Brrrr.....

Denver is slowly crawling out of a record breaking cold spell.

The low Tuesday was 5 below zero, breaking the previous record of 4 below zero set in 1882 - 132 years ago!  Our 6 degree high last Wednesday shattered a 98 year old record for the coldest high on that date.  And the record breaking highs and lows continued throughout the week. 

Bottom line - it is COLD!

We have also gotten snow - not nearly as much as my friends in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but enough to make the drive in to and back from work a challenge.

It is so easy to gripe and complain about the weather (I know as I have done my share) that I decided to take a few minutes to remember five good things about the beginning of winter.

Here goes...

1.  Cold weather means cold weather food.  Chili, stews, home made soups and pot roasts.  Baking breads, pies, cakes and cookies.  Crock pot meals.  The smells are mouth watering and the tastes are extraordinarily delicious.  It takes me back to my youth, coming in after a day of playing in the snow and tasting all of those wonderful comfort foods. Yum!

2.    The freshly fallen snow, before a car has marred the smoothness of its surface or the rabbits have left their tiny prints scattered across the yard, is truly beautiful.  The flakes cling to the branches of the trees creating a chilly winter wonderland.  The evening moon makes the whiteness glow with a mystical aura. And the snow capped mountains are breathtaking when the morning sun shines on them.

3.  Sweaters, scarves, and turtlenecks can be worn with abandon.  Bundling up, thanks to the colder weather, we wrap colorful scarves around our necks - adding warmth and a fashionable turn to our winter ensemble.  I get to wear turtlenecks - a hard Midwest habit to break - and no one cares!  (In fact, I think they are a little jealous of the extra warmth my daring fashion disregard brings me.)  We can wear furry winter boots with our jeans carefully tucked in and not worry about looking silly.  (Okay, I live in Colorado - jeans tucked into boots is a pretty normal occurrence - no matter what the weather is like, but still...)

4.  The warmth of a cozy, lit fireplace. Nothing is better than sitting on the hearth until your back is so hot you don't think you can stand it...but yet you hate to move.  If you have a wood fireplace, the snap-crackle-pop can't help but make you smile.  And if you have a gas fireplace like we do, be grateful there is no wood to store and haul; so a fire can be lit in an instant - definitely a reason to smile.

5.  Drinking hot toddies.  I am not actually sure what a hot toddy is, but I do know we get to drink steaming hot chocolate with marshmallows out of cozy mugs that warm our hands and hearts.  We indulge in warm apple cider and try mulled wine.  And then there are Tom & Jerry's, hot buttered rum, and coffee spiked with the liqueur or flavorful creamer of your choice.  What's not to like about that? 

It is not easy to remain positive when life is throwing snowballs and icy cold winds at us - but, sometimes we just need to back up and appreciate the beauty of what God has given us today. 

Think about it. 

Next time the whining about the cold and snow starts to come out of my mouth I am going to try and remember what is good about the winter season ... bundling up in cozy sweaters and scarves, sipping the hot beverage of choice, relaxing in front of a roaring fire, smelling the crockpot meal as it permeates the house, all while enjoying the site of the winter wonderland just outside my window.  How about you? 

    

Linda Sue

Linda Sue (Dornbrack) Perry
Born November 14, 1950
Died September 11, 2012 after a courageous 19 month battle with cancer. 

Linda Sue was my older sister and I miss her every day.  Even after two years I still reach for the phone to give her a call - only to realize I can't.  So, I just talk...

I think about the last time we spoke on the phone.  I was taking a walk though the open space behind our old condo and we talked about nothing...and everything.  I told her about what was going on in my life - the conference I was going to be attending the next week - how Kaitlyn was doing in school - the hikes Lance, Ellie and I had gone on - and how the new house we were building was coming.  She talked about her children and grandchildren - her fight with cancer and how tough it was - and that it might be time to stop the chemo. I told her she needed to hang in there - I was planning on her coming to visit me in Colorado as soon as the house was finished.  She said she was looking forward to it and then we said "I love you" to each other and that was it...the last time we talked. 

While I can no longer give Linda a phone call, I do have many fond memories of her to call upon.

I remember one night when I was growing up, our family had just finished dinner and we were all cleaning up. Linda was washing the dishes, my brothers and I were drying and putting away.  For some reason, we decided to put on winter hats and scarves even though it was not winter.  And we all thought this was hysterically funny.  I remember Linda wearing my long stocking cap, peaking over her shoulder with a dishrag in her hands.  And it still makes me smile.

