Painted Turtles

If you had the time what would you do? Take the time each day to sit with the Lord and give thanks for all of your Blessings. Are you having a hard time, wondering what your blessings today were? First you got up and found out the toothpaste was gone so you stumbled into the kitchen to find out your husband used the last of the milk - so you grab an apple and it slips out of your hand onto the sticky floor, bruising most of the good parts... okay, start on your way to work, you hit a painted turtle with your car (you have been trying to find one for 3 years for the grand kids to see) and as you are feeling bad about that you all of a sudden notice that there is cat prints all over your car window and you drop the full water bottle onto the floor as you reach to kill the mosquito that just bit you... okay, how about your day at work, a coworker is crabby and one of the clients rolls over your foot with her wheelchair not bothering to say she is sorry as she is busy looking for the "other" staff that helped her yesterday and then you are looking at your mangled foot and you trip on the piece of carpet that has an ever so small hole in it and you look around to make sure no one saw it and notice that your bra strap is showing and probably has been most of the day so you go to the bathroom to fix it and the door is locked and suddenly you have to pee like you never have before and the nearest bathroom is at the opposite end of the building and before you know it the day is over and you are on your way home and you see that the painted turtle is still there and you start feeling guilty all over again and notice that the pelicans that have been there all week are still there...
... you slow down to really look at them and how beautiful they are
... you get home and take off your shoes and it feels so good to have your bare feet against the cold floor
... you get to go to the lake to see your grand kids, you have so much you need to do first...
... your husband has supper ready and you tell him about the turtle
... and he tells you that he loves you and touches your tears rolling down your cheeks
... and you realize right then that everything that happened to you today was good if you want it to be
... and there really isn't anything you have to do before you go to see your grand kids...
... and so you take a deep breath and give thanks for your blessings
... and you keep looking for a painted turtles!

hospitals, cell phones, little boys and the zoo

On June 25th 2010 - Nola Jean was getting ready to come into the world. For such an occasion all her aunties would be there at the hospital. It was a Stormie night outside and Emily was driving at night with JaciAnna and Conner. Emily was rounding the bend to Glencoe Regional Health Services and Lindsey called her on the cell phone to tell her that she would meet her in the emergency room and bring them to the lounge to await the birth. Emily gave Conner the phone as she was driving. Auntie Lindsey said to Conner in a very slow precise voice:
"Tell your mom that I will meet you guys in the emergency room."
Emily said to Conner "What did Auntie Lindsey say?"
Conner said to his mother in a very slow precise voice:
"Tell your mom to take you to the zoo!!!"

Nola Jean

... and so my baby has had her baby
NOLA JEAN SCHMIDT BUGDAHL. She weighed 7.5 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. Her "apgar" was a 10/10 which is wonderful! One of the nurses that has worked in the maternity ward for over 14 years said she has never given a baby a 10/10 yet, Nola Jean was the first! ... I remember when Lacey Lynn was born in less that 10 minuets ......I was just getting ready to go home after they had try ed to induce me with pit to get my labor started. I went into the bathroom, doubled over in pain... lay ed on the bed and told Curt that I thought the baby's head was out - he looked, turned the whitest shade of pale and said he was going to get a nurse... the nurse delivered our little girl... she said isn't it something "she has a 10 apgar!' ...Isn't funny how things go? Isn't it quite a miracle when you think of it?
...Just Wednesday night this little life was swimming around in her mothers tummy... you could see her outline it seemed - her little hands and feet, her body doing strokes of the most skilled swimmer inside her mother... and now she is here in our home a week later.
...laying in her little bassinet
...like a little pea pod
hands wrapped within her infant blanket
swaddled for her comfort
as before this day she swam in the small safety of her mothers pool
today she swims in the ocean of the world
and the Lord has truly blessed us with another life...
His hand is upon her life and we give thanks Dear Lord for Nola Jean
swimming
and pea pods!

Yellow Boots laughing

One December week-end we were sitting around in our "green room" talking, making plans for our upcoming "crazy sweater party". We had decided this would be an annual tradition, We will pick a date in January hoping to find one when all the kids and their families can come. Each year will be a theme! As we are sitting there the three of us are coming up with stories, making plans...
...I remember the laughter
...I can't quite remember what we were laughing about
...but I do remember how much we enjoy laughing...

and Carol says: I think our New Years resolution this year will be
"MAY EVERYONE THINK WE ARE AS FUNNY AS WE THINK WE ARE"
and Carol, Robin and I continue to laugh so hard...
...and we still laugh - thus, it has become more of our "THEME" then a New Years resolution.
It is now June of 2010 and I just think about it and it makes me smile and then the smile turns into laughter and I can feel the whole sun shining within my soul and I realize just how Blessed I am to be living in such a time as this - and I thank my God for laughter and for giving me my family and friends to laugh with...

