It has been a week since we lost Darrel. It has been an incredibly busy, sad, weird, and even happy week. It was a week filled with family and friends.

Everyone keeps asking how I am doing.  I am surviving day by day.

I have shed LOTS of tears this week. One day it was just looking at the place where he sat to eat every night. Yes, we were one of those families who sat down and ate dinner together every night. In fact, on the day before he died, I fixed him some cereal for breakfast and he insisted on going to the table to eat.

But I have also had some laughs with everyone.  Either reminiscing about past times with Darrel, or just cracking up like any normal day.  Laughing about where to put all the beautiful flowers and plants that both Courtney and I have received.  It is like a florist shop in here! Today and yesterday I only got verklempt a couple of times, so that is a definite improvement.

However, it is true what they say – that everyone needs closure. The Soup Night on Thursday did that for me. I woke up on Friday and felt better even though I hadn’t gotten much sleep. I ran to Costco and picked up the food for an event at the club that I was cooking for today. Courtney and I then went to the club and got all of our stuff loaded up, then unloaded and put away.

We then spent a quiet night alone, but together, on our computers and also watching Food Channel shows. (Something Darrel didn’t appreciate watching.)

Last night I finally got a really good night’s sleep. Got up this morning and then went to the club and started cooking. As Courtney told someone, cooking seems to be therapy for me.

I decided not to attend the event tonight, though. I just wasn’t quite ready for a dinner and dance without Darrel.

Courtney took off this morning for Portland with a friend. They are going to places that Anthony Bourdain had on one of his shows. Wish I could have gone. That is my kind of vacation.

Mmmm, doesn’t that charcuterie plate look good!

Just so you know, I am going to continue blogging. Next I will be posting some tributes I received about Darrel. They were all so heartfelt and welcome reads for me that I wanted to share. Then, I will probably continue to put updates about me and Courtney, but also will do food and travel posts.

You can always UnFollow if it gets too much for you! But, I have received a lot of positive comments so will keep going for now.

Thanks for all the support and condolences throughout this time. It is very much appreciated.