How did I become such an inconsistent blogger? I didn't do so well in 2016, and the first month of 2017 is almost history. I guess there just hasn't been much going on......
Well, Cool did have her shoulder replaced, and two and a half weeks later she was back in the operating room under general anesthetic having her heart worked on. When I think about it, that was big news, and we were all concerned about her, covering her with prayer. She is doing well, which is not to say she did not suffer. But prayers were answered. God is good.
Come to think of it, Elletu had her gallbladder removed two weeks ago. She had been suffering a lot and hadn't mentioned it to us. I went to the hospital with her and got to meet her doctor. He handled things well, and she is now gallbladder-less and already back to work, which is not to say she did not have her tough times during her recuperation.
We had our monthly BVG night last night, and besides dinner and watching a cute movie, "In-lawfully Yours," we had a chance to catch up on surgeries, j's Christmas trip to Texas to be with her family, etc. Later, the BVB's returned to my house after their dinner prepared by 'Chef Bill-R-Bee' (Cool's husband), quite possibly the world's best cook. It always makes us Sisters happy to see how the guys have their special camaraderie. I know it means the world to my husband.
And then early this afternoon the text came from Cool---her mother-in-law had passed away just an hour earlier, at the age of 86. The rest of us have all lost both of our parents already. Bill's mom is the last. We all know the sadness, the emotions as his family (two sisters, one brother) gathers together to mourn the loss of their mother. Our hearts collectively go out to them, as we pray for God's peace to surround them at this difficult time.
I think back to my own mother's memorial service 35 years ago this coming August. My children were five and two. It was before I was pregnant with my third child. My heart was broken. I was emotionally drained. The service was held at my family's church in Seattle, and I played the piano for it, the very piano my mother had played the previous Sunday.
After the service I was greeting people who had come to honor my mother, and then there they stood before me, the Bethel Valley Girls. They came all the way from Port Orchard, and we hadn't even known each other all that long. The thing is, God already knew that 35 years later we would still be friends. Sisters. Family forever.
Now is our time to embrace Cool and her husband is the loss of his mother. We love you both!
BVG
Saturday, January 28, 2017
May 1: Greek Easter, Our 40th Anniversary and a BVGO Reunion All Rolled Into One!
Much has happened since this photo was taken on May 1, 2016. I was hospitalized with double pneumonia and a severe asthma attack and have been slowly recovering during the past five weeks. The passage of time and all the medications pumped into my body have not dulled my recollection of the fun celebrations that preceded this untimely turn of events.
So, about this photo. It was taken at my daughter's house in San Mateo, CA, where my husband and I had gone to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Cool and her husband joined us in San Mateo, not only to celebrate our milestone anniversary but also to experience Greek Easter at our daughter and Greek son-in-law's house. Our two sons came from Seattle and North Carolina, and our Seattle daughter-in-law and their two children came was well. Our family actually had a week-long family reunion at our daughter's house. Cool's son lives in Sacramento, and he and his girlfriend drove down for Greek Easter as well, making possible another BVGO reunion. And that is what this photo depicts, my three grown children with Cool's oldest son (the tall one) after decades apart.
Time flies while life is happening.
Sunday, October 30, 2016
A funny thing happened on the way to the beach.....
