The End of an Era

This morning at roughly 12:45 am, on her 98th birthday, my great-grandmother decided that it was time for her to leave this world and join her husband and sons in the next one.

Grammy lived a very full life. I have memories of visiting her with my grandparents when I was pretty young and she lived in California. I remember when I would get there, she would open the refrigerator and freezer, show me all the goodies she stocked up for me, and tell me to help myself and feel free to get whatever I want, whenever I want. I was pretty shy about this strange unknown woman who I only saw once ever couple of years or so, so I would still whisper to my grandma to make sure it was okay if I went over and got a popcicle from the freezer. Grammy would laugh when she was me do that.

Grammy moved up to Vancouver to be closer to her sons sometime in my early driving years. I remember going over to visit her now and then (although admittedly, it was not as often as it should have been). I remember sometimes she would take me out for lunch or invite me over to swim at her trailer park pool. Every time that I would ride with her in her car, the Beach Boys song about the "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" would suddenly take on a sense of realism.  

She was a very creative woman. It's no wonder that our family has so many artists, storytellers, costume designers, and singers in it. She painted, sewed clothing, made quilts, and told stories that were wild beyond imagination, but still fun to sit through.One of these days, I'll have to get the family together to write down some of her most memorable ones (did you know she and Betty White were once very close? Or that my grandpa went to school with Shirley Temple?)

One year, shortly after I had left for college, she decided to paint a picture to send to me. It was a picture of a little old-fashioned covered bridge covered in snow. While she was still working on it, I called my grandma to tell her about a trip I had taken to Michigan and all the stupid snow that held me up and if I never see snow again, that would be alright with me. Grammy heard this and felt bad about sending me a snow picture, so she stopped work on it and started a new one for me. When I found out, I was horrified that I would have said something that seemed like I wouldn't appreciate a thoughtful gift like that. I told Grandma to please let Grammy know that I didn't mean that I wouldn't like her painting and to please finish it and send it to me. I got both of them in the mail. When I told Grammy how much my roommates and neighbors loved the paintings she made me, she sent me a few more "to keep or sell, if you would like". I kept them. They've hung in all my apartments ever since.

I'm going to miss Grammy, but I'm not really sad for her. A little sad for us because I know her absence will be noticable (she was small, but very fiesty and never let us forget that she was there). She lived many lifetimes in her 98 years. She found her true love in Gramps (who I never knew because he passed a few months before I was born). She had an amazing family that continues to grow and grow, full of people who loved her and cared for her as she aged. She watched her husband and both her sons go on before her and she's been ready for years to make the journey herself. She was a very proud woman and never wanted to get to the point where she would have to depend on others for her full time care, and at 98, it was beginning to come to that. I think Grammy chose her moment, when she was ready, and made sure it happened on her terms. I can't imagine that she would have it any other way, and the angels ready to escort her home had no choice but to wait for her to give the word.

She was well loved and will be dearly missed. And I have to chuckle just a little to imagine the kind of hell that she's already raising with those unsuspecting angels. 

Happy Birthday, Grammy! We're going to miss you, you feisty old woman.

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Playing

Spring is clearly on it's way in. The past week or so, it's been sunny and mild every day. It makes it hard to willingly sit in my office instead of running home to grab my energetic doggie and heading off to the park. Wednesday I did give it a semi-attempt by coming home after work, changing clothes, picking up the dogs and Barb and heading over to the dog park, but we haven't reached the time of year yet were we can make it more than two laps around the park before it's too dark to see the black dogs.

But today was a bright and sunny Saturday with no commitments on my plate, so I decided it was time to indulge us all in some outdoor playtime. Derrick was off from work, so I also took the neighbor and her two kids out with us. Gotta love our local dog-park. Derrick could hang out in the fenced-in dog area while Jackie played with her kids on the playground and I'm free to play shutterbug without the distraction of responsibility.

I haven't gotten a whole lot of time to practice on my camera lately. I've taken my camera with me the last few weeks to church and got some great practice shots of the nursery, but I can't post those to show my progress. I have figured out how to take multiple shots at once, which makes taking my action shots a lot easier. I've also come to accept that in order to get a scrapbook page's worth of pics, I need to take TONS of shots. I'm still working on things like framing, lighting, apature and all that other technical stuff, but I'm pretty happy with how some of these photos came out.

 

The kids had a great time, as you would expect. And of course the dogs were in doggie heaven. All four of them crashed almost immediately upon our return home.

These pictures and more can also be viewed on my facebook: Playing at the Park Photos

Two Weeks, No Waiting

Well, it's now been almost two weeks since my last post. Not because nothing has been going on; neither has it been because too much has been going on. I've simply been too lazy to write lately. I know, "Bad Deema!"

But really, it's not like I have anything interesting to report on. Just life stuff. But since most of it has been in my head, I suppose I could share:

Math class: I had my first math test in over a decade last week. I was a little nervous, but not too much. I  usually do well on tests and I've understood everything up to that point. The test was pretty easy. It took me all of about twenty minutes and that was only because I fully checked every answer and then reread through it just to make sure. When I got the test back, mine was one of the five perfect scores! I love math. :)

As geeky as it sounds, I really take a lot of pleasure in working on the homework. I'm usually a section or two ahead of the lectures. I like working throught them on my own and then checking how well I understand when the instructor covers it in class. We're starting to learn stuff that isn't readily accessable in my memory, which is fun. This week we started radical expressions (the math kind where you solve for the square root of x, not things like "Awesome, Dude!") Last night I was introduced to imaginary numbers, which comes in handy when practicing Creative Accounting (I'm only kidding, IRS!)

