Preperations

It is Wednesday April 13th, 2011. I have taken these days off to get prepared for the wedding that Lindsey has been preparing for the past year! Many little things have happened before we could get to this week, along with much excitement we are here... getting ready! Today Grams and I go to Walmart to pick up groceries for snacks, and for Sunday supper, to get a few things that Lindsey needs. We arrive back home and unload grams stuff and then mine... now it is to Tranquility. Kim trims and dyes my hair, when I get home for the first time in my life Curt says "Wow! you look like you are 30 years old!". Thanks Kim!

It is Thursday April 14th, 2011. Today I go to Glencoe to pick up Lindsey and my dress's from the Temple. They were being pressed there. Carefully loaded in the car I head to Coborns to pick up a few more groceries that were on sale. When I get back to ARlington I drop off grams groceries and head to church. Lindsey and Amanda will meet me there, and Liz is coming also.
Pop and chips - check
Wedding dress - check
Flowers - check
Moms dress - check
Wedding cake stuff - check
It is about 1:00pm and we are ready to start the flowers and cake!
Amanda gets settled in the big kitchen at the Methodist Church... she is happy of the size and soon her assistant Liz will be arriving.
Lindsey gets set out on the other cupboard to get moving on the flowers. They are eating subways, laughing, looking pretty and having a great time!

It is 4:00pm and mom and I leave for Foley. We arrive at the school just in time to get prime seats for the concert. Jaci Anna is preforming her 1st grade spring concert and we are so thankful to be able to get to see her! They sing some adorable songs and Jaci does some dancing with scarfs. We didn't get to see that it was her until she was done - but, we know of course that she did a great job!! We load up Conner D and some of the Harren's stuff for the wedding and head for home. Conner is sleeping when we arrive so I bring him in and lay him in bed with his papa. He is out for the night! I take grams home, and head up to the church...

It is 11:00pm and the girls are getting ready to leave the church and go to the motel in Gaylord where Amanda has a room. I finish picking up things at the church and head home myself. It is 4:00 am... time for sleep as Friday is another day! (oh I guess it is Friday)

On Friday morning the girls come and pick me up and we head to Mankato to meet Starla and get our pedicures and manicures. We do some laughing and relaxing... this was sure a good idea!

It is 1:00pm and we meet everyone at the community hall to do the decorating. Liz and Amanda will continue with the cakes and they also have recruited Liz's boyfriend Dave! He definitely adds a new dimension to the idea of how to decorate a cupcake!

It is 6:00pm time to be at the church for the wedding rehearsal. Justin is here early to sing "Butterfly kisses" with Jan for the first time - it is beautiful. The Praise Team is here and they practice their songs - they are beautiful. All the attendants, groomsmen and family members are here and accounted for and the most important... the pastor... and I couldn't feel more joy inside my soul! Everything goes wonderful with the rehearsal and we head to the Arlington Haus for the grooms supper. Julie and Jim did a wonderful job of deciding on the meals and making everyone feel comfortable. It was the end of an absolutely wonderful day.

It is 9:00pm and we all head to where we are staying. All of my family is in my home! And boy that family has grown! Lindsey takes the blow up bed in the family room. Chris, JaciAnna, and Conner are in Ann's room, Lacey, K, and Nola Jean are upstairs, Emi, Taylor and Jordyn Noel are in Lila's room - dad and I in our room.
The Johnsons and their families went to Gaylord along with the cupcake decorator, and Starla and Liz.

We turn out the lights...
Tomorrow is the day!

Alzhiemers

Today she wakes up and touches life again... you never know how it will be. Will she wake up and know her place? Know that the Lord has chosen for her to stay here on this earth one more day? How hard it must be to not remember your family - the family that you do remember and that you want to find.. well, they are all dead......
they have been gone for many years.

I love to hear her stories. Okay, I admit they don't line up with the facts that followed her here. The facts that are written, they tell us how much she weighs, her birth date, how many children that she has and that her husband has been deceased for years.
But, those aren't the stories she tells me. One day I came into the area, I asked her "well my friend how are you doing to day?"
She gave me the biggest smile you ever did see and said...
"how does any young lady feel on her wedding day?"
Her face beamed of a love that she was so obviously feeling. Was she remembering the day she got married, or was she dreaming of the way she wanted to feel again? I didn't want to take her from where ever she was... I squeezed her hand and hugged her.
At this moment I didn't really care what any of the specialists say - I was happy for her. I took it in and made a conscious effort that if something like this ever happens in my family, I will not be sad. I will accept the day and take it into my heart realizing that everything changes.
I will accept the fact that mother doesn't know me, that I don't know my children, and I will be happy that my smile can be given to someone. I will be happy that someone's touch as they give care will remind me of things that happened in my life.

