Four Generations

It's not often that we can get four generations together in our family as I am usually visiting here in Indiana without my kids. Somehow, we don't make it up together. But, since I am still somewhat immobile (well, quite a lot if you consider I'm still using a walker), I had to come with someone and who better than family members. Of course, the fact that almost all of our son-in-law, Tim's, family lives in the area was a drawing factor for them. Tyler was quite excited to see my dad and to tell him that he was quite aware that he (my dad) was my his nana's father. We don't know how many more times we will be together like this although I hope my dad lives for many more years. Nevertheless, we had cameras ready -- even though I didn't feel very ready -- I look so unprepared!! Oh, well ...

Grandkids, Nieces and Nephews...

You just gotta love them! Tyler climbed into the van beside me last night as we were leaving Rachel and Allen's telling me he wanted to sit next to me. For the next little while, he laid his head on my shoulder.

I am now at my mother-in-law's and Tim, Sandi and Tyler came by today. As they were getting ready to leave, Tyler said, "Bye, Linda!" He has heard Rachel's kids call me Aunt Linda so guess he thought that he should be calling me "Linda". Oh, well ....

On Sunday, Jimmy and Juliana went with me to see my dad ... I didn't get this photo until last night but thought I would share it -- I was 'racing' them to the nursing home door! Ha!!

I WON!!

Okay, so it's nothing to write home about ... When I come to Rachel's, there is always a video game to be played. About 8 years ago (Jimmy thinks that's when it was), I got them a Nintendo 64 game. That's when it all started -- I ended up playing video games whenever I came to visit. But, as you can imagine, I was typically trounced every time. In 8 years of playing, I had never won a game -- until Saturday.


Seth was having a hard time during the game (he's 8 years old) and I assured him he had no worries about being at the bottom of the heap since I always end up at the bottom. He had to be somewhere above me. Welllll ... guess what! His comment was after I won the game, "I thought you said you were going to lose!" So, I will savor my win because I'm sure it will not happen again -- and if it does, I may just pass out from shock!! Or maybe from the cold. For this Floridian, it is really cold!! I think it was down to 46 or so last night -- and it is to be colder tonight. I'm already hunting for my sweater and I am inside!! Oh, well ..


But, I am enjoying the colors of autumn here -- my brain will process that it is actually fall!!

Visiting Dad ..

Last evening, Rachel and I went to see Dad .. he was anxious for us to come and met us in the library. He has a roommate so that limits us talking very loudly. Of course, I had my handy cell phone camera ready ...

Matching wheelchairs ... well, hardly, but since my dad cannot see very well, he really wasn't sure how much different they were!

He always tries to be dressed up (relatively speaking) when he is out of his room and this was no exception. So, I asked him to smile for the camera. With Myasthenia Gravis, it sometimes makes it difficult for him to smile .. however, he did and I am so glad I got this pic.

Getting my fix ...

... of autumn!! Well, slowly! The trees aren't quite fully in autumn bloom but close. As we drove north, the trees began to change and I began to think, "Okay, Thanksgiving is just around the corner... that means Christmas is right after that .. yikes ... I'm not ready!!"

Chattanooga is pretty if it is daylight and sunny. But when it is nighttime, drizzling and a little bit foggy, that can present some challenges. I was driving and we had decided that we would pick up one of those hotel books where you can get awesome deals (and we do). We usually pick them up at the welcome center in Tennessee but you have to drive a little ways up I-24 before you actually come to the welcome center. (In and out of Georgia again.) So, we stopped to get gas and Sandi picked up a book there. The weather was deteriorating quickly and we had just passed an accident where a semi's cab had burned. That had me less than secure about driving much farther.

We could not find a hotel which took pets except for 10 miles behind us. That was not acceptable to Tim who was anxious to get to Indy for a family reunion last evening. Soooo ... we decided to go on to the welcome center (just a few miles ahead). We did, Sandi ran in and picked up two more books. Of course, you have to find where you are in the book which can be a challenge. She did -- called one hotel and they had rooms just not first floor rooms. Since I'm limited to a wheelchair and a walker and I was not going to ask Tim to pull me up a flight of stairs in a wheelchair, we passed on that one. Then Sandi found it ... THE one! They took pets, they had first floor rooms and the gal was really nice which gave her brownie points as far as we are concerned.

