Lunch, Leftovers, and Lowe’s

And Fountain Cokes! But that doesn’t start with an “L”.

Yesterday’s lunch was a typical lunch. Except rather than leftovers we had hot dogs. . . another usual lunch. For those of you who know Cody, you know he loves his fountain cokes. So each day, after he walks over to my office and we eat whatever leftovers we have, we make a run up to the corner store.

Most days, we have time to kill before our lunch hour is over. The most common activity. . . . wandering Lowe’s. We go to Lowe’s just to wander at least three times a week. We really don’t have too many other choices.

You never know what we might look at. Well, except that we almost always go by the mis-matched paint. Sometimes we might look at appliances so we’ll be prepared as ours go out. Sometimes I dream of better ceiling fans. Quite often, it’s the PVC pipe. . . where Cody plots a protein feeder. And if it’s not the protein feeder, very often it’s other projects or supplies for the deer lease.

Yesterday, after looking at the storage stuff, the metal for my craft room, and paint, it was Tool World. It started off looking at sanders (which we actually own one somewhere in the garage) but Cody got off track quickly. I used my 365 project as an excuse to kill a little time taking pictures.

And truthfully, I was glad to capture a moment from our everyday typical lunch routine.

Being Childless Sucks, Life Doesn’t

When I blogged about how being childless sucks Wednesday, I received several words of encouragement which I did appreciate. But, I guess what I failed to get across in that post, is that it was just a moment. . . They come, they go. Sure, being childless hasn’t stopped sucking. But, it’s not the only thing in my life.

I honestly didn’t share about that moment when I searched google for those that know me, but rather because I know that there may be others I don’t know who feel the same way and are looking for something to perhaps validate their feelings or just someone who understands. (OK, that’s a really bad run on sentence whith far to many “thats” in the beginning, but you know, it’s a blog not a term paper)

You see just because being childless sucks, it doesn’t mean that life does. All-in-all, I’ve got a great life. A house over my head, a loving husband who truly spoils me, time to be creative, a job, etc. (Since I just made a long list New Year’s Eve, I spare you the long version ’cause I have a feeling this post is going to be long enough.)

(OK, in proofreading this, this next part is going to seem really off topic and a rambling tangent, I promise I’ll be bringing it back around.)

Last weekend as Cody and I were celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary, we discussed a new class that I want to take. This morning as I thought about that class, I realized that my hobbies all seem to piggy back on themselves. Last year, I spent a lot of time learning more about photography and taking pictures. This year, I’ve gotten back into scrapbooking. This new class is about organizing pictures with a scrapbooking purpose (well, that’s just the surface.) One of the assignments before the class starts is to go through your digital pics and printed pics and put them in chronological order. I’m in luck since my digi pics are all in folders my month and year and named by the date and a sequence that keeps the approximately 16,000 pictures in order. . . not to mention digi pics can be sorted by date/time taken. But, our printed pics, that’s another story. The class talks about not trying to do all your pictures but a portion so that you can learn the process and then repeat with the rest later. So, I decided to just tackle the years from when Cody and I met until we went digital- Fall Semester 1994-Deer Season 2003. (Another tangent. . . Deer Season, you may be wondering, why I associated that. . . Because I got my first digi camera on the way to the Campwood and I remember taking tons of shots along the 8 hour drive there. Looking back now, I realize it was purchase and trip that would change my life.)

So this week, Cody and I have been sorting those printed pictures. We really don’t have that many. They filled two plastic shoeboxes longwise (aka short side so that the pano shots would fit). It was so much fun to remember those days. We really enjoyed looking back. We were both amazed at how young we look. . . even though we don’t feel that much older today. In many ways, despite the things we’ve gone through, we’re still like newlyweds or perhaps even those kids in college. We’re still like those two lovebirds in those pictures- two lovebirds who got married and watched as their friends got married, two lovebirds who used to eat on the floor in Etoile, two lovebirds who have watched their nephew grow-up, two lovebirds that have seen great vacations, two lovebirds that met in college, moved to Corpus Christi, and came back to that college town. We’ve been blessed. I’ve been blessed.

And, I realize just how blessed to live in the digital age! We narrowed that lot of pics down to just a little over one box. Purging a lot of awful and failed shots, I realized how much I benefit from being able to instantly see my pictures. Going through the so-so pics, I realized how much easier it is to take advantage of learning photography in a digital world. Looking at how few pictures there were compared to fewer years of digital, I realized just how glad I am that I don’t have to pay for film and processing.