...today she is crying, sitting in her wheel-chair, and holding the hand of the man sitting next to her. He looks bewildered but doesn't move as her warm tears wash over his hand. I go over to try to comfort her and put my arm around her shoulders gently trying to release her hand from his.
She says... "I love him so much".
At this moment I didn't really care what the house rules were. She shouldn't be crying over some man she doesn't know and "bothering" him. He has his rights you know. I gently tell him that I will work on it and he smiles looking like a puppy just being taken from it's mother.
"It is time, we need to go, we will go to your room and get some rest so you feel better, I think he knows how very much you love him"
"Will you take care of him, I love him so"
"Yes, I will, I promise he will be taken care of while you go get some much needed rest"
"Okay then, I think that will help if I lay down"
and so we go to her 1/2 room, with the twin size bed and the TV that has never been turned on. She gets the help she needs to lay down and I give her a kleenex to wipe the tears.
And I think to myself why does this happen? What is it that is in God's plan here in this place?
And I realize maybe it is all for me
maybe it is for all of us
to know that life here isn't always what we expect
there are disappointments,
failures,
fear,
lonesomeness,
trials.
But through all of it there is glimpses of that feeling of love.
The love that comes from our Lord.
That hope that when we get to Heaven we will understand.
And until then...
I will make a conscious effort to show His love to anyone needing a touch.
I will continue to try to understand...
how our mind works - when others think it isn't.
And I hope I will always remember how she felt on her wedding day as a new bride, even when the tears that flow for her love, are for a man she doesn't know.

Milk

He works at "Quick Shop", a young rugged kind of handsome. The forearms show tattoo's of a dark color with some kind of writing on them - try as I might I haven't figured out what they say. Wearing jeans and t-shirts he appears to be nervous, but trying hard to be kind person. Smile slightly to the side and eyes that can't look at you.
Tonight I am there, at 10:00 to get milk, we have been out for 2 days and I just can't face another morning with the disappointment of no milk for their cereal. He is standing outside by a maroon grand-am, smoking a cigarette. Inside the car I see a girl, and she is so sad - or is it mad? I wonder as I get out of my car and pray for them. I wonder what kind of bitterness has already been stirred up in her heart. Two kids in the back, both in car seats - one is screaming...
he opens the door to give the baby a little comfort as she sits behind the wheel puffing the heck out of a cigarette...
he needs to get back in to check-out the milk and the other people who have driven up after me to make purchases...
as I leave with my milk, i try to make eye contact with her, her head is bowed at the wheel, car running, babies screaming
and she doesn't see me smile at her
she doesn't know that I have just asked Jesus to comfort her where she is -
to show her that she is loved and it will all be okay...
to see the good in her husband even when she can't see it...
to love him so that he can love her back -
most of all
for the children...
I start up my car and I realize why I had forgotten milk until this moment.

Josh and his girl... (s)

Lindsey is engaged! We had a shower for her on March 5th 2011. It was at Amberfield Apartments and was put on by her wedding party along with Carol, Robin and Missy. It was a pre- celebration of the coming together of two families and their friends.
Lindsey and Josh have been going out for 5 years, through those years Jaci Anna has grown to love him so very much.
You can imagine her surprise when she found out at the shower that he had two other pretty girls in his life! They were Josh's sisters, Jori and Jenna. Jaci Anna sat at their table with them and they all got to be friends...
friends and family who would always share their love for Josh Joshnson!
You can't begin to imagine my joy as all these girls come together in one place!
...and even though Josh wasn't there...
you could tell how very much he is loved,
by a whole lot of girls!

Irish by birth

My dad, the big "moose" was born on St.Patrick's day, 1934. He weighed 3 pounds. It was always a favorite story of the Meyer's to tell how he was born at home and the midwife didn't think he would make it. They swaddled him up and put him in a shoebox and kept him by the oven door for warmth. Well, that 3 pound baby boy came home from the service at 6' 4" weighing over 220 pounds!!
Through the years I remember people talking about what "nationality" they were, and Meyer was of course - so they said, German. If you would ask my dad he would say he was Irish. Any body born on March 17th must be Irish!
This year when we went to pick up gramma Dorius from the Harren's it was on March 17th. Emily had all the kids dressed in green for the day.
Looks like Grandpa Moose's Irish genes have been passed on!

The landing zone...

