March 16th, 2022

For the first time since a family wedding in October, Jazz and her boyfriend Clark were able to fly in and visit Massachusetts to see Nate and the rest of the fam. Kenzie oh-so-graciously picked them up from the airport on Friday, March 11 and brought them back to Ipswich, where they spent the weekend. (Editor's Note: MacKenzie volunteered to pick Jazz up, because she was very excited to see her. They had a great car ride, and the editor is unclear why MacKenzie decided to be so snarky here.) They had some good family time and got to reconnect. MacKenzie dedicated most of the weekend to being at the family home as well, and she brought her boyfriend Rich and his daughter Raylee. It was nice to get us all under one roof again, playing card games and eating good food; you all know what the Cottons do. 

The whole crazy crew spending some quality time together

Nate was extremely happy to have both his girls home. We spent a fun hour at the grocery store, which might seem like a chore, but is secretly one of our favorite weekend activities. Market Basket, Nate is known to say, has the best music of any grocery store. It helps Nate to get him out of the house in short bursts, so he doesn't go completely insane staying at home. We had delicious food and some great local beer — though Nate did not partake, because alcohol would be detrimental to his treatment right now, and he's been staunch about quitting cold turkey — and some classic kitchen hangs. The kitchen has always been the heart of the Cotton home, and we spent a lot of time there as a group over the weekend. Despite everything, he was in better spirits than ever, and was eager to officially begin his treatment and start the process of healing. 

Our favorite place to chat, the kitchen! You can really see the family resemblance here, I think.

Before Jazz and Clark headed back to Texas on Tuesday morning, Jazz made it a point to take a family photo of the Cottons. It's the first one we've taken of the whole family in probably two decades. When we went looking for one last month, to put in the updates page, Sharon and Nate commented that a full family photo is rare for us. One of them was always taking the picture, and in the age before the smart phone, people had to make a conscious effort to have their photos taken. We were always having too much fun to get someone to take our picture. It's nice to finally have a recent one of all of us.

There are a lot of very silly pictures, but this one is where we look the most like us. All laughing.

On Tuesday, March 15, Jazz and Clark went back to their everyday lives. It was a bittersweet visit, because of the reason, but Jazz has made a commitment to go back home more often. She's also invited the whole family out to visit her in Austin, and most of them are pretty into the idea. Nate and Sharon will probably fly out in a couple of months. However, the joy of the long weekend was not yet over, as on Tuesday afternoon, Rich proposed to MacKenzie! He gave her the ring in front of her parents and his daughter, with a heartwarming speech, and she of course accepted. She has already started working on wedding planning. (Editor's Note: Jazz is unsure why Rich waited until she was out of the state to propose, since he was prepared all weekend and they had a private conversation about it. She absolutely "will not" hold a grudge about this.)

MacKenzie and Rich showing off her beautiful ring, officially engaged!!

It was a fantastic weekend, and everyone had a great time. It put Nate in a great mood to start his radiation and chemotherapy, which began the very next day — but that's a different update.