Around The Bend
https://chocolatecastles.com/2016/04/07/around-the-bend/
— Read on chocolatecastles.com/2016/04/07/around-the-bend/
We sold our dining table & chairs yesterday. We have tried several times to sell it, thinking we wanted a round table instead of the rectangle one which came with our house we bought back in 2001 when Randy’s job took us to California. So 17 years, family and friends have gathered around that table. So much food has been served and so many memories of different groups have sat around that sweet table. Isn’t it so strange that for some reason, I always thought I would be so glad when it sold, but as we sat there looking at the empty space last night in the dining room, so many memories came flooding back to me.
When we bought our home in California back in 2001, God was so gracious to us to provide so much furniture that had been left in the new house. Jodi and Jaden were coming to live with us and since it was a model home, they had left the nursery furniture, the dining room furniture and so much more. In fact, the builder left so much of the furniture, we had to sell some of ours as there wasn’t room for all of our things. We have told the story so many times of God’s blessings to us as we moved from Texas to CA and how He went before us and provided for all our needs, even a nursery.
When we moved back to Texas in 2003, of course that beautiful table went with us. A dear friend, Debbie, our Women’s Minister called one day with a question. Would I consider having teacher training in our home and cook for them to have lunch. Would I….wow, that was such an answer to prayer that I could have ladies in our home and cook for them. One of my favorite things to do. After a couple of years, she had another great idea. (Yep, thats Debbie, lots of great ideas that involve food). HA.She suggested that we have the minister wives meet together for a luncheon once a month, at our house. We lived right across the street from the church (which that is another story of how God closed the door to one house and opened the door for one right across the street from our church) This would allow them to get to know the other minister wives and just be loved on, as we would cook and serve them each month. We realized that sometimes minister’s wives have so much ask of them: lots of time away from their husbands always being called up to serve in different capacities, not many chances to get to know other ladies who have the same responsibility of always being on call and having to sometimes “be on” and feeling like they had to be perfect. So once again, it was a privilege and blessing to just cook and serve these precious ladies who have been such an influence in my life over the years.
The times of meals being cooked and served to family gathered around the table when their lives were so hectic and hurried, and yet, when they sat down to eat maybe a roast with mashed potatoes or turkey & dressing, ham at Easter, beans and tamales at Christmas….there was always a calm that presided over our time together. It was always such a treat when one of our kids and their spouses would call and ask if they could come over for dinner. Always gave me an excuse to bake and cook a lot of food. So much more fun to cook for more than two. One of my prayers for our kids and their families is that they relish their time around the table and realize that it isn’t the food being served that is important, but the laughter, and the time spent in conversations about what is going on in their lives at the time.
When I think about all the blessing that have been spoken, some unspoken, around that table the last 17 years, it brings tears to my eyes to think about all the ways God has truly blessed our families and the ones who have gathered around. There have been prayers which have been answered. Relationships mended,kids sharing stories of setbacks or awards. These are such gifts which we treasure to this day.
Today, both Randy and I paused and prayed for the family that will now be sitting around that table. May they feel the prayers that have been said. May the Lord shine His face upon them that they would sense His presence and come to know Him personally, if they do not already.
Yes, it didn’t bring me the joy that I had anticipated I would have selling it, but…may God grant us in His time, in His place where He takes us to begin a new season of once again, gathering around a table, whether it be round, square or rectangle, which will bring honor to His name.
