nephew
One year ago today…on her birthday, my niece, Ashley found herself in labor with her first child. While her daughter, Reagan would not arrive until the next day, it would still be a day that would herald a change in her life. That birthday…her 22nd…would be the last day before she became a mother. The last day before her precious little girl would come in and change everything. It is hard to imagine what it is going to be like to be someone’s mother…until it happens to you. We all think we have an idea, but we don’t…not until that little teeny life comes and wraps it’s tiny little fingers around your heart, and you find yourself totally smitten. You can’t imagine the love you feel until you feel it for yourself.
For some time, even before she and my nephew, Eric got engaged, Ashley wanted nothing more than to be his wife, and later, the mother of his children. They became pregnant just 6 months after their marriage, and the excitement of their growing family filled all of us with joy. It had been a number of years since we had a new baby in the family, and it would be Jennifer’s first grandchild. It was an exciting time. I had hoped that Ashley would have the baby on her birthday, and I thought maybe I had picked it. Reagan wasn’t quite ready…but she was just a dream away. So, Ashley’s birthday remained her own, and the birth of her daughter would have to wait for the 
next day. For one more day, Ashley would be a young wife, but not yet a mother.
Much has changed over this past year. Reagan is almost one…but that is tomorrow’s story. Ashley has been a wonderful mom, and has had a wonderful first year of motherhood. She and Eric and her parents have been remodeling the house that they bought to start their little family in. They are working hard to finish it, while enjoying their time with Reagan and with the horses her parents keep on their land next door. The year has been a busy one, and also one filled with dreams and their becoming reality. Ashley calls it building the dream, and so it is, but this day belongs to her. Today is Ashley’s birthday. Happy birthday Ashley!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
When I was a little girl, I had a rocking horse. I loved my rocking horse, and that was putting it mildly. I was a wild little rider. I wanted to gallup, and there was simply no other way to ride a horse, as far as I was concerned anyway. We had hardwood floors in our house, and the place where my horse sat…well, it had permanent ruts. I’m sure it must have had to be replaced after we moved out…unless there was a historian there who liked the Oregon Trail Ruts and decided that maybe I had my own version. I didn’t think there was anyone who loved riding a rocking horse more than me or even as much…until now.
My nephew, Barry had a rocking horse too, and I think he was practicing bronc busting skills. When I came across this picture of him on his horse, I thought, “That boy is a lot like his aunt.” Of course, I am his aunt by marriage, and not blood, so that can’t really be the case, but he did remind me of me, nevertheless. Barry and I are among the few kids who just can’t take a nice little ride on a rocking horse. That is just a little bit too tame for us. I don’t think either of us feel that way about just everything, but there was a time when we felt that way about our rocking horse. Kids 
have so much energy when they are little. They just explode into with it. Nothing holds them back.
To us, that ricking horse was alive!! We could feel the power under us, just like the cowboys did in the old west. We were going places…I don’t know where, but we were going places and no one was going to be able to keep up with us. I still have my rocking horse, and he has been put out to pasture, because after all, he is about 55 years old or more. He has served me well, and I still love him. Barry and I are both grown now, and neither of us rides horses. If we did though, I suppose that we would have to gallup.
There are people out there, who go behind the scenes to do things for others, without ever taking credit for it. Most people never know of the kindness these people show, because they don’t ask for any recognition. Those people are unsung heroes to those they help…the kind of person who reaches into a dark hole of a situation, and pulls them to safety. That is the kind of person my nephew is. Dave is a computer technician. He can fix computers of all kinds, whether it is a hardware or software problem, it doesn’t matter, Dave can fix it.
I know that Dave will be embarrassed by the recognition that my story will give him, but sometimes people need to know of kindnesses shown. Recently, I got a new computer at work, and I asked my boss what he planned to do with the old one. His answer was that he was probably going to throw it away. I asked if my nephew could have it, because I knew Dave could refurbish it and sell it. Jim was happy to let him have it, and when Dave told me that he refurbished them and sold them to people who had little money for a computer, Jim said we have two other old ones downstairs that he can have as well.
When Dave came to pick them up on Thursday, he told me that the first one was going free to a family who needed it for their daughter to use for school work. When I heard that, I got a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, because it was just such a nice thing for Dave to do. I thought of that family, wondering how they were going to afford the 
computer their daughter needed. Then I thought about the look on their faces when Dave brought that computer over…the sheer overwhelming gratitude they would feel…well, in many ways, I would love to be a mouse in the corner of the room to see that, and yet that wouldn’t be right either. That is a private moment between that family and Dave…their unsung hero.
