until we meet again

unfortunately, i do indeed have a dead list. sad, but true. thank the Lord that i haven't lost any dear friends, but i envy God for having some of the most treasured people in my life so close to Him instead of here with me.

today, november 15th, marked my parents 34th LOVE-iversary!

i remember their anniversary last year. my dad was in the hospital and had just had his ileostomy surgery 2 weeks before. the doctors had given him a fairly shady prognosis, yet there he was. staring up at my mom wishing her a happy anniversary and kissing her the way he always did.

growing up i don't recall my parents having many moments of open PDA. i never caught my dad coming out of his room in his underwear; never caught my dad stealing a kiss in the kitchen out of sight of his daughters; never walked in on things that a child should never walk in on... but i always knew that my dad had eyes for no one but my mom.

to me, this is the greatest love story every told:

my parents met at prairie bible institute in the late 1950's. back then, being in the same room as the opposite sex lead to talking, which lead to holding hands, and we all know that that is how babies are made! of course, that is what was sternly ingrained into the heads of the God-fearing boys and girls that attended PBI. but as is the custom with hormones, they will inevitably win out over our fear of what comes after holding hands.

so my mom and dad started going together, (or so they called it back in 1860!) much to the dismay of the far to conservative educational staff. they did everything they could to deter anyone from courting, and it was no different for my parents.

both my parents helped serve in the lunch room, but of course they separated them the moment they learned of their blossoming romance. my mom was kept in the student lunch room, and my dad (the trouble maker) was sent upstairs to serve the staff. but dad had it bad for mom, and just as luck would have it, he had a friend who served alongside mom, and he would give him notes to pass on to mom. every sunday at PBI, the boys and girls were allowed to eat in the same lunch room!!! heaven forbid! before you go getting your knickers in a knot, the staff had a strict boy-girl-boy-girl seating arrangement policy. this, they hoped, would allow them the ability to monitor any hanky panky that was likely going on. sundays were mom and dads time to reconnect and discuss ways to meet outside of the prying eyes of the overbearing teachers. and that is exactly what happened.

every so often, mom and dad and another couple friend of theirs, would sneak off not to the local theater, but to the local cemetery (and people wonder where my desire to become a funeral director steams from). they would sneak off to the cemetery at night, and frankly, i don't want to know what went on there because even I wouldn't do any sort of hanky panky in a cemetery! but that's what they did. i guess they figured that the staff wouldn't dare think that anyone would go there, and so obviously their plan worked like a charm.

as their years at PBI were coming to an end, my mom suggested that they apply for CBC (Canadian Bible College). now my mom being the perfect farm girl that she was, got in no questions asked. my dad however, was a trouble maker. i can only imagine that his track record at PBI was anything BUT tarnished. and so mom and dad went their separate ways. vowing to at the very least stay in contact. so mom left alberta and headed out east to saskatchewan to start school at CBC. dad, went back south to montana to start his life up again back there. and for him, that meant getting married!

i don't think that dad ever really forgot about mom and that is why his marriage was a brief one, being another statistic of failed marriages. mom had headed out west to british columbia, but dad followed his heart and Gods calling, and was finally accepted at CBC. he had it pretty tough though. none of the professors really liked him because of his new status as a divorcee! but being the strong willed, bullheaded, persistent kind of man that my dad was, he definitely made them eat their words in the end.

one of my dads friends was from british columbia, and had just returned to CBC after a vacation back home. he also knew my mom. when he got back, he left a note in my dads mailbox that read what's red on top, and green all over? (my mom had red hair and her maiden name is green... get it?) my dad knew exactly who he was talking about! within a few weeks, my mom received a letter from my dad, and they pretty much picked up where they left off 6 years earlier.

my mom and dad were clearly meant to be together. they had that kind of love that just withstood anything. for 33 years they lived, loved and laughed together. when my dad looked at my mom on their last anniversary, i could still see how much my dad loved my mom! my parents were in love to the very last minute of my dads life.

