Rewind: Remembering "Mary the Great"

We held a Memorial Celebration for my grandmother, Mary (aka Mary the Great) on Sunday, June 7th. It was such a wonderful afternoon! Mary didn't want a "funeral", so we had family and friends over to my mom's house. About fifty people joined us to spend time with one another, remember Mary, share memories of Mary, enjoy some food and wine, and just gather together. I put together a slide show with about 400 photos of Mary, and they ran on two TVs the whole time. It was wonderful to see everyone enjoy them.

Everyone there had a special place in Mary's heart. Some guests that I would consider "extra-special" would be my Great Uncle Charlie (Mary's only surviving brother) and Aunt Rita (Mary's sister in-law); Aunt Margaret (another of Mary's sisters in-law); Mary's longtime friend Jessie, and all of Mary's nieces and nephews. It was great for all of those first cousins to be together for the first time in years. Five generations of family were present in one room. Uncle Charlie (Mary's generation) ~ My mom & her siblings ~ My brother, a few of our cousins, and I ~ my cousin's daughter ~ my cousin's grandson

Here are a some photos:

Mary's children - my Aunt Cheryl, Mom, and Uncle David with a photo of Mary and flowers at the entry.

Mary's children, nieces & nephews (from L - R): Cheryl, Chris, Lyle, Randy, Nancy, Carla, David, Nada, Pat (my mom), and Bob

Three of the five generations - Will (Mary's great grandson/my nephew), Danielle (my SIL), Nate (Mary's great great grandson), and Kendra (Mary's great granddaughter/Nate's mom/my cousin Kelly's daughter)

Me spending some special time with Aunt Rita (R), Carla (L) & Tracye.

Aeva (my niece) was watching the slide show of Mary's photos with Mimi (my mom). Aeva said, "I love you Mary the Great," blew her a kiss and waved goodbye. It was so heartfelt and so sweet.

We gathered together at one point and shared some fond and funny memories of Mary. Aunt Margaret said one thing that stuck with me: "Mary showed us all how to live and how to die." How true that is. Aunt Rita and Uncle Charlie shared a few thoughts, and then they gave all of the female descendants of Mary a bracelet. It is a silver, cuff-style bracelet with the beginning of the Serenity Prayer. Mary had one before she died, which my mom now wears.

After most everyone left, our immediate family sat down and watched a 25-minutes video that I made of some of Mary's photos to music. I think it took me something close to forever to put it together (partly because it was so difficult emotionally), but I had planned to do it for years. Watching the video was the first chance we actually grieved together, and it was so needed.

Looking back at the day, I know Mary would have been thrilled. I mentioned on more than one occasion that Mary found a comfy & reclining beachy-type chair, a big glass of cold gin & tonic with lime, and got everyone to join her while watching us all hang out and enjoy one another. Yes there were a few tears shed, but we were all so proud and honored to have been a part of Mary's life that it was hard to cry for long.

We miss you, Mary.

Family BBQ

Last night, we all descended upon my Dad & Marilynn's house for a family BBQ. Despite the terrible heat wave we've had lately, it was really nice out. We hung out with the cows & donkeys for a while, then ate dinner and dessert outside once the sun started to set. The kids (and adults) always have such a wonderful time running around the land, riding on the tractor with Papa, playing badminton & other games, feeding the animals, and eating great food.

It was the first time in a LONG time (years) that most of us were together. In addition to Dad, Marilynn (my stepmom), Todd and I being there, it was also Cindy (my sister), her two girls Whitney & Kilee, Chase (my nephew) and Shelby (his fiance), and my other two nieces (two of my sister Stephanie's daughters) Ashley & Courtney.

Here are some photos of our fun night!

Rewind - June 1, 2009: BAM

June 1, 2009. I was sitting on the highway in traffic. I mean sitting, as in no movement whatsoever. Then . . . BAM! Some idiot "didn't see me" and completely rear-ended me. He hurt my car. He hurt my back. Best of all, he hurt his car pretty badly (a lot worse than mine!). , so now I'm on to chiropractic wellness.