Today is Dave’s birthday. Dave, I hope you have the kind of birthday fitting for the hero you are to those who know you and have been blessed by you, especially your family. You do great things for people who need help, and that makes me very proud. Happy birthday Dave!! Have a wonderful day!! We love you!!
Can a house feel lonely? Well, maybe not the house itself exactly, but it really can take on that feel after the loss of a loved one, and the moving of the other to a nursing home. We have been preparing my in-laws’ house for the sale to my nephew, JD, and the more things that get removed from the house; the more lonely it feels there. When I think back to all the wonderful times we have had in the 24 years that my in-laws lived there, it feels like the house took on their personalities to a large degree. That is the way it goes, when you own a home. You pour your own style into it, and it becomes almost an extension of you.
All the good times and the sad times that went on during the years they lived in the house, keep coming to the top of my memory files. I remember the sadness we felt when Marlyce passed away, and the excitement as each new baby came into the family. Gone are the times when the kids would come by before a dance or to trick or treat on Halloween. Gone is the noise that was always in the house…the television that was 
always on and turned up loud so my father-in-law could hear it, the laughter and chatter from all the visitors they always seemed to have, and even the rumbling of the oxygen concentrator that was a mainstay in the home for many years. Gone are the birthday parties, holidays, and family get togethers. All are gone from the home now, and it is quiet…too quiet really. That is an amazing thought, since they lived on one of the busiest streets in Casper.
It’s funny, how much my mother-in-law hated the noise of the street, and yet loved the flurry of activity that always accompanied that traffic noise. Everyone stopped what they were doing when an emergency vehicle went by, and grumbled at the loud motorcycles and vehicles when they roared by. Toward the end of their time there, it was all that traffic that gave them something to look at and wonder about. Their chairs were set up so they could look out the big front window and see the hubbub of activity going on, because whether they ever admitted it or not, they liked all of it…except maybe the noise in the summer when the doors and windows were open.
I’m glad my nephew is going to buy the home, so it stays in the family, and I’m glad for the home that it will once again have someone living in it…someone who will remember the 
good times that we all had there for so many years. Oh I know that JD will change the house, add things, and make it his own…that is inevitable, but to us and him, it will simply always be remembered as his grandma and grandpa’s house…at least somewhere in his memory files…and that makes it all feel better somehow. A house needs to be lived in. That is its whole purpose for existence, and when it isn’t lived in, it is simply a house…so lonely.
From the time he was just a little boy, my nephew, Barry loved all things wheel related…from wagons to trucks, and especially tractors. Of course, when he was little he wasn’t allowed to do much serious driving, so he had to settle for a wagon or an old tractor that didn’t run. He was a serious macho man. He even wanted to forgo the entire school experience to stay home and work on trucks with his grandpa.
As he grew, and found out that refusal to attend school was not an option, he discovered that school had a few redeeming aspects after all…the girls. Like all little boys, this discovery made going to school bearable. He also found a new use for his wheels…and his first chick magnet was born. That was about 1987, and not much has changed as far as Barry’s love for most types of wheeled vehicles. These days, however, his chick magnet is reserved for the one chick that has the key to his heart…his wife Kelli.
Of course, Kelli probably wouldn’t go very far with him in the 1987 version of the chick magnet, so Barry has had to upgrade to a newer version…the pickup truck. Every girl would agree that while his wagon was very cute, it just doesn’t work well for going out on the town. And, lets face it, having your boyfriend pull you around in a wagon, would be a little bit embarrassing for a person in their twenties. That sort of thing tends to make you 
look a little juvenile. Girls don’t really like that.
Barry has not outgrown his love for wheels of any type though. His riding lawn mower has replaced the broken down tractor, and the four wheeler ha replaced the little wagon. It is long gone too, except for the memories in pictures. Still, Barry hasn’t changed all that much really. I wouldn’t be surprised if that little boy doesn’t still live somewhere inside the man he has become. I’ll bet that when he looks a a little wagon in pictures or at the store, he remembers the good old days when the wagon was all the wheels he needed.