My sister was a bit mischievous as a teenager.  One morning, while the local county fair was in full swing, we all woke up to find a pile of temporary cardboard "no parking" signs on our front porch. Linda and her friends had thought it would be funny to liberate the signs - too bad our Dad didn't agree. I don't remember the consequences she had to pay (and I am sure there were some), but I do remember thinking how funny and daring she was - even though it was probably not the smartest thing she ever did.

Linda is the reason I learned to sew.  She made a lot of her clothes and I thought if my big sister could sew her own clothes, so could I.  Linda's talent for sewing served her well throughout the years.  She made her own wedding dress, her children's clothes, my daughter's baptismal gown, and numerous bridesmaid dresses.  She inspired me to sew my own clothes as a teen, including a formal dress for my junior prom, curtains for my first house, and many of Kaitlyn's Halloween costumes over the years.

Linda always had a flair for fashion and a sense of style.  When she was in her early twenties Linda had dark brown shoulder length hair that she would style in a myriad of ways, but she also owned a short dark wig and a short blond wig.  I thought it was so sophisticated when she would put on her wigs - and I used to secretly try them on and pretend I was all grown up, just like her.  At the time I didn't think Linda knew about my fascination with her wigs, but I now suspect she was well aware of what I was up to.

About the same time, Linda also owned a blue 1968 Chevy Camaro. It was the coolest car I had ever seen.  I was about seventeen at the time and planned on going to the annual Red Owl employee picnic, but had no way to get there.  My sister offered me the use of her car that day.  Wow - so unexpected - but so like her.  The guys I worked with were all over that car the minute I pulled into the parking lot.  I suddenly had star status - at least for one day.  She knew what she was doing for my confidence - and for that I will always be grateful.

When Lance and I were planning our wedding, we thought it would be nice to have an intimate outdoor ceremony with just immediate family and a few close friends.  It was Linda who volunteered her backyard, planted flowers to give us the perfect backdrop, found us a singer/guitar player, suggested a photographer, and hosted a celebration in her garage the day after for the friends and relatives that were not at the actual ceremony.  Linda always went above and beyond expectations.

I could go on and on, the memories keep flooding back, but I think you get the picture. 

Linda was a great sister, but not perfect.  She was the link that kept our family together after my father and mother passed away, a wonderful wife and mother in her own right, a genuinely nice person, and will live forever in the hearts of all the people whose lives she touched. 

Happy birthday, sis... love you!

Stuff Happens...

I don't deal very well with life when it doesn't go as planned.

The other morning on my way to work I was at a stop sign when the vehicle that was stopped in front of me decided to back up.  Whoa!  Doesn't he know you don't do that????  I hit the horn, but it was too late.  I now have a sad dent in my front fender. 

For some strange reason, I felt the need to second guess myself - why didn't I react quicker?  How could I not have read the other driver's mind?  I should have been prepared for the vehicle in front of me to suddenly back up...

Why can't I accept it for what it was - an unexpected accident?

Last night our dog Ellie woke me up around midnight.  I assumed she either needed her water dish filled or needed to pee.  After deciding Lance wasn't going to take care of her I got up, made sure she had water and let Ellie outside to relieve herself. 

The thing was, her bladder wasn't the problem.  About three am she woke me again, whimpering and shaking in her proverbial boots.  And then I heard it - beep - beep - beep.  The smoke detector battery was going...and it needed to be changed.  Now.  This time I woke Lance up, made some comment about another smoke detector going out, and he took care of the problem beeping by changing the battery. 

I couldn't help but wonder, why didn't we change the batteries last week when I bought all those new nine-volts in anticipation of the inevitable?  We had already changed out dead batteries in two other units just last week.  We should have known this would happen...

Really?  We should have known the battery would need to be changed at three am?  Are we psychic?

Why can't I accept that sometimes the unexpected just happens?

For being such a planner - I have a bad habit of being late.  I think it is because I allowed myself to believe "on time" meant being within ten or fifteen minutes of the planned time unless someone told me differently.  I have really had to concentrate hard on leaving home every morning at an earlier time than I think I need to - just so I won't be late for work. 

Hence, my frustration with the accident - it made me late to work!  And I have been trying so hard to toe the line.

