Jenny’s Jots and Thoughts!

Yesterday, we celebrated my future daughter-in-law, Kelley, with a bridal shower here at the house. It was a mix of her family and ours, her friends and ours. It was fun getting to know her people. I liked them all, and it’s a good sign when that happens. It’s like that scene in the movie Hitch, when Hitch advises Albert that the upcoming event he and Allegra are attending is not about Allegra, but her friend Maggie. Hitch says to Albert, “Tonight is about Maggie. A woman’s best friend has to sign off on all big relationships and decisions, so you can’t afford to mess this up.” Both families, the Bates and the McNultys, melded, mixed and mingled the entire time. It quickly became abundantly clear to me where Kelley gets her beauty. It’s from the inside and comes from a beautiful and loving family who molded her into the person she is today. If I could have sashayed, jumped up and kicked my feet together at the end of yesterday like Albert did after kissing Allegra, I would have, but my feet hurt from standing and talking to everyone the entire time.

Today is Easter. Seven-thirty Mass came early after our long, but fun day yesterday, but the message at Mass was clear. Jesus took it all for us. He suffered and got through to the other side so that we, the sinners, could hang out with God some day (if we are lucky and play our cards right.) What does it say about our God that hanging out with the perfect one for eternity isn’t enough? He wants the rest of our flawed souls to join the party, too! It makes me love God so much more than I already did and does give me hope that maybe most of us will make it to His party some day.

In the meantime, hope abounds inside of me for Kelley and Pat and their wedding. I am anticipating the fun of the day and events surrounding it. I’m thankful for the chance of Heaven, too, that’s for sure, but I am thankful that God has blessed this family with love immeasurable, with all of our kids and grandkids, and now we are adding Kelley to the mix. Soon, we all get to share in that special day together. I am beyond excited to see it happen. For now, Heaven can wait because we have a wedding to get to!

So, it is now MONTHS after said wedding and is actually the Christmas season.

Not sure why this post didn’t get published other than the fact that we were busy with said wedding, which was awesome, BTW. The wedding, on a mountain, was filled with more love than I can possibly explain in written words. Kelley’s brother Chris married them, and he did an incredible job doing so. The ceremony that he wrote entirely himself (short of the vows that Kelley and Pat wrote to each other) were heartfelt and loving. And the wedding reception was a blast! Plus, the mountain weather graced Kelley and Pat with a beautiful day for sure.

To be honest, it was so fun, that it felt like we were all kind of close to Heaven that day. Pretty perfect, like Heaven will be hopefully. Again, not assuming the God party invite, but hoping that we all eventually get there. In the meantime, here’s to 2024 and the best of times ahead!

GPS is killing my brain. I heard that on the news the other day. Some newscaster reported that the more we rely on our phones to get us from one spot to another via GPS, the more our hippocampus dies. Not good news for the world or our brains. This is not good news for me. I need my brain.

I remember my dad always had an atlas in the car. He would drive, and Mom would navigate. This came in especially handy on vacations (always by car) if traffic was stuck. My parents could always find a way to work around the problem area. Sometimes these alternate routes would make the trip more interesting. Sometimes, not, but we always got home.

I know my dad loved reading, too, but I do not really remember any specific books that he enjoyed. He did read the Bible every morning. This is know. I also know that he enjoyed the National Geographic, Prince Caspian on Sunday mornings, The Reader’s Digest and one time I brought home a book from the Bookmobile that I didn’t like. He picked it up and enjoyed it thoroughly. I will never understand because it was a book about warring rabbits or something. He loved it! So weird.

Last spring before our son got married, Tom and I returned to the AT for a short stint of hiking. I was pretty anxious about it since the previous time that I followed him around, it didn’t go very well. In fact, being his sherpa now gives me the heebeegeebees. That first time, a road was blocked, so we could not reconnoiter. Tom ended up having to hike an extra seven miles on top of an already long day of hiking. Fortunately, he got some cell service, so we were able to communicate for a few minutes before he headed down to meet me. His extra seven miles were mostly in the dark. He says now that he wasn’t scared, but I bet he was a little. I know for certain that I was scared for him.