Easton is like most little boys. He hates the whole dressing up thing that many parents are always wanting their kids to do. In fact, if he could figure out a way to get out of ever dressing up, he would do it. I think most men would have a tendency to agree with Easton…especially when it comes to wearing a tie. They just hate that tie. It chokes them, and if they are at all claustrophobic, it can make them feel like the walls are closing in. And for a little boy, it is even worse. I suppose it could be likened to sitting in a corner, or time out. In fact, time out probably says it all, because just as soon as they dare, little boys are asking, “Can I please take this tie off??” That is, if they ask to take it off at all.
Easton had finally had enough, and so he untucked his shirt and loosened his tie. He hoped that his mom wouldn’t notice, and in the end, his hopes were realized. His mom, my niece, Machelle took the picture without even noticing the tie was loosened and the shirt untucked. It was Easton’s Aunt Susan who would notice the sneaky maneuver her nephew had pulled off. By that time, there was nothing left to do but laugh at the fact the Easton had won…that battle anyway.
Now, if you were to put Easton, and most other little boys, in a different situation, you would find that they are totally comfortable. That situation would be, of course, camping. There is nothing better, in the mind of a little boy, than the adventures you can 
have while camping in the wilderness. All sorts of things can happen out there, and everyone will need a hero to save them from whatever danger might lurk just outside of the eye view of the camp. There could be wolves, bears, snakes, and many other such wild animals, but their moms can relax, because these boys will save them from that. They are big tough campers, and everyone knows that any self respecting wolf or bear, or even snake, would run from them. And that is the main reason why moms must understand that real boys, hate that tie. They are simply too macho for their tie!!
Today is Easton’s 9th birthday. Easton, I hope you don’t have to wear that horrible tie!! I mean, really Machelle, get a clue!! Real boys are too macho for a tie!! Happy birthday Easton!! Have a great, tieless day!! We love you!!
Jessi is the type of person who can always bring a smile to just about anyone’s face. Her sense of humor and quick wit make her so easy to like and so much fun to be around. She isn’t one bit shy, so she gets to know people easily. That has placed Jessi in several positions of leadership, and she has performed her duties with a knack for easy perfectionism. The people she has worked with have found themselves thankful to have worked with her, and even more, glad to have known her. I can’t say that I blame them there. Jessi is very capable and very responsible, and yet she maintains that sense of the carefree.
I love to hear Jessi laugh, because you can hear the joy that lives in her spirit. She doesn’t waste time being depressed, because she finds joy is the everyday little things, as well as the big things. Life doesn’t get better than that. I know that the joy Jessi has comes first from her deep belief in God. Jessi is our church’s youth group leader, and all the kids enjoy going to the weekly meetings. She has a way of making it fun to get together and yet to learn good Godly moral values. Our kids need Godly leadership in all the areas of their lives, because without it, our children will fall victim of all the false beliefs out there. Having Jessi teaching them how much fun it can be to live for the Lord, is a great way for parents to supplement their good teachings.
Jessi got married this past summer to a wonderful man named Jason. Their love for each other radiates from their faces every time they look at each other. I am so happy for Jessi and Jason. They both deserve that kind of love and happiness. The future is not set for them yet, but they want kids, and I know that when they have them, they are going to be great parents. I have watched them both around their nieces and nephew, and the love they feel is so obvious. I personally can’t wait for them to have kids, because I think that will be a wonderful day for both of them. Today is Jessi’s birthday. Happy birthday Jessi!! We all love you very much!! Have a wonderful day!!
As the holidays arrive, my thoughts turn to my dad. It is so hard to celebrate the holidays without him, because he enjoyed them so much. Having all, or at least most, of his family together was one of the highlights of his life. Dad was all about family. If we didn’t come over for a week or so, and we were in town, he would tell us that we needed to come for lunch. He didn’t want to let time go by without sharing those moments, lunches, talks…time with his kids. The years go by so fast, and Dad understood that. He knew that the older we got, the busier we would be, and the harder it would be to get together. Whenever I think that I am too tired or busy to go and spend time with my mom and my sister, or my in-laws, I remind myself that time flies and regret lasts for the rest of your life.
