Happy Birthday, Neighbor!

I can't imagine what 80 feels like.  Last week Betty celebrated her 80th birthday with the boys, flowers, cupcakes, cards and small presents.  She's still spry and on top of things; she's politically motivated (far to the right), technologically aware (she belongs to a Mac users club), and has successfully managed her own finances into a comfortable retirement.  But still, 80 years is a long time.

In eighty years so much has changed in the world that when you list some of humanities accomplishments its a little mind boggling; space travel, atomic power (and weapons), walking on the moon, computers that fit in the palm of your hand, the internet. Imagine a time traveler from 1932 walking out their machine and imagine them not thinking they stepped onto another planet. 

When I was born music was played on vinyl records and only the uber-rich could watch movies at home on a movie projector.  In forty-four years plenty has changed just in how we are entertained.  My boys both play with my iPhone.  TJ is a pro and is able to open apps and play complicated games - okay, Angry Birds, might not be "complicated" per se but there are some levels I still can't get three stars on.  Grant understands how to "swipe" to make things happen on the screen.  What will technology look like for them in 80 years?

At 80, Betty is at another transition in her life, something we referred to the other day as "retiring from retirement."  The huge house that she lived in with her husband in their retirement in Florida is now too much for her to manage and keep up.  Ten years ago that house was full of parties and people.  And, as with some things, change comes slow.  Her husband, Bob, passed away.  Other people became too old and too infirm, social circles break down.  Life happens.  The realization came to her last year that it was time to move on to the "next thing"  So, over the past few months she has reduced and simplified the amount of "stuff" in her house and is ready to put it on the market.

Wanting to be closer to the grandkids she had a choice between North Carolina and Missouri from Florida.  It was no contest.  Pictures of the snow piles in Missouri was all it took to convince Betty that she would make it through the first winter there.   North Carolina is cold enough. For the last two weeks she looked in this area at retirement villages, condos, and homes and in the end bought a brand new ranch two streets away from us in our neighborhood.

We couldn't be happier.

Growing up I lived about half a mile from one of my grandmothers and four miles away from the other.  Until they passed away my grandparents were always in my life.  We saw them after church, shoveled their snow in the winter and mowed their lawns in the summer.  They were waiting for us when we got off the bus while mom and dad worked and spoiled us with cookies.  They passed on stories of growing up in different times and different hardships.  You didn't visit my grandparents because they were a part of the immediate family. 

By the spring Betty will be a short walk away from us.  Without fully knowing the full impact, the dynamic of this family will change as grandma becomes a steady fixture in our lives instead of someone we road trip to go spend time with.

Happy birthday, Betty, we look forward to many more years together. 

Playing With Technology

This cute little thingy is not a alien invader left over from some Atari 2600 game but rather a QR code - a way for your Smartphone to automatically go to a website, open a Facebook page, call a phone listing, or email a designated recipient. Pretty neat huh?

I created this code in about two minutes on a free QR code creator while I was doing some research for a friend's business. Literally. Two minutes. Thirty seconds of which were spent sipping my coffee reading the website.

I linked the code back to our family journal and posted the code on Facebook. At last count this journal had 3319 visits. Come back in after the weekend to see how many more we get - just from posting on Facebook.

Technology, when it is as easy as this is, is great to work with. And yet we never figured out how to stop the VCR from blinking 12:00. Anyway - thanks for stopping by and participating in my experiment!

And We're Walking, We're Walking

Grant's "Walk Switch" turned on yesterday. Literally. He went from one or two steps and falling on his bottom to walking across the room. From one or two steps to as far as he can go in a straight line overnight. It is amazing to watch them grow up. Having TJ so far apart from Samantha I thought I forgot all of these little moments over the course of a decade of life. Not so. Watching Grant I realized that I can hardly remember TJ at this age; pulling himself up on furniture and bobbling across the room. These moments are so fleeting in the course of days as they turn into years overlaid with other events both big and small.

We started to capture those moments for the kids by saving all of our cell phone, iPhone, and camera videos on the Mac to make a DVD called Tid Bits - which is nothing more than five to sixty second videos in as close to chronological order as possible. Most are silly or nonsensical but they jog the memory and make Lisa and me smile.

The other big project I have taken on is to transfer all of our camcorder video onto the Mac and burning them onto DVDs. As I am getting better at editing I am cutting out the "oops" moments where the camera was left on, or for scenes that just go on and on and on. In twenty years DVDs might be as old and passe as VHS and laser discs but at least they will be there for the kids to upgrade onto the next generation of technology.

Now that he is walking we enter into the toddler years. Grant is a fast learner. He watches his big brother and copies his behavior as much as possible. The other night he tried to step up the stairs - crawl he can do in about 23 seconds (and therefore needs to be watched like a hawk) - but this was lifting his foot up onto the step and trying to get up. Same goes for the couch - try as he might he cannot get up there yet. However, when he is lifted up he sits at the end of the couch and puts his arm on the arm rest.

I love watching these boys grow up. I wish I had more of these memories of Samantha from when she was small although we did find a video of when she was two or three years oldand need to transfer that too. Anyone still own a VHS player?!

