north dakota girl

went to n.d. for memorial day. mary,mike,jim,will,grace and i drove there. we stayed in the twin cities the first night and with john and judy the rest of our stay. we went to bottineau via lignite and our oil well visit. judy's brother,ted, works with a rig and he explained the fraking process to us in layman's terms. dangerous.

we drove up to see aunt mary and uncle albert. judy took mary,mike and jim to the peace gardens. will and grace created a fort in the back yard. they spent 2-3 hours in an imaginary world. they were so excited to share it with grandma,grandpa and dad, it was an afternoon to remember. time with aunt mary is never enough.

john and judy gave us the royal treatment with a country breakfast and a grilled ham dinner. we saw maynard and aunt agnes but the time was not enough for me. our time was limited because the kids had to be home for some event with their mom.

i wanted more time with my aunts and cousins. judy and i have so much fun together sooooo i took the train and went back for a three week visit. it was delightful. judy and john made me feel right at home. judy and i spent days visiting her friends, shopping and canning jam and salsa. she took me back to bottineau. we visited aunt mary and uncle al. we took aunt mary to the casino. she was lucky and made 40 bucks. the drive home to minot was in the pitch dark. we made it without a hitch.

i knew judy's heart was compromised but i didn't realize how sick she was. she lived each day to the full and brought me along. one night after visiting her friend in bullah, she had an episode of jerking movements that resembled a seizure without the post ictal phase. i asked her if thaat had happened before- "yes". we went for her scheduled cardiology appt. in bismark the next morning. her pacemaker was failing. there was a frayed wire which might have caused the above episode. the plan is for her to get a second opinion in minnisota. meanwhile she is going to live her life as usual.

judy calls me her good friend and that is true, but i call her my cousin. i could call her my sister because the bond we share is so precious. i look forward to more visits with john and judy in the months ahead. maybe we'll go ice fishing!