~and you know, it's not a bad thing~

     We adopted a cat from the animal shelter two days ago and today if all goes well, she comes home to live with the Renfro Family.  Her arrival will make this a family of four here in our life along the Western Slopes with Mike and I plus Sally the Dog.  
     One of the requirements of the animal shelter here is that if you adopt an animal it must be spayed or neutered before you take it home with you.  Sounds like a wonderfully smart idea and one that responsible pet owners need to do.  Little Crosby's procedure was scheduled for yesterday morning very early.  If all went well, we'd be able to bring her home this morning to begin her new life with us.  Shortly before lunch,  we stopped by to see how she had faired through it.  
     One of the office staff there offered to take me back to see her, telling me that she would probably be pretty drowsy still from the surgery but that she did just fine.  So off we went to the back room, the recovery area for any type of animal that has had some type of surgery performed at the clinic.  
     When we got to the cages where all of the cats were, I peered inside and there she was.  Or so I believed.  The beautiful calico kitten that I was looking at had one heck of a gash on top of her head with all kinds of stitches running through it. Her fur had been shaved close and her face was not a "smiley" one.  I had such a look of shock on my face as I thought to myself.....

"She looks really ticked off, not sleepy!  And why in the world did they do that to her head?  Holy cow, Crosby!  What did they do to you?"

     The young woman who had led me back there must have sensed my apprehension and she smiled at me and said that I was looking at the wrong calico.  Little Crosby was in the cage right below this one.  Sure enough I glanced down and there she was looking at me, perhaps in wonder as to why I was mixed up in the first place.  Two calicos, nearly identical except for the surgical procedures they had gone through.  I'm assuming that would have been an easy mistake to have made.  Assuming helps me to think that I'm not losing what little is left of this old mind of mine.
     Mike and I went to Walmart and picked up the necessary cat supplies.  It seemed kind of nice actually to be buying a bag of cat litter, a litter box with scooper, and food for her to start on once she gets here today.  The day we had gone in to meet her for the first time had been a bittersweet and melancholy kind of day for a lot of reasons.  But from the moment I met her and touched her little paw, I began to feel a whole lot better.  So who could have imagined that buying $20 worth of cat stuff on a Tuesday afternoon would make me feel even better?  Yet it did.  For me, cats are good medicine.  They provide comfort in times of distress.  It was the right time to get a cat.
     Last night as we were doing a few things around the house, Mike made the remark that poor Sally's world will soon be rocked by another four-legged friend.  He is probably right.  Sally has also given us, especially Mike, much comfort and companionship.  He has known that little heeler dog for a long time and when Sally's original owner passed away a year ago last August, she came here to live with us.  Their walks are a three or four times a day ritual, no matter what the weather may be.  They share a real love for one another and I guess if you can be loved by a dog, then you must be an "all right" kind of guy.  
     It's the very, very early morning hours here along this side of the Rocky Mountains.  The temperature is sitting at slightly above the 0 degree mark and snow covers the ground.  The clock says 4:10 a.m. and even Sally the Dog is fast asleep.  It's the last day of the year 2014 and tomorrow when we awake the new one will commence.  There are many things to remember about the past 365 days.  Some of them have been good while others "not so much" yet when I stop to consider it, the good greatly outweighs the bad.  It always does.
     I'm not sure where the next 365 days will lead me but when you stop to consider it, who does?  At this moment in time I am healthy and well as I look forward to the year that I will turn 60 years old.  My prayer for all of you, my dearest friends and family, is that you will have a peaceful New Year and that life will be well for you too.  I give thanks for the lessons I have learned in the past twelve months about myself and about life.  
     One of the things on my "list of 60 things to do before I turn 60", number 11 to be exact, was to discover the secret to life before I die.  I'm glad to say that I can now cross that one off of the list.  The secret to life is to continue to live it, to hold your friends and family close to your heart, and to never forget the path that brought you to where you are this day.  If I would venture to say what will cause my demise in the years ahead, it shall perhaps be that my heart was so full and overflowing with love for the people that I knew, that it simply burst at the seams because it could hold no more.  And you know what?  That's not a bad thing.  Nope.  Not a bad thing at all.

     Happy New Year in 2015 to everyone out there.  May peace be the journey for all of us.

     

~there is this cat~

There is a cat who is coming to live at our house tomorrow, a cat that the shelter called "Cobble" because of the street that she was found on here in town.  Since mid-September when someone brought her in very much pregnant with five kittens, she has been a resident there.  After the kittens were delivered and she was able to nurse them for a sufficient time, all were put up for adoption.  The mother and her babies all in one fell swoop were listed as "in need of a home".  One by one they were chosen until only the momma cat remained.  For whatever reason, no one seemed to want her.  That is until yesterday.

I've been thinking about getting a cat here along the Western Slopes for some time now.  Yesterday I "convinced" Mike that we should stop out there and take a look.  I'd visited the animal shelter here in Montrose a couple of times before with my daughter and how fun it was to look at all the animals there who needed a home.  The last time I was there in late July, there were a dozen or more cats/kittens just waiting for someone to take them home.  When we stopped in yesterday, I expected to see that many again.  I was so surprised when we walked in and saw only two of them in their cages along the wall.  One, a little gray kitten, was already spoken for and the other, a long-hair calico about a year or so old remained.  I walked right over to her and stuck in my finger to gently pet her.  I looked at Mike and I'm afraid that he knew right then that she was going home with us.  It was inevitable.  Two minutes after we saw her, I was ready to take Cobble home.

One thing that I will say about Mike Renfro is that he has a soft spot in his heart for his wife and for animals.  

She didn't seem to mind posing for pictures too much and that's a darn good thing in this household.  

