Good riddance 2014

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that this time last year my mother was ill.

 My granddaughter, Little Bee, was here in Indiana for a visit from February 25 to 28. Then on the 28th, she and I flew back east and we celebrated her birthday a week early. Interestingly enough, if we had celebrated Little Bee's birthday on her actual birthday, I probably wouldn't have been here when my mother passed away.

I returned home on March 2nd and Mother died on March the 5th. 

After she passed, 2014 began for me. I hadn't even bought a 2014 calendar until after I lost mother. About ten days after mother passed, I started working out again. When a loved on is ill and you sit around in the hospital, you eat. Or, at least I did. I wanted to look nice at my son's wedding.

At the end of March I started my part-time job at the nursery. I also volunteered at one of our Lotus events, Lotus Blossoms. And, I went to see the Punch Brothers in concert - for the third time!

 

The first weekend in April, my friend Stefanie invited herself to visit. She asked me "do you like how I invite myself?" As a matter of fact, I did. She was finishing her studies to be a mortician. When she arrived she said "not everyone wants to talk about death - but talk to me." I talked and talked. It was much needed. I worked three weekends in April at the nursery and we started to have committee member meetings with my volunteer organization, Lotus.

 

In May I flew out to Durham, NC from the 15th to 18th for my future daughter-in-law's bridal shower. During that trip we went to look at wedding dresses and I was fortunate enough to be along when she found The Dress. Following my return to IN, the next weekend,  we visited Doug's family in Goshen from the 24th to 26th. 

 

June brought the birth of my second granddaughter, Alexandria Joy, on June 8. This little gal lives up to her name as she rarely cries, always has a smile on her face and is very easy going. We were able to see one of my favorite groups in downtown Indianapolis, The Avett Brothers.

 

In July, we all returned to Durham, NC from the 2nd to the 6th for my son's wedding on July the 5th. The wedding was held in my daughter-in-law's home church, with the reception at The Museum of Life and Science, which was a lot of fun for everyone. On July 22nd, I celebrated my first anniversary with the Travel Department at the University. I'm thankful to have finally found a job at IU which is a great fit for me.

 

From August 14 to 17, I flew out to MD to see my girls.

 

On September 15, Doug welcomed his first grand child, a girl. A dear friend of mine from my Ball State days, Cathy, visited, as well as our friend Amy, from Hilo, HI. Several months of work for our world music festival culminated on the third weekend of September.

 

In October my BSU friend, Cathy, returned for a weekend and then in the end of the month I headed to White Bluff, TN to visit my life long friend, Bec.

 

The second weekend in November, Doug's son and wife brought Doug's new granddaughter to visit. The third weekend in November, another dear BSU friend, Liz, came for a visit and she went with me to get my second tattoo on the 15th. From November 24 to December 1, I headed to MD to visit my daughter and her wife and my two granddaughters.

 

From December 5-8, we returned to Goshen to visit Doug's family and celebrate his mother's birthday. All of his five siblings gathered from IN, IL and Idaho. From December 23-28, I returned to MD to celebrate Christmas with my girls.

 

I say Good Riddance because 2014 was a tough year. This year I had to try to learn to live without my mother. Every holiday, birthday, birth, wedding, celebration, my thoughts turned to her. I have been blessed by my many loving friends and family members who have helped me to be positive. The advice I received was to rest. I rested. There were times I floated through. Gardening is always therapeutic and it was especially so this year. I often gardened with tears running down my face. With loss comes new beginnings. I'm closer to my dad than I've ever been before. I have a new granddaughter and a new daughter in law. There was a lot of good - but there were a lot of tough times, too.

 

I am looking forward to see what 2015 has to offer. I look forward to a better year.

I live for these two.

Red coats



For me, when I try something on, it is all about how it feels. Or, how it makes me feel. If it is tight or uncomfortable, no way. I am often guilty of wearing my clothes too large. When people ask me what I was thinking when I bought something that is too big for me, my response is

 

 I was thinking I would wear this to the movies when it was raining on a Sunday morning.

 

You know, how you want to just be comfy and settle in and chill?

 

Basically, I dress for comfort.

And, I dress for how I think I look in my clothes.

How it looks in my head.

How I feel.

How I think it makes me look.

 

I love red coats. Throughout my life I have had several red coats. Red is captivating. I glow in red.

