GARRET

It has been nearly two months now since Garret returned to the states from Iraq. I haven't gotten to give him a hug yet, or even see him in person, but that is okay. For now, it is enough to know that he is no longer in the war zone.
It has been nearly two months now since Garret returned to the states from Iraq.  I haven't gotten to give him a hug yet, or even see him in person, but that is okay.  For now, it is enough to know that he is no longer in the war zone.  This is the picture his wife took of him on the way from the airport to their home.  Think he is glad to be back?

He sent us a few pictures while he was gone, and I am looking forward to seeing more when we can visit, hopefully, in the Spring.  I want to hear more about his experiences, too, although because of the nature of his job, there will be a lot of things he will not be able to share with us.

Their first child is expected near Thanksgiving, and they have been busy preparing for her arrival.  I am not sure which one of them is the most excited. 

Kate, nee Kalee, has been busy making all kinds of delicious things from the apples they have picked at nearby orchards, and she has lots of good food put up for the winter.  Can't wait to taste her homemade applesauce and apple butter.

This is such a special time for them, and while I wish we lived closer so we could share in it more, I do think though, that maybe it is even more special for them to live through this without nosy and interferring grandparents. lol  Now, I did offer to act as mid-wife as I have had experience in helping with the birth of puppies, but alas, my offer was turned down.  Maybe next time. (but I'm not holding my breath)

LEFT OR RIGHT

Are you left or right handed?  My mother and brother were left handed, and I am right handed, as was my father.  Two of my children are right handed, and one is left handed. There are some things that I can do with either hand, such as iron clothes or sweep the floor.  I imagine that is because while my natural tendency is to do these things right handed, I learned to iron and sweep from my left handed mother.  I also shoot a rifle or shotgun left handed, but a hand gun right handed.

My older son is left handed, but he also uses the right hand for some things. He plays guitar left handed, kicks a football left handed, bats left handed, throws a ball right handed but a frisbee left handed.

UPDATE ON GARRET

It has been nearly a week and a half since Garret left for Iraq, and I am feeling much better about the situation.  We have been talking with him nearly every day via Skype, and it has helped to hear his voice.  He was in Qatar for a couple of days, and I was glad when he got away from there.  It was very dry and dusty, and he had already picked up a cough from the poor air quality.  He sounds better since arriving in Baghdad, although I saw where they were having wind and dust there today.

He started his new job immediately upon arriving in Baghdad, didn't even get to settle in his quarters before flying out on a training mission, but has had a little down time since then.

Anyway, I miss him so much, but I am not worrying quite as much.

WAR AND FAMILY

I have been thinking about this posting for some time, trying to get my thoughts in order. Because I feel so emotional about this, my mind keeps rushing back and forth. I'm not sure that I am really ready to do it, but here goes.

My ancestors came to this country in the 1600's.  I think they have fought in nearly every war our country has been involved in.  I know they fought in some of the Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War.  In fact, family members fought on opposite sides in the Civil War.  I'm not really sure about World War I, but we were well represented in World War II.  My brother was excused from the draft when his time came, as he had some weaknessess left in his muscles from the polio he suffered as a child.  There were cousins in Viet Nam, a war I did not believe we should be involved in. 

As I believe I have mentioned before, I was a tomboy growing up.  Besides playing cowboys and Indians, I also played cops and robbers and of course, war.  I can remember how noble I felt rolling down the bank on the north side of our yard, pretending I had been shot and with my last breath I was holding the American flag high.

But now war is no longer a game, or something to hear family stories about.  It is no longer fun.  It is real, and it is the scariest thing I have ever had to face.  Garret, my youngest, leaves for Iraq in four days.  He will be gone for six months.

He and his wife have been busy preparing for his deployment.  We were hoping to see him before he leaves, but there was just no way we could arrange it.  He certainly didn't have time to come home, and we couldn't afford to go to Maryland. It is probably just as well, he wouldn't like me crying over him all the time.  He keeps telling me that he wants to go, and that he is not worried.  I know that his job is not the most dangerous, but that is small comfort.  He is my child, and I will worry.  He is going to see and experience things that he never dreamed of.  I hope he is mentally and physically ready for this.

So, we will send him hugs and kisses, and wish him God speed home.  We will pray for him, send him mail, and talk to him on Skype when we can.  We will be here when Kalee needs to talk, or wants to share thoughts with us.  And we will count the days and wait.

I love you, Garret.

Dreams

Do you ever have one of those dreams which make no sense, but which seem to follow you around all day?  I had one of those last night, and it has kept popping up in my mind all day.

I dreamed I had just given birth to a baby girl.  The hospital was going to dismiss us right away, but since I told them that I was s-o-o-o tired they said that we could stay one night.  I have no idea where my baby was, but apparently I spent the night on the floor of what appeared to be a doctor's exam room.  In the morning, I realized that I had forgotten to bring anything for the baby to wear home, and had not even purchased a car seat.  So, after searching some time for my clothes I headed off to Wal-Mart. 

