In honor of Dr. Seuss
March 2, 2013 | Uncategorized
I still agree with what I wrote three years ago. So I will simply re-post that in the form of a link. Happy birthday, Ted! :)
Thinking about my dad
August 26, 2012 | Uncategorized
I was 19 when he died … 28 years ago today. I’ve known my father-in-law for 22 years now … longer than I knew my own father. Well, that’s not quite right. I still know my dad. But I only had him here in person for 19 years. Ah, well. This is what happens with the passage of time. I’m older now than my father was when he died. It makes me think of the lyrics to a James Taylor song.
As much as I teased my dad about his choice of music, I’d like to think that he’d like to listen to James Taylor with me. And maybe he’d tell me that the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Time goes by. Dad gets farther away. But maybe I understand him just a little bit more with every passing day.
Posted by Becky @ 5:15 pm | 4 Comments
Miss me?
August 25, 2012 | Business,Iowa,Norway
It’s been a busy year, and I’ve been working on this.
It’s my new business, site, blog, etc. Check it out: http://www.vaersaagod.com.
8 years
April 28, 2012 | Birthday,Family
Eight years ago tomorrow, I was on bed rest. I was 29 weeks’ pregnant with twins. Trond was working from home, because I had been having complications. Cousin Marita had taken Andy out for a walk.
I wasn’t feeling great. Things got worse. I told Trond to take me to the hospital. My heart sank when I saw Dr. Jaeger there. He had delivered Andy. I thought it was a (not great) sign that he was on call this day. Things were not good. He told me I’d need an emergency C-section. From the minute we’d arrived at the hospital, we had tried to reach Marita on the telephone. I was panicked about ALL my babies, and it wasn’t until we heard that Marita and Andy were safe at home that I could go into the OR.
I was out. I don’t remember a thing. But they told me Katie cried when she was delivered. (They didn’t think either of the girls was big enough to make a sound.)
They were in the NICU for six and seven weeks. They’ve been going strong ever since.
I can’t believe they’re 8.
Happy birthday, my beautiful baby girls!
Posted by Becky @ 8:09 pm | 3 Comments
Spring!
March 17, 2012 | Forest City,Iowa,Spring
Top o’ the spring day mornin’ to ya!
Posted by Becky @ 9:44 am | 2 Comments
What’s cooking?
February 25, 2012 | Family,Food
I made sea scallops from an A Food Centric Life recipe that I got from Amy. I also made something with shrimp, because my son really loves shrimp. It’s always fun to try something new!
Lost and found
January 28, 2012 | Death,Family,Motherhood,Parenting
A year ago, my telephone rang at 3 in the morning. It was hospice. We might want to get there now before Mom died, they said in less clear words, which made it harder to snap out of my sleepy haze. I was the only family member they could get on the telephone. I started calling the rest of the family. Hospice called again at 3:30. Mom was gone.
It was Friday. I had to tell the kids at breakfast that they weren’t going to school. And why. The grieving began.
We each dealt with our loss in our own way.
Except for the initial shock and the funeral, two of my children said very little. I broached the subject once in a while, but they made it clear they really didn’t want to talk about it. I hadn’t said anything for a while.
One morning, we were in the car on the way to school with the radio playing, and I was singing … “Hey, soul sister … ain’t that mister mister …” when I heard this tiny voice from the back of the car. I turned down the music and asked, “What was that?”
“Do Christians die?”
Ah. I’d been waiting for this. But it still took me by surprise.
Then the questions just tumbled out, one after the other.
Will you die? Will Pappa die? Do we all die?
She asked all the questions, but the other two listened, while I did my best to answer them.
My other daughter wears her heart on her sleeve, and her grief was the most outwardly expressed. The loss of her grandmother has changed her indelibly. She’s had a difficult time with loss or leaving or saying goodbye.
For the rest of the school year, she went through severe separation anxiety. She would sob and cling to me when I dropped her off at school (something she’d never done).
We backtracked. I read her “The Kissing Hand,” and I gave her my heart locket. It was a gift from my mother when I first became a mother. I put a picture of me on one side and a picture of her on the other. I told her any time during the day when she missed me, she could take her kissing hand and hold on to the locket.
Then she lost the locket. We searched everywhere. Nothing. Everyone at school was keeping an eye out for it. It finally turned up.
…
She doesn’t wear the locket anymore. But she still has a difficult time with goodbyes. We all do, I guess. We just show it in different ways. She still misses her grandmother. We all do. But she will always be in our hearts.
Posted by Becky @ 5:16 pm | 6 Comments
Lucy
January 11, 2012 | Family,Home
I love what comes home in backpacks.
The dog’s tail actually does curl up like that. I love that, too.
