finally...

Bob got a short break and spent some time at the park with his family. At the top picture, Austin is doing some shanana dance move from The Office TV show and below, Bob and Austin are preparing to race down the slide. Bob had the head start as his feet practically reached the ground right away.

the weekend improved

Happy birthday today to Eric - who is 20 today - so all shout out to him when you can.


Taking yucky medicine was not the highlight of the party for Reagan .

Ready to help Eric blow out his funny candles - which neither of them did on the first try.







After storms and clean-up, life moved on... as it always does - and we had the chance to celebrate Eric's birthday. It was a great day but we missed the Nick Miller family.

tornadoes

Thursday evening storms raced through the mid-Michigan area. As luck would have it, that area included our little town of Williamston. I can’t even begin to describe the shock I felt as I viewed the destruction.

We lost power Thursday evening and had no way to monitor the passage of the waves of storms. Molly and Pat kept calling us and giving us updates. Pat called once and said the rotations and storm were at Zimmer road and heading our way. We took refuge in our bathroom and when we emerged and looked outside, the last remaining tree in front of our house had been snapped off midway and lay across our driveway and our neighbor’s yard. And we were lucky. I had no idea just HOW lucky we were until morning arrived and we discovered that the whole town was without power and that the damages were extensive and widespread. We had to have our ID to get into our city if we left, and the routes were round-about.

Caring and wonderful volunteers came and chopped up the tree blocking my driveway – as one of the many jobs of service they did that day for many more. I was so grateful as my best source of labor for cutting up the tree was Bob – who was putting in mandatory overtime as a police officer helping out in the emergency. But I was only one of the beneficiaries. Williamston is making quick progress, but that is due, in my opinion, to all the volunteers helping with food, supplies and service. Kudos to all of them!!

For those of you from Williamston who have worried about everyone, I am posting some pictures of the storm damage.






We got the lightest damage in our area - a single snapped tree across our yard and driveway


And these three men cleaned it up for us before the end of the day on Friday!


Take a close look at the way the tree is broken - can these trees be saved at all? This is the norm for trees all around Williamston. Where once we saw houses and trees towering above, we now see housetops and either bare skies or just broken tree trunks. The skyline is so altered in some places!

Teri's back yard - Click on the image to see larger - see the tree broken at the base. She lost so many trees that her yard is permanently altered. Her pool has a tree in it, as did her house.



More of Teri's house - showing some of the structural issues.


View of some of the houses on Mitchell street across from the high school - a very hard hit area. We saw tarps on MANY houses . More structural damage in this area - less grown trees to uproot.
McCormick park - the playground and looking towards the river. Trees are IN the river. Wheatfield golf course. The houses close to it also suffered damage.


See anything missing? The tree used each year for the Christmas tree lighting is gone.

Yes, this is near where the new library is supposed to be going soon. This is right on Grand River -maybe a half mile from us ... if even that. Note that the tree is UPROOTED onto the car and house.
The overhang here at the Speedway station was so damaged that shortly after this picture was taken the structure was totally gone. McDonald's next door lost some roofing.


Service vehicles working along the road next to Felpausch.

This is also from Felpausch parking lot looking west.

This shot is from the Felpausch parking lot. You can get an idea of the heights of the trees broken.

This shot is looking from Grand River down towards the community center south of town

Reminiscing

This isn't my story - it is Molly's, but it just gave me so many flash-backs that I had to tell it.

This evening Molly was doing dishes in her kitchen and she heard Austin running to the bathroom a couple of times. She called to him to see what he was doing and he told her (both times) that he was washing his hands. Okay, so after this was his 2nd response, she got suspicious and went to see what he was doing.

Austin had climbed on top of a piece of furniture and gotten out her craft paints - deciding to do some painting on his own toys. By the time Molly got there he had painted his 3 ft superman figure, his floor, sheets, a couple other toys and his beautiful hand-made quilt! Needless to say, Molly was pretty upset. Austin wasn't trying to mess things up...he was being creative and trying to make something... but that doesn't help when you are faced with potential permanent paint spots everywhere.