This weekend found us keeping our just turned 6 and 8 yr old grandsons. We cannot say that we babysat the 16 year old, because he would never speak to us again, but we did manage to have him here with us Saturday night and a few hours Sunday morning before he ran off to “go study his music”. At least he didn’t tell us he was going back home to clean up his room as we knew that would have been a total fib. But because we were so busy trying to entertain the little ones and at the same time try to look like the “cool and hip” grandparents that doesn’t get worn out keeping kids for 36 hours, we were almost glad when Jaden told us that he needed to go home to practice his music. Yea, one kid down and 2 more to go. It all started Saturday morning when our kids left town for their anniversary. We figured that we would take them to a movie to kill a few hours, but the only movie on was the Avengers. Jaden told us that he had gone to the midnight showing and that Caleb and Noah would love it and he would even go again with us. So after getting Chick Fila for the gang, we headed over to the movies. Jodi had told us that if Noah got bored because it was a long show, that we could put him in the child care there at the movie house. She said you just go show your movie ticket and they let them stay and play there in the play room. Randy suggests that I take the kids to the Dollar Store to let them buy candy for the movie. So off we go when the kids tell me that they prefer to buy their candy at Walgreens. Why is candy at Walgreens better than candy at Dollar Tree? But being the great Nana that I am I find a Walgreens where they select their candy and of course see the red noses for sale for $1. Each of them got one. On the way home to pick up Randy to head to the movie, Caleb’s nose broke and now there is one red nose that they begin to fight over. I take the one nose away to avoid further arguing. We meet Jaden at the movie and find a seat 4th row from the front. It is packed. Movie begins and I know within the first 5 minutes that I am going to hate this movie. Noah’s eyes get as large as saucers and he leans over to tell me that he wants to go. Well, no problem, I will take him to the child care center. So Noah and I leave the movie and proceed to the child care center where they inform me that if I didn’t have a rsvp, they are sorry but the child care is full and they cannot take him. Noah tells me that if I give him money, (after already spending over $40 to get us all in) he will just play games in the game center until the 2 1/2 hour movie is over. I tell him I don’t think so. So we go back into movie and tell Randy for he and Caleb to ride home with Jaden. We are out of there. So Noah and I head to the Dollar Store where he proceeds to find a hula hoop and several other little toys. Because we are having Jodi and Eric over for dinner when they come back to town on Sunday night, Noah and I head to the grocery store. I went in for 5 items, came out with about 15-20. I had forgot what it is like going grocery shopping with a 6 year old. So we come home with 2 packages of cookies, a carton of ice cream and sodas that I had no intention of buying Saturday.
The boys come home from the movies, but with my energy level quickly disappearing, Geno’s pizza sounds like a winner. But Noah informs me that he just had pizza Thurs night. But that he would take a Sonic corn dog. So Jaden, Noah and I head out to sonic, get the corn dog and then drive to Geno’s to pick up the pizza. We have a nice dinner and bedtime cannot come quick enough. But…the boys tell me that they had been promised that we would all play 5 Crown. Jaden is a trooper for doing all this with us; and we play cards until 9:30. Sleeping arrangements are a little weird. Jaden claims the guest bedroom and Randy agrees to sleep on the couch. Caleb and Noah end up in bed with me. Noah and Caleb refuse to sleep by each other because they claim that each of them kick. They didn’t lie. I end up sleeping between them and have feet in my face and back along with grinding teeth sounds. It is amazing how one can survive with only 3-4 hours sleep, but I just kept saying that if I could get through until Sunday night, I could sleep then. Because they all wanted different foods for breakfast, I made 4 different ones. Caleb and Randy wanted pancakes and bacon.Noah wanted cinnamon-sugar toast and apple juice. Jaden wanted Sister Schubert Rolls. Because I was so busy trying to get the kids fed and dressed for church, I forgot to eat until we were almost ready to leave so I made me a peanut/jelly fold over. Didn’t want my stomach growling during church. During the “down times” when the kids were not watching PJ Mask on cartoon network, they made paper airplane. Lots of paper air planes. about 25 or them. Our house had white paper airplane every where. The paper cuts on the bottom of my feet will hopefully heal quickly.
It is now Sunday afternoon and the kids are running all over the house with the planes, with cartoons blaring in the background. Knowing that their parents will be back around 5 to come to their anniversary dinner here at the house, I suggest that we run to get some balloons and anniversary cards. Of course this means back to the Dollar Store where we achieve our goal, plus find a few other items they can’t live without. As soon as we open the back door to come back in the house, the balloons escape and we run trying to catch them. We couldn’t catch them, so back to the Dollar store for more balloons. They got so upset seeing the balloons fly away, I just didn’t have the heart to not go get more. By this time, we have had conversations about them calling me something other than Nana. Telling them that I think it makes me sound old, Noah suggest that I be Corn and Randy be Dog as Corndogs are his favorite food right now. Caleb thinks I need to be called Lolli and Randy is Pops, but I tell him that we already have those names for some in-laws in our family. So Caleb decides that make I should be called TT because I drink tea all day but then they start cracking up saying that it makes me sound like I’m going potty all day. (They dont know how right they are) So we are back to square one on what my name should be.