Okay then, what is really my issue with the unexpected?  I am well aware that sometimes stuff just happens - like it or not.  So, what's the problem?

Like many others, I am a bit of a perfectionist and I worry that if I am not in control of my surroundings and the actions of myself and others, I will look bad...to everyone.

Lesson?  I need to remember that my worth is not measured by how well I avoid life's unexpected events, but how I deal with the consequences of those events.

Probably a good lesson for most of us.

Life is messy - whether we like it or not.  I think we all need to learn to deal with the mess not with irritation and anger, but with grace and good humor. 

Stuff happens - get over it. 

Twenty-two...

My daughter is turning twenty-two today and I am sure she is blasting Taylor Swift’s “22”, grabbing a friend and dancing around the room in joy...‘cuz that’s just how she rolls.

I remember the day Kaitlyn was born like it was yesterday.

I woke up about 2:00am that Monday morning, looked at Lance and said, “I think I’m in labor.” Not the best timing – it was snowing, Lance had to pick up some guy at the airport on the other side of the city, drop him off somewhere else, and then return home to GET ME TO THE HOSPITAL.

So, while Lance drove in the snowstorm to the airport and back I tried to remain calm. I packed my bag for the hospital. I looked at the baby’s bedroom and tried to picture an infant asleep in that crib – boy or girl? I must have called my mother back in Wisconsin at least a half a dozen times that morning seeking her words of wisdom.  (Big long distance phone bill - not many people owned cell phones back then.) I remember thinking I was so glad I had sent in my absentee ballot the week before because it was a presidential election and I wanted my vote to count. And that the old wives tale about “nesting” was true as I had spent the prior weekend cleaning. Lance finally got back around 10:00am and we headed to the hospital. Precisely at 3:21pm our beautiful baby girl presented herself to the world.

Kaitlyn inherited her clear blue eyes from me.  People have commented on her eyes (and the similarity to mine) for as long as I can remember.  Kaitlyn once asked me how I handled the comments on my eye color when I was growing up.  Honestly, I didn't get complements on my eyes like she does.  I grew up wearing thick glasses, so no one really noticed their color.  It wasn't until I was in high school and got contacts that people realized how blue my eyes were, and then they thought I must have colored contacts - not that my eyes were naturally that color. 

Kaitlyn had very little hair as an infant (okay, she was bald), but when her hair started growing in - wow!  Like her father and her Grandma Ruth (my mother), she has very curly thick hair...which she hated as a child and early teen.  Curly hair made her different - and when you are a kid, the last thing you want to be is different.  I remember Kaitlyn spending her freshman year in high school straightening her hair every morning in an attempt to look like everyone else.  It was not until the middle of her sophomore year that she finally embraced the curls - thank goodness!

Kaitlyn's birthday comes midway through her senior year in college.  Unlike me, Kaitlyn learned how to budget her time between academics, sports, and social activities early in her life.  She entered college well prepared and will graduate in four years with an honors level GPA.  She has a wonderful friend group and a life grounded in faith.  Kaitlyn is an intelligent, enthusiastic, well-balanced college senior who is about to enter a new phase in her life - but not quite yet.

Like my daughter, the year I turned twenty-two, I was also a senior in college.  Unlike Kaitlyn, I was a "super senior" - not graduating until December.  Full disclosure; the reason I graduated in December instead of May was because I dropped out of college in my Sophomore year. This was partly because my grades were not very good as I never learned how to study (never had to before - good grades always came with no effort), partly because I partied too much, and partly because I was just feeling lost and didn't know where my life was going.  So, I quit school and went to work.  After six months or so, I realized I needed a college degree. I returned to school on academic probation, buckled down, brought my GPA back up, found a new friend group, and finally graduated.

I am so glad Kaitlyn did not follow my collegiate path!

Kaitlyn is twenty-two today - and I can't believe how quickly the years have flown by.  It seems like only yesterday I was the young woman celebrating my twenty-second birthday and dreaming of the future.  Now I am watching Kaitlyn celebrate her day - and looking forward to her own exciting future. 

So, happy birthday to  you, my dear daughter.  Celebrate the day and know that with God all things are possible - just let your heart be open to the joy of living each day to the fullest. You have a wonderful future ahead of you, full of unexpected delights...enjoy them!

“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” ~Habakkuk 1:5