Traveling with Spot and Gimp

Traveling with Spot and Gimp We had planned this wonderful vacation – an African Safari. The boys were old enough to enjoy it and since we were living in Europe it was less travel then if we started from the States. But – life happened Suddenly, Mike’s youngest sister announced she was getting married. Not only did we not have enough leave built up for 2 big trips, we didn’t have the money for 2 big trips. So the plans for the Safari were put on hold, luckily we didn’t have any money down on anything yet. A few days before we were scheduled to leave, I got a call from the Youth Center where the boys went before and after school. I wasn’t break dancing. Honest Mom, it just that 3rd flip I landed wrong. We adjusted our plans to include one child on crutches. The night before we left, I gave Nathan a bath. That looks like. It can’t be. BUT… No, it’s not possible. He’s not complaining. He’s not scratching. It can’t be. BUT…. It looks so much like it. But I KNOW he’s already had it. I made sure of that when Brigham and all the neighborhood children came down with it a few years ago. But it so looks like it…. The next morning, bright and early, we headed to Luxembourg to board an Icelandic Air flight to Iceland then onto DC. Brigham, ever thinking ahead, decided that it was “OK” to be on crutches, because the stewardess and others would be super nice to him. Somehow though, it didn’t occur to him that the stewardess would be watching him run across the tarmack to reach the rolling staircase to board the plane, his crutches under his arm, only using them when he reached the staircase to get on the plane. And while the stewardess was charmed by him, he didn’t get lots of extra snacks and other goodies like he thought he’s be able to get from her. Little Nathan, cheerful and happy, didn’t seem ill, but where he’d had a few spots the night before, he kept breaking out all the way across the Atlantic and definitely had a lot of spots now. Arriving in DC, my parents (who we weren’t expecting) and my sister, Lida, and her 3 kids (who we were expecting), picked us up from the airport. The next day, I took Nathan to Walter Reed, where they confirmed that a person can get chickenpox twice, especially if the first case is a mild one. At least this case seemed to be mild as well and he remained chipper and happy. Arriving back at Lida’s, I found the house in an uproar. Her husband, Ron’s father had just died and they needed to get to Arkansas quickly. While I was out, they had been calling airlines and the price of last minute tickets for a family of 5 was astronomical, not to mention difficult to get 5 tickets on the same flight. Mike and I looked at each other, than quickly offered up our tickets to St Louis. From there, Lida and her family could easily pick up a rental car and drive the rest of the distance arriving in time for the funeral. They only had to purchase one child’s ticket, which while the airlines have special fares for funerals, cost as much as the other 4 tickets put together. We had time built into our schedule for visiting with family before the wedding, which could now be used for the drive to St Louis. My parents quickly volunteered to drive us in their large full size van, altering their plans for the few days, while keeping us from needing to get a rental car. It gave us lots of time sitting in the van to talk to my parents and catch up on things that had been going on in the states while we were overseas. On the plus side, it also gave us several more days for Nathan’s spots to start fading and his contagion level to go down before we met up with the rest of the family and old friends. We got to St Louis, in time to meet up with Mike’s folks for the long drive to Iowa for the wedding. It was not Mary’s dream wedding – Mary’s fiance’s mother wasn’t able to come to St Louis for a wedding, so the wedding went to her. The reception was at the local VFW post, with the mother’s trying our best to keep our kids away from the regular inebriated customers at the bar. Back “home” to St Louis, where Mike’s folks dropped us at my paren’ts home. The next day, we headed out with my parents to Lida’s. Barely able to catch our breaths, we caught our flight out to Luxembourg the next day. It wasn’t the dream vacation we had planned, but it was family. And that’s what family does. We adjust, we alter our plans, we support each other, and we make it work for everyone. Mike still talks about someday going on an African Safari. We’ll see. I’m not holding my breath.

