May 19, 2012
Today, I had the opportunity to see first hand how people from all walks of life can come together....4 A Cure...
My first experience with cancer occurred when I was in 1st grade (if my old and feeble memory serves me correctly). When I was in 1st grade, there was a boy in my class named Timmy. Timmy missed a lot of school. Soon, we all noticed that Timmy was gone A LOT, and when he DID come to school, he always looked like he had been really sick. He was always very pale and seemed like he was really tired. But, what I always remember about Timmy is that he always, ALWAYS smiled and acted happy to be at school. He was always happy with whoever he had to sit with at lunch and he loved to go to Music class.
Even in 1st grade, rumors start. The rumor about Timmy that circulated was that he had the be-all-end-all..cooties, and nobody should be close to him. Thank goodness we had World Book Encyclopedias at home, because I went home and looked up “cooties”, and found absolutely nothing. So I had to go to the next level of my research, and ask my mom.
My mom explained to me that Timmy didn’t have “cooties”, he had a form of cancer that kids get and that it made him very sick. She also assured me that I couldn’t get cancer from being around Timmy, and as I suspected, “cooties” weren’t real.
After that, I always made sure that I spent time with Timmy when he was at school, and I still remember his sweet smile. Timmy was the first person that I know that died of cancer and I don’t think that he could have been anymore than 8 years old.
This brings me back to my bittersweet experience today. Today, I worked with a cause that wants to find A Cure..a.k.a..Relay for Life. Our relay team hosted an extraordinary event with the Cruzin’ 4 A Cure Poker Run!
I was stationed at Bennett Spring State Park and I think I had the best setting! Before the bikes even came, I had three cancer survivors come by and wish us luck. They were all retired people who volunteered at the Park. I also had the honor to meet a gentleman who volunteered at the Park, who had also been on the Honor Flight! He had participated in a Poker Run for Relay in another part of the state! So, not only was he a Veteran, he again honored the United States by working…4 A Cure.
It was great to see old friends and meet new ones! I appreciate the fact that so many of our participants were Veterans from other towns who wanted to come to Dallas County, MO to help us raise funds…4 A CURE!
Today, while I served as a member of the Cutting 4 A Cure team, I really helped in honor of Timmy. And I felt his spirit with me and tonight I remember his sweet smile.
Get involved and help FIND A CURE.
Relay for Life
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
How We Became the Proud Owners of a FACETREE and Other Happy Marriage Stories
Soooo...we bought this property about 20+ years ago, and to say the least, I was NOT happy about the purchase...It was pretty much one of those conversations like this:
DW: How was your day today?
Me: Fine, how was yours? (as I am feeding a baby, cooking supper, and making sure Cory wasn't running loose somewhere....)
DW: Good, I bought 160 acres of land today so you need to go to the bank and sign the note. And we close on it in a week.
Crash.....(me falling over in a faint)
Being a shrewd business woman, I refused to sign papers for any land sight unseen, so we loaded up the kids and went for a drive to see this potential purchase. We pulled in the gate, and all I could see were trees....lots of trees...
Me: I am NOT walking through here carrying two kids.
DW: Oh, we can drive around it...
Literally..we could literally drive AROUND it...perimeter only....and as we are driving, our youngest son says, "Dad, are we inJurassic Park
And this year, by some fluke or something, we discovered the FACETREE....I know technically it should be written out FACE TREE, but it is OUR tree on OUR land, so we can write it however we want!
I am currently trying to decide what to name the FACETREE...I thought of Ichabod, but I am thinking maybe the tree is female. I have never learned to sex a tree, but it has to be similar to sexing a chicken, right? Oh...I can't do that, either. I am going to put a bow on the FACETREE over the weekend and take some pics....so I will post those later and we can all decide!
Anyway, long story short...I am thinking of making the FACETREE an "attraction"...people pay money to see the World's Largest Ball of Twine, which is man made, I should point out...I am not sure what a person would pay to view this natural wonder!
DW: How was your day today?
Me: Fine, how was yours? (as I am feeding a baby, cooking supper, and making sure Cory wasn't running loose somewhere....)
DW: Good, I bought 160 acres of land today so you need to go to the bank and sign the note. And we close on it in a week.
Crash.....(me falling over in a faint)
Being a shrewd business woman, I refused to sign papers for any land sight unseen, so we loaded up the kids and went for a drive to see this potential purchase. We pulled in the gate, and all I could see were trees....lots of trees...
Me: I am NOT walking through here carrying two kids.
DW: Oh, we can drive around it...