It's a wonderfully strange thing about animals.  They are good at sensing things, detecting how we humans are feeling.  Yesterday was kind of a "down" day for me.  Our Christmas holiday back home in Kansas was great but now it is over.  I saw so many precious family members and dear friends but it will be a while before I see them once again.  Yesterday life seemed "bittersweet".  I felt it all morning long and was still feeling it when we walked inside the animal shelter but the moment I picked up Cobble, the feeling subsided.  It nearly went away instantaneously.  The feeling of her soft fur and the sound of her gentle purring made me think of my old cat Oblio the Roundhead.  I was "sold" on adopting her from that moment on.

It surely must have seemed like forever to Cobble that she would find a home somewhere and live in a place much larger than the confines of her appointed cage.  The shelter here in Montrose does an excellent job in caring for the animals that arrive there.  They were so happy that finally she had a home to go to and people who would love her.  It was easy to tell that the staff there are animal lovers and believe in the humane treatment of all God's creatures.  

Tomorrow Cobble will get a new name.  "Crosby" will be as she is called here in our house.

Mike and I are keeping our fingers crossed that she and Sally the Dog will get along with one another and since I still have a few days off for vacation, we can slowly introduce them to each other.  We hope that she will become a good "mouser" or at least scare away any little critter that tries to make their way into our house this winter.  And after a long day at school/work, it will be nice to come home to a cat AND a dog.  

The day ahead is a most busy one for me.  I'm heading to school for a good share of the morning to try and get things ready for "the 22" to return next week.  Christmas decorations will come down and "Happy Birthday Kansas" decor will go up.  Supplies must be replenished and the reorganization of desks will occur.  The children's best friend, "Mr. Renfro", will see to it that they have plenty of dry erase markers to use and anything else they need for that matter. He is a good sport.  

Bittersweet emotions or not, I am so glad that I went home to Kansas.  Oh, and one other thing.

I'm glad that I have a home to return to here in Colorado.  God continues to bless me.

Oblio the Roundhead's very first Christmas back home in Kansas in 2010.  She was only 6 months old and would absolutely NOT leave a Christmas tree alone.  After several attempts of trying to dissuade her, I just gave up.  Looks like now we are going to have that little "challenge" once again and THAT makes me most happy.

~that you have been a part of it~

From near Salida yesterday, things really didn't look so good.  Actually is was kind of before Salida, in fact it was WAY before there when we first saw the cloud over the mountain.  I looked at Mike and he looked at me as we both had the same thought.

"Now that doesn't look good."

Monarch Mountain and I have this agreement between the two of us.  We've had a consensus for a couple of years now and the "pact" that we made was this.  That big mountain is in charge and I in turn have a healthy respect for it.  I check the weather before passing over it and if things look like they could go to the proverbial "south", then I don't cross it.  It's as simple as that.  But yesterday I was not alone and Mike is a very good driver.  So from the McDonald's in Salida we made the decision to just get over it so we could get back home to Montrose.  As it turned out, there were a lot of folks who had to do the very same thing so we got into line with all of the other "ants on the highway" and started out.  Once we started making the ascent, we realized that the roads were clear for the most part with just a lot of wind and a very heavy cloud cover. The skiers were just coming off the mountain and long lines of cars were headed downward and we passed so many of them along the way.  The roads got a bit slicker at the top but except for one crazy driver with New Mexico (no offense for other drivers from the Land of Enchantment)  license plates, everyone drove with caution.  We made it to the top and then back down again.  It's a strange feeling to cross the Great Continental Divide and to know that on one side you have your "Atlantic Ocean" and on the other the "Pacific Ocean" side.  We were able to take a few pictures from the top from the confines of the front seat of the car.  It's always pretty up there with snow covering everything in fact it covers in entirety the visitor's center.  Unless you knew it was there, you'd never imagine that a building was behind the mounds of snow.

It wasn't really shirt sleeve weather or anything and for the first time, we chose to just keep on going instead of getting out of the car a bit at the top.  

The drive home from south central Kansas to south western Colorado is a long one.  611 miles of a long one.  We took out from the McDonald's in South Hutchinson at 6:30 a.m. and pulled into the driveway here at home in Montrose about 5:00 p.m.  Except for that little concern on the mountaintop, it was really an uneventful trip.  We had Otis with us and he kept us entertained along the way and actually as I just typed those words, I said to myself....

"Peggy, you do realize that Otis is just a pretend moose, right?"

When "the 22" arrive back at school a week from tomorrow, dear Otis is going to be with us for a couple of weeks longer.  January 29th is the birthday of the great state of Kansas and Otis, our "moose on the loose", is going to help teach the kids a little geography lesson.  He went to all kinds of places with us while we were back home there and had his picture taken at many stops along the way.  There is no place in any teacher's guide in which you will find Otis' lesson and to be honest, I like it that way.  There's just something about that little guy that the kids have become enamored with and I can't imagine any better way to teach them a lesson than with him.  He's been the very best $1.50 investment I think I have ever made as a school teacher.  

Mike and I saw some very beautiful things along the way and managed to stop long enough to take some pictures of them.  We preserved this moment in time to enjoy in the months and years to come.  

We have always driven by here in the canyon lands between Canon City and Salida but never really stopped to see it.  Such a beautiful area of the world.

Otis while making his first, last and only attempt to slalom down a rock.  It ended up miserably.

Face first, into the cold, white powder is how we found him.  The scary thing was this.  I found myself hurrying to get him out of the snow and dried off so he wouldn't catch a cold.  I think we may have begun to spend a little too much time with him :)

The majestic Pike's Peak as seen from the roadway between Pueblo and Canon City.

Perhaps the best sight of all yesterday as we watched the setting sun very near the valley that is home to us now.  

I enjoyed going home to Kansas and I had the best 9 days ever there.  With the days that remain before returning to school a week from today, I plan to get a few things accomplished here at home and at school as well.  The time will fly, just like it always does these days.  It seems hard to imagine that it was nearly two years ago now that I came out to visit Mike and to see the place that he called "home".  Little did I know on that first visit that I would soon be living here.  Funny how life works out all according to "the plan".  As for you my dear friends and family, I am so glad that you have been a part of it.