Upon my return to the hospital, I had a terrible time trying to figure out where I was supposed to go to check my baby and I out.  A concerned nurse finally showed me where to go and explained the procedure.  After dressing my child, I would have to go to the parking lot and bring my car up to one of the doors.  Then I would come inside to get the child, and the nurse would take us back out to the car in a wheelchair.  Hospital procedure, you see. 

I was really wishing that I had someone to help me with all of this, but my husband (Wayne?) was out of town, and Terri, my daughter, was working.  I don't know where everyone else in the family were.

I woke up before finding out if my new daughter and I ever made it home.  At the time I woke up, I was trying to decide what to name her.  I still haven't picked out a name.  Any suggestions?

Blizzard of 2011

This past week was a week of weather alerts.  We had winter storm advisories, winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings, and wind chill warnings.  In spite of all of this, I didn't think the weather was near as bad as some we have had.  Sure, we had a lot of snow and blowing snow, but within one day all of the main roads were open.  Some of the back roads are still bad, I hear, but that is not so ununual after a winter storm.  Interstate 70 was closed one night, between Kansas City and St. Louis, and that was unusual.  All in all, I would say we got off pretty lucky.  Ice storms elsewhere had big power outages and hundreds of stranded motorists.  I do feel sorry for all the school kids who will have so many days to make up.  Schools are reportedly trying to decide now whether to lengthen the school days, schedule Saturday school, or extend the school year to make up those days. 

Family News

In my last post I left out some of our family news. 

In just a few short months I am going to become a great grandma again.  My daughter is soon to welcome her first grandson.  As a matter of fact, he will be the first grandchild on both sides of his family!  Do I hear spoiled?  I think it is wonderful.

Other news isn't so welcome to me.  Garret will be leaving for Iraq on February 27th.  We thought that he was going to be stationed one place for his entire tour of duty over there, but he informed us today that that place will be his main place, but he will be flying around to different camps to do his job.  Makes me wish even more that I could refuse to sign his permission slip for the trip, and that would keep him from going.  Even if that were possible I don't suppose it would work.  He wants to go, so he would probably fake my signature.

We were looking forward to him coming home for a few days before shipping out, but he wasn't able to manage it.  Kalee has had some health concerns, so naturally he needed to be there with her.  I don't resent this; that is where he should be, with his wife.  I don't know if that was the only reason he couldn't get back, but we will just keep him in our prayers until we see him upon his return.  He will be able to keep in contact with us while he is gone, so that is a good thing.

I think this brings me more up to date.  I really will try to do better.

Holidays and Health

So much for all of my plans to keep my thoughts on life more up to date on here.  I just checked, and my last blog was in October. I really do need to blog more often.  I have great ideas to write about, but then I don't blog for a few months, and by then I have forgotten everything I had intended to talk about. 

A lot has happened in the last few months.  For Thanksgiving this year we decided not to cook a big dinner for just the two of us.  We decided to go to the truck stop in Cameron, so we did.

We ended up taking son Danny and his son Alan with us.  Alan's family had gone to his wife's family for the day, but he had decided to stay home.  I was glad that he and Danny went with us; it was fun.

Garret and Kalee had talked about coming back for Thanksgiving, but they decided not to make the long trip.  I'm always glad to see them, but I hated for them to make a twenty-two hour drive one way.  They are always tired when they get here, and the twenty two hour drive home is even more tiring.

This was the first time in years that Danny was able to be home for Christmas.  He went with us when my side of the family got together at Terri's and Don's a few days before Christmas.  Christmas day Wayne and I spent home alone.  We cooked a traditional Christmas dinner, and just relaxed.  It really was nice.  Danny spent Christmas morning with Alan and his family, so he got to see the kids open their presents. Kids make Christmas morning special.

We have had some pretty good snowfalls the last few weeks.  I believe they are calling for snow again the first of the week, and we still have lots left from the last storm.  Reminds me of the snows we had when I was a child.

Terri has gotten a job at Liberty Hospital, and will be undergoing training for another four weeks.  It is a part time job as a unit secretary, and she thinks she is going to like it quite well.

Danny still hasn't found a job, but he has sure applied a lot of places.  He is hoping he can get unemployment benefits before long, if he doesn't find something quickly.

I went for my six month visit with my primary pulmonary doctor this last Thursday, and the report wasn't good.  I knew my breathing had seemed worse to me, and he confirmed that it wasn't as good as on my last visit.  The bad part is that he said that there is nothing more he can do for me, other than medications to make it easier to handle the worst times.  I knew this was coming, but it was still a bit of a shock.  He gave me a medication to take for a month to see how I do on it, so I have to go back in March, instead of waiting six months.  I also have a new "worst times" prescription that I can take every six hours, as needed.  I shouldn't need it every day, only when the breathing causes panic attacks or extra stress. He has told me that shortness of breath is the most stressfull on the body.  Nice. Oh, well; I'm not in the grave yet, so it could be worse.

I've read some good books lately, as well as listened to several audio books that I really liked.  It is always so much fun to find a new author that you really like, and when you discover that he, or she, has written several books in the series it makes it even better.

Sorry I didn't have a lot of memories for you this time, Anna.  Have to think back on my life a little more.  Feel free to remind me of those days. lol