A Walk Down Memory Lane Part I

For 2012 we are going to add something old to our new entries - reminisces from the past; from old letters, emails, and photos as a way to remember how this family started out.  A friend of Lisa's sent the following email back to her the other day after coming across it seven plus years after she sent it!

From: Lisa Blockus

Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 1:54 PM

To: Recipient List Suppressed

Subject: Our BIG News!

Hey to all. . . .

Due to our excitement, all that has happened in Rich and Lisa's lives the past 5 days, and desire to get the word out, we'll just cut  to the chase and say that Lisa and Rich are ENGAGED! Yep! That's right. Lisa is glowing, Rich picked out a beautiful ring proposed, and now we both are spreading the word to our families and friends.

The story, you ask? How did it happen? Well. . . let us tell you.

(Lisa writing) I'll start off by saying that these past two and a half weeks have been a gift for Rich and I. As many of you know, if life went according to plan, Rich would have left for Fort Bragg North Carolina on August 14th and then soon after he'd be heading off to Iraq with his Army Reserve unit. But, plans change, orders get adjusted, and opportunity knocked for Rich to try to get some extra time at home and it worked. We were given the rare gift of time-- 2 1/2 weeks of it! Totally unexpected, but totally celebrated! In many ways I felt as if I had won the lottery, it could not have been more perfect. We focused on us, counted our blessings, lived for the moment, and discovered how absolutely "right" all of this felt.

So, with all of that said, Rich actually proposed-- ring in hand-- this past Saturday, August 28th. We had a rather laid back day with no real commitments except for a sunset cruise on our friend Renee's sailboat that evening. This was to be the first time Rich and I went sailing together. And boy, was I excited for him to experience one of my big passions in life. My wish was for him to get bitten by the sailing bug too. Then, I thought, we truly could live happily ever after.

The evening started out GREAT! We boarded Renee's boat only to find wine, crackers, and cheese out ready for us to nibble on and music playing. How sweet, I thought. Renee and her boyfriend, Al, soon joined us and we left the dock ready for a great sail. About 20 minutes into our voyage we got caught in a torrential downpour. Thank goodness I brought Rich and I some rain gear. We got soaked! With no hope of an end to the rain in sight, we took down the sails and headed back in. A short sail, a quick introduction to the world of sailing. I hoped that this rain and this experience wouldn't taint Rich's impression of the sport. With a quick goodbye to Renee and Al, I rushed Rich back into the car where we could regroup, avoid the rain and head home.

(Rich writing) So, my plan for the sunset cruise didn't go as planned. But it was indeed planned.  Lisa had NO idea that I had been talking to her friend Renee and that had been the plan all along.  Lisa caught me putting a towel into my bag and thought it funny that I was bringing it along "in case we got wet".  What she didn't know was that the champagne was in there, along with the ring.  Despite the rain I did have a good time!  But I was a bit lost on what to do now.

I had thought of some other proposal ideas but now time was running short for us and quite frankly, I wanted to propose. So as we pulled into the driveway the last thick raindrops were falling around us the the moon was up.  We were soaked, and chilly, and happy to be with one another.  Lisa made the comment that it would be a great time to get into a hot tub, if only we had one.  I replied that I could do better than a hot tub and presented Lisa the ring. Shock, bewilderment, let me tell you, Lisa had no clue.

(Lisa) Yep. I was speechless for a while. Was this really happening? Tonight? In the rain? Rich asked if I would marry him and held out the ring. I think I said yes and I think that Rich helped put the ring on my finger but I think my shock and excitement took over my ability to communicate (and remember) effectively.  I do know that I begged to move into the light and go inside because I could not get a clear visual on the ring. We quickly ran inside and continued our conversation and our celebration.

The past few days have been wonderful as we have started to share our news with others. Rich and I Ran the Puds Run 5K on Sunday and I was most impressed that as Rich was introducing me to people he knew how easily the word "fiance" rolled off his tongue. And how fun it was to hear it!

Rich received his new orders from the Army and is going to Fort Bragg on Thursday, September 2nd followed by his deployment to Iraq in late September. But regardless of this sad news, our time together and this engagement has obviously solidified who we are as a couple and our future together. We could not be more happy as we enter this new (and sometimes frightening) chapter of our lives. This year apart from Rich in hostile territory is going to be tough. With your prayers, hugs, and words of encouragement, the year will go by quickly and before you know it, it will be time to watch us walk down the isle as husband and wife! Wow!

(Rich) To echo Lisa's words, these past two and a half weeks have been a Godsend.  In life we need to make the most of the time we have, and that's what we did.  Everything over the past few weeks has been one fulfilling moment after another and I have come the realization of everything that I have been searching for - for so long.  I am more prepared to face the mental and emotional challenges ahead because Lisa is by my side, no matter how far away we are physically. How lucky are we!

(Lisa) Thanks for reading our news and sharing in our excitement. Please know that you can keep up with both of us on our online blogs. Rich's will be all about life in Iraq and Lisa's will be all about life as a obsessed bride planning her wedding. Should be interesting, stay tuned!

Our Love,

Lisa and Rich