy was killing me! We could not get the air out of them to put them back into storage. It had a safety tab that you had to squeeze to get the air out. Long story short, it took 6 of us about a half hour to deflate the suckers!

I also got to have dinner with "The Pack" as we call ourselves (its a movie reference) We have been friends since as long as I can remember. These girls and I have been through thick and thin together. It's so great to be able to still hang out with the friends you grew up with. Dad does the same thing with his buddies from his old neighborhood. They meet up usually once a month for dinner. I feel like these guys never change. They all have looked the same for most of my life and I am hoping my friends and I share the same fate and stay as young as they have.

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day and Joe and Lauren came home from New Jersey for a visit. Joe couldn't believe how much Julie had changed since the last time he saw her. It was her first St. Patrick's Day. So we had to take an Auntie and Julie picture to remember it. I wanted to put the crown on her but I didn't want it to scratch her so I wore it instead to commemorate the occasion.  Kylie and Lilly were also wearing their "green." They really don't understand St. Patrick's Day, so for them it was an excuse to wear green together.

I am hoping we have seen the last of the snow. The weather people like to keep telling us that Worcester has had over 100 inches of snow this season. The 5th snowiest season in it's history! I don't care...I just want all "over 100" inches to MELT! Tomorrow is the official first day of spring. Puxatony Phil is going to be out of work soon. How wrong one little groundhog can be.  This year he doesn't see his shadow and we have a winter that breaks records...last winter, he saw his shadow and we also had a winter that broke records...but because we had NO SNOW! Sorry Phil, you have made a lot of  New Englanders angry with your false prediction this year.

So onward and upward we hope to move by the end of the week. We need your good thoughts and prayers more than ever now. Thanks to everyone for all of the amazing support and great things you have all done for Dad and our family. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends.

Until Next Week,

Laurie