My Little Chefs

My aunt was a public school music teacher for over 30 years. She was amazing. Well, she still is as a private voice teacher. I gave birth to three of her students.

She had an annual tradition for many years called the Kidnap Breakfast. A team of parents would have a list of addresses and they'd go pick the students up at some unholy hour on a Saturday morning. The students could grab one item besides what they slept in before they were rushed out the door. Soon there would be a cafeteria full of half asleep students. My grandparents, my mom, me, and more devoted parents would be the cooking team. We'd have to arrive at the school at 4 in the a of m to start biscuits, scrambled eggs, gravy, and bacon. Tons. We'd be cracking eggs for hours. Hours I tell you.

My grandpa Vernon was the biscuit master. I ate them every Sunday of my life with grandmas gravy and other fixings. After several years of being the chefs of the Kidnap Breakfast my aunt bought chef hats for everyone. When my mom passed away I of course got hers, but I was blessed to get grandpas also when he passed away.

McKinley pulled it out a few days ago to make omelets for everyone. She looked so cute I had to take a picture. And then Reagan pulled my moms out. But she had a few problems getting it to stay up. No worries. Kennedy stepped in to help.I love that these amazing people are being remembered in such a fun way:c)

May 23, 2010

Last Sunday would have been my mom's 67th birthday. The last one I celebrated with her was her 53rd.

She worked at our local college for many years and was loved by students and faculty and staff.

I took Kennedy and Reagan up to the campus to take some pictures. But instead of taking pictures of them, I took pictures of the bricks at the Centennial Plaza.Shawn and I have a brick somewhere in the mix but for the life of me, I can never find it. In my search I found several that were picture worthy.

Love the humor.A Jimi Hendrix quote on the campus of a religious university. Look at this one. That's all one family. What a heritage. This is my grandmother's family. She married my grandpa when I was 1. That's four generations represented.My next door neighbor in the dorm. I met her in the first week when I heard her sobbing through a cement wall and went over to check on her. She was a bit homesick. She got over it and lived there four years total.My neighbors. In the 40's students had to sit at the three times a week chapel services in alphabetical order. Don and Joy Beaver sat next to each other. Because of that they fell in love and have been married for over 50 years.Our former neighbor Lois Brasher. She was a widow by the time we moved in. Shawn was her handyman extraordinaire. He would often say that he was going to Lois's. Because of that, McKinley thought her real names was Lois's.But here's my favorite brick. I got all photography class on it and got down on the ground with my Nifty Fifty lens. With the biggest aperture I got this awesome depth of field and what is now one of my favorite pictures.I put this photo on Facebook last night and my a friend put a wonderful comment. Mom was his dad's secretary. His dad was Dean of Students for many years.

Hey Steph - your mom was the coolest staff person at the college. Many, many times she would bail me out by typing something for me (remember, this was before we had computers!); she always looked out for me, watched over me, reminded me of important things (like mom and dad's anniversary, b-days, etc.)...BUT what I remember most was the morning she called my dorm room and said, "Bruce, Dr. Barnard would like to see you at 10am in his office." (she never, never called dad Dr. Barnard)...that was the day Dave Richards and I were ratted out for an insignificant prank...when I saw Dave later that morning, he said, "Hey, Kerry called me and said your dad wants to meet me at 10am" and we both knew we were busted...I know my dad attributes much of his success to your mom...she was a wonderful person who loved life, the college kids, and her family!!

How's that for a start to your day? It made mine.

I love you Mom!

Happy Mother's Day

I am spending my day resting.

Just what I needed.

Mother's Day is always bittersweet for me because even though I am the mother of three fabulous daughters, I don't have my mom anymore.

I don't need to stir up emotions but I did want to share a few pictures with you.

We wanted to wait three years to have children but after four months of marriage we found out I was pregnant. My mom found out the day after McKinley was born that she had breast cancer for the third time. She lived 5 1/2 months. We know that God intervened so that she could be a grandmother.

She was actually the first person to hold McKinley. Shawn took this picture. It has been framed and displayed in our house ever since.

Isn't it precious? It moves me every time I look at it.

And this one was after she was elected basketball queen in 1961. It hangs on my living room wall. I love that her dress had a pocket. That's popular now. I love how things come back in style. Except the 80's clothes I'm seeing now. That is not in the least bit necessary.

And now back to those three girls I have the joy of mothering. Look what they let me do to them today.Love it!

I hope that the mothers reading this have had just the kind of day they wanted to. I know I have!

When The Lilacs Bloom

When spring arrives in Oklahoma my lilacs bloom.

I have three. Sadly I can't see them from any windows.

Before the pool opens we have the most beautiful backyard.