The little melamine bowl

It was just a cheap little melamine bowl. In college, in order to have enough credit hours to be a full time student yet enough time to focus on my internships, I took a flower arranging course. One of the assignments was to arrange flowers in a shallow bowl. I didn’t have one, so I bought a cheap little oval melamine bowl. I don’t remember where I bought it, or what I paid for it, but on a college student’s budget I know it wasn’t much. It worked well for the class and that was what mattered at the time. I used it for other things through the years, though it was seldom the really right size or shape for anything other than a bunch of grapes. Still I hung on to it. After the boys were gone and the bread basket seemed too large for just Mike and I, I started using it for bread on the table. Perfectly sized for a few rolls or pieces of garlic bread and much easier to clean as I could just “pop” it in the dishwasher, it worked perfectly. Occasionally used for something else, it made its way onto the table every evening. One day, pulling it out of the dishwasher, it slipped out of my hands. Hitting the floor, it cracked. A silver dollar size chunk splitting off from the rest of the bowl. Somehow it seemed almost sacrilegious to put it in the garbage can. 46 years, that little bowl had been there for me, being used in a yeoman fashion for whatever was needed. But a melamine bowl can’t be glued back together. Mike seldom notices the dishes on the table, but a few days later, helping to put dinner on the table, he asked where the bowl was, said he couldn’t find it. He too felt the loss of that little bowl. While we will always have memories of sharing great meals while that little bowl held the bread or grapes, we mourn the loss of the little melamine bowl. For 46 years, it served us, helped to feed us, was there for us. For 46 years.

The Raceway

I took my car to the raceway. Keeping even with the majority of the drivers, while other cars, obviously driven by drivers more unforgiving than I, wove in and around us, showing their contempt for our speed, as they outdistanced us, and moved out of sight. Construction on all sides, plus overhead bridges gave the track a semblance of long distance races over difficult terrain. The blending and weaving of the traffic – from semis to Geo’s – resembles the stereotypical drivers in Italy and Korea. Not for the fainthearted, this course. Returning at dusk, I pull into a deserted mall to take a call. Once full of life, the desolation of the area overwhelms as I avoid weed filled pothole, noting only one tiny building has any sign of still being in use. A guard shack perhaps, my mind wonders? In the 20 minutes I sit there on the call, only 2 cars pass by on an outer road, hurrying to get to the raceway or to escape the desolation? The call has delayed me long enough for darkness to descend. Now I drive the course in reverse, not only wary of other drivers and construction, but unable to see all the potential dangers as the oncoming lights blind me. Weaving myself now, I try to find a path through the other cars that will allow me to see the signs, to know I’m on the right path. I have driven this way before. Every time I venture to it, I’m filled with hope that this time it will be different: better, less congested, slower, less construction. All hope dashed quickly once I’m in the midst and seeing it for what it is. Reaching a more familiar section of the raceway, not as worried about obstacles, knowing the path, even with blinding lights, I feel my confidence building. For how many of us, does the pull of the raceway fill our days? Something to conquer as we careen around “obstacles”, filling us with both dread and excitement as we tackle it. Yet at the end of the course, finding only desolation before we turn back to our normal path.