Being Childless Sucks

That’s what I put into the google search engine yesterday. . . in a moment when it really was sucking. I’m not sure what I was wanting to find. I think to just see someone else feeling the same way and find some perspective. Do you know what I got? Posts about how infertility sucks- And it’s true, it does. Been there, done that. But, my being childless moved well beyond infertility sucks when we hit the brick wall that was adoption. I wanted something that caught the full gamut of how being childless (not just infertile) sucks. What else did I find? Posts about how motherhood sucks. . . and I suppose at times it sucks just as being childless sucks. But, it’s really not what I wanted to read about. And then, there were the posts by those who are childfree by choice saying that being childless doesn’t suck. That may be true when it’s by your choice, but for the rest of us who aren’t childless by choice, it does, at least at times it does. Not sure if you’re aware of it, but there’s a huge contention/movement about how being childfree is so great- it often feels like a slap in the face when you’re not childfree by choice.

So this person is for the next person who finds their self at a point when being childless just sucks and searches for something when they’re not sure what they want to find.

What brought me to that point yesterday? The dang drum in my head that is life without kids that never seems to stop beating. There isn’t a day that’s gone by when I haven’t thought about kids or the lack there of. Sometimes it’s a “positive” thought- that we won’t have to deal with a screaming kid in the middle of Wal-mart (even though we’d trade places with the parent anytime). Other times, I wonder about the kids we were so close to adopting- how they’re doing or how I feel they were taken from me. Sometimes, it’s just re-hashing old history. Or perhaps it’s the incessant, how can parents do the things they do to their kids. Other times, it’s wondering about where I go from here- the fact that I’ve not idea what the future looks like without kids.

Too many days it’s not just one thought but many thoughts. Somedays, it’s just a thought or two. Other days, it seems to be in sterio coming at you from all sides. No matter how much you try to tune it out, it beats louder and louder. You can’t turn it off; you can’t even seem to turn it down. Yesterday, when I did my little google search, was one of those times. . . when the drum beat was just too loud. Those are the moments when being childless seems to take hold of you, stir up all sorts of emotions, and wreck an otherwise good day. That’s when the word “sucks” just seems to be the best way to describe the state of being childless. Despite all the other words in my vocabulary, “sucks” is the one word that is apropros. And it sucks when “sucks” is the one word you can find that describes the moment.

All I can do is ask God for peace. I know he’ll get me out of those moments. And I hope that one day he has in store for me a day when I don’t even think about whether or not we have children.

Creative Updates: 365 Link and Scrapbooking

Just wanted to share a simple update for those of you who are interested.

1) My 365 Project is going strong. I’m not sure whether I’ll get around to sharing a bit about each picture in blog posts but I plan to upload them to this gallery on about a weekly basis. (I’m also having them printed and putting them in my 365 binder). You can also see images from that gallery on the right hand side. . . and there’s a link to the gallery in the top menu.

2) More Scrapbook Layouts. . . I haven’t posted the other layouts I’ve done for my class so far. I’ve got one more to do before week 5 of the class starts on Thursday. It’s a 12 week class so just imagine how many layouts I’ll have done by then.

Since I plan to make scrapbooking a better part of 2010, I thought I’d go ahead and create a gallery for the pages I’m amassing quickly. Again, you can find a link up at the top directly to the gallery too!

(Again, these are all using Cathy Zielske templates from Big Picture Scrapbooking’s Design Your Life class. . . and the papers/embellishments I did not create are mainly from Crystal Wilkerson/Jessica Sprague)

3) Later this week, I hope to post some of Cody and I’s pictures from the zoo Saturday. There really wasn’t a movie we wanted to see for our anniversary and we had the church’s 50th anniversary dinner Saturday night leaving us with a limited amount of time. So, we went to the zoo in Lufkin after we went out to lunch. You’ll have to see the racoon pics we got! (Cody actually out shot me by 100+ shots) Truth be told neither of us is that much of a movie person and we’d rather be outside and taking pictures any day. It was a rare warmer anniversary as the temps were around 70- so we took advantage rain or not.

Gimme 5: Mini Album Project/ Assignment

One of this week’s assignments for the scrapbooking class I’m taking was to create a mini-album asking the folks I love for five things that described them. So, I emailed a few of those folks to get a start on the album. Except for my nephew Jack, they were all quick to get back with me. Here’s how the pages wound up.