~well the time has come~

It is a strange thing to leave your heart in two different places.  From my hometown of Haven, greetings friends and family wherever you may be.

It's early here.  Very early as a matter of fact.  I woke up at 3:00 this morning with a "start" as I guess I remembered that we will be going back home very soon.  The time is now at hand and I didn't realize how difficult it would be to leave this place once again.  But leave we must.  Although originally we had planned to stay several days longer, the weather is promising to bring storms this week to the mountains.  We must make it safely over Monarch Pass before it gets more treacherous.  It's important so to do.  I kind of like living still these days.

We have spent one last night here in Haven, Kansas and enjoyed the company of the Fisher/Scott Family.  We played cards with everyone and I actually managed to win a game or two.  I was shown one of the most amazing card tricks ever by David and I'm still thinking that it was pretty amazing.  Not one clue of how he did it but there was one thing that made this teacher's heart smile.  When I asked him how he knew to do it, the response was one that was like music to my ears.

"I learned how to do it by reading a book!"
Good answer David!

Now about that idea of leaving my heart in two different places.  Actually two different places in two different states and two different time zones and a whole lot of other things.  

Yesterday morning I cried when I realized it was time to say farewell to my sister and brother-in-law as they returned to their home in Oklahoma.  The time had gone so very quickly and we had enjoyed being with them.  I was crying for a whole lot of reasons and my sister going back home was only one of them.  You know I had done so well with not returning to Kansas for six whole months that I thought it would be a slice of that proverbial "piece of cake" this time around.  I'd be able to just go back when the time was through and not even think another thing about it.  I realize now that was not the case.

I had so much fun here and made enough memories to store up until the next time I return.  Finally, finally I saw the luminaries in Hyde Park and the weather was nice enough to be able to walk through the paths, rather than having to drive them.  It had long been my desire to attend a Catholic Mass, to understand the faith that is so close to my own.  Mike and I were able to visit St. Jude Catholic Church in Wichita and attend the services there with his nephew and family.  We spent a morning at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, a wonderful space museum that is only a block or so from my home there.  All this time I had been so close to it and never really took advantage of going there to visit.  This time back I did.  

The list of wonderful things to have done goes on and on.  I loved everything that I saw while i was here, including the people.  Especially the people.  Maybe that's why it is so hard to leave this morning and I guess that is kind of understandable.  Perhaps I should not be so hard on myself (surprise, surprise) and just accept the fact that I will always still be a Kansan no matter where I find myself living.  It's natural for that to happen.

Yet back in Colorado I have a life as well and it is filled with wonderful friends who have become just like a second, extended family to me.  There is a community of people that I have the privilege of working with each day at Olathe Elementary and I love each and every one of them.  They watch over me and everyone else as well.  I like that about them.  They care about what happens to the others, they "cover" our backs all the time.  They have blessed my soul and lifted my spirits high.  I have missed them too!  We have become used to seeing one another and even though all of us were grateful for the Christmas break, it will soon be time to return to life at school and that is how it should be.  Olathe friends I am looking forward to seeing you back there.  

And then, well then there are these little people that I have grown close to being with.  I love them with all of my heart.  They call me "teacher" and it is a calling that I don't take lightly.  I have been thinking of them and hoping they are doing ok.  We have lots to accomplish in the weeks and months that lie ahead of us still.  They need to be ready for the second grade and it's my job to get them there and get there they will.  I promised them that I would come back to be with them and a promise is just that....  a promise.

So for now my dear Kansas, I have to go.  I am well and cared for in a place far away from here.   I have learned that there are good and decent people in this world.  Some live in Kansas and some live in Colorado.  The great thing, the bonus of the whole situation as I see it is this.....I have the best of both worlds.  What more could I ask for?  

Thank you for being my friends.  If I haven't said that lately, well I'm surely saying it now.  Where would I be without you?  In a world of hurt, that's where.  I love you guys all.  Please remember me as I will always be remembering you.

See you again sometime Kansas!  See you soon Colorado!

God gave me the best hometown there EVER was~
Haven, Kansas

~and the time was well spent~

The time was full and well spent.  It flew by at record speed and although I am thankful that we made it here for the Christmas holidays, it will be with a tinge of sadness in my heart that we must go back to Colorado in the early morning hours tomorrow.

The time has come to say "see you again sometime" as we make our way along the road towards the Great American West.

Someone mentioned to me a couple of weeks back that it seemed as if I took a lot of pictures these days and I told them that they were indeed correct.  I am always carrying a camera around with me of some sort and most generally speaking I take several pictures a day.  For me, it's a way to preserve "life" and the accompanying memories that go with it.  I photograph lots of people, places and things that I come across.  Oh, and one other thing.  I allow myself to be in the pictures many times as well.  It's important to do that and here is why.

I knew a woman once who refused to be in pictures, always having some excuse as to why she didn't want her picture taken.  It was for a wide variety of reasons including the standard ones like her hair was a mess or she had put on too many pounds.  When she passed away several years back her children had very few pictures to remember their mother by.  That was most unfortunate.  I vowed from that moment in time that I would not allow that happen to me and my children.  Even though the images captured through the lens of the camera might not mean as much to my own kids now, they more than likely will be quite important in the years that lie ahead.  So I take pictures.  Lots of them.

When I get back to Montrose in the next few days, I will more than likely look at the snapshots of life here in Kansas that I took.  I will smile to see them as I remember my family and friends who still remain here in the midwestern part of America.  If I added up the numbers correctly, I was able to take about 350 pictures during the week that we have have been here.  The following are some of my favorite ones.  

Dear Kansas I love you and your fine people so much and I always will.  Sometime soon I will come back to see you once again.  Thanks dear friends and family for the wonderful time here with you!

The laughter of family members on Christmas Day at Haven.  

Taking Otis the "moose on the loose" to the Kansas Cosmosphere for a visit.

Seeing my hometown once again.