Sometimes, we fool ourselves into thinking that there is plenty of time to go see those important people in our lives, and then before we know it, they are gone and we wish we had gone to see them more. I am so thankful that I spent so much of my dad’s last 2 years taking care of him, because, while nothing makes his home going easy, it did make it less filled with regret. For any of you who have lost loved ones, especially during the holidays, such as my niece and nephew, Jenny and Steve whose daughter Laila passed away 2 years ago tomorrow, you know that you always wish something could have been done differently to change the outcome, but what is done is done, and it cannot be undone. And for those like my niece Chantel and her family, and my sister-in-law, Debbie and my brother-in-law, Lynn and their family, whose loss was not near the holidays, but devastating nevertheless, you know that, though the years have passed, the sadness still returns from time to time. You cannot dwell too long on the past, because now it is your difficult task to go on…because you must, for the rest of your family.
Today I am sad because of the losses we have endured, and tomorrow we will be thankful that we had those loved ones in our lives…even if it was for too short a time. We will be thankful for who they were, and what their life meant to us, and for the joy they brought into our lives. And we will be thankful that we will see them again soon…and for all eternity.
Couples have a way of showing their true feelings of love for each other with their eyes. When couples have been married for a long time, there just seems to be a look, or even a tilt of the head that shows the deepness of their feelings for each other. They know each other better than anyone else in the entire world possibly could. They have been down the road together, through good and bad times, through sickness and health, through happy and sad, through arguments and solidarity…they have been there. They know how their spouse will react to different situations. They know they can count on that person being with them until death they do part. Their love has withstood the test of time, and come out victorious. It is a place every young couple hopes to arrive at someday, but many don’t. So when you see a little old couple still holding hands and looking lovingly into each other’s eyes, it is impossible not to be affected by it.
Sometimes, you can find a young couple who has that same look of love. No, that isn’t a guarantee of lasting love, but sometimes, you just know they will beat the odds. They will become that little old couple holding hands and looking lovingly into each other’s eyes…you just know they will. They have that look of, “My life was so empty, before you came into it.” or “My love for you is so strong that I can’t begin to express it in words.” It is a look that goes beyond physical attraction and into the realm of two hearts/one person…soul mates. It is a look that warms your heart, and touches you deeply. It’s a look that, while we love to catch it on film, almost makes you feel like you are intruding on a moment that should have only been between the two people involved, and yet it’s a look you want to see, because it shows just how much they love each other.
That look of love is something we all long to receive. We pray for our children to receive it someday. We are thrilled by it when we see it in our parents and grandparents. Love is 
the hope of the future and the promise of the past. Love is something that no one can live without…not really. We need love in our lives, and so when we see couples expressing it with their eyes, we walk away with that feeling of everything is right in the world, no matter how messed up things in this world are, my parents, my children, my nieces and nephews, my grandparents love each other. Yes, everything is right…at least in my world.
I liked my nephew’s now wife, Ashley from the moment I first met her. She was sweet, funny, and she was a great fit into our family. And I was delighted when Eric asked her to marry him, because the longer I knew her, the more I liked her. Now, a little more than a year after their marriage, Eric and Ashley are expecting a new baby any day, and we are all very excited about that new little life. So much has changed since that first time Eric introduced us to his girl.
Ashley has a great sense of humor, as anyone who knows her can attest. Sometimes, her humor is almost surprising, and you find yourself laughing hysterically. She can be almost a tomboy, and yet turn around look beautiful all dressed up. Of course, to pull that off, a girl has to be beautiful on the inside, and that is what Ashley is. Her positive personality is refreshing in so many ways. She doesn’t spend much time on the things that she can’t do anything about, but rather focuses on the little blessings that can fill everyday life, if we don’t overlook them. It is an attitude that wins people, and that is exactly what Ashley has a way of doing…winning friends. I think our family has been very blessed with the addition of Ashley.
Ashley has a love for all animals that is very impressive. Her family raises horses, including 
miniature horses, which are very cool, by the way. Eric and Ashley recently bought a house next door to her parents, partly so they can be close to the horses they both love. Watching Eric and Ashley with the various animals they both love is very sweet, and as in the case of the cat’s bath, it can be very humorous, and perhaps the subject of another story in the very near future. It is also, very Ashley! She is a very unique person, and I think it is that uniqueness that makes her so interesting, and such a great part of our family. Today is Ashley’s birthday. Happy birthday Ashley!! I hope that new addition to your family arrives really soon, because we are all ready to meet her…and I know you are ready for her to arrive…really ready!!