Literally..we could literally drive AROUND it...perimeter only....and as we are driving, our youngest son says, "Dad, are we in
And this year, by some fluke or something, we discovered the FACETREE....I know technically it should be written out FACE TREE, but it is OUR tree on OUR land, so we can write it however we want!
Anyway, long story short...I am thinking of making the FACETREE an "attraction"...people pay money to see the World's Largest Ball of Twine, which is man made, I should point out...I am not sure what a person would pay to view this natural wonder!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The Motor Home/The Princess/And The Closet...part 2
Here is where we left off, boys and girls...when you last heard from me, I was tied to the railroad tracks and DW DooRight was staring down the train and....OK..I made that up..As my grandson, Lane would say, "I wuz just teasing"!
Summary:
DW and I are going camping.
DW is not happy about going camping.
We have spent a lot of $$$ before we are even 30 miles from home.
There are Bud products in the closet of the motor home.
I always take off my flip flops in the car/truck/motor home.
From the last blog:
I kicked my flip flops off and prepared for the ride..I checked in with our friends Mark and Brenda (the fools who invited us on this fairy tale trip) and let them know we were finally on our way. And then the misadventures continued when DW said.."Do you smell smoke?"...
Smoke??? He is asking me if I smelled smoke??? Not only did I SMELL smoke, but my poor feet felt like they were on FIRE because the floorboard had suddenly turned into an inferno. I was in camping hell, and I hadn't even had the chance to visit the closet.
But, I am wise! I KNOW that if this camping mission fails, that I will never get DW to leave my sister wives (farm, cows, work at Budweiser) again. So, I decided to "spin" it. So when he asked me if I smelled smoke, I looked at him quite innocently (his words) and said, "No")...THANK GOD he did not notice that I was trying to pick my feet up out of the floorboard at the same time.
DW turned all male on me and wouldn't let the whole "smelling smoke thing" drop. He just kept on with it. By this time, I was kind of worried and was actually looking out the mirror and trying to sniff discretely. Damn him, he was NOT going to let the we're-on-fire thing drop and I was going to be screwed out of another vacation. Not because of his work, not because of the hayfield, not because of a sick cow/calf-but because the stupid borrowed motor home was ON FIRE!!!
We were actually at the last Waynesville exit on I-44 when he looked at me and said.."if we don't turn around now, and this thing burns, it will be bad..do you want to go on???" I of course, batted my eyes and said my classic line.."I don't smell anything"..AND being a true Pollyanna, I told him.."IF we were on fire going down an INTERSTATE, cars would be honking"! (and I kind of said it with a middle school girl tone, like he was a dumb ass) ....Hmmmph...top that, sucker!
I am pretty sure he turned into a middle schooler and rolled his eyes at me and then he "showed" me when he put his foot on the gas (oh, did I mention this beast went from 0 to 60 in 7 miles?), and we soared! And as God is my witness, we stopped smelling smoke. And pretty soon I could put my feet in the floor board without needing a skin graft or aloe vera. Eventually we arrived at our destination.
Late, as always. They were waiting on us, because, OH, BTW, I was bringing the fixings for jambalaya that night..but we were there and nothing had burned. And, I had somewhat stayed out of the closet.
Soooo....finally..why this FB pic reminded me of our trip..
We had finally pulled into our camping spot in our fine motor home and we were trying to get situated, one of the happy campers made the fatal mistake of asking DW..."What was your name again?" And apparently, DW had a Lori Beth Ethridge Hicks moment and said, "Clark Fucking Griswold, and we are on a fucking vacation"...
The "thud" people heard then was me in the supply closet. Sometimes it is OK to be a sister wife!
THE END
Stay tuned for the next year when the Hicks/Griswold's go "on vacation"..and this time it involves a TENT!!
Summary:
DW and I are going camping.
DW is not happy about going camping.
We have spent a lot of $$$ before we are even 30 miles from home.
There are Bud products in the closet of the motor home.
I always take off my flip flops in the car/truck/motor home.
From the last blog:
I kicked my flip flops off and prepared for the ride..I checked in with our friends Mark and Brenda (the fools who invited us on this fairy tale trip) and let them know we were finally on our way. And then the misadventures continued when DW said.."Do you smell smoke?"...
Smoke??? He is asking me if I smelled smoke??? Not only did I SMELL smoke, but my poor feet felt like they were on FIRE because the floorboard had suddenly turned into an inferno. I was in camping hell, and I hadn't even had the chance to visit the closet.