Templates are by Cathy Zielske for Big Picture Scrapbooking’s Design Your Life. Papers are by Mindy Terasawa available at Designer Digitals. Oh and that cute cursive font- Amelie

Hoping to post my other layouts tomorrow. . .

Some Things are Hard To Explain: These aren’t snowballs

Cody and I were getting alot accomplished today. We’d had tunes on while we worked. At some point, we both ended up in the living room. I was just beginning to sort and fold socks when Ed Burleson’s “Dead Skunk” came on.

That’s probably the first hard thing to explain. It’s a song that sticks with you once you’ve heard- at least if you’ve driven in Texas. It’s a song that I’ve heard and loved for years. This year, I downloaded it and finally Cody got to hear the song. He thought I was nuts but now, when he sees road kill or smells a dead skunk, guess what he begins to sing? Seriously go look up the song- Ed Burleson, Dead Skunk

So, the song came on. Cody, for I don’t know what reason, decided to make a “squished/ Squat” sound with his mouth. There were the socks, right there. I told him I ought to throw them at him and he told me not to. . .

I spent a few seconds thinking about it but all I could come up with was, “why not?”. So, then we got in a “food” fight with socks instead of food. It was like our favorite Wii game, the snow ball fight- only with socks. So, there we were throwing our white “snowballs” at each other across the living room, scooping them up, and throwing them again. I told you some things are hard to explain.

And, since we are working together to get a picture a day this year, of course, we had to document the shenaigans. When it was all said and done, there were socks all over the living room and into the dining room.

It’s not often you have the time to just be this goofy.

Giving Thanks: Still Got My Home

When we came home this evening, we noticed that the folks behind us were burning. As we got stuff out of truck and got the mail, Cody remarked that cool- the neighbor would have burned his stuff before we burned our Ike debris. Jack and Lisa were planning to come up but now aren’t. . . leaving Cody’s honey-do weekend free. I noted that if Jack had come up, they still could have burned CAREFULLY.

We came in the house, I changed, and came into the kitchen for a cup of hot chocolate and to figure out dinner.

“Oh my goodness” I yelled as I looked at the back door. Half of my back yard was black! Our neighbor fire had gotten out of control sometime today, burned much of what we needed to burn, and half the yard. I yelled for Cody, who was in the back bedroom to look outside.

You know those strange thoughts that come to mind. . . Well, I now knew what my pick for my 365 project picture would be. We noted that we should have some better grass. Cody just might be able to mow the back yard with our poor sad riding lawnmower on it’s last legs when spring rolls around- The tall stuff that Cody hadn’t been able to mow is gone.

Who do you call when your yard’s charred. . . your “little bro” who works for the forestry service of course. . . And then we called the sherriff’s office just to make sure the incident was documented. Strangely, the neighbor still hasn’t come by even though we’ve been home for several hours now.

This kind of thing makes you appreciate having a house and no damage beyond the yard was done. God was looking after us. Bring on tomorrow’s rain!!!!

Scrapbooking in 2010

I know I’ve been MIA. . . I’ve got several posts I hope to get out this week and then get back to a regular schedule. One of the things I want to do more of is scrapbooking. I wound up signing up for CathyZ’s Design Your Life Class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. . . Although I signed up a week late. I’ve spent the better part of the week and most of this weekend trying to catch up. I’ve scrapbooked more layouts in 2010 then I did in 2009 already- and probably more than I did in 2008 and 2009 combined.

I thought I’d share them here. All are using papers from the 2009 Paper Collections at Jessica Sprague by Crystal Wilkerson (June, July, Sept., and Oct). Layout and concept provided by Cathy Zielske Design Your Life workshop at BigPictureScrapbooking.com. . . Loving those templates!

Saying Goodbye to 2009

When I look back on 2009, I cannot help but be glad it’s over and hope that 2010 brings more happiness. Despite all the negative of this past year, I’d rather dwell on the many good things from 2009- the many things I give thanks for. . . . Here’s just a random list (though I alphabetized them using the computer) of some of the things. . . I know there’s a lot more. . . . I bet I could list 2,009 things or more if I had the time.

(If you read my blog many of these may sound familiar. . . others I’ve yet to write about.)

