April 27th – Mom & Dad’s anniversary. It would have been 53 (I think).
April 28th – Mom closes on the sale of the last house they shared.
It’s all bittersweet. Bitter of course, because he is no longer here. But, sweet because of the glorious memories of a Dad, Mom, and family who have shaped all our lives in such a positive way.
Dad, you are still missed. But, I know you’d be very proud of Mom, your kids (well, 3 out of 4 of them), your grand-kids (well, 4 out of 5 of them), and the legacy you’ve left. I don’t think you were ever about the “legacy” – as you were always more concerned with living in the moment (thank you for that) but I think you’d be proud nevertheless.
Bud owns a camera, even though he may not remember that he does, because he NEVER uses it. Magoo is the same. The only difference is that she actually takes her camera places. And then NEVER uses it. That’s OK. It means they are living in the moment, and not stopping to try to catch the image for future viewing.
Today, I discovered proof positive that Bud never uses his camera.
Though I wish he would use it occasionally, I wasn’t the least bit bothered today. You see, I looked through the viewfinder just to see what the storage card might contain, and THIS bought tears to my eyes:
It’s the last picture on his camera.
And, if I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure it is the last time we saw Dad before he got sick.
It was a beautiful fall day and we met up at Starved Rock to celebrate Mom’s birthday. As it always is with our family, the day was all about laughs. Even though it was Mom’s birthday, none of us had actually purchased a gift. So, we all stalked her while she perused the Starved Rock gift shop. She’s a smart cookie, and took a little extra time checking out a cute jacket. I’m not sure she even left the shop before one of us scooped it up and bought it for her.
She’s totally faking the surprised act. Love her.
Here’s the thing. Finding a picture of Dad surely doesn’t change reality. But, what it does do is bring back a wonderful, wonderful memory that I had lost. Not just of that get-together. But, of the extraordinarily relaxed, sarcastic, intelligent (yet silly), rapport we all wore like the most comfy of pajamas.
Bud, your camera hasn’t had much of a workout. But, today, to me, it is worth by FAR more than my fancy camera.
I miss him. But, more than anything, I’m just so thankful for an old, unused camera… and this quirky, loving, family.
He lives in California. His three children live in Texas, Illinois, and Switzerland. SweetGuy and his siblings not only live in distant lands, they each are workaholics. It takes an act of Congress AND 14 moons aligning for all these people to convene in the same place.
Lo and behold, a convergence happened last week. Each of the three siblings flew into California on the same day and met up at the airport. They then drove to their Dad’s and surprised him. Surprised seems like an understatement. Poor guy, does anyone else think it’s a little cruel to show up at a 7o year old’s house late at night and declare you’re all living with him for the week?
I’m planning on hiding when I near 70, that’s all I’m sayin’.
SweetGuy’s Dad was touched. And, that’s what it was all about. That, and a family that cares deeply about each other but just doesn’t get to hang out much, or pretty much, ever.
All of us, being the incredible planner-aheaders that we are, made a special video for SweetDad. Actually, it was made some 10 years ago for his 60th. But, well, we didn’t so much get around to sending it to him for his 60th. So, we edited it a bit and showed it to him for his 70th.
It features an 11 year old Bud, 9 year old White Rose, 8 year old Magoo, and 5 year old Little Couz in TX. And, let me say, Lil Couz is the sweetest, cutest, adorablest, darlingest child that ever lived.
There’s a link below to the video. Here’s a couple of things I have to say about it. 1) Our children were hyper. 2) Our children’s hyperness increased exponentially in the presence of their cousins and 3) Did I mention Little Couz is adorable?
If you don’t want to sit thru the whole thing, skip ahead to the 2:40 mark and check out Little Couz, you won’t be disappointed.
Saturday night was the high school Madrigal Dinner. We had an extraordinary time with family and friends. And, I particularly liked just attending the show and not having to work at it as a parent of a participant. Another one of the perks of empty-nesting. Laziness becomes me.
Emmy was the star of the drama portion of the show. She played an ornery court jester. Can you say TYPECASTING!
Her director, who is also one of our best friends, let me know that Emmy’s performance may have just been the very best ever by anyone in the madrigral casts in the years and years he’s been doing them.
FavoriteChild and Dave are suckers for animals — evidenced by their two dogs, three cats, mini donkey, and frankly I have no idea how many horses – four, maybe five. A gaggle of them at any rate.
The matriarch of their horse brood, Salvana, gave birth last night to her sixth baby. Yeah, I know baby is not the correct term. Technically it’s a foal. Or a colt. Or a puppy. Oh, I don’t know what it is. But, you understand baby don’t you?
We’ve always teased that Nanni loves Salvana more than her other grandkids. Heck, she loves her more than her children… even FavoriteChild I think. And, Dad ADORED those horses. He just couldn’t get enough of them. So, what a special night it was last night when Salvana decided to give birth at just the perfect moment.