Remember when I told you that Clohe got kicked out of Foley...
Well I'll be...
Look where she landed!!!

Sold to the gramma in the second row!

Grandma Doris found this little find at a garage sale in Arlington. She saw it but didn't buy it as it was $35.00 and not really something we needed for our Jaci Anna. When I talked to mom at the end of the day she told me all about it, how cute it was, and although it was quite a bit of money for a "not needed" purchase... well, it sure was cute! I agreed it sounded wonderful and although $35 was a lot, I would pay for half. Okay, so that would be $17.50 a piece... not bad for a "not needed" purchase.
If it was there on Saturday when Grandma went back the chair would be ours...
if it wasn't then we would know that someone who needed it, got it!
Saturday: The chair is still there, she picks it up with a little bit of excietment - perhaps knowing how sweet our little girls will look in it when the camera lens captures the moment! She holds tight and goes to the check out table...
SOLD!!!
And as you can see by this picture our Jaci Anna has enjoyed her chair... it has been used for many pictures, many story books.
And now, we have our Nola Jean, and Jordyn Noel...
I am thinking our "not needed" purchase will indeed be put to good use!

Blessings

I love these pictures of our Jordyn Noel. She is such a happy content baby. Just looking at her smile makes my insides all warm and fills me with peace. So I write out this prayer for myself and for all those needing to know joy. May God Bless you!!

Because of Calvary, I'm free to choose.
I choose love...
No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy...
I will refuse to be cynical - I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I choose peace...
I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I choose gentleness...
If I raise my voice may it be only in praise.

I choose self-control.
I will be influenced only by God, taught by Christ.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. To these things I commit my day.

If I succeed, I will give thanks.
If I fail, I will seek God's grace.
And at then end of each day...
I will think of all my Blessings
Place my head on my pillow and rest.

Lola

What can you do when you have a wedding coming up in Minnesota, and a gramma living in Bryant, South Dakota who isn't feeling well?
Take a day and go out and see her!
So that is what we did, left on a Friday night after work and went to see my 97 year old grandma...
Lola Bernice LaBore Fisher.
She didn't have a whole lot to say...
but sometimes
a picture paints a 1,000 words
and there is no need for speech -
and sometimes
all you can do is touch in silence
and LOVE.

The God Parents

I remember living with Doug and Linda and babysitting for Brenda when I was 19. My mom and dad had went to Lavern for a little visit. I was sitting with Brenda and I went into the bathroom. When I came out there was water all over...
and more water...
and it didn't quit?
I had no idea what was happening so I called Linda at work. Thank you Lord that Linda had two children and knew exactly what was wrong... my water had broke - it was time for birth even though it wasn't time.
We went to the Arlington Hospital and there they decided to transfer me to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. This baby wasn't due until October 8th and it was August 7th, 1980. Linda rode with me in the ambulance and got a hold of my mom and dad. I don't remember one bit being afraid - well, why would I be? I had Linda with me!
My water had indeed broke and then you have to give birth within 24 hours in order to not risk infection to mother and baby. I don't remember a lot of details but I do remember that when we had Emily Jo baptized, Linda and Doug were the God parents. They had been there for me at a time when no one else really could. Through the years Linda and Doug gave such loving care to my family and always treated Emily Jo as if she were a princess...
and indeed she was a princess...
a princess of the most High King!
Thank you to Linda and Doug for always being there with such love and care, for always being a part of our lives! I love you more than you will ever know.
And now - 30 years later, here is Linda...
holding the princess's princess -
and the circle of life continues.

Lord, please bless these special people and their family.
They have been our friends sense I was a young girl.
They have stood beside our family as if they were our own...
laughed with us, shared much joy...
and helped us to carry our burdens.
They say a grateful thought towards Heaven is the most complete prayer.
Lord, I send you a grateful thought...
I am so -thankful for Linda and Doug and their family!
Amen!

Can you give me a C?

I remember this day exactly... although I don't exactly remember the date. I know that Carol took off from her work to come to our "CLOWNING AROUND" day at my work. She came into my office and handed me a blown up rubber glove and said "here, let me give you a hand with that!". Well, we hadn't even began and I was laughing so hard I needed a bathroom, stat! We each had our costumes ready to go and thank-goodness we thought we were funny as you never know how these things will go over!
Down the hall through the chapel and into the atrium we came on our bicycle built for two. (We borrowed this from Carol's sister Jeannie - and it was a perfect old bike with a rubber horn and a wicker basket!) What more could two clowns ask for?
As we were driving our bike with me in the front, we stopped on center stage and sang a few bars...