Spending time with Renfro Family members at church in Haven.

Enjoy a suppertime meal with Scott Family members at Ken's Pizza in Hutchinson.

And perhaps the most meaningful photo of all......Remembering the sign that tells me that the road goes both ways~east AND west!

~as we wonder where the time went~

Every once in a while I find myself standing outside of our house back in Montrose and staring to the east.  611 miles to the east.  I look at the majestic Black Canyon of the Gunnison and realize that beyond its reach lies the great state of Kansas and the place that I called home for so many years.  I wonder about what they are doing there and if everything is fine.  For a fleeting moment in time, I imagine that I too am with them all.  I guess I have missed that place even more than I thought I could imagine.  

Greetings from the flatlands.

A week ago this day we left the mountains of Colorado and headed towards the wonderful area of the world known to all as "KANSAS".  It had been nearly half of a year since I had been back home and I wanted to return once more to see my family and friends for the holidays.  It took a while to get here but how very worth the effort it was.  The days flew by quickly but that realization comes at no surprise to me.  As the age old adage reminds us, "Time flies when you are having fun."  

I have been away from Hutchinson and Reno County long enough that some things seemed a bit strange at first to me upon returning this time.  Stores have closed here in town while still others have opened for business.  Streets have been repaved and redone all over the place making driving a much more pleasurable experience.  The Wiley Building renovation is essentially complete and how wonderful it has been to see that landmark of this area being used once again.  I swear that the local community college campus has changed over the past 6 months although I cannot quite put a finger on what the dissimilarities were.  It just looks different.  The list goes on and on of the subtle changes that I have noticed while being here.  Finally, after the passage of seven days' time I am becoming reacquainted with the place that was my home for the past 55+ years.

Just in time, I would suppose.  We are going back home the day after tomorrow.

While I have been here, I have tried to make as many memories as I possibly could and have stored them up in my heart to take back with me to the Western Slopes and my new home back there.  The very first night we were here Mike and I ate at Bogey's, a local favorite of mine.  That cheeseburger, tater tots and diet vanilla dr. pepper tasted so good to me.  It had been a long time since my taste buds had received such a treat.  I've been to the EtCetera Shop twice now and plan to go back again today if time allows me to do so.  I am looking for things to fill the treasure box up with for my classroom at Olathe Elementary and there is no better place than there to find things at a very reasonable price.  I have seen the Kansas Cosmosphere once again, visited Smith's Market down on South Main Street, attended church at St. Jude Catholic Church in Wichita, and listened to the bell choir at the Haven United Methodist Church.  We have spent time with both the Scott and Renfro families in celebration of the Christmas holidays.  The days have been packed full of wonderful things to remember and I know that in the days ahead as Mike and I return back to the life that we left behind a week ago, that I will be so very grateful for the journey home.  

We have one more day here tomorrow and Mike and I will spend a great deal of it in Wichita as we visit our favorite places over there.  The Spice Merchant and Gander Mountain are on our list of places to visit as I work on my "list of 60 things to do before I turn 60 next year".  Lunch at "the Artichoke" is something I've been looking forward to for a long time.  

One final day to make as many memories as I can.  

Hutchinson, Kansas I am going to miss you, perhaps quite fiercely for a while.  But before I begin to cry, I hope to recall with gratitude that I was able to even get here in the first place.  It has meant the world to me to see everyone and to be a part of their lives during the past 7 days here.  Dear friends and family this much I know of.  You are so very loved and remembered by me.   

Haven, Kansas on Christmas Day of 2014

My childhood home just north of Haven on the Buhler-Haven Road.  We lived here for 5 years while my parents were building our restaurant and gas station in town.

~for those things which I had forgotten~

     I had forgotten the way that the stairs at the Etcetera Shop in downtown Hutchinson creak as you walk up each of the steps.  I'd also neglected to remember the ache in my knees as I used to try to scale them rather than taking the somewhat antiquated elevator downstairs.  But yesterday as I went up them once again the sound of that squeak was like music to my ears.  It had been a long, long time since I heard that all too familiar noise.  The very first thing we did upon our arrival yesterday afternoon was to stop by that wonderful store, one of my favorite places here.  If you ever get to visit Hutchinson, be sure you stop by there.  It is staffed by folks from the area Mennonite churches and proceeds from sales go to  worldwide mission projects.  It's a win-win situation for a whole lot of people.  Area residents can clean out their closets of unneeded items that are still in good shape.  Shoppers can come in and find some very nice things at a reasonable price.  Somewhere in the world a child will be fed, a village will be inoculated against a dreaded disease, or an entire community will have the life saving gift of clean water to drink from and to bathe in.  Perhaps that is why I love going there so much.
     Mike and I returned back to Hutchinson yesterday afternoon after a long 611 miles on the road.  It had been quite some time since I was back here and after 6 months of being gone, things seemed a bit different.  But the longer I was here, the more all of the familiarity came rushing back to me.  It was sure wonderful to return to south-central Kansas and I look forward to making a lot of memories to store up in my heart.  I needed this trip.
     Last evening we went to the luminaries in the Hyde Park area of town and enjoyed walking all along the candle lit paths that were laid out for us.  It seemed strange to finally be going to them.  In all of my time spent as a resident of the area, I had only done it once before and that time was spent slowly driving through it.  Last night's walk was a lot of fun and a person could surely see much more by just strolling through the beautifully lit up neighborhoods.  The air was a little crisp but there was no wind to be felt.  Everyone we passed had a smile on their faces and the mood was most festive.  Occasionally we would go by a luminary bag that had bit the dust and gone up into flames but for the most part every single one of them burned brightly.  I think I may have had a smile on my face the entire time and it was only after an hour or so of walking that we began to feel the cold in our hands.  It was time well spent and after enjoying a cup of hot mulled cider and making a donation to the Reno County Food Bank we headed for the warmth of our car.  I can't believe that I had to move across the great Rocky Mountains before I ever took the time to enjoy this local holiday tradition.
     Today is a busy day for us as we join Mike's nephew and his good family for Sunday Mass in Wichita this morning.  Later on in the day we are headed over to Haven to attend the Christmas music program performed by the wonderful people at the Haven United Methodist Church.  My sister-in-law Paula and nephew Christopher are part of the bell choir there and it will be a nice treat to hear them play.  The day will go quickly and the intent is not to waste a precious moment of it.
     I didn't realize how much I appreciated the little things here in Hutchinson until I moved away.  For that I have regret.  I have been removed from Reno County long enough that my new home in the Rocky Mountains seems more familiar and I guess in a way that's a good thing.  I have been very blessed by God above.  I was shaped on His mighty anvil here on the prairies of Kansas to be the woman that I am today in my life back on the other side of the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Colorado.  Every thing that has happened to me, from my life's beginning as the sixth child of seven to life now as a teacher of "the 22", was just a part of a plan created by the one who made me in the first place.  I haven't quite understood it all but the nice thing is this.  I never had to understand it to begin with.  I only thought that I did.