365 Days of Life with Cody
50 mm lenses!
A family Christmas
A Home
A House
A Husband who makes me smile and laugh every day
A Job that gives me variety and freedom
A portable water heater
A Royals Win in Houston!
A trailer at the deer lease
Ability to listen to great music
Acoustic Jason Boland, Cory Morrow, and Roger Creager Concert
Adam Carroll in Concert
Air Conditioning
Amy Lynn
Answers
Backroads
Banana Cake
Baseball Autographs
Beautiful Sunrises
Bed
Blogging
Breakfast and Shakes at Jimmy’s
Cell Phones that do more
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Fondue at the Melting Pot
Chrismons
Church Friends
Climbing around at Turner Falls
Coca-Cola
Cody and Jack playing catch at the ballpark
Cody getting together with Billy and Terry
Cody’s Blue Eyes
Coke Cans being gone from the house
Computer Skills
Confirming my middle name
Creating
Cutting a Christmas Tree from the Farm
Dance
Decorating
Deer Meat in the Freezer
Exercise
Facebook
Faith
Family
Finding Inspiration Online
Flexible Work Hours
Food on the Table
Football kicks into the brush at the deer lease
Fred Eaglesmith in Concert
Freezer Cooking
Friends
Fudge at Crowne Center
Fun at Nine Flags
Fun Shoes
Getting Cody a camera
Getting Packages in the Mail
Getting through tough times with Cody
Getting to go to the Park for work
God
God’s Saving Grace
Good Food
Good Health
Great spots to take pictures
Having my Uncle and Aunt around
Health
Hearing the History of the Round Barn
Heated Mattress Pads
Heaters
Help from Friends
High Speed Internet at home
Impromptu Trip to See KC play in Arlington
Improving my photography skills
Internet on our phones
Jack “graduating” to the 243
Jack getting to hunt
Jason Boland in Concert
Kelby Training
Laptops
Learning from Frank White
Living in a town with so many memories
Living Small Town life
Love
Macaroni and Cheese
Meeting Debby
Melting Pot
Milk
Morning Fog Paint
My kitchen
My Marriage
National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum
NCIS
Netflix
New Opportunities
New Speakerphone at work
No Hurricane!
Online Friends
Online Shopping
Organized Moments
Photography Class Scholarship
Pictures
Prayer
Rain
Reading Good Books
Redeemer Lutheran
Renting Camera Lenses
Route 66 Trip
Royals Hat with the Fleece Flap
Ryan Bingham in Concert
Scrapbooking
Seeing a Drive-In Movie
Seeing Chris Knight in Nacogdoches
Seeing the Negro League Hall of Fame
Seeing the Plaza in Lights
Seeing The Proposal with Cody
Seeing the Renovations at Kaufman Stadium
Seeing the Royals Play in Kansas City
Seeing the Sabres Play Hockey
Seeing wildlife
Skipping rocks in Turner Falls
Smiles
Soaking in anything I can learn about photography
Spending time with Family
Spending time with Lisa and Jack
Spending Time working to make the trailer ours with DH
Sports packages on the Satellite
Sunshine
Surprising Friends when in Need
Surviving the Year
Sweaters
Taking Candice Strigham’s Portrait Photography Class
Taking Cody to Nelson Atkins and him watching the guy break the ice
Taking Jack through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri
Taking Karen Russell’s Photography Class
Tears
Texas State Aquarium Membership
Texting
That Cody and I didn’t get arrested when he touched the Shuttlecocks
That Kaufman’s was renovated instead of replaced
The Baseball Diversion on TV
The Field Goal at Smith’s Restaurant
The Joy Cody has gotten out of shooting a buck
The Old Front Porch
The Open Road
Time Spent at Deer Camp and Lease
Trips to Bass Pro, Boardwalk, Saltgrass
Tuesday Date Nights
Turkey Hunting
Two running vehicles
Vacation Time
Walmart Finished Renovating
Warm Clothes
Watching Jack and Cody feed the fish at the Blue Whale
Watching Jack grow up
Watching Mitch Maeir hit a home Run
Watching the Bears and Seals at the OKC Zoo
Water
Wii
Work
Writing
Zack Grienke’s Year

Christmas in Pictures, Not! Christmas Without Pictures

Since I haven’t blogged in a while, you’ll have to bear with me for a short tangent.  Last Christmas, or maybe the year before, my nephew got a Wii.  We’ve been down there a few times and loved playing it.  He and his mom came up earlier this week and they brought the Wii. . . Well one thing led to another and we wound up buying a Wii ourselves. which arrived just about the time they left Wednesday taking their Wii with them . . .

I do not have any pictures from our Christmas gathering this year.  I didn’t even get my camera out.  We didn’t get into any shooting wars.  I think that’s a first for my family in many, many years.