Jodi and Eric make it in town and we had a great dinner, celebrating their anniversary, but really, Randy and I were celebrating that our babysitting weekend was drawing to a close. We survived. No emergencies, no melt downs, (us or the kids) and the kids actually looked a little sad when they got in the car to go home.
We have decided that in spite of being exhausted, it was great knowing that the kids had a great time and that hopefully the memories that were made, will be remembered for a long time. Maybe in about 6 months when we are rested up, they can come spend the night with us again.
We were in Puerta Vallarta for 10 days. Each day brought so many memories, some with laughter, some with thoughts of past experience between the 6 of us. These couples who we are here with, have become like family to us. We have traveled to Doyle Sprigs together, San Diego and now Mexico. The evenings of going out to eat at different restaurants and discovering new places has been a joy. Relaxing in Dee and Jeff’s room to snack on guacamole and curried dip and our new favorite snack; jicama with Tejin seasoning sprinkled over it, before going out at night was something each of us looked forward. Each evening after dinner, we sat around a table in their room to play cards. Eagerly, each evening we would stand outside waiting to see what size cab would arrive to pick the 6 of us. Jeff, who is 6’7″,280 lbs and my hubbie, at 6’1 and 260 would draw straws to see who would get to sit up front, all the while getting “kneed in the back” by the one who had to sit behind him, since the front seat would have to be pushed all the way back, allowing for their knees to even just be in the car. We all laughed at the thought of their legs having to just stick out the windows of the small taxi cabs since sometimes the taxi door would not even shut completely because of their size. We actually got pretty good at trying to figure out 20% tip in pesos.
The adventures we had just trying to guess what the bus route was which was written on the bus window made us all make a goal of learning a little spanish before returning the next year. After getting on the wrong bus and having to ride in certain areas of town that, should I say, was a little “sketchy” made us decide that learning Spanish might be to our benefit. But, sitting around the pool, talking about our kids, our season of life, how the Lord was growing us and sometimes allowing us to go through certain trials, these are the days we remember the most. The times when we open up to each other. The stories which we hear from each of us just draw us closer as we know that we will be praying for one another.
Each day we found ourselves not only laughing at the new aches and pains which seem to accompanied us down to Mexico, but realizing that we were still all so blessed to be able to do what we were doing. Yes, we were still able to waddle out to the poolside and enjoy the sunshine. We had eyes that allowed us to watch whales out in the ocean (and some poolside, but I won’t go there) and read. We had ears to still hear the songs being played by the Mariachi Band that had such a strange version of “I Did It My Way”. We were still able to walk and spend our husbands money on new blouses and silver earrings. Dinner might be followed by lots of Rolaids, but the heartburn was so worth it as beautiful lobster or shrimp was set in front of us alongside a huge plate of guacamole and chips. It was wonderful to still be able to jump and run when a large iguana came close to our pool side chairs.
Knowing that we love to come home to our own beds, it was still so hard to leave these precious friends. It is amazing to think about how friendships seem to thrive when new memories are made together. The laughter, the praying together, the sharing of meals, all tasting each other’s food; exploring new places,these are just some of the things that make new memories so special. It is also what gives us more reason to do these things more often. We came home thankful for this special time we had together. The rooms are already reserved for 2019, when we will, Lord willing, once again descend upon Puerto Vallarta. Our list of restaurants which we never made it to this year is written down for next visit. We are going to venture out to a new little town about a hour away from PV. Zip lining is on my list for next year.
Friendships are so special. Wishing each of you a year of new memories with endearing friendships….it is what brings us lives of joy and blessing.
For a few years, I have taken the advice of Debbie Stuart and prayed that the Lord would give me a word for the year. The word which He gives you is a word that will amazingly appear in places you would least expect and you know in your heart that the word you are given is for a reason. For 2017 my word was Tenacity. I had begun to pray and ask the Lord what word He had for me for 2017. One morning in early December I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and tenacity was the word that was in my mind. I had to go look it up because I truly never remembered using it ever, nor did I know what it really meant. When I looked it up, I discovered that it meant “learning to be content with circumstances and to persevere, going forward. For the next few mornings I would wake up thinking that word. Looking back over 2017, I know why that word was the word that I was suppose to study, to take to heart and to apply to my life. 2017 came with some struggles of circumstances which I had never thought would come across my life. God was faithful and provided His grace and sufficiency to me in areas that I needed to grow up, not only spiritually, but mentally. Fast forward to 2018.