...and so I end this story with "I hope you think we are as funny as we think we are, but if you don't that is okay also as we think we are funny, and when we are laughing that is all that really matters!!"

Yellow Boots

Friendship is a wonderful thing. I cannot imagine a day going by without talking with my friends... Ralph Waldo Emerson asserted that there are two cornerstones to friendship. One is truth, the other tenderness. I agree. We have all three been the best of friends ever sense I was knee high to a grasshopper (wow, was I ever that small?) - anyway...
Carol and I were the best of buds taking our second year of Model Office class - taught by Mr. Darnell Halverson out at the Sibley County Fairgrounds. We were quite proud of ourselves as we met up with all those "Gaylord girls" - and I don't know fore sure anymore why they didn't like us - but, it wasn't long and we accepted Robin in to our friendship... we were now three - inseparable - lovable girls!! I don't remember a whole lot of that first year, Carol and I seniors and Robin a junior - I do remember boys and liking them alot. I remember Joe Prodahls light blue leisure suit, Joel Glaser a white leisure suit. I remember dusting woodwork, Ringos maroon car, the stuff all being to one side after she took a corner. Carol having me drive her parents car as she didn't want anyone to know it was hers, Jan driving us around in Gaylord, Mother Mary magnets holding the car together... the cops stopping her and telling her to take the car home and "retire it" Looking for a comb in a barn full of hay 2 days after we had been there, the smell of Brut aftershave and loves baby soft... losing my glasses... the carp damn... losing my 2nd pair of glasses...
...After I graduated we had a short time of falling out when I was in Willmar and Carol in the cities working and Robin finishing her senior year. I remember being in the Arlington Hospital for something to do with my bladder and giving Carol a call to renew our friendship. We have NEVER been a part sense! Oh, yes, we have a had a few disagreements but we have always taken the extra step of forgiveness and remained friends - for 33 years!! My only complaint is I wish we would have journaled more about all the times we got together through the years and all the things we did as families together. Ringo does have documentation of most of our trips to Grand Marias (If you are ever looking for it it is in a notebook, black one, I believe that she saved from high school- I also believe she is still using the same pencil)... otherwise the rest is just left to our memories. I will write some memories that I have of us and hopefully Carol and Ringo will do the same - the entries will be called "Yellow Boots"
One beautiful memory is when Robin told me she was pregnant with Brittany... shortly after I realized I was pregnant with Lacey and shortly after that Carol was pregnant with Miranda. We spent alot of time together. On New Years Eve 1987 we all got dressed up, and went to Gaylord for the evening. The place was packed, everyone drinking but us... I remember Curt telling me that night that there was no one more beautiful in that crowd of people than us three pregnant ladies... and he was so happy that I was his!

Shadow

I see you walking around town, your body casting shadows on the cracked sidewalk, and I remember. If I search way back in the archives of my brain I remember your family - young, nice looking but different - that is all I remember. Today I see you and I remember some kind of rumors, I remember your name vaguely from a police report in the paper - I am not sure what it was anymore but I know you had to go to jail for awhile. The rumor was something sexual, but now that I think of it...
...I don't remember it ever being written anywhere what you were accused of.
I know you used to drive semi and now I only see you walking, living in a different part of town... a shadow of the strong bodied person I used to see once in awhile
...now, I see almost daily
...walking down the streets of Arlington
...walking with your head down, I can see a shadow of that cute young boy.
And my heart crys out in prayer for the loneliness that surrounds you -
it casts shadows upon my heart and I lift a prayer for you. Lord, each time I see this man I will lift a prayer that he might come to know You... the silent cry I hear from his heart to mine, will be changed to joy as he learns to trust in You and reach out to touch the hem of Your garment. AMEN

The Wren

He sits outside our bedroom window on his little green and yellow house...
... singing and
......singing and
.........singing - they say this is what the male wren does: He finds what he believes to be a nice home for a family and then he starts
...singing to attract a mate.
The female bird will then hear his sweet song and become curious to see what this guy has to offer.

One day a lady came to check out his place - she skirted around the house flirting with him, fluffing up her feathers, blushing, touching him gently as she looked around ... and then she left with her nose up in the air squawking off key saying "this place will never do...
... and so he continues to sing his beautiful notes
......perfect melodies
.........searching for love - hoping she will hear him before his voice is lost to the unknown.