But, I am wise! I KNOW that if this camping mission fails, that I will never get DW to leave my sister wives (farm, cows, work at Budweiser) again. So, I decided to "spin" it. So when he asked me if I smelled smoke, I looked at him quite innocently (his words) and said, "No")...THANK GOD he did not notice that I was trying to pick my feet up out of the floorboard at the same time.
DW turned all male on me and wouldn't let the whole "smelling smoke thing" drop. He just kept on with it. By this time, I was kind of worried and was actually looking out the mirror and trying to sniff discretely. Damn him, he was NOT going to let the we're-on-fire thing drop and I was going to be screwed out of another vacation. Not because of his work, not because of the hayfield, not because of a sick cow/calf-but because the stupid borrowed motor home was ON FIRE!!!
We were actually at the last Waynesville exit on I-44 when he looked at me and said.."if we don't turn around now, and this thing burns, it will be bad..do you want to go on???" I of course, batted my eyes and said my classic line.."I don't smell anything"..AND being a true Pollyanna, I told him.."IF we were on fire going down an INTERSTATE, cars would be honking"! (and I kind of said it with a middle school girl tone, like he was a dumb ass) ....Hmmmph...top that, sucker!
I am pretty sure he turned into a middle schooler and rolled his eyes at me and then he "showed" me when he put his foot on the gas (oh, did I mention this beast went from 0 to 60 in 7 miles?), and we soared! And as God is my witness, we stopped smelling smoke. And pretty soon I could put my feet in the floor board without needing a skin graft or aloe vera. Eventually we arrived at our destination.
Late, as always. They were waiting on us, because, OH, BTW, I was bringing the fixings for jambalaya that night..but we were there and nothing had burned. And, I had somewhat stayed out of the closet.
Soooo....finally..why this FB pic reminded me of our trip..
We had finally pulled into our camping spot in our fine motor home and we were trying to get situated, one of the happy campers made the fatal mistake of asking DW..."What was your name again?" And apparently, DW had a Lori Beth Ethridge Hicks moment and said, "Clark Fucking Griswold, and we are on a fucking vacation"...
The "thud" people heard then was me in the supply closet. Sometimes it is OK to be a sister wife!
THE END
Stay tuned for the next year when the Hicks/Griswold's go "on vacation"..and this time it involves a TENT!!
So...if my MOM can write letters, so can I!
I kind of started this sporadic blog as a therapy session. I was terribly sad and depressed and writing seemed much cheaper than a psychiatrist, and since I have had back surgery, I don't like to take any "mind altering" drugs, because let's face it...they make you feel good. And when I started this blog, Letters From Miss Ellie, I didn't want to feel good. Because I was sad. And lonely. And I missed my mom.
But from writing, I learned this-Sometimes you just need to let life happen and not take a pill for it. Because believe ME...after just having LASIK surgery last week, I could like Xanax. The kind of like where I could just sit around all day and smell incense and hum...Yeah...it's THAT good! It makes me want to hum just thinking about it!
So, tonight I saw something on Facebook that just made me giggle...because it reminded me of DW. Now, we have been married ALMOST 25 years, and I want to have a BIG FAT ELVIS 25th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY WEDDING, but it may not happen, because finding someone to marry you when you are already married is tough...and THEN when you ask them to dress like Elvis??? Well, let me say, it is looking bleak...but that is another subject entirely.
So...my original intent with this blog was to respond to letters that my mom had written my dad while she was away at college. But sometimes when I would read the letters and try to blog, it just got too depressing. Sometimes it seemed like an invasion of their privacy. Often times it seemed like a blessing to get this unique insight into their love for each other...so I still don't know where to go with Momma's letters, but when I saw this pic on FB, I thought to myself...maybe I could just blog about some crazy things in my life that are trivial...and strange. Because I can't be cool like my mom was and send DW letters. That would be crazy since we live together. And he isn't good about checking his e-mail. And he doesn't always have his glasses, so he doesn't text...So I shall just blog...
So tonight on Facebook, I see this:
and it reminded me of a "wonderful " camping trip that DW and I took. I put the word wonderful in quotes to draw attention to it...Those of you who know me can probably imagine the sarcasm in my voice as I typed this, and those of you who were actually witnesses to this fiasco, well, I am glad we are still friends!
DW and I were invited to go camping with some friends and some of their friends. So, we actually were not going to know a lot of people there. We were hesitant about going because 1..we didn't really KNOW the majority of the people, and 2...we didn't have a camper, and I am more or a room service girl, so you can see where this is going. A TENT was out of the question for this PRINCESS!