Reading an email from a friend who was talking about what she felt the Lord had given her as her word for 2018, I suddenly realized that I had not even begun to think about praying for this year’s word. So I quickly began to pray and ask the Lord what word He had for me this year. Past years’ words for me have been,
“tenacity” “restore” “serve”. So when I was praying, I expected my word to be something along those lines. But once again, on December 6th I woke up thinking about the word “kindness”. I thought about that and wondered why that word was on my mind. But again the next day, “kindness” would just pop into my mind. IT was then that I begin to ask the Lord if that was indeed my word. On December 8th, I woke up and came into the living room and opened up my devotion book as I do each morning. As I opened up Streams in the Desert for December 8th, this was the scripture at the top of the devotion, “Colossians 3:12, Put on as the elect of God, kindness.”
It was the story of an old man who went around town who carried a can of oil everywhere he went, and if he passed through a door that squeaked, he poured a little oil on the hinges. Anyplace he went that needed a touch of oil to stop squeaking or lubricating, making the hard places easier for those who came after him, he oiled them. The devotion went on to say:
“Have you your own can of oil with you? Be ready with your oil of helpfulness in the early morning to the one nearest you. (oh boy, that meant that I had to be continually “kind” to my husband for a year,) It may lubricate the whole day for him. The oil of good cheer to the downhearted one-oh how much it may mean…our lives touch others but once, perhaps, on the road of life; and then, mayhap, our ways diverge, never to meet again.
It ended with “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.” Romans 12:10
About an hour after reading this, a dear friend from California texted me with this message;
“thought of you this morning as I was reading Streams in the Desert……….hope you have a blessed day” She had never written to me about a devotion before and here she was writing about the same one I had just read.
Then on December 13th, a blog I read from time to time called Two Chums popped up in my email. For “some” reason, I opened it that morning and this was what it opened with, “above all else, be kind”. It was at this point that i quit asking God for more confirmation and declared that my word for 2018 is Kindness. I don’t know why yet and I don’t know what circumstances will be in my life this year. Sometimes it might be hard to fall on the promises of God that “I can do all things with God’s strength” and “nothing is impossible with God” But I can rest assured that “my God will supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus”, even His strength to help me show kindness to everyone, no matter what!
If you have never ask God to give you a word, begin to pray about that. It will be amazing how He will reveal it to you and how He will use it for your spiritual growth. Also there is a book called “My One Word” by Mike Ashcroft.
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This morning, our preacher spoke from 1John of God’s love for us and what that truly means. During the Christmas season, we are continually reminded of that love, in that we see the nativity scenes everywhere and hear the stories of God sending his Son to earth for us. But in our everyday life, do we really stop to think of what this great love really means? This morning in his sermon, he gave the analogy of when one of our children fall, do we just look down at them and tell them to “get up and get over it, that fall wasn’t that bad.” Or do we instantly bend down and scoop them up and tell them that it will be alright; That we are there and will take care of them. That is what God does for us. We are His own and He cares for each one of us. He ask us to think about the last time we truly felt God “love on us”. It was at that moment that I remembered a Christmas miracle, which happened this past week. It was one of those incidents which, at the time, reminded me that nothing is impossible with God, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that indeed, He was truly “reaching down and showing me that He loved me and cared about even the small things in my life. Here is the story:
A few weeks ago, I mailed a package to a friend for her combo birthday/Christmas present. It was a book she had been wanting and an apron that I had made for her. She is a strawberry fanatic and so the apron was made from material which had cute little snowmen and chocolate covered strawberries piled up around the snowmen. I was so excited to send these to her, knowing that it would make her so excited when she opened the package. In my haste to get it in the mail, I reused an envelop that I had received a Amazon order in. Because it was a bubble envelop, when I tried to write my return address on it, it began to poke holes, so I didn’t put anything except my name. No address whatsoever. When I looked up her address in my contact list, I used the correct street address, but ended up using her old town and zip code, not the new town she had moved to over two years ago. Into the PO I ran and dropped it in the slot. I texted her and told her to be expecting a present in a couple of days. After a week, she still had not received it. At 5 am one morning, I awoke with a awful thought. It dawned on me what I had done. As soon as I could, I drove to the PO and told the guy at the window my story. I ask him if there was any way to track it. He assured me that because I had not put a return address on it, I would never see it again. That the package would go to their unclaimed mail station in North Carolina. I was so distraught. Realizing that not only was the present lost, but when was I going to learn to not do everything in a hurry. I texted my sweet friend and told her what I had done. It bothered me so much of what I had done and I began to pray, telling the Lord that I knew that nothing is impossible with Him.