This time, in order to avoid the nonexistent cell service and lack of GPS, I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased an atlas and a map of Virginia. A real paper map! It made me feel a bit better. No need to rely on that darn GPS. My hippocampus was already feeling a renewed surge of activity. Boy, did I study that map before heading to Virgina and the Appalachian mountains with my slack packer husband.

My father must have been watching as we navigated the mountains of Virginia and the Blue Ridge Parkway. While up on the Parkway, I had deja vu. My father may have taken me up there once when I was young. My sibs did not confirm this, so maybe it was just Dad, Mom and me. ?? Tom and I also explored Appomatox, visited a super big tree, the National D-Day Memorial and had a great dinner one night in Roanoke. It was a great trip for sure!

All in all, our trip this time was nearly perfect! I do think that Tom played a large part in our success because he took more time to plot and plan before setting out. He’s learning, too.

From now on, I will take better care of my hippocampus. I will put my phone down and use the built-in computer that God gave me to navigate this world. The one that my parents taught me how to use on those sometimes extra long family car trips. As I look back upon those with a smile, I know those times were some of the best, but I also am looking forward to our future trips too, navigating this world sans GPS with Tom and our family.

When my dad used to write, he would always include a little weather report. He would write things like , “It’s muggy here on the farm today.” He would also mention any precipitation that was occurring or forecasted. Then, he would comment on the most recent flowers to bloom or crops from the garden that were coming on soon. He was a farmer at heart for sure.

Lately, that is all that I have done is watch the weather. Not for here in Indy, but for Golden, Colorado, where our son Patrick is getting married next week. The wedding is to be held at the fabulous Red Rocks Amphitheater, outdoors. Snow is in the forecast for the days coming up to the wedding, and the predicted temps for the day of are dropping fast. I have been watching that weather for the last month. Up until last week, my Accuweather forecast app predicted weather in the mid 60’s and some sun. Now suddenly, the predicted temp for next Saturday has a high of 40! Patrick has assured me that the heaters will work, and that all will be fine. To be safe, I’m packing my woolies. The below picture was taken this past summer when we watched David Gray perform there. It was a lot warmer then.

All will be fine. This I know to be true. All will be fine because next weekend is not about the weather at all. It’s about Patrick marrying the love of his life, Kelley. She is a beautiful spirit for sure, and she and Patrick suit one another. As far as daughter-in-laws go, we are getting a good one! Not surprising, because Patrick is such a loving and kind-hearted person that he was destined to choose a great partner for himself. He certainly did in Kelley. She is already a much-loved member of our family.

Kelley and Pat have waited a long time for this day. They met at the little league fields just around the corner, so they have known one another a long time. If there are two people who deserve all the happiness this world has to offer, it’s those two. In fact, we cannot wait to see them exchange their written vows to one another. So, weather be damned. In fact, bring on the snow! Well….maybe not the snow. Nothing, and certainly no weather, inclement or otherwise, can rain on this family celebration! We love you both!

Indianapolis seems to be missing out on the biggest snow of the season. Warnings are all up and down the Appalachian Trail which, if you didn’t know, is 2200 miles long. That’s a lot of snow and a super big warning. I know this because my husband has become a slack packer, a person who hikes the trail occasionally with a….hum…personal assistant handy for pick ups and deliveries. So, he reported this morning the warning like an offical weatherman would. I think he might be worried about any crazy person who is currently out on the trail right now. More on that later. Is this missing of the snow part of global warming? It does seem weird that the snow line keeps to the south or north of Indy as if there is a secret warmth growing but hiding underneath the city….just waiting. As the snow falls, or doesn’t here in this city on this 2022 MLK Day, time allows for some reflection on a really hard year for most of us.