The journey from there to here~

Finally taking part in a tradition that I'd know of for so many years before this one.  It was about time!

~the best of both worlds~

The way I look at it, I really do have the best of both worlds in my life.

On one hand, there's Kansas and on the other, there's Colorado.

     We are going home TODAY to the place that I was born in, raised up in, and spent well over half of a century of my life in.  When I left Hutchinson, Kansas back in May of 2013, it was because I had just gotten married and moved to the place where my husband Mike called "home".  It was a rude awakening at first, a real culture shock to find myself in a land that seemed like a foreign country rather than the next door neighbor's house.  It was worse than tough at first and for weeks on end in my heart I would be so lonesome for the place that I had known all too well.  I was not sure that I could make it and please believe me when I tell you that many, many times I was ready to go back.  To give up seemed to be the best way to cure my homesickness.  

Yet, I did not.
I hunkered down and stayed the course here.

     I have said before on so many occasions and I am sure that I will say again in the future, Mike and I will always be beholden to the people of a small rural community called Olathe, Colorado for saving us from a whole lot of heartache. In particular, the good people who love and take care of the children of Olathe Elementary are at the top of my "thank you" list.  They helped me to find my niche here and it was not a moment too soon.  

     Today is our last day of school for the year of 2014 and with well over 2 weeks off until we come back in January, it will be a while before we meet up with one another as a school community again.  I have grown so accustomed to being with them each day and I will miss them when we are gone.  Their smiles, words of encouragement, and genuine caring for one another helped a very lonely and forlorn Kansan begin to feel at home in the Rocky Mountains.    And to those people I would say~

"You saved me!  Really.  You saved me."
     Just as soon as we can get on the road this afternoon we will be headed home to Kansas.  I have been waiting for weeks for this day to arrive and now that it has, I cannot imagine how fast the time surely did fly by us.  My heart is so glad that I can see my family and friends once again.  Oh how I have missed them!  There is much that Mike and I wish to do while we are there.  How I give thanks for being able to go back at this most blessed holiday season.  

     When the time is through there and we will once again return here to southwestern Colorado, I know I will miss them all once again.  But it's not like I am from Rhode Island for crying out loud.  Kansas is just down the block aways from Colorado and for all intents and purposes it's not so far away at all.  

     So whether I am on the prairie or in the mountains, the way I look at it is this.  My life has been most blessed by the people who have loved me in spite of myself.  For the folks who never gave up on me, even when I had many times given up on myself, I owe a debt of gratitude.  I hope some day to return the favor to you and pay it forward on your behalf.  

     I'm going home today to celebrate with my Kansas family and friends.  I'm coming back in January to celebrate with my Colorado family and friends.  It's the best of both worlds I tell you.  The best of both worlds.

     Wishing for you all a very Merry Christmas wherever you may be.  May the world find peace in 2015.  I love you guys, one and all.

~as we head to the east~

The big flakes came falling down shortly before bedtime last night and as we went to sleep it would have seemed there would be plenty of snow on the ground when we awoke this morning. That was not the case.  Up the road a ways at Olathe, snow is falling on the playground at school but by the time everyone arrives in just a couple of hours more it will have ceased its coming as well.  The walk to the Montrose Public Library Bookmobile at noontime today won't be as bad as I feared yesterday.  Our classroom has about 50 gazillion books that are due today and I will enlist the young hands of "the 22" to help me transport them out to the south side of the building.  Our Christmas break comes tomorrow at 3:10 p.m. and not a moment too soon.

We are mostly packed but as always last minute things are bound to come up.  The forecast for Monarch Pass is looking promising for tomorrow early evening and even though we will surely run into snow as we traverse through eastern Colorado and on through the great plains of Kansas, we should be just fine.  We try to never take anything for granted as we drive these days.  In the "blink of an eye" around here things can and most certainly do change with road conditions.  Mike has packed emergency supplies to get us through anything that might delay our trip.  We plan to make it to the other side of the Great Continental Divide and beyond, getting home in more than plenty of time for Christmas Day.  

Last year at right about this time, Mike and I came across an accident that had happened not too far from our house.  I wrote about it in a blog post that I have reprinted below if you would so care to read.  In the "blink of an eye" that I spoke of, a young woman's day went from good to bad when a deer decided to cross over the road just as she came to the top of the hill.  What an impact the experience made upon us and we never forgot about her.  Our wish for all travelers out there would be for a very safe journey and the chance to get to wherever their family celebrations might be this season.  If you are one of those sojourners along the highways, please take care.  Stop and rest when you need to.  You'll get there soon enough.  

Safe travels everyone.  Heading east in just about 34 hours more.

A blogpost from last year~December 21, 2013

As God always provides~

You know,  it all started with a coffee pot yesterday afternoon and the series of events that followed for both Mike and I were just a part of the "plan" in store for us on a very cold and snowy late December afternoon here along the Western Slopes of Colorado.  It entered my dreams last night as we slumbered and it was the first thing I thought of this morning as my eyes popped open about 4 a.m.  

