Random 5 for Friday~ Oct. 23

Friday the 23rd of October. Are you kidding me? How did THAT happen? Poof and these months are gone anymore. Well, here we are at another Friday. Just one more left before November is here. Again. Seriously? LOL. Here are my five random things for this week...

1. My week started out very rough with the death of my most beloved Grandma. She was the grandparent I was the absolute closest too. The person in my family most like me than anyone else. I was the only grandchild to be allowed to live with her after college. We shared more in common than anyone else. She taught me how to do things she didn't teach anyone else. I knew she was going to be leaving this world before too long--she's been sick for so long. But I guess in my heart, I sort of hoped she'd live forever.

2. Next Friday I am making a trip back to the Northwest with my brother and cousin (both living in Cincinnati) for my Grandma's celebration of life. Unlike my trip for my grandpa, which involved me being on the ground in WA for a mere 48 hours, this trip is going to be a few days long. I appreciate this as it will give me time to connect with my family and some friends that I don't get to see very often living out here in KY. And I love flying.

3. I haven't flown with my brother since...2001. Can you believe that? Strange but true. It's been 14 years since we last flew together. That's what happens when one of us is 10 years older and gets married and moves away. I look forward to our trip. It can be fun to travel with family. Especially when you are needing to travel because of a sad event. Family makes things easier.

4. Living two hours away from the airport can be a pain. Like when you have an 8am flight. And you need to be at the airport by 6:30am. And you have to leave the house at 4:30am. Let's not even talk about what time I will have to get up next week. I was not amused at my husband chiming in with this lovely information this morning.

5. Finally, I have created a very special post over on my blogs Facebook page. It was written after seeing a beautiful status from a dear friend. She and I are working hard to bring awareness to beautiful babies who are born with craniofacial deformity affected individuals--especially babies born with cleft palate and cleft lip. We are asking leading baby products brands to consider placing a beautiful baby with physically visible special needs like these on their packaging to help raise awareness. We are calling it the #CleftStrong movement and hope you will check it out and join us!

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