So tonight Molly is running multiple loads of laundry, and I am reminded of similar incidents from when my kids were themselves that little. I am reminded of all the melted crayons we have had on carpets and in registers. I am reminded of stickers and even writing on walls. I am reminded of tipping over bookshelves and dumping toy drawers. I am reminded of secret potions and fashion statements and all the multiple times that the kids went to bed and I sat back and looked at the destruction of my house. And I am glad for all those times... they really permeate my memories as much as the so-called 'good' moments. And i chuckle a lot more at the memories than i did when they were in the present.

my sides still ache

Tonight was a blast - totally and completely. From start to finish, i laughed all night long. I laughed at the stories during lunch/dinner (meaning we stayed in one place long enough for two meals) and then again at dinner/snack (another meal was necessary as we could NOT go home yet) - but also laughed so hard that tears were running down my face ... at 'Menopause, the Musical'. I highly recommend it to everyone, and sincerely hope to go see it again. AND, to go see it with Jude, Sue and Alice. What a hoot! When I wasn't rocking in the seat myself, I was watching Jude rolling forward, or Sue sliding down in her seat, or Alice clutching her side from laughing so much. The humor and songs in this show - and the facial expressions on the cast - wow - I had no idea menopause was so funny. But it sure is now!

I should have known the night would be hilarious, as from the moment we took our seats, Jude entertained us. She stood in front of the auditorium fanning us and occasionally dancing to the music. And yes, we were in the front row, (great seats - thanks again Alice) so everyone in the theatre got entertained by Jude also. Did you know that at the end of the show we all went up on stage to do a chorus line kick (except Alice - who I thought would surely join us!) Yep, lots of 'older' women dancing a chorus line. And hey, no one fell off the stage either.

Anyone reading this, if you get a chance to go see this musical, I would suggest you take the chance ... and call the rest of us and let us know - we will probably want to go again.

After watching this play, I no longer feel even slightly worried that I occasionally go to work with my clothes on inside out or backwards ...because it sounds like this is just another in a never-ending list of fun things EVERYONE does at sometime. ha ha - just another 'change' symptom to laugh at.

great times - great company - loved the day. thanks all.

so far behind

not only have i been behind in verbal blogging, but it has been a long time since pics posted too. i don't have time to put many on tonight, but here are a couple


Katie, Rick and Reagan enjoying pieces of duck cake (so cute) from Reagan's first b-day party.


The best thing about this picture of Bob, Austin and Molly is the way Austin is smiling at Dad.


Just realized that i had NO pictures of the WHOLE Miler family, but here are three of them. Karyna, Allison and Nick are just arriving for our family picture time on a COLD day.



There were definitely two people who enjoyed their time together after a month apart. Best friends forever - in some manner. They were excited to see each other from the first moment of arrival at my house, and squabbled barely at all the whole weekend.

of two minds

so i titled this entry "of two minds" knowing full well that for my kids, that would be opening myself up to quips and ridicule - smart remarks about how well my mind works at the best of times - but it is an apt title.

i have been trying to define my emotions to myself - about all the changes that have gone on in my life over the past summer - and i can't pin them down.

as an example - a good change is that all my SIX kids have now completed at least one college degree. i am thrilled - i am relieved and happy for them all - and yet i miss seeing them in my building. i ridiculously miss the late nights that i worked while keeping Nick company as he jammed two weeks worth of homework into a few LONG, LONG nights. i miss Katie stopping by when she would come by to pick up Rick or visit him between classes. it has been longer since Molly regularly was on campus, but it sure was fun when she worked down the hall. Cheryl's office has not been the same to me since Molly graduated.

was i an extremely lucky person to have all my kids around me for so long? YES!!!!!!!

since graduation, Katie and Rick moved and the easy stop by their apartment to see Reagan has ended. No more babysitting - and I really miss that. I even miss Katie chewing me out for leaving phone messages (i don't do that anymore). But they moved for a good reason - a wonderful new job that Rick wanted! They are buying a house - a great thing. So I am happy and sad too. I know this is a good step and they aren't going to be THAT far away, but it feels so different.

The same is true for Nick, Allison and the girls. I am so excited that Nick has gone on to a program he is thrilled to be a part of. I am happy that they found a wonderful place to live and that it is already beginning to feel like home. It is an amazing opportunity for them as a family - they will experience tons of new things - both good and bad - and grow through it all. The girls already like the new apartment. But when Nick talked about how St. Louis already felt like home, and how much he loved it there, I still had a little ache inside that no longer were we home.

and last, I am hoping and praying for the perfect FULL TIME job to happen for Bob. I am proud of how diligently he has worked towards his career, and I want him to also get the job he wants and deserves, but worry that it will be also away from here. Then we will have to struggle to be happy for yet another event that tears away at our life patterns.

so do I seem like i don't like change? honestly that is not it. I do like change ... in almost any other aspect of my life. why does it bother me? because i look at my own experience with my own immediate family. my parents and brothers moved away. do we still love each other - i would say yes, at least from my perspective, but are we as close as we could have been? no. are my kids as close to their cousins as they could have been? no, I don't think so. And i see that proximity does impact a lot.

will i let this bother me for long? i sure hope not. but i will be putting a lot of miles on my van.