Quiet

Quiet

The World is White

Ice, not snow, glistens

Only the Birds Are Out

The World is Still

Cars and Trucks Gone Away

Slowly the Ice Melts

The Day Warms

Snowing Now

Fat Fluffy not quite Hamster Size Flakes

Birds Flown On

Quiet Encompassing the World

We Wait

2020 Gone

2021, but hours old

We Wait

For a New Year

A New Beginning

The Canvas Blank Before Us

RePurposed

Re-Purposed I look around my home at all the things I’ve “re-purposed”. Some ite whilems were designed for a totally different function than I use them for now (Like using a tabletop phone stand to raise my IPad and books to a more ergonomic level). Some are things that someone else no longer needed or wanted that fit beautifully in my home - from furniture I got from my parents to a cabinet that holds Mike’s media equipment perfectly while fiitting in the space I needed it to fit into. I’m a “Queen” of Repurposing –when my office moved and the company was throwing things away, I “saved” stuff and found new homes for everything with people who could use the items - from office supplies to mouse race decorations, (though the 20 million odd mugs, did go to Goodwill which accepts things up till 7:30 at night). In many ways, all of us are “re-purposed”, as our lives change & evolve, we evolve & change as well. From Child, to Tween, to Teenager, to Young Adult, to Married Couple, to Parent, to Older Adult, to Grandparents, to “Seniors”. We don’t stay static. Most of us change jobs multiple times, move to different homes and communities, make new friends, lose contact with old friends. We develop new routines, ways to do things and priorities in the process. Some of us develop health issues, others work on going to the gym and exercising to stay healthy. Some of us find new passions and hobbies as we get older. Others pick up hobbies again, that they hadn’t had time for, for years. Each time we change and grow and “recreate” ourselves, we have a new opportunity to repurpose our lives and repoint them toward our Faith. To share with others, to be grateful for the opportunities that have come our way, to start participating in a new Bible study class, or join a Faith based group, or just to share what our Faith means to us.

Proverbs, Folklore and Other Things Our Parents Taught Us

Proverbs, Folklore and Other Things Our Parents and Grandparents Taught Us How many times did our parents and grandparents teach us things using what we considered to be “trite phrases” and little stories, as we were growing up, but that now we realize were the “golden nuggets” fed to us in small doses and light phrasing that made it easier for us to remember them? “Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You” “One Step at a Time” “Make Hay While the Sun Shines” “Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today” “Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s delight. Red Sky in the Morning, Sailors take warning” How many cultural (TV before, now social media) and marketing “slang phrases” joined these “trite phrases” over the years? “Pay It Forward” “Just Do It” Or phrases that were mottos for different organizations "Always Be Prepared” (the Boy Scouts) These simple phrases guided us in how to live our lives, give back to other and to be better people. Have you ever stopped to think where the FIRST phrases came from? Perhaps it was when The Father of All of US, taught his children the 10 Commandments.

The results of selfishness

It’s a GORGEOUS Day. The sun is shining, it’s warm, the trees and flowers are starting to bloom. The world is awakening from its winter nap. And Yet. As the fears of the virus have us in lock down mode, venturing out as little as possible, my response is to open the windows and let the fresh air in, to sit on my deck, talking to my neighbor who’s working in her yard, well over 6 ft away, but IT WAS A CONVERSATION WITH A REAL PERSON!! who I don’t live with, that was face to face, rather than on the phone or with a text chat or an email! I contemplate going to the park for a walk. With the playgrounds closed, there is almost no one at the park these days, and those who are stay far away from each other. I decide to stay home, and pick up twigs and sticks in my yard that have blown down with the recent rains. My husband runs a few errands and reports back when he returns that while many stores are closed, essential places of business like banks, groceries and pharmacies are open. Surprisingly, the hardware stores and batteries plus are considered essential stores and are open as well. He tells me that the grocery store has flour again, and he picked some up for me. Our son in Florida, is seething under quarantine restrictions. Apparently an employee came to work with a hangover (not the first time she’d done that) and decided she wanted to go home early, so she went to the doctor’s, told him she wasn’t feeling well and badgered him until he gave her a note saying she should stay home for 7 days. Now we all know from the news that if the doctor thought she might have been exposed to or have COVID 19, that she would be placed on a longer restriction than 7 days, but because her doctor told her to stay home for 7 days, EVERYONE, she had come into contact with at the office, now has to go into a 14 day self quarantine period because she might have exposed them. If she had simply called in that day, rather than coming in, they would have been able to continue with their “regular” routines. My son, as the manager, had already put “working from home” procedures into place, but now, based on someone’s selfishness, she has placed her co-workers in the position of being under self quarantined, which affects not just the office and the co-workers, but their families as well. In this time of stress, we need to not only take care of ourselves, but we all need to recognize how our actions affect everyone around us, not just ourselves.