Sandi told the gal that we had a dog and

that Cookie was only about 10 pounds give or take a few. The gal said, "We don't care if you have a bear down there." Okay, then ...

The hotel was only six miles up the road, "America's Best Inns" I believe. It wasn't the fanciest but was very acceptable and clean. We didn't need much since it was already 12:30am and we would be 'back on the road again' around 8:30am. There is usually an $8 charge for a pet and for more than two people .. the original rate for the hotel was $34.95 .. the gal told Sandi, "Oh, the dog is a little one and I'm not charging you for the extra people -- I just need to know how many for breakfast in the morning" (sausage and gravy breakfast) .. so after we paid a total of $40 for the rest of the night, we were off to our room. And back up and on the road again not long after 8:30!!

We arrived safe and sound in Indy at 3pm .. my brother, Mark, met us at Walmart (can you ever go anywhere without visiting Walmart?) and talked to me while Tim and Sandi picked up some things for their reunion. Then it was off to Tim's sister's home (Paula). I always enjoy being there -- they are all like family to us as they have adopted Sandi as more than just a sister-in-law -- she and Tim are a unit. I hung out there until Rachel picked me up (well, I got into their van) and we headed to Spiceland, Indiana (their home). Spiceland? Just south of I-70 and New Castle, Indiana. I'm looking forward to sister time -- as well as with the rest of her family.

Soooo ... now you have the rest of the story -- if you hung long enough to read it all ... lol!!! I'm off to see my dad after while and am looking forward to some father/daughters time, also. There are just two daughters and my dad always enjoys us being there together.

Hello .. Hello??

Last evening, I wanted to call Bob's mother to let her know I was coming up to Indy and would be spending a couple days with her. I was driving so Sandi dialed the number and handed the phone to me. My mother-in-law answered but she sounded far away. She told me she wanted to change phones which she did. She still sounded far away but I could understand her.


All at once, I heard the call waiting beep and pulled the phone away from my ear to see who was calling. I couldn't read the number as it as upside down. Oooopss .. I had been holding my phone upside down! I have one of those Rumor (Sprint) phones -- it's not a flip phone (except for the keyboard that flips out) so it can look the same in the dark -- right side up or upside down!!


Needless to say, we got a good laugh about it and Thad (the call waiting person) really laughed when he heard what I had done. How come little brothers laugh when big sisters make silly mistakes! 'Cause they know we are really, really human???

Cold weather, here I come!!

Yikes -- I was anxious to be in cooler weather but I think 30 degrees at night is stretching it a little. (Heading to Indianapolis today!) Oh, well, the fall colors (hopefully they are still 'in bloom') will be a good trade off! So, I had to dig in my closet to find appropriate 'cold weather' attire!!

The only down side of traveling north is there is a chance we may miss the birth of Kasi's baby -- although we are returning on her actual due date. She has already made one trip to the hospital for the doctor to say it wasn't quite time yet. She is extremely anxious for this to be over -- however, there are weekend activities at her high school that she would like to attend -- homecoming game, etc. Soooo ... we will see if Ava decides to cooperate with her mother's desires.

I did try to take a picture of her last night. We have had some interesting conversations around the kitchen table the past few evenings -- 10 year old Kamen has had some questions regarding the upcoming birth -- inquiring minds want to know? He has a very inquiring mind!!

Generations ...

This afternoon, Kasi and I sat and talked for a while -- just talked. About life, about her pregnancy, about motherhood .. and I realized the value of those kinds of talks. It seems that we are often so busy that we don't take time to simply 'talk'.

I had taken a break from work (income tax deadline is on Wednesday) and was sitting on my bed (which is one of those Craft-a-matic beds). She sat down in my wheelchair and we ended up talking for quite a long time.

