Christmas Cards

It's that time of year again.  The Holidays.  I used to go all out at Christmas time.  Lights outside, cards with that yearly update letter, decorations all inside the house.  Last year I did nothing.  Just couldn't after losing Danny in August.  It was too soon. This year, I'm going to make the effort.  It will never be the same, but one has to move forward.

So today I wrote my annual Christmas letter.  Some of our friends actually told me they missed it last year.  I try to make it funny and interesting.  I don't tick off every little detail of what we've done the past year.  Sometimes I add pictures.  The thing is, I feel a little guilty.  My life has continued without Danny.  It's not fair.

Tonight I will have a Colorado Bulldog, get out my storage box of Christmas cards, and update my list.  Over the years, I've saved some cards that were meaningful to me.  I've saved all the picture cards - I've watched all my friends' kids grow up through those cards.  There are some funny ones in there, too.  It's a pretty big storage tub.  Yeah, I'm a saver!

So tonight, Christmas season officially begins for me.  Let's see if I make it through.  Thank God for my husband, friends and family.

Old Friend

I got a postcard (yes, in snail mail) from a very dear, old friend last week.  We went to High School together and kept in touch for a few years.  She had 5 kids and sent me yearly Christmas photos while they were growing up.  Then as things sometimes go, we lost touch.  I knew she had some health problems and had a stroke, and she contacted me  last year when she heard my son had passed away. 

I still have very fond memories of her and think about her often.  So I was quite surprised to receive her card.  She is in Omaha in an assisted living facility.  She's had other health problems and has been in a wheel chair for a while.  But her big news was that in February she had the lap band procedure and lost 100 pounds!  I'm so happy for her!  What an acomplishment.  

I'm happy to hear that she gets together once a month with a couple of other gals we went to High School with, too.  Hopefully, when I go back to Omaha again in March I can stop by and visit her.

I guess no matter how bad you think you have it, there is always someone in your circle of friends that has overcome something  just as life-changing.  It's good to have a lot of friends, whether you are constantly in touch or not.

Visiting Nebraska

John & I just returned from a visit to Nebraska.  His mom and dad live in York and his daughter and her family live in Orchard.  If you drive through Orchard and blink, you miss it.  York is not much bigger.

Yet every time I visit our home state, I am amazed at how not much changes.  It's almost like time has stopped moving forward.  Everyone is friendly, most people still don't lock their doors, everyone knows everyone, and the one finger wave is alive and well.

Ah, the one finger wave!  For those of you unfamiliar with it, the one finger wave is not what you might think.  When you're driving the two lane highways and dirt roads you pass few vehicles.  And those you pass are mostly pick up trucks with gun racks.  But no matter what, the driver will have his hand on the wheel at 12 o'clock and will raise his index finger as if to wave at you, while tipping his head slightly.  It's a friendly sign.  A sign of acknowledgement.  I guess maybe his way of saying "have a nice day."  Whatever it means, I like it.  It's a throw back to the past that has endured to the 21st century.  When I think of people trying to do that here on I-10 during rush hour it makes me laugh.  No index fingers are being extended around here!

I guess life it still a lot simpler and a little slower in the Midwest.  And it's still a great place to raise kids.  Of course, we have two of the most adorable grandkids and spending time with Preston and Parker is always a hoot.  Where the 2 1/2 year old gets all that energy I will never know!  Plus, we have an added extra - John's neice has a beautiful little daughter who is almost 4.  Jaidyn is going to be breaking hearts all over town.

There's always so much I want to do when we go back and it seems like I never get to visit enough or eat enough of my favorite foods.  We did visit Runza twice and thanks to a wonderful cleaning guy at Orsi's Italian Bakery in Omaha, I did get two loaves of my favorite bread in spite of them being closed that day!  No one anywhere on this planet makes Italian bread better than Orsi's.

I really need a week or two to visit Nebraska.  Maybe next time. 

Rest In Peace

My favorite Aunt, Prudy, passed away last Friday.  She was 87.  Her husband, my Uncle Bud, passed away July 17.  He was 91.  They had been married 69 years.  You don't hear that too often now.  Married for 69 years.  And they were happy til the end.  That old addage about how couples who have been together for so long, when one spouse passes the other follows soon after?  Guess that applies here.

Oh, toward the end of Uncle Bud's life he experienced a little Altzheimer's and forgot some stuff.  It made him crabby and Aunt Prudy complained to me about it.  But not in a mean way.  I know she loved him dearly til the end.

We had many phone conversations after I moved to Arizona.  My mom (her sister) had passed away in May of 1998, so Aunt Prudy was sort of my replacement Mom.  I'd check in with her to see how they were doing.  They had a wonderful Retirement Home apartment and enjoyed living there.  She'd tell me about her Bingo games and I'd tell her about my Parrot Head adventures.  I think she got a big kick out of that.

I have so many fond memories of our family gatherings during the holidays.  My Grandmother lived next door to us, so we'd all go over there for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Italians love to cook so we had everything from pizza and spaghetti to turkey and ham evey holiday!  Family memories to cherish.