Considering what appeared as pretty minimal damage to my SUV, his car was pretty jacked up. Right after he hit me, I just stayed in the car for a minute. I mean, he hit me and we were on a busy freeway next to the HOV lane. When he came to my car & I first asked, "Are you okay?!" His response was, "My car is f***ed up." Well yeah dude, you hit me! Too bad, dummy. You should stop when everyone else has.

By the time I finally made it home that evening, Todd was worried that I was late & my back was killing me. Todd took me to the ER right then. I've since spent the beginning of my summer on muscle relaxers & pain killers that didn't work, so now I'm receiving chiropractic wellness care.

What a way to start off my last week of school. It could've been a lot worse, so I'm glad I'm okay and he's . . . stupid or whatever.

IKEA-Hacking & Scrapbooking

I've told you before about my Scrapbooking Armoire/Craft Area. I decided - thanks to IKEA - to do some "IKEA Hacking" to my area to add some storage and make it more organized and user-friendly. Some people on the IKEA Hacker blog know the names of the items they use, but I do not. It just comes from IKEA and gets named what I call it (such as "trays on racks" and "metal strips".

Below are some shots I took of what I did. You might need to pause it and go photo by photo if you're a caption reader.



My next goal: Quit spending so much freaking money on scrapbooking stuff & actually scrapbook! :)

Rewind - May 30, 2009: Shreveport

Background: Jinger, Christina, Amy, Beth, and I are sorority sisters. Jinger, Christina & Amy were three of my bridesmaids. :) I was at the hospital with the three of them when they had their babies (in the delivery room with Amy for both of hers). While in college, I introduced Amy to her husband, Randy, and was with Beth the first night she met her husband also named Randy. With me? So here's the rewind to last month . . .


On May 30, I headed out of town with my best friends Jinger and Christina. Our friend Amy was turning 40 the next day, and Amy's sister and husband had planned a surprise birthday trip to Shreveport. Everyone was already there, so by the time we arrived at the restaurant Amy thought the surprises were over. They were not! We later headed to the casino to gamble & party!



It was such a great trip! Amy was (obviously) completely shocked that we were there & that Christina flew in from Colorado to join in on the fun. Sleep was not on the agenda AT ALL, but the surprise and fun made it all worth it!

Rewind - May 28, 2009: Austin

I'm trying to catch up the past month or so in our busy lives, so you'll be seeing all sorts of rewinds in the upcoming days.

A few people have asked about our Austin trip, so I thought I'd torture share with all of you. The program is through Education in Action, so our main jobs beforehand is to collect money ($75 per adult & child) and manage everything here. While in Austin, we teach & facilitate.

All students have to be at the school by 6am. They change into the tshirts for their group (each group has a different color), gather drinks and dinner sacks, and load the bus. We're on the road by 6:30am!

On the buses (chartered), we play games that review the vocabulary & concepts of Texas History that we've taught/reviewed this year. Of course, there is excitement by the kids that there is a bathroom on board. ick. The boys & girls do a couple of other paper activities and by then, we pull into Austin.

Our first stop is the Capitol Building. We take a great tour, sit in on the House while in session, walk the "extension" (underground), and take a group photo out front. Afterwards, we walk down Congress Avenue and enjoy a pizza lunch outdoors. Then, the fun part of our afternoon begins - the Bob Bullock State Museum. If you ever go to Austin, Texas, you have to stop here. It is an interactive learning museum that is great for kids and adults. Be sure to see the film in the "Spirit of Texas" theater. It's worth the extra dollars.

After a long and exciting day, we load the buses to head home. That time includes our sack dinners, movies, and hopefully a busload of quiet and/or sleeping children. :)

All of my photos are on my school computer, but here is a poor-quality cell phone pic from the trip home. Notice how you don't see many kids - they are asleep! Success!


All in all, it's a very tiring but amazing day. For many of our students, it will be their only opportunity to visit Austin and spend a long day away from school. It's definitely worth it.

For Joyce

See, it is hot.