This past weekend, I flew to Grand Rapids to visit my son Christopher and daughter-in-law Mackenzie. The entire trip was a wow, but there are a few moments that stood out. 

I had a successful standby. I had to connect through Atlanta, but the plane out of Nashville was delayed by nearly two hours. I missed the flight to Grand Rapids, and the next one with available seats wasn’t until 11 p.m. Fortunately, I was able to get on a standby list at an earlier time and got a seat. Phew! I was so thankful to be landing at 6:30 p.m. instead of 1 a.m.

We had dinner on “the beach.” Christopher and Mackenzie had planned to take me to a rooftop restaurant that overlooks the city, but we missed the reservation due to my flight delay. Instead, we went to a fun bar that had an outdoor area filled with sand and palm trees. When we waked in, the live band was playing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” (one of my favorite songs). They also played Cheap Trick. Sometimes I feel like David connects with me through music, and I felt that these were signs he was with us.

We had the best dinner ever. My brother-in-law, Chris, drove from the Detroit area to Grand Rapids to have dinner with us on Saturday. I am so thankful for him. My boys have mentioned that losing their dad in their 20s means he’ll miss so many of their milestones. Chris has been a constant in their lives, and that means so much to me and to them. We had a very fun dinner, with lots of food and laughs and a few tears. 

I got another tattoo! Christopher and Mackenzie wanted to get otter tattoos, so I decided to join them. Instead of another otter, though, I got David’s handwriting on my wrist. Shortly after he died, I found the Mother’s Day card he had given me in 2022. In it, he wrote “beyond grateful for you.” I had “beyond grateful” tattooed on my wrist along with a butterfly. Mackenzie suggested putting the butterfly above the D for David and having it in purple, which is the color for pancreatic cancer awareness. 

What were some of your WOWs this week?