It's pretty obvious I haven't been very good about keeping up the BVG blog. For six months I have been mostly silent online. I did take the time to commemorate our 35th anniversary on June 2. A month before that, on May 1, my husband and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary at our daughter's house in San Mateo, CA. Our children, their mates, our four grandchildren, my niece, and Cool and her husband joined together to note this momentous occasion with an incredible dinner prepared by our daughter, our sons, our daughter-in-law and our son-in-law. While they cooked all day, Cool and her husband and my husband and I spent the day in Santa Cruz, getting back just in time for that special dinner. I was feeling great and also overwhelmed by the love shown for us by our grown children. Several days later, after Cool and her husband had taken off driving back to Port Orchard, our son and his family had flown back to Seattle and our other son had flown back to his home in North Carolina, I had the joy of attending a Mother's Day tea at my grandson's preschool along with my daughter. Later that day I notice I was feeling chilled. The next day I was coughing a bit and feeling tired, but I was looking forward to spending Mother's Day with my daughter, our first Mother's Day together since 1995, when she was a senior in high school. Unfortunately, both of us woke up really sick. We managed to get pedicures, but I was so dizzy afterwards, she left me there while she walked the several blocks to get the car. I willed myself to be well because the following morning my husband and I were planning to drive north to our usual hotel in Grants Pass, Oregon, the first let of our journey to be beautiful place we spent our honeymoon, the Oregon Coast. Just like it was that week, the weather was predicted to be sunny and clear, with highs in the upper 70's. Well, I felt worse Monday morning, but off we went, me coughing all the way and with zero appetite. By the time we got to Grants Pass, my husband wanted to take me to urgent care, but I resisted, thinking all I needed to get better was to get to the beach, to breathe in the salt water air. I was awake all night coughing and spitting up gunk. In the morning, another plea was made to agree to go to urgent care, but I insisted no, and off we headed to Seaside. That seven hour drive was torture for me, and I just kept focusing on getting to the beach. When we reached the parking lot of the hotel I sicker but feeling relieved. That relief was short-lived. After removing his big suitcase from the back of our car my husband asked, "Where are your suitcases?" I asked him how I should know? Back in Grants Pass he said I was so sick, he would take care of everything. Here is where I need to shorten the story a little, but I must not leave out the part about how beautiful our hotel room was. It was on the fourth floor of a beautiful building right on the beach promenade. It had a king bed, fireplace, large tiled showed, flat screen TV, covered deck looking out on the beach, and the special treat, a Jacuzzi tub for two looking out on the beach. Too bad I didn't have any of my clothes or toiletries. Too bad I didn't sleep one single minute that night but rather sat up coughing and spitting up gunk. Too bad I couldn't wash my hair and looked so awful. And too bad we had to leave in the morning and drive all the way back to Grants Pass to get my suitcases. So we had one more night at that hotel, and I even apologized at the front desk in the morning for anyone in the hotel who complained because some women was hacking and coughing all night. I still wouldn't go to urgent care, not in Grants Pass. I was so sick, but all I wanted to do was get HOME. Another day of driving, another day of coughing, and it was getting obvious that something was terribly wrong with me. We made it that night, and again I was awake all night, fourth night in a row. About 2 A.M. my coughing was on the verge of sending me over the edge. When my husband woke up at 6 A.M. he called the emergency nurse, who set up a 9 A.M. appointment for me in Tacoma. I was in a doctor's office for just a few minutes before they sent me on to urgent care. I spent nine hours there before an ambulance came to take me somewhere else. It sure wasn't that luxurious hotel room I had dreamed about. Someday I want to go back there, and I want to stay in that very room. While I was in the ambulance, it occurred to me that God was taking me through something quite unordinary for me, just so I would have new stories to tell. That kept me oddly comforted through some really crazy experiences. As I looked around the tight quarters in that ambulance, I had the presence of mind to think I was in a limo going to a spa for a few days. It is amazing how mind games can help me when facing the reality of a situation can be scary. And so it was as I rode along the streets of Tacoma to what turned out to not really be a spa at all. And so my new stories began.......
Thursday, June 2, 2016
35 Years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, 35 years!!!!
No, that is NOT how long it has been since I posted on our blog, although it might seem like it. (And do I ever have a lot of stories to tell from the two months I skipped writing, but that will all happen in due time.)
It was 35 years ago today that the four of us got together for the first time, so that means this is our 35th anniversary, and our anniversary party is about to commence. I just wanted to mark this special event on the blog, and comments can come later. And stories. Lots of stories. It's been a storied two months.
Happy 35th anniversary, BVG Sisters! Love you! Love us!
(And Happy 38th birthday to Cool's son, Isaac, whose third birthday party was the event that drew the four of us together in the first place. I just saw Isaac a month ago yesterday in California, at my daughter's house. It was such a fun BVGO reunion, but I will save that story for another day. I have pictures!!)
No, that is NOT how long it has been since I posted on our blog, although it might seem like it. (And do I ever have a lot of stories to tell from the two months I skipped writing, but that will all happen in due time.)