Rest in peace, Aunt Prudy and Uncle Bud, I will miss you both.

A Magazine About Shopping?

I cleaned out my book case the other day and I came upon this "Shop, Etc." magazine from Nov. 2004.  I thought to myself  "Did I buy this?  Why?"   A magazine dedicated to shopping.  I must have been having a really bad day.  But, since I miss shopping with my friend in Omaha so much, I probably bought it to read it and then send to her.  That way, we could shop together vicariously through this magazine.  It was a November issue, so probably at the time it seemed like a very different Christmas gifty – not too expensive and yet priceless in the thought it conveyed.  In retrospect, not as cool as the first impression.

So I sat down to read it cover to cover.  Much to my surprise (was I really THAT surprised?), it's geared to 20-something, independently wealthy, skinny bee-atches. 

Ah yes, the obligatory $295 soft, LUXE Cynthia  Steffe cardigan – the ULTIMATE must-have piece to take me from day to night (p 173).  I think my Margaritaville sweatshirt does that quite nicely, thank you very much.  What the hell is LUXE, anyway?  DE-luxe?  And while  we're on the subject of changing words, when did they delete the second "f" from FIFTH?  Have you noticed now it's the "fith" of the month instead of the "fifth?"  But, I digress……………….

THANK GOD they reminded me it's Time to Change my Fragrance (p 135).  What would I have done had someone caught me still wearing my Avon Night Magic Evening Musk?  That's SO 80's! 

And, last but not least, how will I EVER live without the $1,295 Paul Smith "Love" Needlepoint Wall hanging (p 87)?  At my age, that's the last thing I need glaring at my friends when they visit.....I can hear it now "Isn't that an icon from the 60's?"  How would I explain that I actually liked that icon when I was in high school when they all think I'm only 45??!!

In short, I can't believe I actually shelled out cash for that magazine.   In my haste to rekindle the feeling of cammeraderie Linda and I shared during our numerous shopping excursions,  I probably sold out to the glossy come-on promises of a shallow magazine cover.  Silly me.  That's what I get for shopping at Wal Mart.

SOCK MONKEYS!

When my son Dan was sick, I bought him a red sock monkey with a heart on it.  That was in about March - it was on sale after Valentine's Day.  He absolutely loved it and kept it by his bed in his apt.  Yes, he was 39 but he knew his mom was a little weird and wanted to cheer him up. So since then I've been seeing them all over.  I got some sock monkey socks and even a pair of Nick and Nora flannel pajamas with Christmas sock monkeys at Goodwill for $2.50!  (Which I promptly ended up selling on Ebay for $17.00!)

So the other day I was at Kohl's and saw this end cap of Nutcrackers.  I'm still looking for a tropical one - maybe with some palm trees or parrots or something - when low and behold what do I see?  A sock monkey nutcracker!  Of course I swooped on it because there were only 4, one of which was all intact.  The others had something broken on each one.  Who'da thunk I'd ever find something like that?  Needless to say, it's going to be on my desk all year long because it reminds me of Dan.

It's funny how when you lose someone you love, little things seem to bring them closer to you.  Some days I think about him a lot and miss him terribly.  Other days I am OK with the fact that he is no longer suffering and he's in a much happier place.  I guess you just have to go with the flow.  Life goes on, or so they say.

Neighbors

Why is it that one neighbor can turn a perfectly good neighborhood into "the 'hood?" 

My next door neighbor is a single (or probably divorced) woman with two absolutely worthless teenagers.  Their front yard is dirt which can grow nothing but 3 feet tall weeds.  They do have a nice stand of about 3 big bouganvillas that bloom a beautiful red but underneath them is a huge cardboard box and other assorted trash she and her able-bodied kids are too lazy to remove.

Don't get me started on the cars.  There are two what my Dad used to call "gun boats" in her driveway.  One of them is a dark grey and has not only weeds growing all around it but now some guy is using it for parts, which he leaves on the driveway underneath the back end.  Lovely.  The other car is white - I suspect - and at least she drives it once in a while.

Did I mention she has an old refrigerator on her front porch?  I saw them deliver a new one so maybe she's just keeping this one for sentimental reasons.

And her back yard.  My husband and I consider our back yard/patio to be our little slice of Paradise.  We watch TV outside all year long, enjoy our pool, and have parties for our friends.  I'm ashamed to have people look over the wall and see that green, bug infested pool in her back yard.  There is icky stuff floating in it!  I've been calling the City of Mesa people since 2004 (yes, I keep records!) and so far....nothing.  They can't even make her empty it.  And no one uses it....ever.  We've lived there almost 10 years and I've never once seen her or her kids in that dank tank.

We are very fortunate that the rest of our neighbors - across the street and next to us on the other side - are wonderful people who make the effort to keep our neighborhood nice.  None of us has a perfect yard or home, but it just takes one really bad one to spoil the overall ambiance.  Can't afford to move so we tolerate our token tenement.