DAISY DAISY GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER DO...
I'M HALF CRAZY EVER SENSE I MET YOU...
THIS MIGHT NOT BE A STYLISH CARRIAGE...
I FOUND IT OUT IN THE GERAGE...
BUT WITH YOUR BIG FEET, YOU'LL LOOK SWEET ON THIS BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO!!

SUNFLOWER, SUNFLOWER, THIS IS YOUR ANSWER TRUE...
I'M ONLY CRAZY WHEN EVER I'M WITH YOU...
IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD A CARRIAGE...
THEN THERE WILL NOT BE A MARRIAGE...
AS WITH YOUR BIG SEAT, IT'S NOT A TREAT, TO SHARE YOUR BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO!!

After our song we told a few jokes, watched Gramps the clown blow up a few balloons, and then tried to play our instruments. This pictures shows us tuning up our guitars and kazoo's - I was asking Daisy to give me a C...
she had no idea what I was talking about so it was even more funny!
Well, she gave me a C
and as you can see
we truly think we are funny...
and it makes me think of our toast to the yellow boots... "May everyone think we are as funny as we think we are!"
Thank-you for this memory my friend!

LEMONADE STANDS!

She was probably about 9 when she first took her sisters to the corner of Hiway 5 and Baker Street. She set up the table and so artistically made the sign..

I know she is hoping people will see the three of them sitting there in front of "This Old House, Garden and Gifts"... she is hoping they will really want that lemonade that her and her sisters have made.
It is orange, the color of the pitcher they will make it in.

The three of them in the kitchen on Baker Street, mixing it up with just the right amount of sugar and love, adding ice cubes when they are done with the wooden spoon. It is pink, the color of little girls.

The three of them walking the short distance to the corner, Emily in the front, adding just the right amount of leadership to the mix as the neighbors join in.
It is red, the color of love.

The five of them setting up shop in front of this old house, Emily still leading the group and the rest of them watching her so closely - learning the tricks of the trade, learning how to be a leader, to mix, to bring people together.
It is purple, the color of friendship.

And now, many years later - my memories continue to blend together and yet there are so many vivid reminders of the days gone by. And I see my little girls, little girl making her way in the world...
It is green, the color of my mind.

Coloring...
Mixing lemonade...
Building friendships...

She is the color of the rainbow
She is my precious girl.

The three bears, another chapter.

There is a new thrift store in Foley! Emily has found quite a few great things already... it has been open three weeks, all those goods housed in the huge shed that had been called the "Cracker Barrell".
Tonight she calls me. She found Conner a dinosaur, it is about a foot high and it has blinking eyes and makes sounds when the batteries aren't dead. It has kept him busy for about 2 hours now and the stories that Emily has from those hours are hilarious. My favorite:
The dinosaur is at Conners feet, he is using his hands to regulate the body around the room. The dinosaur stops at the first little people and takes a bite...
"Oh this person is way to hot" - so he moves on to the next and takes a bite...
"Oh this person is way to cold" - so he moves on to the next and takes a bite...
"Oh this person is just right, I think I will eat the whole thing!"
and so
he eats the whole thing and runs off into the woods to find his family...
I wonder if Brokery is still living out there?

Sadness under the Oak Tree

When I would drive "airport road" I would always have a memory of a story that someone once told me. As the years had gone by I could not remember if it was true or if in my childish mind that is what I thought to be true. We lived on this road when I was about 10 years old and stayed there until I was 16. The farm site was owned by Floyd Boerner, and people in town called it "Boerners Hills". The drive way was a mile long with a curve to the North as you got up by the house. It was a beautiful place with the creek running along the whole piece of land and many hills for sledding. It had a huge red barn (which was taken out in the tornado of 1984), a corn crib, chicken coop, and a white shed with a large retail sign on it. At one time this had been a working farm with many buildings that housed alot of machinery that worked the land. When we moved out there it came with a St. Bernard dog! It wasn't real long that we had him and then Floyd Boerner came to claim him. There was a huge windmill with a water pump under it. The farm was only about 2 miles from town, 3 if you counted the drive way! If you would turn right out of the drive and go towards Glencoe, you would first pass the creek going over a small bridge. As you kept traveling you would go past the Catholic Cemetery, a farm place owned by Kickers and then on the East side of the road... there was this memory that I would think about through the years. It was a small, very old Cemetery. I have never stopped there but it is close to the road. A large old Oak Tree with many arms reaches out in all directions. Under this spreading Oak tree just to the left is a large head stone, with 2 smaller stones to the left, and 2 on the right.