Lots of families have lost loved ones….ours was no exception. Our family lost two important family members this year. My husband’s father died in June, and then a month and a half later, my mom suddenly died. The first, of a long illness with cancer, the second, of a tired and weak heart. Both passings made Thanksgiving and Christmas different. As a family, we would always center our holidays around both of them, making them the focus of our visits. This year, we didn’t have that. This year, it felt like the focus was the absence of them. It was a great Christmas with our kids all being together for the first time in two years, (Covid) but it did feel just…different.

To keep the warm and fuzzies going with Christmas, making new holiday traditions seemed important to me. A couple of years ago, I started a Christmas box. It’s just a recipe box, but each year, I add the new recipes that I have discovered over the year and give them to my kids. They do love getting the cards with the hand-written recipes on them. It’s something. It’s a personal touch and adds a “something” something to the gift giving segment of our growing new traditions. I like it.

The reflections in the window of this year’s tree make it look like it is snowing. With the holidays in the rear view mirror, and despite the lack of snow, it does feel like a January winter. It’s cold out there. Growing warmth underneath this city seems like a nonexsistent wish right now because the furnace is on the struggle bus. The dripping of the cold water to prevent our pipes from freezing an ever present sound. Bundling up and counting my blessings seems like a good thing to do. I pray for all those east of Indy and up the coast, the elderly, the crazies on the mountain, and the homeless, that they may be warm, fed and have shelter from this impending storm.

When I was a kid, I sometimes didn’t like the way my mother did things. She pinched pennies at every turn, saved every dime she could, and I was at times, embarrassed by her frugality. The other day, I went to Costco. Like my mom always did and in order to avoid the impulse buys, I had a list. I don’t go there without one. It was crowded as it always is, but on this day, I had the patience to tolerate the bustle until…..I got to the chicken aisle. A party was going on, and I wasn’t invited. The gathered Costcoites looked up at me with their big-eyed stares that silently said, “Don’t you dare bring your cart in here, lady. There’s no room at the inn.” Immediately intimidated, I rounded the corner to the “other” side of the chicken aisle and tossed into my cart Costco’s organic chicken breast three pack instead of my usual Costco chicken choice, then continued on my way, filling my cart with the remainder of my wants and needs. 

Listed items gathered, I braved the lengthy checkout line, finally reaching the cashier. I always watch as they ring up the items.  Most prices don’t shock me,but the cashier scanned…that… chicken. That three pack was over $30! The exorbitant price stupefied me into silence like a poorly executed HP curse. Plus, you just don’t cause a scene at Costco. You buy and get the heck out of Dodge. 

That thirty dollar three pack stung though. The sting, a catalyst which caused me to remember how my mom, a great cook, always cut up whole chickens for her amazing meals. She fried them. She grilled them. Baked them.  She used the leftovers for the most delicious chicken salads! She even made a pressed chicken that I have yet to attempt, but I dream about it, salivating as I do.

We are having dinner guests this weekend. I have been craving my mom’s grilled chicken, so yes, I bought whole ones (not at Costco).  I got them at Kroger for about $10 each. I’m pretty sure Aldi or Meijer would have been less, but gas is expensive, too, so I took the birds.  Two YouTube videos later, I braved the chickens. Both butchers I viewed had different methods, but ultimately, I went with the method most like Mom’s. Most like I remember. I got out my tools. A big knife. A little one. Some scissors and my biggest cutting board, and then went to town! The first chicken did not go smoothly, but I got the hang of it by the second and got ten pieces out of each one. Plus, I didn’t want to throw away the backs, so I am now making my own savory (fingers crossed) chicken stock with those, just like she did. 

My mom passed away almost a year ago. That day truly is etched into my brain. This sounds silly, but today, as I carved up those chickens, I felt her smiling down on me, maybe even laughing a little as she watched me hack into those hens. As it turns out, with the rising costs of everything these days, doing things Mom’s more frugal way is best. I’m not embarrassed at all. I’m only proud that she taught me how.

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