Compared to many people, especially people with small children, Troy and I do travel a lot. I’ve written before about how Annalie was a veteran of multiple plane and car trips before her first birthday, and if you’ve been reading this blog for more than a few weeks, you’ve read about one trip or another that we’ve taken.

However, adding nearly two thousand extra miles to our agenda is unusual even for us. The circumstances were unusual, of course; we were headed to Troy’s dad’s funeral. Since we were on vacation in South Texas, we had packed casual, warm-weather clothes. On the drive north, we wore the jeans and fleece pullovers we’d brought in case of cool evening weather, and raced to get ahead of the ice storms heading for central Oklahoma. We managed to evade the worst of the weather, but when we got to Omaha we still had almost a week of winter weather to dress for, not to mention the funeral. So we headed straight for the mall.

Troy, being a guy, walked into the men’s suit department at Von Maur and said, “I’m here from out of town, I’m going to a funeral Monday, and I need a suit.” They measured him, whipped out a couple of jackets for him to try on, sent him into the fitting room with some trousers, and told him to come back in a half-hour to pick up the altered suit. Finding suitable clothes for Annalie and me took just a bit more effort.

Troy and his sisters stayed busy pretty much the whole time we were in Omaha, either with the actual viewing and funeral, or helping Valetta (their stepmom) sort through their dad’s belongings, or meeting with lawyers and financial advisors. Since it was bitterly cold while we were there, Annalie and I mostly stayed inside where it was warm. We did venture outside occasionally, to visit my Gramma B, to meet my cousin’s newborn twin boys, and to eat at a couple of our favorite Omaha restaurants.

Even though the reason we were in Omaha was a sad one, we were very glad that we were able to be there for Valetta. At the viewing Sunday and the funeral and luncheon on Monday, Troy and his sisters saw people they hadn’t seen in thirty years. Some folks Troy had been hearing about in his dad’s stories for years but had never met were at the funeral. We saw family and old friends, and remembered Keith and thanked God for his life. I’m sure in the coming weeks, months, and years, we will find ourselves missing Keith in ways we never imagined. Grief is funny like that. But for now, we’re all doing okay.

You can find more photos in Unexpected trip to Omaha – a photoset on Flickr.

(Oops! Edited to fix a broken link.)