Doing Well!

I know it has been a hot minute since I have been on this blog…but not for any bad reasons at all! Holy Week…was that….Holy. Lily was on spring break and we spent some time relaxing and just having fun. The weather was warm…so slouch hats got too warm and I switched to baseball caps. I have always loved baseball caps but it never looked real good with short hair. Well, fuzzy bald works just fine! I have a tiny head so that is also an issue. I have my new favorite hat for warm weather….my green Boston Red Sox hat with a red B on the front and a red clover on the back. Speaking of fuzzy….my hair continues to grow in for now. It is dark brown and sticks straight up on the right side, no matter what I do to it as it dries. It is actually warm enough and my head is fuzzy enough that I don’t have to wear a cap to bed. Again…a step back to normalcy. For those of you who aren’t living in Nebraska, we did get 8.5 inches of snow on Thursday. It was the most beautiful snow…no wind and it was relatively warm so the flakes were HUGE. I love snow, so it was a nice last HURRAH for the winter. Rich took me out to just drive around and look at the beautiful trees. The next day the snow was gone. We also delivered some pans to wonderful people who have brought by goodies. Thanks to Kathy Trudell for the Easter basket, Judi & Dennis Koubsky for some of the best chicken parmigiana I have ever had, LuAnn Anglo for pastries, and Emily Ryan for the Easter pastries and basket of ramen noodles for Lily. You are all blessings to us and we appreciate you!

I have been keeping up with the housework and laundry as well as cooking most nights. So I am really feeling pretty good. I am going for a walk with Tallinn and either Lily or Rich or both each evening. It will be warm enough in the mornings for me to start walking him in the morning as well, so I am sure Tallinn will enjoy that. I know I enjoy getting out of the house. I have been working on a couple of scrapbooks over the last couple of weeks. I finished school year scrapbooks for each of my boys, and created Lily’s up to her freshman year. These are the old-fashioned ones with printed photos. I have a couple left to do and then I am done. I have started one with my Okinawan Shorinryu karate experience. Looking back on those memories of earning a black belt under a Grandmaster, Hanshi Fuse Kise, in Okinawa, I can’t believe what an honor it was to train under him. He is still living and is in his mid-80’s and still teaching. Once I was a black belt, I also trained at the So Honbo Dojo (the home dojo) off-base in Okinawa. That place had smooth wood floors seasoned with decades of sweat, blood, and tears of students – Okinawan and American. Only Japanese was spoke there and there was a strict rule of etiquette in place for all who entered. There was this big Marine that trained with me and we were working with Kamas. Most of us put clear packing tape along the blades for safety. He did not. (I mean, he was a Marine after all!) He was standing in front of me while we were practicing advanced kama katas. He brought his kama under his right armpit and sliced his gi top and cut himself….and kept on going. The only witnesses being the late night black belt class and the geckos on the ceiling. One of my favorite memories is of the American and Okinawan student families getting together for a potluck at the So Honbu Dojo. We were all sitting cross-legged on tatami mats on the floor and the Americans forgot to bring any plastic eating utensils. It is the one and only time I ate lasagna with chopsticks. It was not easy! Those lasagna noodles were wicked slippery! Anyhow, making this scrapbook has brought back a lot of good memories of our time in Okinawa. What a privilege to have lived there!

Other things I have been doing….baking. I love to bake and always have. I like to crank up the 80’s music and sing my heart out and dance a little while I am measuring ingredients. I have discovered that while I can lose my train of thought in the middle of a sentence, I can still belt out the lyrics to songs from 30 years ago. Thanks to Alexa, I have also realized I have been singing the words wrong to a lot of them. Yes…that is humbling to know that you have had the wrong lyrics in your head for decades. I also realized that I still can’t sing the fast part of the song “Supersonic” from the 80’s even when Alexa prints them out on the screen for me. I remember some of my friends from high school being able to belt that out at the time. I was in awe then. Doubly in awe now.

I have been getting special surprises in the mail lately! From my Aunt Judy and Uncle Dick in Michigan, I got an RN challenge coin. Challenge coins are big in the military and during my time in the military and then later as a military wife and volunteer, I have earned a few from military commanders here and there. This one was one for RN’s. I haven’t worked as an RN in a very long time, but it is my roots and a foundation in education I will never forget. I also got a package from a friend, trainer, and owner of the kickboxing gym I worked out at for the last two years, Amber Crawford. She sent me my guilty pleasure – dark chocolate and natural peanut butter. She also sent me a plaque that she had made of a boxing glove with the saying on it “Knock down seven times, get up eight”. This lady is such an inspiration in so many ways, so to know she is thinking of me during her busy life, means a lot to me. Yesterday I received a poster with part of the lyrics from Mercy Me’s song, “Imagine”. One of my favorite songs. It was signed by the band members! I have no idea who sent it to me, and I would really like to thank them. It is such a wonderful gift. I ordered a frame for it and should be able to frame it and hang it up this week! Such a thoughtful gift! Thank you! I continue to receive cards and letters from friends near and far. Thank you. They make my day!

To let you know how good I am feeling, today I went on two family walks with Tallinn, Lily, and Rich, and played pickle ball in the driveway for about an hour with Rich and Lily. Tallinn was tied to a tree nearby and was a hoot to watch because he really wanted that green whiffle ball badly. He actually caught it once in the air on a bad shot from one of us. So I am doing well and just hanging out at home. I sure do miss human interaction, but I am guessing we all do. Blessings to everyone and a Happy Easter Season!