We have two Redbuds that bloom a pinky purple color,
(I have no idea how they got the name red),

a yellow forsythia,a fruitless plum that has beautiful pinky purple blooms,and several almost 100 year old purple Iris's. But the thing that gets me out the door? The three lilacs.

Well, really just one of them.

Lilacs were my mom's favorite flowers. At the house across the street that I grew up in there was an amazing lilac bush. It was right outside the back door and it was a show stopper. That was one of the saddest things to leave behind when we moved. Where it was is now a great room so it has been lost. But at our second house in the neighborhood my mom bought and planted a lilac. When we moved back and bought this house the owners of moms old one called and asked if we'd like to have it. Thank goodness for a small town and family friends. It ended up in our front flower bed. After a few years I moved it to the back right behind the girls swing set. I wanted it to be enjoyed when in full bloom. The girls love to play outside as soon as spring has sprung and they see it in all its glory. McKinley was 5 1/2 months old when my mom died so none of my girls knew her. But they have a little part of her with them when they're playing.

Today I was having an emotional day. Going through the MRI and ultrasound made me have my mom on my mind. As I pulled into the garage I saw the lilac peeking over the brick wall. I went to it and just breathed in its beauty. And yes, I got a little teary. I snapped one of the prettiest blooms off and put it in one of my favorite vases. And then I knew I had to share its beauty with all of you.

Treasure the people in your life. And once they are gone, treasure the little things left behind that spark the wonderful memories. And breath in the sweet fragrance.

Thanks to my sweet McKinley for the first three pictures:c)

Race for the Cure

I lost my mom in August of '96 to breast cancer complications.

She was 53 years old.

Her mother also died at 53 of cancer complications.

Because of that I have walked the Race for the Cure several years in their memory. Two years ago I felt led to run the race. I had tried running before. Okay, twice. Now I had a reason and a cause. I followed the Couch to 5k 9-week program and ended the final day by running the race without stopping. A huge personal accomplishment for a truly lazy person like myself.

This year I couldn't find anyone to run it with. (Insert Stephanie's pouty face here.) Our church had the first of what will become a traditional 5k and my running friends were doing that race. I love my church but my loyalties lie with breast cancer research and not wells in Africa. Sorry. Shawn did run it but that hilarious story is going to have to be another post. This is all about me.

My Bible Study leaders are both breast cancer survivors. They, and also sisters of each one, walk it every year as survivors. A group of other family members and friends join them. This year I joined their group.

The morning of the festivities started out at 38 degrees. You can tell by looking at Rhonda that it was down right chilly.

Here's part of our group. We look cold, don't we? As we were standing around waiting to start this man walked up. These three ladies got all misty eyed and started hugging him. He was their oncologist. It was put in perspective when Brenda said, "This is the man who saved our lives." He runs the race every year with his sons. How amazing is that?After some warm up exercises and the National Anthem white doves were released to honor those who had lost the battle. I of course started crying as the flew away into the sunset. I'm crying now as I type this. 13 years later it is still hard.As the gun shot we were off and my feet were itching to run. I really wished I'd had the confidence to run it by myself. Instead I watched the runners set off as I started the walk with my camera ready for whatever may happen.This is such a fun event because of the firefighters,cheerleaders,characters, and a completely different type of characters.As always I love to find fun t-shirts. Someday I'm designing my own. Hold me to that, will you?And the signs. Oh the signs. As a walker I took the time to read as many as I could. Needless to say, I cried the entire one mile walk. As we approached the finish line the finishers of the 5k were heading in. Do you see the thighs on that guy?Even though I hadn't run it I still had done my little tiny part to find a cure. In my little part of So that was the happy side of my day.

Now for the other side.

My Bible Study leader is a wonderful teacher. I look forward to our Tuesday mornings together. But after we leave the church our relationship is different. She is good friends with some of my good friends but we're not close. Does that make sense? I always feel on the outside.

Anyway.

Two of the ladies knew my mom, and know what I've gone through. One of them was one of my mom's best friends.....my mom wasn't mentioned at all. Is that selfish of me? I don't know if they were trying to keep me happy, or if they didn't even think about it.

I struggle every day with questions as to why they were healed and my mom wasn't. That is between God and me though. I felt like the whole reason for me being there was forgotten and instead we focused on the survivors. Don't get me wrong, I celebrate their life. But I also mourn a death.

So, both sides of my day. Think I'm crazy?? It's okay, I can handle the truth:c)

And just for fun...we've discussed before how I am soooo not a crowd person. This was the view around me. I have no idea how I didn't freak out and hyperventilate.

Could someone hand me a paper bag please??