This week, on Tuesday, to be exact, I came home and Randy is outside. He tells me to go in the house and look on the dining room table. Asking why, he quickly tells me that the package was on the dining table. What? But how? there was no return address, how could it be here? I ran in (yes, I did run,because this was truly a miracle) and there it was. Apparently, someone had seen my name and had taken the trouble and time to peel off the top label to see where it originated. So they had returned it and here it was! Thanking the Lord for Him giving me a Christmas miracle, i still didn’t think about what this really was. After today’s sermon, it made me realize that God does give us those special little blessings to show His love for us, even during the routine days.
Today, after church, Randy and I went to eat lunch. As we finished our meal, the waiter came to tell us that the couple sitting at a table over had already paid for our lunch. We were taken care of. Randy, of course, remarked, “well, shoot, if we had known that, I would have ordered the bigger breakfast”. He is such a dear. We walked over to thank them and they just said, “Merry Christmas”
This Christmas, my prayer is that I will be more conscious of God’s goodness to me. To look for the unexpected gifts that He sends to me and to also open my heart to someone who might just need to feel God’s love reaching down to them.
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that I remembered that Tuesday is posting in bullet points…on Tuesday instead of 3 days later. So maybe all those vitamins are working! Or maybe it is the notes I have plastered all over the house to remind me to Tuesday Bullet Post. Whatever, at least I remembered to look at the reminders and didn’t just past by them, thinking that they were tags that were placed on furniture for which child gets what when they cart us off to the nursing home. But since it is Tuesday, I will stick to my promise and post in bullet points instead of paragraph form, which does make me look oh so hip. Speaking of hips:
1. I have noticed that when I get down on my hands and knees to clean up anything; lets just say that my next Amazon order will include a life alert!
2. This week, everyone around me is talking about getting all their Fall decor out of storage. I purposely have them on speaker phone so Randy can hear them talk about all their decor and how they might be tired of what they have and are going shopping for new items. I give him the look of, “see what a good wife I am? I use mine until the fake pumpkins look like they are ready for pumpkin graveyard and the wreaths are totally withered” He gets the message. One of my dear friends has 3 storage cabinets and an off site storage for all her decor. You know who you are! One of my favorite reminders to him when I want to go get new decor, is telling him that at least we no longer have an off site storage unit and that everything we own is right here so if we don’t buy the 24 roll of paper towels at Costco, there is a little more space under the bathroom cabinet that would fit a few more new Fall items.
3. This brings me to buying Fall decor. We ventured into Big Lots after a recent visit to DSW, down the way. Their pumpkins were arriving and were being put on the shelf as we walked in. After I promised Randy that I would be very selective in my new purchases, he left me alone (which scares him since I carry a credit card with me at all times) with an empty basket as he ventured off to go see if anything in the store interested him, while I mosied on over to the Seasonal aisle. All I can tell you is this, you need to hurry over while they still have a great selection of really pretty fall decorations. As soon as my basket was full, I went looking for Mr. Relax in Any Place He Can Find in a Store. There in the furniture aisle, was my husband on a fake leather couch, with his feet up, pretending that he had a drink in the cup holder. In no uncertain terms, I motioned for him to get up and I made him promise never to even think about bringing one of those home. But if he ever did, to just expect me to put up a velvet painting of Elvis on the wall over it. He quickly got up. Run, don’t walk to Big Lots! But don’t take your husband, they might bring home more than you bargained for. i.e. couches which take up more room than all my boxes full of Christmas decorations!
4. This week showed me that I am my mother. We ran around all day Saturday and got home about 4. After we rested our feet, we began to talk about where to go to dinner. We decided upon Mexican food and I went to get some nicer clothes on when I looked in the mirror and noticed something not quite right. As I looked closer, I realized that all day long, I had been out with a black shirt, black flats, black purse, back earrings and…navy blue shorts! And….Randy had let me out looking like that. I ran back into the living room and said, “do you see anything wrong on me?” He took a moment and said, “uh…you didn’t roll your hair the same way?” Quickly I reminded him that he is suppose to “be his brother’s keeper” and not let me out of the house without earrings or unmatched clothes. He reminded me that there have been occasions when, after being out all day, I look over to him and say, “personally, I wouldn’t have worn that shirt with those pants.” He always ask me why I wait until we get home to tell him that and I tell him I didn’t want to hurt his creative side so early in the day, so I just wait until we get home to hurt it. Isn’t marriage grand?
