Wednesday, June 01, 2005
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY....1992
The new year came in rather mild, but gloomy. We took the tree down while watching Bowl Games and carted all of the Christmas decorations back to the garage for another year. The games didn’t go to suit us but other than the play-offs and the Super Bowl, football would be over until fall again. It’s always a big let-down when the season is over. New Year’s Day was on a Wednesday this year so I went back to work on Thursday and Friday.
Bear and I went back to choir practice again. I just couldn’t sing with the heavy heart I had after mom died. I’d never make a professional singer……how they do it with a lump in their throat is beyond me. From the choir loft I could see the pew where she sat each Sunday until her health failed…….it was vacant, now. It seemed to take longer than I thought to get over mom being gone. We had certainly known the day would come but she always bounced back and I suppose I thought it would go on forever like that. Of course, I knew better, but the mind plays funny tricks on you. Denial is only too happy to drop by….often.
After a drizzly, gloomy and gray start in January, by mid-month we got 4-inches of snow and it turned bitterly cold with a north wind. Jennifer had to pack the car to go back to Canton (for classes) so we went up to tell her goodbye on the 18th. She made it just fine….the roads were clear all the way. By the end of the month we were working in our shirt sleeves as the weather turned mild. Don Rockenbach, a high-school classmate of mine called the evening of February 1st and asked if we’d like to meet him for coffee at the truck-stop in our town. He was passing through with a load on his truck. Of course we did and had a nice visit…… Bear became acquainted with him at our class reunions and enjoyed visiting with him.
The boys call home almost every week. I am so fortunate to have kids who still include me in their lives. Every time we talk on the phone I wonder how many mothers don’t even know where their kids are……Becky is here a lot because she lives one lot over, in mom and dad’s mobile home. George was very excited this particular call…..his loan went through for his own home and he was thrilled. He bought a nice house with a big yard just up the street and down the next block about half-way. He had been living in apartments since he came home from the Navy and was thrilled to be back in our old neighborhood. Several of his class-mates from Grade School through Junior High and High School lived within his same block. Most of the parent’s had moved off to bigger homes and the younger generation’s were buying in the same old locations. It just felt more like “home” near where George, his siblings and buddies grew up. We were very happy for him….AND anxious to see his new place. He was getting ready to move when he called.
I fixed boxes of home baked cookies to send to Jennifer, George, and John’s for Valentines Day. The next day it came a drizzly rain that froze on the trees everywhere but didn’t bother the roads. I had been working on a quilt top that mom and I pieced together. I planned on hand quilting it when I visited her at the nursing home. After she died, I determined to finish it just the same. It was a Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern and going around each and every hexagon proved to be very time consuming but I worked on it most nights when I came home from work. My only regret was that mom never got to see the progress. She did see the top put together and was looking forward to the end result.
John and Barb’s wedding anniversary was on the 19th so we called to visit with them over the phone. It was their ninth. The two of them were so in tune with each other, they made marriage look easy. Still do. They have one of those matches “made in heaven”……..I’ll have to say, they are both really inside each other’s heads. They compliment each other perfectly.
George called on Saturday, the 22nd to tell us he was moved in and I could hear the excitement in his voice. He and Mac-dog…..his first West Highland Terrier. Mac was loving the yard after having to walk on a leash all the time in the apartment complex. Now he could run out the door and chase birds and squirrels.
This February had an extra day due to Leap Year. I think it would be good if each month had an extra day so we could do all those things that never seem to get done. My quilting was coming along slowly but it was a labor of love and I wanted it to be an heirloom to hand down to the children. I had another cut out to hand sew at work when we weren’t busy…..it’s called the Bear Paw. I selected brown, rust and tan prints to resemble bear colors. With a husband who had the nick-name of “Bear” why do you think I selected that pattern?
