A Last Time, Captured

I did something special the weekend before last. The first full weekend of this crazy 2013 Spring. My son, Eric, and I went skiing.

Yep, skiing. In Maryland.

I actually started this post last Thursday. Almost a week ago. I didn’t finish it before heading north to Dad’s on Friday. He doesn’t have internet access. He, my brother, and I spent the weekend going through and weeding out his worldly possessions in preparation for his impending move. That’s a story for another post. While there, I caught a humdinger of a cold that had me on my back for a couple of days. Today, finally, I feel like I can function. Still sick, but WAY better. So life goes on.

Now, back to the last time referred to in the title…

My baby boy, Eric, is getting married on April 20.

He’s marrying Kelsey, his middle-school sweetheart. They may have “gone out” off and on a bit in high school, but his high school years were rough times for all of us. He prevailed, got his life back on track, and they re-connected a few years back. They rest, as they say, is history.

In 17 days, he’ll be a married man. We couldn’t be happier for them both. They make a really cute couple.

When Eric was younger, he and I would often do trips together. Usually to visit my brother in Chesapeake, Virginia. But we also did camping trips and other stuff, too, like ski vacations.

So I decided, since he’s going to be married soon, we should have a final Mom and son trip while he was still single.

I was having a heck of a time deciding where we should go. Since Winter has dragged on for so long, I thought maybe we could squeeze a ski trip in.

Eric captured the windmill pics while I drove. It was a gorgeous day.

This has been a crazy weather year, but it worked out well for us.

Who would ever have thought we’d be skiing in Maryland in Spring?

As you’ll see in these pics, we had the place practically to ourselves.

Hamming it up for me. I trained him well…

The place was deserted, but almost all of the trails were open and the snow was in great shape.

Some folks asked me to take their picture. So I asked them to take our picture, too. A great shot, right? Except my pockets were crammed full of stuff and I look about 30 pounds heavier on the top than I actually am!

It was a great day. He’s a good boy.

🙂

After we’d exhausted ourselves on the slopes, we headed to the WV Place to spend the evening. Sunday, we were thinking about heading down to Green Bank, West Virginia to see the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. But the weather dudes were predicting snow for the next day. Lots of snow. While the roads around Green Bank are a motorcycle Mecca, they’re no place for an almost-new car when the roads are sleet- and snow-covered.

So we took our time on Sunday morning. I drove home via the scenic route, through Bean Settlement so I could show Eric my favorite Oreo cows.

We continued east on WV-55 through Wardensville and found the cutest little old timey mercantile/cafe. More material for yet another blog post.

It was a perfect Mom and son bonding weekend. I do love my boy-turned-man.

Where HAVE the years gone? Sigh…

Yes, we’re looking forward to gaining a daughter-in-law. She’s very sweet. She’s got a lovely family. Those two are made for each other, that’s for sure. More on them later. I promise.

Now, since I am actually feeling human again, I need to get to work!