It was 35 years ago today that the four of us got together for the first time, so that means this is our 35th anniversary, and our anniversary party is about to commence. I just wanted to mark this special event on the blog, and comments can come later. And stories. Lots of stories. It's been a storied two months.
Happy 35th anniversary, BVG Sisters! Love you! Love us!
(And Happy 38th birthday to Cool's son, Isaac, whose third birthday party was the event that drew the four of us together in the first place. I just saw Isaac a month ago yesterday in California, at my daughter's house. It was such a fun BVGO reunion, but I will save that story for another day. I have pictures!!)
Saturday, April 2, 2016
happy birthday, j!
Though from Port Orchard she did defect,
On this, her birthday, I must reflect
Back to when our town was her choice
And the first time I ever heard j's voice.
That was the beginning
Of a friendship so winning
That 35 years down the road
I truly treasure it like pure gold.
Golden Girls--ah, the BVG's!
We're a little like them, if you please:
Dorothy, Sophia, Blanche, Rose,
We embody their camaraderie, I suppose.
Their show got canceled but reruns live on,
Even after three of the actresses are gone.
We appreciate their humor, how they face life,
How they pull together even in strife.
That's how we've done it over the years,
Sharing our joys, soothing each other's tears.
And always our j has encouragement for us,
Lifting us all up without any fuss.
So thank you, j, and bless you this day,
From your Sisters, with love, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Monday, March 7, 2016
A BVG Night Without j is like...
...coffee without the caffeine
...a latte without the espresso
...a summer in Port Orchard with no sunny days
...trying to paint your toenails in the dark
...the Seahawks without Russell Wilson
...Hall without Oates
...receiving a box of caramels on the day you get your braces put on
...locking yourself out of your house in your pj's
...running into another car during your driving test
...forgetting to remove the original card when re-gifting
***************
Do you know what's worse than all of this? Elletu getting sick just thinking about a BVG Night without j. That is what has happened, and so...
Tonight is not a BVG Night after all. Instead, I am renaming it:
"Cool and Billy B Come for Soup on a Monday Night Night"!
Feel better, Elletu. Enjoy your grandkids, j. Miss you both!
...a latte without the espresso
...a summer in Port Orchard with no sunny days
...trying to paint your toenails in the dark
...the Seahawks without Russell Wilson
...Hall without Oates
...receiving a box of caramels on the day you get your braces put on
...locking yourself out of your house in your pj's
...running into another car during your driving test
...forgetting to remove the original card when re-gifting
***************
Do you know what's worse than all of this? Elletu getting sick just thinking about a BVG Night without j. That is what has happened, and so...
Tonight is not a BVG Night after all. Instead, I am renaming it:
"Cool and Billy B Come for Soup on a Monday Night Night"!
Feel better, Elletu. Enjoy your grandkids, j. Miss you both!
Friday, February 26, 2016
Thou Shalt Not Worship Other Idols
A current BVG demographic: 3/4 of the BVG's watch "American Idol." Only Elletu abstains. On last night's show the Top Ten was announced, and it is a talented group for sure. While I was watching their performances I texted my friend Jeanne in Hawaii who also watches, but of course Hawaii is a few hours behind. Jeanne texted back and asked me who I "support" on Idol. It was an interesting question considering that our texts and e-mails during the past few months have all been about Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. My answer was this:
"MacKenzie, Sonika, Dalton, Avalon, Trent, La'Porsha and Lee, but not necessarily in that order. They are all so good, it's hard to choose my favorite. Now, if I could only feel that way about even just ONE person who is running for President!"
We talked about both of these issues at our BVG Night, the sad state of this Presidential race and the outstanding talent on this, the final year of "American Idol." I've always voted Republican, but I can't find one Republican running for President this time around that I want to vote for. I'm certainly not a fan of Hillary or Bernie either, of course. But look at that list of six potential Idols---I'll be happy if any one of them wins the Idol title. They are really all that good.
In the grand scheme of things, what's most important? The sign above says it all. I have put this on the blog before, and I might do it again several times between now and the November election, and beyond. Politics aside, Jesus is our leader. Reality TV aside, Jesus is our Idol.
That being said, Cool and j, what do you think of my list of six "American Idol" favorites so far?
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