5. Had bunco at the house last night and served Ice Cream Cake. You need to make this cake. Isn’t it wonderful to have friends and family gather together to visit and eat? That is truly one of the greatest joys of life. Friends, Family and Food….so as we enter the time of year when (soon, hopefully very soon)temps begin to fall and pumpkins are showing up everywhere, don’t wait for Thanksgiving to gather. Make something simple or buy a Marie Calendar’s pie, if you don’t enjoy baking. Make a phone call and have someone over. It will bless you both!
Why can I not remember that I have said on Tuesday I will post in bullet points? Actually, I was out of town and did not have a minute to sit down and post on Tuesday, so will do that today. We were in California for 13 days, but came home last night. What a wonderful time we had. OK enough paragraphs, here are the bullet points.
1. California ranks in top 3 places I like to visit.
2. Love that i can have my hair cut and colored for $100 and love the experience of visiting a old fashioned salon where there are still hair dryers along the back wall. AND…the stylists always have cookies or candy and there is always coffee or sodas. (Debbie if you are reading this, thank you for putting up with me, and my humor.)Poor Jerry, the guy who does my hair never knows what color I’m going to ask for every time I am in town. I take him brownies to make up for the trouble I cause.
3. Traveled to Doyle Springs where we stay in a house that is built over a waterfall and stream. There is nothing quite like sleeping with an open window that allows you to sleep with the sound of water cascading over rocks. LOVE IT!
4. Found out that I cannot eat homemade ice cream 4 days in a row, steaks, grilled chicken, ice cream pie, Lebanese food, chile rellano casserole, two nights of Panda Inn and not expect to only fit in Moo Moos and maternity pants.
5. Played Hand & Foot with 5 ladies while having lunch. Great laughter and fun playing cards…
6. Went crazy driving down interstate 5 frantically telling Randy we have to turn around and go back so I can take pictures of all the deer I saw on the side of the road. After he let me go on and on about never seeing so many deer out like that so close to the road, he finally tells me that they weren’t real.
7. Learned that I do like British Programs, got hooked on The Crown while staying at a friends house. Even Randy loved the series. Cannot wait until November when the next season begins. Have now watched all 10 episodes.
8. Came home in a mood to bake. So just finished baking a tuxedo cake, my favorite. It will be for dessert tomorrow night when 4 couples come over after we go eat at Singing Pandas. Yes, back to reality. Laundry, trying to decide what to make for dinner…but, was wonderful sleeping in our own bed last night. Nothing quite like being home! We love to go but always wonderful to get home and start planning the next adventure.
Thanks to our precious friends in California who always treat us with love and make us feel so welcomed. One of these days we might need to find new places to stay, I think we stay in the Smith, Duncans and Welches houses more than our own.
Even though July comes in the middle of the summer, filled with lots of hot temperatures and stops at many McDonald drive thoughts for glasses of iced tea, this month has been a great memory. Since July is one of my favorite months of the year, due to Randy’s and my birthday making it such a fun month, we had several things happen that just made this July a very special month. Jamin, my boy who travels for work constantly, had a job in Phoenix, so he came and spend a week with us, bringing along our 17 yr old granddaughter. He came bearing gifts from M&M world, for me, which just made my birthday that much more special. Before he and Ashland left, our daughter, Christi and our 5 yr old granddaughter, Kenley arrived and the celebration continued. We had a week of exploring Butterfly Wonderland and the Childrens museum. We got to see Christi have her first In & Out Burger and her first Ombre from Starbucks.
Since Randy and I married, we have had a tradition of having Trudyfest from July 3rd through the 11th, the day of my actual birthday. When we married, my mom told him that I was his responsibility now and he could take over Trudyfest. That meant that he was now responsible for giving me little gifts each day of July up until my birthday on the 11th. Since Randy’s birthday is July 2nd, I was kind to let him have July 1st and 2nd be about him before starting the grand festival of my birthday celebration, well…just because I’m nice like that. But come July 3rd, it’s all about me for 9 whole days. Did I mention that I’m an only child? Bet you couldn’t have guessed that.