 

Recently, I saw a picture of Princess Kate in a red coat and realized she captures that feeling - that image of me in my head.

What I feel like it looks like

Then, I saw a photo of what I really look like in my red coat. It was a rainy, chilly day in South Bend, IN. We were on the campus of Notre Dame, being shown around by a couple of grad students who are our friends and family. It was cold and a steady mist was falling. I was wearing my new cream, soft infinity scarf which I pulled up to the back of my cap. I was freezing.

I am guilty of stuffing stuff in my pockets. I know on this day I had an extra pair of gloves and a head band/ear warmer thingy. Then when we took the picture, I put my arms around Mary and Q - which pulled my coat even more. 

What it really looks like

Even though I look like fifty cents in my red coat, I feel like a million bucks.

Serial (contains spoilers)

 Did you get hooked? I did. But like a lot of things, I was late to the game. Someone told me about it in the beginning and I kept thinking about tuning in and catching up. In the end, I didn't get around to it until it was nearly over. So, just like what we sometimes do with TV seasons when we watch an entire season at in a weekend, for about three days, I" binge listened" to Serial. I alternated between listening on my ipad and my phone. I took notes. I can't help it. I am a note taker. It helps me both remember and process what I'm hearing. And still, I want to go back and listen to the entire series again. Don't you?

 I loved the way Sarah Koenig talked to us. She seemed honest and open. There was talk about how journalists shouldn't have feelings about what they are reporting on and Sarah's response was something like "we'll, we aren't machines." Sarah investigated this murder case, but also allowed us to experience how she felt along the way. And then, if you weren't getting how she felt, she would sum it up in the next sentence for us. We were literally, along for the ride. In episode five when Sarah and Dana start out at the school and drove to the Best Buy - in twenty minutes - we were along. Kind of like "isn't this fun?" And the phone calls to Adnan - I loved those. My favorite part of the intro every episode was "this is a call from Adnan Sayed, an inmate at a Maryland correctional facility."
The other player I really loved was Deidre Enright - I know someone whose voice sounds like Deidre (and, amazingly, she is an attorney, too). I loved how Deidre spoke - I love the last time we heard from her how when Sarah called her Deidre sang out "Sarah!" Isn't it great that her students (the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law) are going to get some DNA testing, FINALLY?
I have family in Maryland who live very near to where many places were referenced in the story. I've passed Patapsco State Park many times. (Was there really a trip to Patapsco/the cliffs?)

Many act as if this serial storytelling is a new concept. Isn't that what was going on when our parents and grandparents gathered around the radio to listen to stories in the days before t.v.? But even Sarah admitted this idea is not novel and as she said "as old as Dickens."
Listening to a story is comforting when we are children and I don't know that it ever ends. Doesn't everyone love to be read to? I remember when my children were small and I would take them to story hour at the library in their pajamas. I was a stressed out single mama and I would sit with them - my little one on my lap and my older one cuddled next to me and it was such a soothing time for all of us. When I was a child, they would read about Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat and film turning the pages of the book and it was restful.
Were you disappointed in the end? I was a bit, but not surprised. I figured we wouldn't get real closure - that we would be left hanging. I mean, this is real life - not a work of fiction.  I wouldn't have convicted Sayed, either. There wasn't enough evidence. Was it just me or was there a lot of confusion over who had the car and the cell phone when? This is a reason I need to go back to listen again.
In episode twelve: what was with this dude named Josh? Where did he come from? The entire country, millions of people are listening to this podcast and Josh just suddenly learns of it and has all of this information and answers? I thought he sounded like an actor whose responses were rehearsed. It was all a little too perfect for me.
The question in my mind which begs to be answered is Where Is Jay? Because IF Sayed is innocent, that means a killer is out there. Jay knew a little bit too much about it. He was terrified. Sayed wasn't terrified because (in my humble opinion) he was innocent. When he was first arrested, he kept wondering when they were going to let him go home. If he was a killer, he would have known the jig was up.
Jay never took a polygraph, there was no search of Jay's house and what was with that long pause every time they asked Jay a question? Because he was making up his answer! The man was lying out his patootie!
Everyone is saying this podcast series will change the way of journalism. What do you think? Yesterday, there was a Ted talk about reporting via cell phones - I have to say, I've given thought to verbal blogging. Aren't you dying to hear what my voice sounds like?