Long story short, my friend Brenda arranged for us to borrow a small motor home. She and I picked it up prior to the camping trip and DW and I loaded it up and were ready to get on the road....until the unfortunate misadventures began.
People who really know DW and I, are aware that we aren't really married and that HE is actually a polygamist! He is married to a farm, some cows, and his work at Budweiser! And like a good husband, it is very hard for him to leave all of the wives! So, as we are pulling out of the driveway, I was already hearing about how he really shouldn't be going on this trip and blah..blah..blah..Seriously...we were not even on the highway yet. But, over the roar of our fine borrowed motor home, I couldn't hear exactly everything that he was conversing about, so I just nodded my head and patted his leg and said, "You really deserve to do this and we are going to have a good time"...and at that point, he DID agree with me.
We made it approximately 3 miles down the road before the series of misfortunate events began..because that is when I heard a "THUD"...And DW looked at me and said, "What was that?" and I said, "Maybe it was a case of beer falling out of the closet"..(because that is where EVERYBODY who has a borrowed motor home stores their beer. Especially, when one of the borrowers works for Budweiser and can go in a little room where they take old beer to die or be dumped down a drain. So sometimes, that beer ends up in the closet of a borrowed motor home.)
With that said, we hear another "THUD", but it was more like a "WHOMP, WHOMP, WHOMP" and I said innocently.."I think it is still falling"...only I KNEW that Houston, we had a problem. Big problem..HUGE...we had a flat.
OK..we are now 6 miles from home with a flat on a borrowed motor home (that is locked and loaded with Bud products in the closet) and we discover that we have no jack or 4-way...So we call our neighbor, Wade, who went to our house and brought us tire-changing-stuff-and-helped-change-the-tire-'cause-he-is-that-kind-of-neighbor...and back on the road we go... With some more complaining from DW, but I really was only hearing blah, blah, blah, and thinking about riding in the closet for the rest of the way.
We stopped in Lebanon and bought a new tire for the borrowed motor home. We also put gas in the motor home..And bought ice, in case I decided to ice down the closet. And off we went. This time instead of blah, blah, blah the complaint was-"We have not even left Lebanon and we have spent $340..." I guess ice is expensive in Lebanon! ;)
I kicked my flip flops off and prepared for the ride..I checked in with our friends Mark and Brenda (the fools who invited us on this fairy tale trip) and let them know we were finally on our way. And then the misadventures continued when DW said.."Do you smell smoke?"...
Tune in later boys and girls....This is a classic/typical story in our life and it is too good to share all at once!
~And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath
But from writing, I learned this-Sometimes you just need to let life happen and not take a pill for it. Because believe ME...after just having LASIK surgery last week, I could like Xanax. The kind of like where I could just sit around all day and smell incense and hum...Yeah...it's THAT good! It makes me want to hum just thinking about it!
So, tonight I saw something on Facebook that just made me giggle...because it reminded me of DW. Now, we have been married ALMOST 25 years, and I want to have a BIG FAT ELVIS 25th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY WEDDING, but it may not happen, because finding someone to marry you when you are already married is tough...and THEN when you ask them to dress like Elvis??? Well, let me say, it is looking bleak...but that is another subject entirely.
So...my original intent with this blog was to respond to letters that my mom had written my dad while she was away at college. But sometimes when I would read the letters and try to blog, it just got too depressing. Sometimes it seemed like an invasion of their privacy. Often times it seemed like a blessing to get this unique insight into their love for each other...so I still don't know where to go with Momma's letters, but when I saw this pic on FB, I thought to myself...maybe I could just blog about some crazy things in my life that are trivial...and strange. Because I can't be cool like my mom was and send DW letters. That would be crazy since we live together. And he isn't good about checking his e-mail. And he doesn't always have his glasses, so he doesn't text...So I shall just blog...
So tonight on Facebook, I see this:
DW and I were invited to go camping with some friends and some of their friends. So, we actually were not going to know a lot of people there. We were hesitant about going because 1..we didn't really KNOW the majority of the people, and 2...we didn't have a camper, and I am more or a room service girl, so you can see where this is going. A TENT was out of the question for this PRINCESS!
Long story short, my friend Brenda arranged for us to borrow a small motor home. She and I picked it up prior to the camping trip and DW and I loaded it up and were ready to get on the road....until the unfortunate misadventures began.
