final friday five for 2012

As usual, credit for everything below--except my answers, that is--goes to the wonderful gals over at RevGalBlogPals. And I owe them a hearty "thank you" for giving me a some much-needed writing inspiration!

I should mention that I did have my neck surgery last week and the surgeon said the procedure went "swimmingly." I find this reassuring because those raw and burnt nerve endings feel, well, raw and burnt. Not a pleasant sensation. My usual brilliance is most likely lacking today since I'm on pain killers and muscle relaxers, so bear with me. 

 

The FINAL Friday Five for 2012: Recycle, Re-Gift, Reflect

As we take a breather from the busy weekend of Sunday/Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, it's time to reflect on the past year. It's hard to move out of this holiday season with its delights and celebrations. Here at our home, we've barely finished the eggnog. The tree is still up and our cats delight in knocking off the lower (unbreakable) ornaments. As we are rounding the final turn on the year 2012, I hope you'll play along with these questions. :)

RECYCLE:

1. What is some "old news" this year that you'd like to repeat for 2013?

Saturday lunches and outings with my birthmom, Judy. We try to do this on a fairly regular basis, although it has been difficult to get together for much of this year because of her hip surgery and my neck surgery. My lack of a car doesn't help, either. But we have a lot of fun spending time together. Plus, I finally know where most of my idiosyncrasies originate! Here I though I was eccentric all by my lonesome, only to discover that I inherited most of them from the Lubys! (The others come from growing up a Resch of course.)

2. What "new thing" have you started that you want to keep going in 2013?

Not having neck surgery!  Making an effort, through journaling, meditation, prayer, reflection, and reading, to really observe Advent, as a season of waiting and preparation for the gift of the Incarnation.

RE-GIFT:

3. What event, experience or gift would you just as soon "Return to Sender"? Maybe it was a disastrous sermon, a congregational kerfuffle, a vacation nightmare, or your own mis-step. It can be funny or sad. 

I would gladly surrender the experience of running a stop sign and crashing into another car this past June! The gentleman driving the other car, luckily, wasn't hurt, but I would up with whiplash and neck surgery. And my darling little GEO Metro was totaled! It wasn't damaged that badly, but the repairs would have cost more than my 16 year-old baby was worth. Monetarily, anyway, disregarding my love for my first car. So we are in the market for a new car, but all we can get for our money is junk. But I can't drive now anyway, temporarily at least!

REFLECT:

4. Share the brightest bit of joy that was a part of your year. 

George and I celebrated our ninth anniversary this October. I think the joy comes from the reassurance of being loved, truly loved, for myself, along with the realization that in nine years we have been through more than many couples endure in a lifetime, and we are still together. And I love him more with each anniversary that goes by. When we got married, I thought I could not possibly love him more than I did, but as time goes by, I find that my love for him grows and evolves, teaching me to appreciate the feeling of contentment that washes over me before I go to sleep, when I see him and Fiona (our dog, naturally) sleeping beside me. Or the simple pleasure of playing frisbee in our backyard together on lovely summer afternoon.

 

5. Share a picture that says far more than words. (You can use it to illustrate one of the above.) 

George and me at Kieran's Irish Pub after I lectored at the 4:30 Mass at The Basilica of St. Mary

 

BONUS:

Share a recipe! I'm in the doldrums and need some healthy eating options for my menu planning. Soup, stew, main dish, side dish or a healthy dessert - any and all are welcome!


This is where I need help, too, desperately! I'm hoping a reader will come to my rescue with a nice slow-cooker recipe, perhaps? Please?!

o tannenbaum

In happier news, the house is (mostly) decorated for Christmas! We finally got a pre-lit tree so poor George didn't have to get tangled in the lights, swearing and cursing. Although watching him was one of the highlights of my holidays every year since we got married (nine years in October!!) I don't think George particularly enjoyed it. So we went with the easier solution for him, bless his heart.

Here are my not-so-fab instagram pictures:

I bought this at a little German imports Christmas shop in Stillwater with my birthday money from my SIL Beth. It's an angel (not so easy to see from the picture!) saying "Happy Christmas (Frohe Weinachten) in German.

The new tree, shown here in all its glory. Except that you can't see the star on top, or the bottom. Better luck next batch of pictures!

look back at summer 2012

It was the best of times, it was (not quite) the worst of times...

Among the best were our annual Resch Family Reunion, held at my cousin Verlys' farm up in Pine City (she was living w/mom and dad and was the first Resch to see me!), a Sabas family picnic/Olympics at Resort da Sabas, which doubles as my Aunt Sheila's place, a Fourth of July picnic on Lake Minnetonka, hosted by my Aunt Toddie and Uncle Bob, and sweet summer afternoons sitting out in our backyard with George and Fiona. Also, I got two unbelievably amazing Twins tickets from my friends Gary and Mary Margaret Hoden, so my pal Patti and I went and sat in THE LEGENDS CLUB. Really, I could get used to living like this!

