Monday, June 6, 2011

Okay...Okay...Okay....I'm Back....

TOM: You should do a blog post today.
ME: I know.

That's a conversation we've had every single day since I've been home from vacation. Tom knows I have a lot on my mind, but I'm not sure that I want to share much. Maybe I'm still in vacation mode. If that is the case, frankly, I'd like to stay there....not just in vacation mode, but really on vacation.

So maybe I'll get my bitching about the weather out of way first. It's been nearly 100 degrees every day for a week. Tom heard a report this morning that we've been at least 10 degrees above average for this time of year. But we've turned the temperature down to 90 degrees in the hot tub to create our own "cool tub" and this past weekend enjoyed taking a leisurely dip and cooling off a couple times each day. We're eating our meals outside in the shade in spite of the heat...mostly because we are outdoor folks and prefer being outside to sitting in an air conditioned room 24/7.

What else? I miss my sons, my daughters-in-law and my grandkids. Just that little bit made me want more.

Our Congress...are they all tone deaf? I'm at the point where I mostly just shake my head. Someone is going to mistake me for a bobble-headed doll and throw me on the dashboard of their car. Palin, Trump, Bachmann and then this morning Santorum announces his presidential candidacy. I was hoping for a circus for this 2012 election, but this is going to be 3 rings of non-stop verifiable wacko nut-job entertainment.

Over the Memorial Day Weekend we attended our nephew's wedding. All of Tom's sisters and brother attended and it was great to be able to spend time with all of them.

The morning of the wedding we all gathered in one of the rooms off the lobby of the hotel to go through a plastic bin filled with memorabilia gathered together after my mother-in-law passed away in late February. I wish I could remember who mentioned it that morning, but my mother-in-law was the original recycler. Cut up cereal boxes, cardboard inserts from pantyhose, underwear and other packaged goods became her stationary for taking notes, writing recipes and making lists. I brought home two little boxes filled with these recyled morsels.

One box is full of her handwritten recipes, each one carefully and meticulously noting any and all changes in ingredients, oven temperatures and yields, even changes to a recipe I had given her. I chuckled at that. Most of the recipes were handed down to her by her mother and mother-in-law, some of which she had made since she became a bride; recipes that have been precisely written and rewritten to include the most minute details to be handed down and executed by children and grandchildren...and even a daughter-in-law or two. There is a family history in that box.

My mother-in-law also loved words, but not in an academic, structural sense. She was more interested in the impact words can have on a person psychologically and spiritually. She penned her fleeting thoughts on more of those recycled pieces, sticky notes and miscellaneous pieces of paper reclaimed from envelopes, binder paper and whatever else she could salvage for space to write just a few words. The second box is filled with her notes, thoughts, quotes, life lessons, mostly about God, but always about love, perseverance and joy. She enjoyed the words others shared as well and she cut out and kept newspaper and magazine clippings of quotes that spoke to her in some way.

I volunteered to compile the contents of both boxes into two books to share with family members. I can't wait to get started. It will feel like I'm sitting down to visit with my mother-in-law every day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hope to be able to see the books when they're completed Aunt Terri! I'd love to share in any little piece of Grandma Powers, she is (or was) pretty amazing. Did Grandpa Powers ever get our card? Love-Nic