My mother-in-law drove up and arrived on Wednesday.  My parents, brother, and his girlfriend came over Christmas Day.  I was more organized than ever with the meal.  I had to be. . . I had plans for Christmas Day and while I wanted to eat good, I did not want to spend the day in the kitchen. 

As soon as my family arrived, we let them grab a small snack and then hit them with our best shot.  Sorry, couldn’t resist that.  We created Mii’s for them and then made each of them thake the Wii Fit Body Test. . . Isn’t that just what you should do to all your houseguests and a festival (AKA feast day)?  But, that’s what we did. . .

And then the games began. . . We played the Wii Fit all day long.  We flew through the air, ski jumped, headed soccer balls, caught fish while sliding on icebergs, and had a few snowball fights despite the fact we did not have a white Christmas.   We all threw caution to the wind and made fools of ourselves.  And with a few broken no camera moments by my brother and father, there are no pictures to embarrass us with.

Before we knew it, it was time to eat.  Yum, Yum.  We had our typical Stephenson’s Restaurant and Family Recipe meal.  We started with just a doubled batch of Banana Fritters (usually, it’s banana, apple, and another flavor).  Then came the meal- ham, Grandma’s macaroni and cheese, green beans, bread, and frozen fruit salad.  Did I leave anything out. . . I don’t think so. . . we made sure we did not have any repeats of the Thanksgiving forgets.  For dessert, we had banana cake and pumpkin pie.  And a few more Wii games.  Now, I just have to keep up with the Wii to work off all that food.

Before I knew it the day was over without any pictures.  Even the clean-up was mighty easy and didn’t get any pics.  It was one of the absolute funnest Christmas’s I can remember.

Horns

So, a week ago Friday, Cody was able to get his buck’s horns back.  He had a local taxidermist do a European Skull Mount. 

He realized, sometime after he had dropped off the horns and before he picked it up, that he really hadn’t had a chance to check out the horns.  He’d been in a rush to get out of the woods before it got dark.  Then, he made quick work of getting it the meat into the cooler.  Then, of course, we made a mad dash to the house since we needed the cooler space.  We dropped off the horns fairly early that next morning.

As he looked at the pics I’d taken, he was finally able to study the horns on his buck. . . but it wasn’t the same as being able to see them in person.  So, Friday, he spent some quality time with his horns- and the horns of deers past.

It was often hard to have a conversation with him- I’d find him staring off into the dining room looking at his horns.  I think the fact that he shot a buck was such a shock and then to see just how wide and tall the buck was became yet another shock.

Truth be told, the horns were so wide that it was hard to get a good shot of them from our dining room.

Cody has spent the last week proudly showing off his horns to all of his friends.  I suppose his joy has gotten to me. . . I’ve told him to hang them on my fireplace. . .  and if you’d have told me even a year ago that I would be saying that now, I’d say no-way.  But, I just feel like that’s where they should be

Thanksgiving Dinner

We went to mom’s house yesterday for Thankgiving.  We haven’t been over there in quite some time due to my allergy to dogs.  We decided that I’d just take plenty of Benadryl and celebrate Turkey Day at Mom and Dad’s.  So glad we did.  So glad Mom hosted. 

As it turned out, I only had to fix one thing- the Chocolate Pie.  I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to eat if I didn’t have a Chocolate Pie for my Uncle.  I even got out of fixing the meringue!  Which given that I hadn’t been feeling the best and given all the benadryl in my system, was a very, very good thing.

Of course, Mom might as well have had benadryl herself. . . She messed the meringue up twice!  But, when she got it right, she got it right.

She took it all in stride!  I really like this shot of her preparing the sweet potatoes (more on those later):

So, my task for the day was to photograph and capture the day.  Well, that’s what I decided my task was. . .I wanted to get some shots of the action.  Of course, around my family, you can’t get your camera out without everyone else getting their cameras so they can hide behind them.

There’s just something wrong with my brother’s eye in this shot. . . I’m can’t figure out what he was looking at!

Of course, the turkey took all day to cook.  The guys all rested in the living room and watched some football:

I nearly fell asleep myself (benadryl was kickin’) and was glad when there was some more action to photograph.  And that my brother found the step stool for me so I could get a different angle on things. 

My Aunt Sarah made the gravy:

Cody carved the turkey:

My brother got silly

and then decided to do a little “acting” if you want to call it that. . . at least he didn’t have a camera in his face or one of his dimented faces:

(Later when it was finally dessert time, he would put the pie at his spot at the dinner table as if it was all his. . . he did share though.)

Mom was absolutely in her element in her kitchen.

And then we sat down to eat.