People who really know DW and I, are aware that we aren't really married and that HE is actually a polygamist! He is married to a farm, some cows, and his work at Budweiser! And like a good husband, it is very hard for him to leave all of the wives! So, as we are pulling out of the driveway, I was already hearing about how he really shouldn't be going on this trip and blah..blah..blah..Seriously...we were not even on the highway yet. But, over the roar of our fine borrowed motor home, I couldn't hear exactly everything that he was conversing about, so I just nodded my head and patted his leg and said, "You really deserve to do this and we are going to have a good time"...and at that point, he DID agree with me.
We made it approximately 3 miles down the road before the series of misfortunate events began..because that is when I heard a "THUD"...And DW looked at me and said, "What was that?" and I said, "Maybe it was a case of beer falling out of the closet"..(because that is where EVERYBODY who has a borrowed motor home stores their beer. Especially, when one of the borrowers works for Budweiser and can go in a little room where they take old beer to die or be dumped down a drain. So sometimes, that beer ends up in the closet of a borrowed motor home.)
With that said, we hear another "THUD", but it was more like a "WHOMP, WHOMP, WHOMP" and I said innocently.."I think it is still falling"...only I KNEW that Houston, we had a problem. Big problem..HUGE...we had a flat.
OK..we are now 6 miles from home with a flat on a borrowed motor home (that is locked and loaded with Bud products in the closet) and we discover that we have no jack or 4-way...So we call our neighbor, Wade, who went to our house and brought us tire-changing-stuff-and-helped-change-the-tire-'cause-he-is-that-kind-of-neighbor...and back on the road we go... With some more complaining from DW, but I really was only hearing blah, blah, blah, and thinking about riding in the closet for the rest of the way.
We stopped in Lebanon and bought a new tire for the borrowed motor home. We also put gas in the motor home..And bought ice, in case I decided to ice down the closet. And off we went. This time instead of blah, blah, blah the complaint was-"We have not even left Lebanon and we have spent $340..." I guess ice is expensive in Lebanon! ;)
I kicked my flip flops off and prepared for the ride..I checked in with our friends Mark and Brenda (the fools who invited us on this fairy tale trip) and let them know we were finally on our way. And then the misadventures continued when DW said.."Do you smell smoke?"...
Tune in later boys and girls....This is a classic/typical story in our life and it is too good to share all at once!
~And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath
Monday, November 15, 2010
Letters From Miss Ellie
November 15, 2010
I am missing my mom a lot today for a lot of reasons. Today is the day that my sister Lisa and I always "had" to celebrate our birthday's when we were children! Lisa's BD is November 10th and mine is November 20th..but our mom came up with the idea to have one celebration and do it on November 15th. She was very good. We were totally sold on it. Lisa got her German Chocolate Cake and I always got my banana pudding, so as long as our tummies were happy, we never questioned sharing a birthday.
Lisa and I have been without our parents since 1991. The longer we go without them, I think the closer we become, and the more a sense of family means to us. The truth be known, we HATED sharing a birthday. We even HAD to do it as adults. We used to gripe and complain under our breath, but knowing what we know now, we would be more than happy to share this day together. I would even eat German Chocolate Cake and give up my Banana Pudding (even though coconut is the devil) just to have my mom share this special day with us.
To get myself through this day, I broke out the most cherished item that I inherited, a box of letters. This is not just any box of letters, but a box of letters that my mom sent my dad while she was away at college. And he kept them...all of those years..and I found them...in a box, in a closet, tucked away and hidden, in the burnt remains of what had been my childhood home.
I am missing my mom a lot today for a lot of reasons. Today is the day that my sister Lisa and I always "had" to celebrate our birthday's when we were children! Lisa's BD is November 10th and mine is November 20th..but our mom came up with the idea to have one celebration and do it on November 15th. She was very good. We were totally sold on it. Lisa got her German Chocolate Cake and I always got my banana pudding, so as long as our tummies were happy, we never questioned sharing a birthday.
Lisa and I have been without our parents since 1991. The longer we go without them, I think the closer we become, and the more a sense of family means to us. The truth be known, we HATED sharing a birthday. We even HAD to do it as adults. We used to gripe and complain under our breath, but knowing what we know now, we would be more than happy to share this day together. I would even eat German Chocolate Cake and give up my Banana Pudding (even though coconut is the devil) just to have my mom share this special day with us.
To get myself through this day, I broke out the most cherished item that I inherited, a box of letters. This is not just any box of letters, but a box of letters that my mom sent my dad while she was away at college. And he kept them...all of those years..and I found them...in a box, in a closet, tucked away and hidden, in the burnt remains of what had been my childhood home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)