Superbowl Sunday: Ah, the ultimate man's holiday. Actually, I've rather enjoyed the last few. Usually I get together with friends, watch the game, eat, and generally have a good tme socializing. This year was no different, except that it was all different. Instead of going out to some party, Barb and I got together to make cards. We had the game on, but since neither of us gave a hoot about either team, it was mostly for the commercials. As usual, the beer commercials reigned supreme (especially the way cute Clydesdale and Steer playments), but I have to say Betty White getting tackled in the football game was my favorite commercial moment. I also really enjoyed the halftime show. It was fun hearing all three CSI themes in their original glory.

One football game, one TV show premere, one Disney channel movie, and two Jonas episodes later, I went home with a large stack of cards, all hand made by yours truly: 5 valentines (one for each of Steph's kids), one babyshower card, and one birthday card. I was pretty happy with myself.

Travel: I realized with the upcoming government holiday, my government job allows me an extra day to this weekend, so I contacted Steh and we started making plans for me to head up to see her and the kids (hence the V-day cards). Unfortunately, a few days after starting our planning, I got an email from Steph titled "Houston, we have a problem". Of course, no good news can follow that. It turns out that her in-laws decided to visit that same weekend. Aw! My plans got hi-jacked by the grandparents! No fair! Oh well, what can you do? I rescheduled for the end of the month instead.

Out and About: the groundhog may have decided to settle in for six more weeks of solitude, but I'm finding myself drawn out more often lately. Consider: card making with Barb, plans to head north to Steph and the kids, a babyshower for a friend, and Barb's birthday dinner last weekend.

I'm not sure how or when it started becoming tradition, but whenever one of us have a birthday, Barb, Christy, Kristina and me go out for dinner. It seems to be the only time the four of us see each other anymore. Barb chose Mexican food for dinner, which I was more than happy to comply with. We didn't make the staff sing to her because girlfriends have to take care of one another. And I deviated from my usual cheese enchalladas and went for a yummy, sizzling, meaty fajita plate. Can we say "Yum"? YUM!!!

On Monday I was over at Terry's and I started looking around and thinking about when I first started going over there (and consequently connected with Barb, Christy, and Kristina) and I realized that I miss those days. The community group, the friends, the fun. . . I've been toying all week with the idea of trying the singles group at church again. I think I'm finally enough over Terry that I could be there with him without becoming Psycho DramaQueen of the Waterworks. I don't think I can jump back into his community group, but baby steps. The more I think about going to the group again, the more hopeful and excited I become. Maybe now it's finally time to return to the fold.

Car Update: have you ever known that one person who would make your life absolutely miserable whenever it was just the two of you, but when you tried to get sympathy from others, they couldn't identify because they thought she was the sweetest person ever? Yeah, well lately my car has been that car. Not that I'm having major problems with it, but the check engine light keeps coming on. Usually when it does, it's followed by some weird sputtering that feels like no gas is getting through. But whenever I take it to someone to look at, it runs perfectly and the light turns off. No one, not one passenger or helpful friend has seen this. Case in point: I asked Terry if he could look at it on Saturday. All the way over to his house it was sputter, sutter, sputter (even a little worse than usual). I got there, handed him the keys and jumped in the passenger seat so he could feel the problem. He started the car and the check engine light was gone. We drove around to see if it would come back on; it didn't. Then we went back to his place to check if there was anything obviously out of place. The only thing I discovered was that I'm absolutely terrified of being under the car. Blame it on claustrophobia or the Final Destination movies, but you will never get me back under that thing. I even started to freak a little watching Terry be under it.

Anyway, after seeing nothing we could fix, I took my misbehaving car home. It drove perfectly all the way there. The light remained off when I drove over to meet the girls at Barb's. And it was positively angelic as I carted the four of us to and from the restaurant. Then I dropped everyone off and turned towards home. I made it about 15 feet when *DING* Sputter, Sputter. I guess it's one of those times when all I can do is find the humor in the situation and keep going. Maybe it's my car's way of encouraging me to start doing that carpooling thing.

So, there you have it; two weeks, no waiting. Well, okay, you had to wait for the post, but once you got it, everything was there. So maybe I should say "two weeks with no interruptions". I wish I had more interesting things to share. Maybe, if I'm very lucky, the coming spring will bring about new and exciting adventures for this weary old soul to enjoy.

And until then, I always have my imagination. . .

The Prodical Car

My car has returned home to me! I'm so happy. There are no words to describe the stress I was feeling while I waited to find out what was going to happen next.

Two weeks I waited. Two weeks of wondering. Two weeks of worrying. Two weeks of driving Derrick's crappy hunk of junk, never sure if the next time it died I'd be able to get it started again.

When I got the call that I could rescue my car and bring it back home, I was so relieved and happy. I picked it up, filled it with the expensive Chevron high-quality gas, and brought it home to it's waiting parking spot. I tucked it in and kissed it good night.

Just kidding.

Or am I?

A few hours later, the stress that I had been holding in check for two weeks finally caught up with me and my poor body gave up. Migraine, body aches, tight muscles all came crashing down upon me in one swoop.

But it doesn't matter. I'm relieved. Something finally went right for me.