See anything missing????

Just before we moved onto dessert, we started talking about our traditions at Christmas vs. Thanksgiving.  I started saying that I preferred our Christmas meal. . . that I’m not a turkey person, but eat a little turkey just because you feel like you have to. . . just like I. . . “We forgot the sweet potatoes!”. . .  So we had a little helping of sweet potatoes between the meal and dessert. . . ’cause as I was going to say, I have to have a small bit of sweet potatoes- with marshmellows on top.

Lone Star Christmas

I was browsing the internet today and came across a book called “Lone Star Christmas”. . . I thought about what the book might be about as I clicked on the book’s image which included a single spur and holly.  Lone Star. . . Christmas. . . There is really is only one star at Christmas, now isn’t there. 

It seemed to sum up what I want Christmas to be like this year.   In the last few Christmas’s, I’ve really focused on Christ- Decor for Christmas.  I’ve focused on cutting out the secular world from my Christmas.  I’ve decorated with things like Poinsettias, Stars, and Nativities.  Even my Santa cookie plate and Santa stocking have stayed in the decorations box.    And, without kids, I haven’t had to wrestle with what to do with Santa at Christmas.

I will continue this new tradition this year.  When I think about my holidays this year- From Thanksgiving to Christmas- the things I want are the same.  To focus on my faith and family with simplicity, joy, and gratitude. 

We’ll be going to my parents for Thanksgiving and I’ll be spending time with my husband out at the deer lease for much of the holiday season.  Advent starts just after Thankgiving and I’m looking forward to the waiting and preperation for Christmas.  I plan on completing several advent devotionals this year.  And then it’ll be Christmas.  I really want the focus of my Christmas to be celebrating the Nativity of Jesus with my family- and good food of course.

(To my dismay, the book actually appears to be a Christian Romance novel and I’m not sure that it even touches on my thoughts as I read that title.)

This Week at the Lease

We ran into town and I thought I’d share a short blog post by cell. I’ve loved having our own little humble abode. Each time I make the beds I start singing Daryl Lee Rush’s “White Trash Paradise.”

Cody is in “paradise” with his buck that he got last night. For those who want to see pics, click here:

http://www.jenkinsprojects.com/Deer/Deer11-12-09/index.html

Things are looking good ’round here.. .

Flashback Friday: Tugboat Parade

I mentioned the hot muggy weather when we were in Corpus last month when I took this picture.

This is the tale of the absolute opposite weather in Corpus Christi.  Well, except that, it was as windy if not even windier.  It was the coldest day I ever remember in Corpus and Cody would agree.  I don’t think I have any pictures to mark the day- a day that would wind up a famous legend in our family.  One that has become a part of the very code we speak.

My parents, grandmother, and brother were in town for Christmas.  We’d gone to the aquarium and found out that we’re having a lighted tugboat parade.  I love watching tugboats and so this was the ticket.  I talked everyone- my husband, my family, and my mother-in-law- into going back for the Tugboat Parade.  I couldn’t wait to see the tugboats. 

We came back to the aquarium that evening to enjoy the parade.  We wandered around the aquarium as we waited for night fall. . . so the lighted tugboat parade could start.  We sat out on the lawn- right about where I took the picture above (only it’s not lawn anymore).  It was so cold and the wind blew that cold damp air off the water.  We huddled up.  We drank hot chocolate.  We took turns going inside trying to warm up.  We worried about my Grandmother but she handled it just fine.

I waited to see the tugboats.

The parade was late.  From what we gathered, the coast guard had been called out and was late for the parade.  We huddled up.  We drank hot chocolate.  We took turns going inside trying to warm up.  We worried about my Grandmother but she still seemed to be just fine.

I waited to see the tugboats.

After hours in the cold damp wind, the moment finally arrived.  The parade began- the parade which consisted of two lighted coast guard cutters and one, count them, one tugboat.

I felt horrible about convincing every one to wait for this little moment.  We couldn’t believe that we’d waited all this time for 1 tugboat in a Tugboat parade. 

The parade would go down in infamy.  Now, when we do something, we say, “I don’t know this might be a tugboat parade.”  We judge things as being worthwhile or not by comparing them to the tugboat parade.  If it wasn’t very fun or what we thought, it was a tugboat parade.  And we’re always thankful when things surpass the tugboat parade.

(Little did I know that night that while I worried about my grandmother, my husband was quite ill.  He knew I loved the tugboats and never let on that he was not feeling well.  The next morning he awoke with 104° temp.)