Thursday, September 09, 2004
JANUARY TO JULY....1976
Life leveled off fairly well by 1976. For the first six months we were living in a schedule that didn’t vary too much. John preached his very first sermon on January 11th at our church. George Jr. and aunt Beulah came for the service and of course we were all proud of him. John was home from Christmas to February 2nd because there was an optional January course he didn’t sign up for.
We made a lot of trips to see aunt Beulah at Gassville, Arkansas and we also stopped each time to see uncle Alfred at Mountain Home. Sometimes we would take him to aunt Beulah’s with us and sometimes we would just take him to dinner and then to the grocery store. Dad made that his priority as long as he lived because uncle Alfred had been so good to dad when he was a kid. Older brother looked out for him when the chips were down. Dad never forgot it and until dad’s death he drove down to see him fairly often to check on him. (It’s in a former entry where I wrote about dad’s life.)
Uncle Emil and aunt Mardelle would come sometimes and we would bring mom to meet at aunt Beulah’s…….there was always an abundance of good food and lots of card playing. I usually took knitting or crochet to work on but they did love to play cards. Their obvious fun and laughter often made me walk to the kitchen to see what was so funny…..and they “played” each hand over again when the hand was finished. “If you’da played your three spot, when I played my ace….I woulda had you dead to rights……..” then more laughter. It went on…hand after hand. A game was not easily forfeited.
Warren and I volunteered to paint aunt Beulah’s house that Spring. We had three cats that we couldn’t leave at home so we put them in a cage in the back of the pick-up and headed for Arkansas. When we were on the open highway I looked back at the cage and the three of them were hanging onto the sides of the cage with all four feet and scared to death. Their fur was blowing in the wind and they were absolutely the picture of panic. They survived the ride and stayed in their cage until we came home.
We scraped and painted and finished in a week. We made the bargain to paint the house for food and lodging. We were well taken care of in that regard and aunt Beulah insisted on giving us a monetary gift…….she was happy with the work and we were happy to have the week with her. Needless to say, the cats were glad to get back home.
One of my mom’s younger sister’s, aunt Inabelle, had a bad stroke in February this year and mom and aunt Mary flew out to the D.C. area and stayed for several weeks. Aunt Inabelle had to learn to crawl like a baby all over again, to talk, and learn the use of her right arm once more. There was physical therapy every day and they helped uncle Tom as much as they could with her rehabilitation and the chores about the house.
John spent a lot of time with our friends, the Ross’s, when he was home from school. I think for a while they half claimed him as their own he was at their house so much. He enjoyed the family and riding around with Bob on his rounds. It was a very good time in his life. John taught me a lot of what he was soaking up at school. He would come home and tell about different discussions in so and such a class and he had a way of presenting it all so that it was a lesson in itself. We had many long visits over subjects that were interesting or troubling. Warren and I would avail ourselves to some of the speakers who came to the college as well as some of the music groups who came. When June rolled around he had one year out of the way and was well accustomed to campus life.
George Jr. was working at the old Bendix complex in Kansas City as a civilian (Civil Service) disbursing clerk for the Marine Corps. He liked his job, got an apartment, and began getting some furniture. He bought a silver Camero early in the year and made quite a few trips down here in it.
Becky was a busy mom of two and I did a lot of baby sitting for her during this time. She was running their own laundry business and had quite a few health problems which finally sent her to the hospital. To write of these times seems commonplace and yet, it is the stuff that filled up hours, days, weeks and months of our lives. It is the “filler” between the high points and the low times.
I was looking at a picture my brother sent one time of him and his wife looking over the rail on their deck. They gazed upon a beautiful sunset that sent a gold reflection over Lake Washington right up to their dock. As I looked at the picture, I thought, “what an extraordinarily normal day….may it always be.” The glue that holds our days together is made of nothing more than this….the simple sights and sounds, being together, observing nature putting your world to sleep…and maybe hearing a mocking bird singing from the topmost branch.