We've been busy packing our things and watching the weather for our trip to Kansas later on this morning.  The first day of winter, its solstice, arrived right on schedule and with it came moisture in the form of the white stuff falling down from the skies here in this neck of the woods.  We were just getting started with our packing when Mike had the idea of going into town and trying to pick up a cheap coffee maker to take with us and leave back in Kansas at my home there.  Made good sense to me so off we went to our local upscale thrift store run by the area's hospice.  

As things go with us sometimes, we got sidetracked on our initial intent to just run in, see what they had, and pick something up quickly.  We stopped first at the local art gallery and took a look at a Raku starfish that we both had admired back in the early fall.  Then we wandered on down the street to the hospice store and ended up spending more time there than we had originally planned.  Hey, they found us a coffee pot in the back room that hadn't been put on the shelves yet but needed a moment or two in order to test it to see if it worked properly.  "No problem!" we said and we just looked around the store while they helped to check it out.  45 minutes after we had left our home (that's only 5 minutes away in the first place) we headed back towards home.  Before leaving town, we stopped at a McDonald's that it is close by and got an ice cream cone to take with us as we headed back to the house.  The clock had moved quickly while we were in town and both of us knew we needed to get back to the house and start packing once again.

It was when we crossed Hillcrest and headed east onto Locust Road that we first saw the problem.  A car was alongside the road and parked on the shoulder and a man with a cell phone in his hand had a look on his face that showed there was a problem.  As we pulled over to the side and rolled our window down to ask if he needed help was when we saw the real problem.  A car was in the field close by with both doors open and the engine running.  The man wasn't able to speak English and so I asked him in Spanish "Estas bien?" He said back to me that he was fine but the woman wasn't.  The man had been going home, just like us, and had come upon the car as well.  So while Mike called for the ambulance, I made my way down through the ditch and headed to the car to see if the woman was, well if she was alive.  

As long as I live, I will never forget the next 10 minutes that followed because of instead of minutes they seemed like hours.  She was slumped over the steering wheel, the remains of her deployed air bag all about her.  I couldn't see her face but I called out to her, "Are you ok? Can you hear me?"  Friends, I gotta tell you that I've never been so happy to hear moaning and groaning for an answer in all of my life.  I slid in next to her in the passenger seat and found her purse so we could figure out who she was.  It made me feel uneasy to open up another person's belongings and I told her while I was doing it that I needed to tell my husband what her name was so the 911 operator could pass along the information.  

I give so much credit to 911 dispatchers EVERYWHERE after this experience yesterday.  As we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive, the woman working the dispatch for 911 kept me on the phone talking all the while about what to do.  She admonished me to keep the woman talking and awake and asked me questions about her injuries.  "Was she bleeding anywhere?  Was she cold?  Could she breathe?"  There was little I could do but that and to hold her very cold right hand.  I kept telling the woman it would be ok, that we were neighbours to the area and I was a teacher from Kansas and a thousand other trivial, non-important things just to keep her awake and talking.  I admonished her to not let go of my hand and to please squeeze it if she was awake.  I gotta say, I cannot remember when holding hands with another person meant so much to me and when she squeezed my hand with a "butcher's grip" it was like a gift from Heaven above.  When we heard the sirens' approach from the hospital in Montrose, it was such a relief.

They came to take her to the hospital and we waited along the edge of the road until she had been loaded into the ambulance before we went the final quarter mile to home.  Both of us agreed that was plenty enough excitement for the day and we went back to our packing.  After only about 20 minutes of being there, we remembered that we hadn't gone back to the art store to pick up the starfish.  That was a strange feeling.  We had decided after looking at it that we'd probably go back to get it after we had gone to the hospice store.  Yet we had forgotten and started the journey home already.  That's when things finally started to make some sense.  

I have said before many times in this blog post that I know that someone way smarter than me is in charge of my life here on this earth.  God's master plan for a little baby named Peggy Ann who was born way back in 1955 has been laid out all along.  It's not an accident or a case of happenstance.  It's real and meaningful for me.  I haven't always understood it but I accept it for the loving gift and blessing that it is.  Mike and I weren't supposed to go back and get the starfish right away, for having done so would not have placed us in a position to help the woman.  We WERE supposed to stop at the McDonald's.  That extra few minutes of time that it took to do so may well have kept our vehicle out of her path as she careened across the road to avoid a deer that had popped up out of the ditch.  I don't even really try to figure it out.  It seems better to accept it as the blessing that it was for all concerned.

As the hours went by last evening, we were thinking about her and wondering if she had made it.  I couldn't get her off of my mind and I told Mike about it.  What was particularly haunting to me, was that I had never seen her face nor had she seen mine.  She was in such a doubled over position upon the steering wheel that all I saw was the back of her beautiful dark red hair. To be real honest, initially I was afraid to see her face because I feared that she might be gone already. As she started to moan and groan I was thankful but I knew that she could not and should not try to move.  But still, what did she look like?  Who was she?

At 8 p.m. we called the hospital and were able to speak with her mom.  Sensing how badly we felt, she said if we wished that we could meet her in the emergency room to see how her daughter was doing.  In just a few moments we were there and finally able to see one another for the first time.  The young woman, named Candace, told me that she recognized my voice and that it was what kept her going in the waiting time it took for the ambulance to show up.  She remembered squeezing my hand and waiting with me.   A sweet little red-haired girl was sitting on a stool next to her momma and I realized then that she was the "extra" social security card in her mother's wallet.  They have just come here to live in Montrose, new people just like me.  When Mike and I left, we told them that we were going home to Kansas today for Christmas but that when we return we will check in to see how things are going. She was pretty badly injured with a broken back but thankfully she will make a full recovery.  We now have new friends here in this place~God always provides. 