In just a week or so, she will become a new mom. She's young, unmarried and with that comes uncertainties. Yet, one thing is certain -- the love of her family. Someone at church commented on our family and the love we show to each other. Do we have problems? We're normal and normal people have problems! But, we hang in there together through the good times and the tough times!

I get amused and sometimes frustrated when I hear people share how 'perfect' their children are. More often than not, they are either oblivious to what they see or their kids have them 'snowed'! Years ago, I was directing a ladies' retreat. One of the mothers was sharing how her children never gave her any trouble and how wonderful they were. Shonna told me later that the oldest daughter shared openly about her life and it was nothing like what her mother thought. (And the gal was still in her teens and living at home.)

Sooooo ... back the generations. We will soon have four generations here in our home. And I will begin to think about my generation (matriarch -- sounds ancient!!!) and what will we pass on to little Ava June when she enters this world.

Now ... I am so anxious to see what she will look like. I think if we were gambling folks we might lay odds on that. Ava's father is white, red headed and blue eyed. Care to guess??

Kasi is still high school and in high school she plans to stay. She has one of the leading parts in a school play in November! Wow ... I remember when I had Shonna. There was an 18 year old girl in the same hospital room as I was. She had her baby and within a couple hours had her bluejeans on and was ready to leave! Needless to say, she didn't leave immediately but she was ready.

But, I doubt the gal across the hall was ready to leave -- I'm not sure why I am rambling here -- she had a 14 lb. 8 oz. boy! No, you didn't read that wrong. They had to go to Pediatrics to get diapers to fit him. He had to be in an incubator for some problems and they basically had to almost cram him into it! Poor boy!!

It's going to be interesting to hear a baby's cry again ... and there will be another little person to love and cherish.

Tyler's School Project

Sandi homeschools Tyler and the program she is using has lots of hands-on projects. This one is pretty self-explanatory. They also visited Home Depot where kids were invited to take part in projects!

Questions ... Do I have the answers???

RJ spent about an hour at our house tonight -- and he had more questions than you can imagine. The conversations went something like this ... First, he looked at my incision from my recent surgery. (Which, by the way, doesn't look that bad -- except it is about 14 inches long!)

"Nana, where do you get that big scrape?" I explained to him about my surgery.

"Did it hurt?" Well, it did for a little while but it really doesn't now. Okay, satisfied for a little while.

He told me about playing soccer tomorrow and wondered if I could come. I hadn't known about the game and had scheduled a "LINDA" luncheon here at noon. (They are bringing food -- I don't have to anything but open my door and welcome them in!)

RJ looked at me and said, "LINDA Luncheon, what's that." "Well, RJ, that's for ladies whose name is "Linda"."

This was a keeper ... he looked at me really seriously and said, "Is YOUR name Linda?" He's five but to him, I have never been anything but "Nana"!

I asked him, "Didn't you know my name was 'Linda'?" He assured me, "I never knew that!" Then he asked, "Are there lots of 'Lindas'?" Yep, lots of them. "Do they all look like you?" Okay, this is getting really interesting. I assured him they didn't. "Are there more than 100 Lindas?" Yes, I'm sure there are. "Maybe a hundred thousand?" At that point, the conversation sort of dwindled.

The conversation a little later somehow got around to my parents and I really can't remember how we got there -- but we did. He got to talking about his "Grumpa" Keeling being really, really, old. (Don't tell Don - Ron's dad - that!) He wondered about my parents and asked where they lived. I told him that my mother had gone to heaven.

"Did she die?" Yes, she died. "Does she know God now?" (In his mind, I'm sure he was meaning was she 'with' God now.) I assured him that she was. He told me that since his 'grumpa' was really old, he thought he might die pretty soon, too. Then he decided, "Well, it will be a while yet. Probably a long while."

So ... I've had a bunch of questions -- but not enough answers for the questions, I'm sure. There will definitely be more! There were more this evening but can't remember them now. About 4am, I'll probably remember!!