In my little corner the last things I see before night falls are the bunnies in the back yard safely eating and the cardinals who always come last, before dark. As they wing ‘home’ for the night I know they are filled with what I feel……..that God’s world is a beautiful and wonderful place and that we are given the benediction of rest for another day……
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
We made a lot of trips to see aunt Beulah at Gassville, Arkansas and we also stopped each time to see uncle Alfred at Mountain Home. Sometimes we would take him to aunt Beulah’s with us and sometimes we would just take him to dinner and then to the grocery store. Dad made that his priority as long as he lived because uncle Alfred had been so good to dad when he was a kid. Older brother looked out for him when the chips were down. Dad never forgot it and until dad’s death he drove down to see him fairly often to check on him. (It’s in a former entry where I wrote about dad’s life.)
Uncle Emil and aunt Mardelle would come sometimes and we would bring mom to meet at aunt Beulah’s…….there was always an abundance of good food and lots of card playing. I usually took knitting or crochet to work on but they did love to play cards. Their obvious fun and laughter often made me walk to the kitchen to see what was so funny…..and they “played” each hand over again when the hand was finished. “If you’da played your three spot, when I played my ace….I woulda had you dead to rights……..” then more laughter. It went on…hand after hand. A game was not easily forfeited.
Warren and I volunteered to paint aunt Beulah’s house that Spring. We had three cats that we couldn’t leave at home so we put them in a cage in the back of the pick-up and headed for Arkansas. When we were on the open highway I looked back at the cage and the three of them were hanging onto the sides of the cage with all four feet and scared to death. Their fur was blowing in the wind and they were absolutely the picture of panic. They survived the ride and stayed in their cage until we came home.
We scraped and painted and finished in a week. We made the bargain to paint the house for food and lodging. We were well taken care of in that regard and aunt Beulah insisted on giving us a monetary gift…….she was happy with the work and we were happy to have the week with her. Needless to say, the cats were glad to get back home.
One of my mom’s younger sister’s, aunt Inabelle, had a bad stroke in February this year and mom and aunt Mary flew out to the D.C. area and stayed for several weeks. Aunt Inabelle had to learn to crawl like a baby all over again, to talk, and learn the use of her right arm once more. There was physical therapy every day and they helped uncle Tom as much as they could with her rehabilitation and the chores about the house.
John spent a lot of time with our friends, the Ross’s, when he was home from school. I think for a while they half claimed him as their own he was at their house so much. He enjoyed the family and riding around with Bob on his rounds. It was a very good time in his life. John taught me a lot of what he was soaking up at school. He would come home and tell about different discussions in so and such a class and he had a way of presenting it all so that it was a lesson in itself. We had many long visits over subjects that were interesting or troubling. Warren and I would avail ourselves to some of the speakers who came to the college as well as some of the music groups who came. When June rolled around he had one year out of the way and was well accustomed to campus life.
George Jr. was working at the old Bendix complex in Kansas City as a civilian (Civil Service) disbursing clerk for the Marine Corps. He liked his job, got an apartment, and began getting some furniture. He bought a silver Camero early in the year and made quite a few trips down here in it.
Becky was a busy mom of two and I did a lot of baby sitting for her during this time. She was running their own laundry business and had quite a few health problems which finally sent her to the hospital. To write of these times seems commonplace and yet, it is the stuff that filled up hours, days, weeks and months of our lives. It is the “filler” between the high points and the low times.
I was looking at a picture my brother sent one time of him and his wife looking over the rail on their deck. They gazed upon a beautiful sunset that sent a gold reflection over Lake Washington right up to their dock. As I looked at the picture, I thought, “what an extraordinarily normal day….may it always be.” The glue that holds our days together is made of nothing more than this….the simple sights and sounds, being together, observing nature putting your world to sleep…and maybe hearing a mocking bird singing from the topmost branch.
In my little corner the last things I see before night falls are the bunnies in the back yard safely eating and the cardinals who always come last, before dark. As they wing ‘home’ for the night I know they are filled with what I feel……..that God’s world is a beautiful and wonderful place and that we are given the benediction of rest for another day……
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
