A weekend in North Carolina

This last weekend Patrick and I drove to North Carolina. We left Friday evening and came back on Monday afternoon. What prompted this fairly short trip, with the incredibly long drive? Katie's mother-in-law, Tammy, died Thursday after a long and painful fight with terminal cancer. I have known Tammy since I was 17. She was my boss at the movie theatre I worked at during high school, and I briefly dated her step-son (big mistake!). She was a very giving person and she loved her children a great deal. I went, not only because of the role she played in my life, but because I thought it was important to be there for Katie and Seneca. There was no funeral or service.
The trip, in and of itself, was uneventful. I will say that if I never drive through the Smokey Mountains again, it will be too soon. The roads were pretty icy and the truck-drivers drive like lunatics. Patrick and I tried to keep ourselves entertained on the 10 1/2 hour long drive, with books on tape, music, and general discussion about our future. When we arrived in Winston Salem we went out to Tammy's mother's house to see Katie and Seneca. It was a somewhat surreal experience. The majority of these people I hadn't seen in almost 10 years...some of them I could have stood to never see again. But, all in all, we survived and were able to spend some time with Katie and Seneca before the started packing to go back to New Mexico.
The up side of this journey was that I was able to visit, briefly, with Gemma and Josh. We stayed with them the one night we were in NC. They are both doing very well, and it was good to spend some time with them. Hopefully we will get another opportunity to see them before we leave Michigan during our week-long trip to DC in March. Our hope is that they will be able to come up to spend, at least, the last weekend with us. It will depend on Gemma's exam schedule.
My first exam of this semester is Monday, in Microbiology. I'm not worried-but I don't want to be too self-assured about this material, so this weekend will be spent studying. Yay.
Speaking of...time for class.