The Things You Can Learn

I recently realized that you can learn quite a bit about and from people even after they are gone. I’ve had the chore of cleaning out my father’s house and putting it on the market. He lived in the same house for 37 years, all but the last 3 with his wife, Sue. They’ve now been reunited and are watching over us from above.

While cleaning out drawers, I would find a single key. And looking around the room, I found a cabinet that it fit. Or I might find the instructions for an appliance - not very far from the actual appliance. That really beats my system of keeping all the instructions in the drawer in the study!

But the most amazing thing I learned was when I went to plant some flowers in the yard. Part of sprucing things up in order to sell the house. My dad built a greenhouse off the laundry room. For a long time, I’ve looked at but not really seen a basket that sat on a picnic table in the greenhouse. Until I went to plant some flowers. I went to the greenhouse and really looked at that basket for the first time. It looked a lot like an Easter basket. Inside was a gardening fork, a pair of scissors, and some gardening gloves. Perfect! I added a trowel and off I went. I probably would have carried all those things in my hands, were the basket not already there. Plus I realized that I could put any trash I found in the basket to carry it back to the house. What a clever idea, Sue! (I know it was hers by the size of the gloves.)

I’ve taken a picture of the basket and included it below. If you click on it, you can get a close up image of its contents.

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For This I Am Thankful

This year has had its rough spots. So we sort of took Thanksgiving off this year. No turkey, no huge meal. In fact, we didn’t even stay home. We took the cat and went to Port Aransas for a few days. Just in time for the coldest weather of the season, too.

Our Thanksgiving dinner:

• Steak - Cooked on the grill we brought with us.
• Asparagus - Sauted in olive oil and the spices we brought w/ us in a small zip lock bag.
• Baked Sweet Potatoes.
• Sister Creek Reserve Wine.
• Home made Pecan Pie - Baked on Tuesday. Sampled Wednesday night just to be sure it was good.

This year I am thankful that God has given me the strength to get through this year. I’m thankful for my family and friends that have been there for me. (You know who you are.) I’m especially thankful for my hubby, without whom I would not have made it through this year.

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Wish You Were Here

Music has long been a big part in my life. I have so many memories that are triggered by a song. And I often have a song for my mood. Many times, a word or phrase will trigger the memory of a song for me. Two days out of the year, I have designated as Pink Floyd Day. The two days are today, August 23rd, and February 18th. I dedicate them both to my sister Conni. She came into this world on February 18, 1953 and left, far too early, on August 23, 2001.

Conni was diagnosed with lung cancer almost 5 years after she quit smoking. It never seemed fair that it should happen to her. After her diagnosis, she pushed everyone she knew to stop smoking. Saying it was stupid, and it was. Some, like myself, listened. Others didn’t. To this day, I can no longer understand why anyone would smoke. I watched her go from the most independent person I knew, to someone who relied on others for everything.

We shared a lot in our life together. Growing up, we always shared a bedroom. And we certainly shared music. Conni introduced me to a lot of the music I know today. I recall one of our last conversations. I was remembering our early teen years. We listened to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention until we knew every line of every song. That day, one week before she left us, we sat in her hospital room singing those songs.

That last summer, my husband and I made countless trips to the hospital to visit her. One line from a song kept going through my mind: “What a long strange trip it’s been!”

The first day I returned to work after her passing, the radio played “Comfortably Numb” on my drive in. It made me cry. In fact, writing this post also makes me cry.

And for a very long time, I felt guilty whenever I sang along with Joe Walsh on “Life’s Been Good To Me So Far.”

To this day, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her. “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone?”

She may be gone, but she is definitely not forgotten.

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