Read FavoriteChild’s description (reprinted with his permission):
You guys should have seen Mom last night. Couldn’t have been more perfect. We all arrived at the house about the same time, 5pm. Mom had a drink and then we toured the animals and then made steak and lobster for dinner (thanks Sal!). Mom ate like a horse!
Then it was getting towards sunset and about 70 degrees with perfect breeze and NO bugs and she was off talking to Gigger and Jazz and talking to Gail when she decided to join me in the barn to take a last look at Salvana before she went to bed. At that point Salvana looked sort of dazed and was sweating and I told Mom I thought she was in labor, and maybe Mom ought to go get some long pants and sweatshirt on and come down with a book to wait it out since I was thinking something would happen in the next couple hours. Mom just kept saying how peaceful and calm Salvana looked.
We set things up in the barn for reading and a wait and just as Mom walked into the barn after changing, Salvana laid down and it was time. Mom got to see the whole process and I’m not kidding when I say she was mesmerized. I’ve never seen her more quiet or amazed. She stood on that hay bale staring into the stall Dad built for probably 75 minutes just watching.
Mom is totally in love with Ellie now and forbids us from selling her! We’ll see on that.
It was a good day!
FavoriteChild, did you say she was silent for 75 minutes? That WAS an unbelievable evening!
Check out the new calf below. Look for lots more pictures soon of the newest, cutest grandbaby.
My Mom has an awesome family. She is the youngest of seven. Her oldest, and incredibly sweet sister Catherine is no longer with us. Her other five sisters and brother are amazing as ever. (May I mention that they have all outlived their spouses… sorry SweetGuy, you have no hope.)
Here’s a cool picture of her family I had never seen before this past weekend’s reunion:
Mom is the littlest one in the back who looks like she has someplace else she’d rather be.
Here were the six of them this past weekend:
I love these guys. And I love that no matter their age, they are still typical siblings. Below we have 87 year old Bernadine, 86 year old Loretta, 85 year old Francis, and 84 year old Ruth (4 kids in 4 years – ACK!) clearly talking smack and ignoring each other. Being a sibling is timeless, isn’t it?
And, here’s my favorite sibling moment, unbeknownst to her big brother, Nanni pulled out a crazy haired visor to hang over Francis’ bald head. He never knew. Brother/sister relationships are consistent across generations, aren’t they? And kudos to Mom, ornery as ever.
Good move, girl. Your bro is much better looking this way.
It was taken at Nanni’s a few weeks ago. I have to stop taking my camera to her place when the kids are swimming in the pool around sunset. I get so distracted by taking pictures of the breathtaking scenery that I forget to take in the rest of the moment.
Anyhoo, I posted the pretty picture to distract you from the content of this post.
SweetGuy has dubbed me the pest slayer. Just ’cause we sort of caught a raccoon in a trap but didn’t, ah, notice him until he had, well, expired.
Just ’cause one mouse who was confused about the time of the year decided to invade our silverware drawer and let’s just say, said mouse is not going to make a return engagement.
Isn’t the river beautiful?
Serene?
So, ah, for any varmints reading this blog, please take note. Agree or not, I go all in, and the cards are definitively stacked against you.
See the bird in the picture? He should think twice about coming too close to me, the PEST SLAYER!
For the gajillionth time in the last nine years I climbed atop our barn roof today. I’ll spare you the stories of HOW INCREDIBLY HAAARD we have worked to keep this barn roof from leaking, and just share the following: I have always loved the way our yard looks from the perspective of the barn roof.
So, today, amidst the tools and the roof cement I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures, then combined those pictures together for panoramic views of our front and back yards from the perspective of our barn roof. Seeing as I’ve spent 24/1083 of my entire life on that roof, it’s a good thing I like the view. So here you go:
The backyard:
The frontyard:
(Click on the images for a larger view)
Today was a bizarre cold July day. As sick as I am of being on this roof, I have to admit, the view is totally worth it.
Bud is a lot of things, one of which is a person that has no desire or need to be the center of attention, so I shall try to keep this brief.
He does things so constantly that make me marvel at what a good human being he is. And how glad I am to be his Mom. Things like calling me from Target and asking if I needed anything. Running up to the store to buy an ingredient for something Magoo wants to cook. Giving up his bed and bedroom to DustMeister for the entire time he is at home without a single tiny complaint. Trying his darnedest to destress his Dad. SO quick to put his arm around someone that is hurting.
And he always, always tells the truth. Gosh, I admire that in him.
Yes, I’m biased, but I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that this young man is the most solid, dependable, consistent person I know. He is a rock and we all lean on him.
And, he does funky things with his joints and STILL teases his sister constantly. His diet consists solely of Macaroni and Cheese and pizza.
And, he refuses to lose to me at badminton or Mario Kart. I take it back. I don’t like him that much.
