That sounds sweet, bluebicycle. Both my sister and I gave my 77 year old father Easter baskets full of things. Actually, they were Easter/Birthday baskets for him.

My dad is not well. After our Easter lunch (we did lunch instead of dinner) he immediately wanted to go and take his nap. We were like "Dad, we haven't even had your birthday cake yet". Luckily he stayed up a bit longer for that, then he excused himself. We went home early, which we expected to do anyway. My dad doesn't like that we no longer drink anything with him. Not even my husband. That's just too bad.

It's sort of hard to fully express/describe here, but after seeing my sister today I have an overwhelming desire to offer that she join my husband and me on our next trip to Europe. Her husband has literally never taken her on a vacation since their honeymoon to Cape Cod, over 34 years ago. Maybe he took her for a few day trips, but that's all. She did take a couple 3-day trips to a few states south along with my late nephew. She also traveled with her then young sons along with my parents to Czech Republic, for my wedding. That was over 20 years ago. Her elder son never really wants to go anywhere with her, plus he's almost 30 now. I will talk to my husband about this tonight. If he agrees to offer for her to join us (paying most of her own expenses, of course) I will as soon as we know what we're doing. We sort of think we will go to a southern part of France via Barcelona, Spain to look for potential places for a relocation. She'd never go there alone or even with my nephew, or likely even to a more far away place from NJ than Virginia, where she goes only via bus trip. She'd be too intimidated, but my husband and I are seasoned travelers and my husband is a European. We would be driving between Barcelona and our destinations in southern France. My husband and I even speak a pretty good amount of French, not that that is even that necessary.

After we had my dad's cake, my sister looked at me and asked if I wanted to go for a walk with her. I knew where she meant. I said "To see Joe and Mom?" Joe was her younger son. She said yes. At that moment, I felt so bad because I would have gone with her, but the fact was that I was wearing fancy shoes. I told her that and that I'd call her very soon to schedule a date for that visit, wearing the right shoes. Mom and Joe are far in the woods at the top of the hill overlooking the river.

It's possible that in a few years, my husband and I will move to Europe. It has gone through my head that when we do, I may possibly only see my family fewer times than I might count on two hands. We will surely see my husband's family far more.