February slipped away rather mild and the daffodils were coming up. The promise of Spring was evident but March can be a very fickle month and so we don’t count our bad weather out until April. Riding to work gave opportunity to see the new Spring calves being born as we traveled from town to town each week to give driving tests. There was always a new canvas to look at each day as we took a different road of our schedule…..I am not geared to city living. I like open fields where I can watch all the spring babies romp and play. They make me feel the world is alright…..even when, in so many ways, it isn’t………….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Bear and I went back to choir practice again. I just couldn’t sing with the heavy heart I had after mom died. I’d never make a professional singer……how they do it with a lump in their throat is beyond me. From the choir loft I could see the pew where she sat each Sunday until her health failed…….it was vacant, now. It seemed to take longer than I thought to get over mom being gone. We had certainly known the day would come but she always bounced back and I suppose I thought it would go on forever like that. Of course, I knew better, but the mind plays funny tricks on you. Denial is only too happy to drop by….often.
After a drizzly, gloomy and gray start in January, by mid-month we got 4-inches of snow and it turned bitterly cold with a north wind. Jennifer had to pack the car to go back to Canton (for classes) so we went up to tell her goodbye on the 18th. She made it just fine….the roads were clear all the way. By the end of the month we were working in our shirt sleeves as the weather turned mild. Don Rockenbach, a high-school classmate of mine called the evening of February 1st and asked if we’d like to meet him for coffee at the truck-stop in our town. He was passing through with a load on his truck. Of course we did and had a nice visit…… Bear became acquainted with him at our class reunions and enjoyed visiting with him.
The boys call home almost every week. I am so fortunate to have kids who still include me in their lives. Every time we talk on the phone I wonder how many mothers don’t even know where their kids are……Becky is here a lot because she lives one lot over, in mom and dad’s mobile home. George was very excited this particular call…..his loan went through for his own home and he was thrilled. He bought a nice house with a big yard just up the street and down the next block about half-way. He had been living in apartments since he came home from the Navy and was thrilled to be back in our old neighborhood. Several of his class-mates from Grade School through Junior High and High School lived within his same block. Most of the parent’s had moved off to bigger homes and the younger generation’s were buying in the same old locations. It just felt more like “home” near where George, his siblings and buddies grew up. We were very happy for him….AND anxious to see his new place. He was getting ready to move when he called.
I fixed boxes of home baked cookies to send to Jennifer, George, and John’s for Valentines Day. The next day it came a drizzly rain that froze on the trees everywhere but didn’t bother the roads. I had been working on a quilt top that mom and I pieced together. I planned on hand quilting it when I visited her at the nursing home. After she died, I determined to finish it just the same. It was a Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern and going around each and every hexagon proved to be very time consuming but I worked on it most nights when I came home from work. My only regret was that mom never got to see the progress. She did see the top put together and was looking forward to the end result.
John and Barb’s wedding anniversary was on the 19th so we called to visit with them over the phone. It was their ninth. The two of them were so in tune with each other, they made marriage look easy. Still do. They have one of those matches “made in heaven”……..I’ll have to say, they are both really inside each other’s heads. They compliment each other perfectly.
George called on Saturday, the 22nd to tell us he was moved in and I could hear the excitement in his voice. He and Mac-dog…..his first West Highland Terrier. Mac was loving the yard after having to walk on a leash all the time in the apartment complex. Now he could run out the door and chase birds and squirrels.
This February had an extra day due to Leap Year. I think it would be good if each month had an extra day so we could do all those things that never seem to get done. My quilting was coming along slowly but it was a labor of love and I wanted it to be an heirloom to hand down to the children. I had another cut out to hand sew at work when we weren’t busy…..it’s called the Bear Paw. I selected brown, rust and tan prints to resemble bear colors. With a husband who had the nick-name of “Bear” why do you think I selected that pattern?
February slipped away rather mild and the daffodils were coming up. The promise of Spring was evident but March can be a very fickle month and so we don’t count our bad weather out until April. Riding to work gave opportunity to see the new Spring calves being born as we traveled from town to town each week to give driving tests. There was always a new canvas to look at each day as we took a different road of our schedule…..I am not geared to city living. I like open fields where I can watch all the spring babies romp and play. They make me feel the world is alright…..even when, in so many ways, it isn’t………….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