they vowed on their wedding day to love each other till death do us part. and that time has come and gone. so now in this new chapter in my parents lives, it's until we meet again.

my mom the warrior

in the past 2 days, i have seen 4 dead bodies! now you would think that that is quite excessive, especially since i am no longer doing my job shadow. so not only have i seen 4 dead bodies, but my mother has been so instrumental and enthusiastic about it, that i hardly know where to begin.

alright, i should probably clarify that the 4 dead bodies that i've seen have actually been mice. yes, even thinking about it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. it is so gross and those little buggers are so bleeping fast and once they get under something, it is nearly impossible to get them out (especially when that something is a 100 year old piano).

i know that this may come as somewhat of a complete shock to everyone, especially considering my chosen career path, but i can not get out of the room fast enough when those little pests are in sight. i know that most people run and scream like little girls when faced with a 6 oz rodent, but not my mother! she has killing them down to a science. it's like a ballet really. she grabs a cornbroom, smashes it into the mouse whenever she sees it, then once it is trapped beneath the long, firm, flimsy bristles, she stomps on it with all her might and squishes them inbetween the broom and the floor! ok, so not exactly a ballet that anyone would actually pay money to go see, but i think she could get paid to be a verminator.

my mom is, like i said instrumental in the destruction and elimination of a problem that arises every spring and fall in our house. see our house is pushing 50, so those little buggers clearly have had plenty of time to find all the entrances. unfortunately, i think one of them is right by my room because i hear them at least once a week in the ceiling.

if anyone has any ideas, tips, or suggestions of ways to get rid of them that will cause as much damage to the mouse population of saskatchewan, PLEASE let me know! just thinking about them sends a chill down my spine.

and just for your viewing pleasure, a little sample of what a 1960's house looks like in the year 2009!

our fridgedair stovetop oven range with single oven and pull-out stove.

now you see it...

...now you don't!

the pink floor to ceiling tile in my bathroom, complete with push button lightswitches

the wood panels that are throughout the upstairs and the purple "bug eye" lamps

who doesn't like a little bit of orange shag?

daddy's birthday

so today is my dad's birthday. for those of you who don't know, my dad died almost a year ago. well it will be a year on december 1. i remember so clearly what happened a year ago on my dads last birthday. looking back, i can still see him smirking at me.

my dad had just had his surgery to remove his colon and the doctors were not very optimistic about his recovery. they really didn't give him much of a chance, but considering all he'd been through, all of us were bracing ourselves for the inevitable.

but it was on his birthday that he opened his eyes. for 5 days he was unconscious and making very little progress in recovering from his surgery. i remember walking into the ICU to see my dad looking at me! it wasn't for very long, but he saw me! it gave me so much hope that all his troubles would finally be over.

once he woke up, the doctors were more willing to give us a positive prognosis. and it was a few days after that that dad was moved out of the ICU.

but i still remember the feeling i had when i saw my dad looking at me after thinking that i may never look into his eyes again. i remember leaning over and wishing him a happy birthday. with all the breathing tubes and other things sticking out of him, i remember him looking up at me with the slightest twinkle in his eye. there was no celebration, no singing, no candles or gifts. just a simple birthday wish and little smile.

dad never wanted anything on his birthday. our love and affection was all he said he ever wanted. although there was nothing really that we did to honour his birthday, we definitely celebrated.

looking back today, i kind of wish we had done a little more seeing as it was his last birthday. but there was no way of knowing that then. there are still times when i feel like i should have spent more time with him, especially in that last month. but the time we spent together were priceless moments that i wouldn't trade for anything in the world... except maybe having him back with me.

tonight my mom, my older sister, her husband and their kids and i, went out for supper to make sure we did something together as a family (i wish my middle sister was closer so that we all could have been together today). i took my 4 year old nephew to wash his hands and told him that today was grandpas birthday and that that is why we were all out for supper. this was his response, well he won't get any presents because he's dead... heehee! such a childlike answer and interpretation of how life should be. there isn't anything wrong with being dead, it just sucks that you don't get any presents!