Wednesday, August 17, 2005
MARCH AND APRIL....1996
After January and February making life miserable just to do the daily tasks, March was very uneventful. There was the usual round of absentees at work due to colds and flu but our work load was way down. It was either icy to drive on or so cold no one wanted to get out…..road tests are not high on the list during those times. As a crew, we settled in with lots of coffee, old war stories, talk of grandbabies and of course, a few gripes about the brass and the inconsistencies we endured. The guy on the front line dealing with the applicants has a different “take” on how the world turns rather than someone sitting in an office in the middle of the State.
Somehow, all of that helped the day move along until the magic hour when we headed home. I still laugh when I think of my old supervisor, Pete. He used to say in a gruff voice, “If there’s anybody who doesn’t believe in life after death, they need to come around here at quittin’ time!!” Pete had a way of saying things that always made me laugh, no matter how many times I heard his stories. He was a master joke teller. When it was time to fold up and go home the day had to be tallied, put in the books, our equipment neatly put away and out the door to the car in the parking lot. It was poetry in motion….each of us had a part in the “departure” and once in the car we were looking towards home. Yes, I miss the fella’s I worked with…….they were a great bunch. All retired now, like me, and of course……..we lost Pete last year.
March is birthday month for our family. John, Becky and Jonathan. I fixed a dinner for Jonathan and Becky for each of theirs. Our attending family keeps getting smaller and smaller but we still light candles and sing “Happy Birthday” to the honoree, who always groans and has to endure it to the end. Still, no matter how old fashioned and maybe a bit ridiculous now at our ages…….everyone would miss it if we didn’t do it. Some traditions just can’t be thrown out, no matter what! I rarely get to fix a dinner for John anymore with the distance between us but we make up for it other times in other ways……..it’s always an “occasion” whenever we manage to be together.
George and Becky decided to go to see John and Barb in April. George arrived here on a Friday evening April 5th….. I had pizza’s in the oven by the time he arrived and we enjoyed a relaxing meal. I got up at 5:30 the next morning to get them on their way…….they left by 7:30 and arrived safely by 5:00 in Covington. We were surprised a few days later when John called to tell us Barbara was pregnant and another baby was on the way. I think they were surprised, themselves.
We were expecting George and Becky the following Friday night so I came home from work and made a cherry cobbler and fixed pizza’s for them. Their choice. After supper we sat and visited and their trip had been a little different than they figured on. Barb was very sick with the pregnancy and other problems, Becky was miserable with an infection in one of her crowns and had stayed home with Barb while the guys got out and did things. Becky was able to get antibiotic’s but it had been very expensive and difficult.
George made it on home safely and called to let us know. (A family courtesy we all follow.) We were saddened to learn a good friend died of cancer. He had been the one to drive all the way to Fort LeonardWood when Bear suffered the loss of his leg. They had worked together at the local school and the minute Dean heard Bear was in a life and death situation, he dropped everything and drove the distance to find us. John had performed the ceremony for Dean and his wife when they married…..a few days later, Bear went to his graveside service in an old family cemetery. That same day, Barbara miscarried. One little unborn and one good friend went to heaven the same day………….if life is hard to understand at times, death is all the more. We just know that no matter what…..God in his infinite wisdom knows what is best………and we trust in him.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Somehow, all of that helped the day move along until the magic hour when we headed home. I still laugh when I think of my old supervisor, Pete. He used to say in a gruff voice, “If there’s anybody who doesn’t believe in life after death, they need to come around here at quittin’ time!!” Pete had a way of saying things that always made me laugh, no matter how many times I heard his stories. He was a master joke teller. When it was time to fold up and go home the day had to be tallied, put in the books, our equipment neatly put away and out the door to the car in the parking lot. It was poetry in motion….each of us had a part in the “departure” and once in the car we were looking towards home. Yes, I miss the fella’s I worked with…….they were a great bunch. All retired now, like me, and of course……..we lost Pete last year.
March is birthday month for our family. John, Becky and Jonathan. I fixed a dinner for Jonathan and Becky for each of theirs. Our attending family keeps getting smaller and smaller but we still light candles and sing “Happy Birthday” to the honoree, who always groans and has to endure it to the end. Still, no matter how old fashioned and maybe a bit ridiculous now at our ages…….everyone would miss it if we didn’t do it. Some traditions just can’t be thrown out, no matter what! I rarely get to fix a dinner for John anymore with the distance between us but we make up for it other times in other ways……..it’s always an “occasion” whenever we manage to be together.
George and Becky decided to go to see John and Barb in April. George arrived here on a Friday evening April 5th….. I had pizza’s in the oven by the time he arrived and we enjoyed a relaxing meal. I got up at 5:30 the next morning to get them on their way…….they left by 7:30 and arrived safely by 5:00 in Covington. We were surprised a few days later when John called to tell us Barbara was pregnant and another baby was on the way. I think they were surprised, themselves.
We were expecting George and Becky the following Friday night so I came home from work and made a cherry cobbler and fixed pizza’s for them. Their choice. After supper we sat and visited and their trip had been a little different than they figured on. Barb was very sick with the pregnancy and other problems, Becky was miserable with an infection in one of her crowns and had stayed home with Barb while the guys got out and did things. Becky was able to get antibiotic’s but it had been very expensive and difficult.
George made it on home safely and called to let us know. (A family courtesy we all follow.) We were saddened to learn a good friend died of cancer. He had been the one to drive all the way to Fort LeonardWood when Bear suffered the loss of his leg. They had worked together at the local school and the minute Dean heard Bear was in a life and death situation, he dropped everything and drove the distance to find us. John had performed the ceremony for Dean and his wife when they married…..a few days later, Bear went to his graveside service in an old family cemetery. That same day, Barbara miscarried. One little unborn and one good friend went to heaven the same day………….if life is hard to understand at times, death is all the more. We just know that no matter what…..God in his infinite wisdom knows what is best………and we trust in him.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