In just a few hours, Mike and I will begin the journey back home to Kansas.  The snow has fallen and the weather is of course, not the best. We will go slow and take our time.  The car is packed with emergency supplies and the gas tank will never ever go below 3/4 full.  We have cell phones fully charged and it's not the first time that either of us have made the trip.  If the weather gets worse along the way, we will stop and find a place to wait it out.  I always try to post on Facebook when we get to certain locations along the way. I figure at least that way someone will always know where we have been at a certain time.  After yesterday's experience, we know even more that we must take caution as we go.  I've never smelled the after effects of an air bag going off before yesterday and I can tell you now that I have, I will never forget it.

Friends, if you are reading this then you have awoken.  You are alive and well and it was meant most definitely for you to be here on this earth.  I'm telling you with certainty that God has a plan for you today.  Open your eyes and open your heart as you watch for it to be shown to you.   Accidents can and will happen but LIFE is not one of them.  

I could never tell any of you enough and so I say again....  THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND TO ME AND I LOVE EACH OF YOU SO VERY MUCH.  See you in Kansas very soon.

My older sister~Janice, who died in an auto accident in her 27th year of life.  Her part of "the plan" was completed on November 4, 1969 along Highway 50 near the small south central Kansas town of Halstead.

I am one of her "baby" sisters and have lived to be twice the age that she was.  I have never forgotten or taken for granted the gift of life since that all happened, now nearly 45 years ago.  Thanks to God for the blessings.

~in the way that I will remember 2014~

     It is on this Tuesday morning, the 16th day of December in 2014, that I realize just how quickly the year flew by us all.  With only 15 days remaining, it will not be long before everyone will bring out the new calendars and throw away the old ones.  Just like that.  365 days gone by.  The physical reminder of the old calendar may be on its way to the recycle bin but the memories made will never be forgotten.

     For me, I will always remember that this was the year that I became a grandmother for the first time when little Catherine Lois arrived in March.  She lives far, far away from here and I'm so thankful that I got to make the journey when she was only 3 weeks old to see her and hold her.  I will see her again next year and by then that little one will be up walking and running around like crazy!  Catherine is doing great and for the blessing of that new life in our family, I am so very grateful.

The message that I inscribed in the sand along the beach before I left to go home that day.

     Meeting a young man who was walking across America to raise awareness of pediatric cancer was a very unexpected surprise back in early June as Mike and I were heading home to Kansas for a visit.  A 30-year old Pennsylvanian named Norman Horn was a stranger to us that day yet that is no longer the case.  We are friends now.  Norm provided a walking geography lesson for us but perhaps an even greater thing that we learned from him was the power of human kindness and the fact that good and decent people are all over this great country of ours.  It was so much fun to be a small part of his journey and I know that some day we will be seeing Norm again.

Such a nice man~Gunnison, summer of 2014

     When the new year began I was the teacher of "the 18", fourth grade students at Olathe Elementary.  As this year ends, I am now the teacher of "the 22", first graders that have helped me to remember what it is like to be young.  Even though I am now in a different wing of the school, I still see those former fourth graders in the hallways and how wonderful it is to be the recipient of their warm hugs and big smiles.  I've got the best job that there ever was to be thought of.  I am a teacher.

I love being an Olathe Pirate!

     This has been the year to travel, that's for dang sure.  In fact I think I've done more traveling in the past 3 years than I've done in my whole entire life.  But it's been kind of nice to see new places and to meet different people.  Not sure why I didn't do it before but I am now and that's all that matters I suppose.

The view from the Puget Sound is a spectacular one.

(March)

Seeing the Joshua Tree National Forest in California was very memorable.

(March)

The Grand Canyon of Arizona left a really huge impression upon me.

(March)

Mike and I went to the top of Monarch Pass and saw the sights from the 12,000 feet level. Spectacular is all I have to say about that.  The awesome work of our Creator.

(July)

The beauty of the images I see each day just by getting up out bed and walking to the front window or by driving to school just a few miles up the road.  Having spent more than a full year here now as a resident of the Centennial State, I have grown accustomed to a new life here.

I stopped counting how many times I made the journey here in 2014.  They were numerous, to say the least.  My hometown is Haven, Kansas.  Mike and I are getting ready to make a final journey for this good year in just 4 days more as we return home to Kansas for the holidays.  Reno County, here we come!

     Life has not been 100% "ok" this year but all things considered, the wonderful things that I have been blessed with most certainly do trump the bad things hands down.  All of the experiences that I gone through in the past twelve months have continued to shape and mold me into the person that God wishes for me to be.  The anvil has not always been the most "comfortable" place but sometimes proves to be a very necessary component to becoming exactly who we are intended to be.

     Thank you dear friends and family for being such a special part of my life, not only in 2014 but for the years past and those that are yet to come as well.  Where would I be without you each day of the year?  In a "world of hurt", that's where.

~and a promise is just that~

     When you look at it on the map, the journey from my home here in south-western Colorado back to my home in south-central Kansas doesn't really look all that bad.  If it were not for those things called the Rocky Mountains and two or three canyon lands, it would pretty much be a straight shot from here.  It is only a mile from our house in Montrose to Highway 50 and that same road takes us right back to Reno County, Kansas.  All the way.  Even over Monarch Mountain and the pass there.  It was one of the first things that Mike told me before I made my first visit out here, now nearly two years ago.  

"Just get on 50 Highway at South Hutch and head straight to the west.  You can't miss it," Mike told me.  And he was right.

     The time is coming close at hand when we will get to go back to have a Christmas celebration in Kansas with our family and friends.  One week from today, just about mid-morning we should see the sign that I love the best in the whole wide world.  It was the sign where I took my picture with our friend Norman this past summer as he made it to the Sunflower State on his cross country trek to raise awareness of childhood cancer.  He had walked a lifetime of footsteps by that hot and humid July morning.  Mike and I were fortunate to catch up with him on the road and cover five miles with him that day.