In my mind this is what I remember... someone told me that the big stone was a mother and that the 4 small stones were her kids. I hear in my mind that they were all killed by the father and that one boy lived, that is who puts the flowers by the stone every year... he lives somewhere by Stillwater. The family lived on a farm just 3 miles west of Arlington, just past a house that my mind tells me was the "old one room school house". The house they say it happened is the same house my fourth grade love lived, Nickey Flemming.

Years later when I was 37 years old I worked for an older couple who lived in Arlington. George and Eva where a fountain of knowledge of things that happened in Arlington over the years. George was born, raised, and raised his family all in the same town. He was about 90 years old when I was sitting at their Island in the kitchen, talking about memories. I searched in to the webs of my memory and told him about this story that I am not sure if I made up or if someone had told me. I told him about the headstones under the spreading oak - just North of the Catholic cemetery...
and I'll be...
if George didn't tell me the whole story, filling in all the spaces of a memory that I wasn't sure was real - making it seem as though it had just happened...
you see,
there was this farm just west of Arlington, it was the place right after the old one room school house that has been changed into a home. The family who lived there were all killed by the father except for one child. They say he had married the woman, she was a widow with 1 child and they had four together. She carried on and carried on to that man until he just couldn't take it anymore. One morning he made breakfast and called them all downstairs to come and eat it... as each one came down he shot them - only one escaped the bullets and that was her son by another man. He took off through the fields heading towards Glencoe, running north west through the plowed land. People soon found out what happened as the oldest son went to the neighbors to get help. The law found him just this side of the Brewery Road. He was taken to Henderson and that is were they hanged him for his crime... admitting his guilt, wanting to die for his sin, there was no trial... just a large spreading oak in the heart of Henderson, with a rope.

These kind of things didn't happen in Arlington. I remember the cop as I was growing up being one of my best friends grandpa. He was kind to everyone and there was never much reason for him to get his arms about him, people were good. I think of this family often... wondering if that boy is still living. Is he in Stillwater? As I look at the flowers that I know weren't there last spring.

Forever changed - another moment

He was going to be leaving LTC (Loving Tender Cares) and going home after 3 months of rehabilitation. I had seen him on and off... tall, slim, nice looking 97 year old. I never really knew quite what it was, but this man had a definite presence about him, something that made you stop and look at how you were living your life.
Isn't it funny, today, the day he is leaving for home - I happen to have a little extra time, he happens to be awake and in his room when I stop by.

"It looks like you have everything ready to go, I am happy for you, all has gone well here with your recovery from your fall... you get to go home!"
"I am looking forward to going home. This has been a wonderful place for me, but it is time, time for me to move on. The girls are taking my drivers license away from me... I am not sure that I like that... we will have to see how things go when I get home, I know I am 97 - but, I am still alive and well."
(he says this with an assurance that tells me that if he thinks he can drive he will be!)
There is time, the right words just seem to come to me at this moment.
"So, tell me Delbert, in your 97 years, what do you think is the most important moment in your life... the one you remember the most, the one that changed you?"

From this one question I get the most beautiful story I have ever heard.

It was when I was 23 years old. I was in the war and I was a bomber pilot. (He tells me a few stories and talks about General Patten and what a brilliant man he was.) One day I was in a city that had been bombed, we were looking it over to see what needed to be done - there was a smell in the air I couldn't quite describe. I asked the man who was with me what the smell was and he appeared to not hear me, or not to want to answer. We talked some more and walked, the smell becoming more intense. Again I asked "what is that smell?" What he answered with would change the course of my life forever. My friend told me it was the smell of the women and children who had been left in the city to hide before the bombing.
I stopped right where we were - standing in one place. I don't know how long it was maybe around 15 minuets or more - I was alone in this place and my life went before me - I believe God was there with me as I went through exactly what part I had played in this tragedy. When I came back to life, back to the town with the smell, I said "There must be another way". In that spot I dedicated my life to that other way. When I came back to the states I went to school and studied and became a minister. Dedicating my life and basing my ministry on that moment.

He gave me many details, telling the story in such a way that when he was done the tears forming in my eyes spilled onto my cheeks. I couldn't believe I was so blessed again, and got to be here, got to be a part of this story. I knew I needed to end our conversation, people would be wondering where I was. I ended by saying "Thank-you, I love that story, and yes, there must be another way..."

He looked at me with those beautiful 97 years, touched my hand and said "There IS another way."

I left that room, left that moment...
forever changed.

(Names and locations have been changed - these stories are true only in my mind)