Larry the Worrywort (Jeanne)

I'm trying to declutter my office and life. This scrap of paper has the list of things that was on my dad's radar in 2015. I liked to write down the things that he ranted about and say, "Which thing is most important to you? What would you like me to work on?"

As I told Ann, worrying was his hobby. She tried to fix all his issues, but he was really good at finding things to be upset about!

Getting the garage floor replaced was a big one. It was old and cracked. The unevenness made it a trip hazard. It took me two days to clear everything off the floor! The guy did a nice job.

There were a lot of things we didn't get to . . . but the list is now in my recycling. And memorialized here.

I also had a "Happy Holidays" money envelope with this. My dad loved to say he did all his Christmas shopping in one place and no one wanted to return it! He'd go to the bank and withdraw money. Getting those little envelopes was a predictable (but delightful) gift each December. He was right - all his shopping done within fifteen minutes and everyone was happy to accept it.

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A Dad Story: Memories Lost (Jeanne)

It has been two years since my dad died. (Today is 1.22.2018. He died on 1.21.2016.) In getting rid of scraps of paper in my life (de-cluttering; I'm not yet ready for Swedish Death Cleaning!), I found an old receipt with some notes on it. "broken hand" "Dr. Dumont" "St. Joseph nuns" "Campbellton" Google brought me here: St. Joseph Hospital - http://www.rhsj.org/en/former-apostolic-sites_382_-21.php Religieuses Hospitalieres de Saint-Joseph I can't find information on Dr. Dumont (not that I tried that hard . . . ) but here's what I remember of that conversation with my dad over two years ago (I don't have the best memory!). He was talking about bequests after my mom died. He wanted to send money to places that were meaningful to him - the convent where his sister, Sister Beatrice, served, for example. He also mentioned Dr. Dumont, who had fixed his "broken hand" when he was a kid. He said they couldn'...

Fifteen Minutes of Fame (Louise)

From Louise: In Corpus Crispy (aka Corpus Christi), I was with Eileen and Larry. It was a cloudy day and we had taken chairs down to the pier in their swimsuits with reading material looking for sun anyway. When I saw a TV news van pulling up, I said, "Oh no! This can't be good." It was the afternoon weather report. They wanted to get a shot of the curve of the coastline, showing the weather. They featured us! Frozen Minnesotans."Where are you from?" and all that. When they were done with the spot, we asked about a good place to eat cheap seafood. A local place. So we ate at the place they recommended. When we were checking out, the waitress asked how we heard about them. And we said, "Well the news guy on channel whatever it was . . . " And she said, "Oh! That was you! I saw that!" So we were famous.

Another Song Memory (Jeanne)

It's weird for me to think that my perception of childhood was that we weren't very musical . . . and yet I keep having memories of songs from my childhood! Yesterday the song "It's Me, Oh Lord" came to mind and I started singing it. What a blast from the 70s! I know we sang it as part of the worship music at St. Joan of Arc Church, but I also wish I could have a conversation with my parents about the words. It definitely stems from Matthew 7:3-5 about taking the log from your own eye before trying to remove the splinter from someone else's. (Actually, I say "definitely" because that's my own perspective. Perhaps I'm way off!) Anyhow, I can absolutely say that I need prayer. Every day, every hour of the day. We sang this song a lot - mostly at church, but at other times, too. It's a good reminder that I am in need of prayer. I need God's grace, love, and mercy. I wonder what my parents thought about this song. Here's a link ...

Eileen and Larry Somers

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