     The days have passed so quickly and boy does it ever seem like just yesterday that we turned the calendar over to the first day of December.  There is much to do here before we take out but everything will come together just fine I am positive.  It's a sure thing that some serious packing and planning will be going on today.  

     We have begun to watch the weather for the mountains and the long journey to cross over the Continental Divide.  So far, so good.  It appears as though we will have a "window" of opportunity to cross over on the 19th sometime about 6 p.m. or so.  Of course that can and does "change on the proverbial dime" here making nothing a certain thing.  We will watch and wait in the next few days to see how the storms that make their way through this part of the country in wintertime actually play out.  Thankfully for this trip back we have a couple of days of "wiggle room" in our schedule.  Usually that luxury is not ours.  

     When I moved away over a year and a half ago, I left a lifetime of memories behind me.  People and places that were so familiar to me then are missed by me now.  I long to see the ordinary stuff like Smith's Market on South Main Street or the ETC. Shop just a few blocks to the north of it.  I want to hear the laughter of my family's voices as we sit around the Christmas Day dinner table at my sister-in-law's house in Haven.  This "mother's heart" wants to see her children and to be with them once again.  There's a twenty dollar bill stashed in hiding here to be used for buying some great tea over in Wichita at the Spice Merchant and a hundred other things on our "hope to do" list before our time is over and we head back home to Colorado.  It promises to be a great visit and a time for rest, renewal, and relaxation.

     And even in as much as I want to go home again, the strangest of things will more than likely happen to me as the days in Kansas pass by.  Sooner or later, as our vacation time winds down to the end, I will feel myself needing to return here to the life that I have made in a state that I never thought I would visit let alone live in.  Up the road a ways about ten miles are so, there is this place that I call my "home" during the school year.  It is filled with so many fine folks, good people who have become my friends and new family.  In a busy and sometimes very noisy classroom, there are 22 little people whom I love very much.  They need me to come back to be their teacher and I promised them that I would.  

And a promise is just that.  A promise.

Seven sleeps more.  See you back there soon dear Kansas.

      

     

     

~and now that I am breathing again~

34 years ago today, just about this time of the early morning as a matter of fact, the call came to tell me that the greatest man that I will ever know, my father, had just passed away.   His 18-month long ordeal of trying to overcome lung cancer had come to a merciful end.  No longer would he struggle for every breath he took.

I had seen him the day before, twice actually, as he lay in his hospital bed.  It was during one of those visits that I snuck in my little 2-year old boy in order that his grandpa could see him one last time.  Back in those days, hospitals didn't cut a lot of slack in allowing little children to visit anyone.  Even those that were dying.  But I did it anyway, coming up the stairway with him and slipping in the back door.  We didn't stay long, only enough time for my dad to see my little Ricky and get a dose of the best medicine a man dying from cancer could take.

I had this feeling about me that it would be the last time he would see my firstborn son and I didn't want my father to be afraid.  So I took off Ricky's stocking cap and placed it into my father's hand and told him that if he was scared he could remember that little boy and not worry.  The fourth-floor nurses found it in his hands less than 12 hours later.  It was only a little blue stocking cap but I hope that it brought him comfort in his last moments of life.

He was 59 years old when he died.

Because sometimes I believe that "ironic" is my new middle name, it seemed appropriate that I would have to go back in for a repeat mammogram and ultra sound yesterday because of a suspicious looking area in my left breast.  I saw it myself on the screen yesterday and understood why it would send up that proverbial "red flag".   At first I really didn't even want to see it but decided I needed to understand what it was that they were concerned about.  The next 60 minutes were an eternity but was I ever thankful to hear the words that came from the radiologist's mouth.

"I am sure that it is a fluid-filled cyst.  I don't believe you have anything to worry about.  Be sure to come back next year for your mammogram."
And with that, the wait was over.  I went home with a much lighter heart and plans to continue living.

I learned a lot about myself in the 24-hours of time that passed between getting the call at school on Tuesday and yesterday afternoon at 4 p.m.  The news stopped me literally "dead in my tracks".  It had this way of paralyzing me.  My entire Tuesday evening was spent sitting at the kitchen table, pouring over online information about what I was going through.  In my sadness and frustration, I sat down to write a blog post about it, asking people to please pray for the results to be "ok".  And pray they did!

I went to bed and slept fitfully for the next few hours.  In my mind I kept thinking of a thousand things and not a one of them was good.  What if I really was sick?  What if this was really bad?  Who would take care of my students?  Would I ever see my granddaughter again or any other grandchildren that might be born in the future?  Even though my 3 children are grown adults now, they still need a mom around too.  What about them and Mike and Sally the Dog?  Now that I type these words, a smile comes to my face.  I had a lot of fears about the unknown and even though I tried my best to give them to the God that made me and keeps me, I kept taking them back from Him time and time again.  I guess that makes me only human.

This is December 11, 2014 and the day that the Lord has made for all of us to rejoice and be glad in.  Yes, it is the anniversary for me of my father's death but it is also a good time to remember how thankful I am to be alive and in reasonably good health.  When I reached my 59th birthday just a couple of months back, I told myself that I would make it to the next one.  The one that my father did not have.  The good Lord willing, that is exactly what I intend to do.

Dear friends and family, I thank you for caring about me.  You loved me enough to pray for me and to try and calm my fears.  I didn't realize just how many other women that I know have gone through the very same thing and not just once but many times over.  I was never alone in this and for that I give thanks to Heaven above.

I awoke this morning, for a reason.  God needs me to be here.  If you awoke, well then there is a reason for that as well.  Take care of yourselves my dear friends and family in what ever it is you do this day and I promise to do the same.  You know, I kind of like this thing called "living" and truth be told, I am sure that you do as well.

My dad was the greatest man I will ever know.  His life may have been short here on earth but he was able to leave behind some personal legacies.  I am his little girl and I am one of them.

Rest in Peace, John Scott, Jr.
Jan. 30, 1923~Dec. 11, 1982