This year was such a great day of birthday celebration. It began with Kenley and Christi presenting me with gifts and cards as soon as I got up. We planned our day around Kenley since we don’t get to see them as often as we want since they come all the way from Florida, so we wanted to focus on them. After all, it would have been a little embarrassing to tell a 5 year old that we couldn’t go to Butterfly world because her grandmother would rather go shopping at Hobby Lobby instead. So to butterfly world we went, where the air is hot and the hair style quickly disappears due to the 80% humidity so the butterflies are comfortable. We came out starved and headed to Portillos for hot dogs (where yes, we saw another first,;Christi had never had Portillos) before coming home. That evening we joined our kids which live here and took C & K to Rustler’s Roost for a birthday celebration. If you are in Phoenix and have little kids, you need to experience this place. Not only does it have spectacular views of the valley, but the kids love the giant slide which they use to enter the restaurant. Well, the kids and me. I love that silly slide. I have to tell you about last year when we went there with our other kids. I was headed down the slide when I look down in front of the slide where a man is standing, waiting for his kids to come down. It is such a long slide, you wonder if you are going to be able to stop or would I be sliding feet first right into this man’s belly, Apparently, he began to wonder that also, as he quickly moved to the side, right before my legs hit the end of the slide. That little episode made me realize that maybe I was a little to old to be going down, so this year, I left it to the younger kids.
This years birthday was so different from previous years, but it was one of my most favorite of birthday memories. No I didn’t have my 9 days of “glory” and little gifts each day from Randy, but the gifts I got were so special. The gifts of wonderful memories with family. The laughs of watching the butterflies only landing on Randy and watching a butterfly landing on Christi’s phone apparently trying to take a selfie. My 15 yr old grandson even took a picture with me, in public! The cotton candy that the “big kids” (Eric, Christi and Randy) used to make funny faces. All the cards and text and phone calls from friends added to the celebration and some unexpected little gifts from friends that arrived that day. This year showed me that it truly isn’t the gifts that bring us joy, but the times spend together with family and friends that bring us the treasured times of our lives. The birthday blues did come. But not because the day of getting gifts was over, it was because the kids had to leave to go home. Was just so thankful that this year I was so blessed to celebrate with more family than usual. It was truly the best birthday bash!
Last week, we returned from a visit to our kids in Dallas. What a great time we had as we celebrated two of our grandchildren’s birthdays. Sevy who is now 13 and Payton, who just turned 3. The trip was a success as we had lots of time this visit with our sweet families and actually made it to almost all of our favorite restaurants which we always want to visit before returning home where there is no Tex-Mex enchiladas ANYWHERE CLOSE TO US!. But upon arriving home, I told Randy that I had seen something in the bathroom at one of the kids homes that made me think of what I will do for him as he ages. Driving through the desert for 2 days after sitting in Abilene for 4 hours waiting for a new battery to be installed in our car, gave me a lot of time to think. As you drive down the highway in the heat, most people see imaginary water on the road in front of them. Not me, I see food. I imagine where I’m going to stop for the next meal. So while Randy sleeps and I drive, I not only think of different meals which we might have on the road, but what will I be writing about on the blog as soon as I get back. It was on one of these “thinking, driving while he sleeps” times that I came up with this great idea.
If you are like us, you probably remember always kidding about talking to your aging parents and when calling them to see how they are, they would sometimes tell you, “well, I’m good today. I had a good bowel movement, remembered to take all my meds and am just sitting down to watch the Wheel” . I have told Randy that I truly never care to hear about his bowel movements, no matter how old he is. So when I saw this chart on the bathroom wall, I instantly thought to myself, “this is great. Randy can just put a sticker on the chart any time he goes and that way I never have to hear about it. I like to think ahead. What if he began to loose his memory and forgot that he had told me that he had a good bowel movement and thus repeated himself 4-5 times a day. This way, he can just put a little sticker on the chart and we both can relax, knowing that nature has taken it’s course. Really, if 3 year olds can have poo poo charts, why can’t 90 year olds?
Our kids are so blessed to have us as parents! We try to think of everything to help them be able to put up with us as we get to that wonderful age of having to share our daily activities…all of the activities!
You’re welcome!
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