There were only two things to make my summer less than happy: my birthmom had hip surgery (she's doing great now, in the hospital they called her a rock star), and I sort of totaled my car and wound up with a very nasty, mean case of whiplash. So I have no car, plus I'm having neck pain and headaches; however, I've started physical therapy and my doctor is being very kind about muscle relaxers, so I am hanging in there, albeit not at top speed. Well, there was a third--namely, a huge PTSD flare when some new memories surfaced. I was tormented by flashbacks and nightmares for a while, but thanks to the help of God and my beloved therapist, I'm doing much better now. As usual, I can't say enough about the support and love of all my family, especially George.

Oh yes, one other highlight of my summer was the opportunity to have dinner at Bulldog NE with my two stepbrothers, Alex and Kelley, and George was even able to join us! Kelley lives in Tokyo so I only get to see him a few times a year, and Alex keeps incredibly busy with his band Deadweight (he is the drummer--and an awesome one too in my totally unbiased opinion) and school, PLUS an August trip to Vietnam with his lovely (fiancée?) Tee (Tina). So it was extra special for the four of us to get to spend some time together--every time I see either of my brothers, I like them more! It's beyond cool to grow up an only child and suddenly gain a couple of little brothers.

When I look back at my summer, I have to admit that despite the PTSD and car accident, it was a blessed time of love and laughter. I'm attempting to upload a bunch of pictures on my mobile, so we will see how the Great Photo experiment goes!

The Resch Reunion

Me with lovely Sabas cousins Elissa and Deanna

Sandi Sybrandt and family at Resch Reunion

My poor Metro!!

Instagram version, Elissa, Deanna, and me

Sabas gals!!

Kelita and Levi Robertson at Resch Reunion

Mari-Lea and Kathy Oberg and Aunt Jo, Resch Reunion

Resch cousins come all the way from Montana!

Me with Auntie Sheila (Sabas)

My sleepy Fiona (with her favorite toy)

Joe and Nancy Mallery, Linda and Breanna Cook, Resch Reunion

Sabas Olympics!! (Bocce Ball)

Fiona snoozing

Naptime for George and Fiona

Patti and me with Kirby Puckett!

Me with Harmon "The Killer" Killebrew!!!!

George and me enjoying a drink at Kieran's after mass at the Basilica

A truly awful picture of me with my beloved aunties Marie, Jo, and Julie, Resch Reunion

Aunt Marie, Aunt Jo, Aunt Julie, Resch Reunion

My sleepy baby!

Joni-lea and Faith at Sabas picnic

Wildflowers finally bloom in August, turn out to be Goldenrod (relative of the Evil Ragweed)

friday five: the fork in the road

This week's Friday Five come courtesy of Singing Owl from RevGalBlogPals. She writes:

Friday, February 27, 2009

Friday Five: The Fork in the Road

"I am at a life-changing juncture. I do not know which way I will go, but I have been thinking about the times, people and events that changed my life (for good or ill) in significant ways. For today's Friday Five, share with us five "fork-in-the-road" events, or persons, or choices. And how did life change after these forks in the road?"

Okay, Singing Owl, here are my five forks in the road:

1. I didn't have a lot of say in this one, being five weeks old at the time, but the first big fork in my road came when I was adopted by Millie and Leonard Resch on October 24, 1968. It turned out to be a 38-year-long love story, lasting until my mom's death in 2007. I could not have been more blessed, both by the mom and dad who loved me and raised me, and the mom who loved me so much she was willing to give me up. I love all three of them, my wonderful parents, more than words can express.

2. At 19 I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and clinical depression. This led to years of therapy and, even more important, much painful soul-searching, trying to figure out where God was speaking to me in my suffering. And I found out that not only was he there, he was holding me, lovingly, and feeling my pain as his own.

3. At 27 I did a unit of C.P.E. (Clinical Pastoral Education), which is, basically, an intensive chaplaincy internship. It's impossible to sum up in only a few sentences what that summer meant for the rest of my life...suffice it to say, I fell in love with the work, am finally back in grad school (after years of struggling with fibromyalgia), and hope to work as a hospice chaplain once I get my degree.

4. When I was 32 I met my husband through mutual friends at the Basilica of St. Mary. Can you say instant lightning? We've been married for five years and he's my rock, the light of my life, and on many days, especially when my depression is bad, the reason I get out of bed. Our marriage tells me a lot about God's love for us--steadfast, constant, always forgiving. We want to adopt so we can share the love with which we've been graced with a special child.

5. Two years ago in April my beloved mom died of emphysema. I am still so lonely for her. But in the midst of her dying, she taught me, by example, what it means to have lived a good life, and what it means, for a person of faith, to go to meet her Creator. (Check out "top ten things I learned from my mother" under "select posts" near the top of the right-hand sidebar.)

Come on ladies, play along with me! Either on your own blogs, or in the comments box. :)

four years?!

Yesterday George and I celebrated four years of wedded bliss by sleeping all evening. Last year he was sick, then this year neither of us felt well, so I suppose at this rate next year Fiona will be under the weather as well. At least we were both feeling wonderful on our wedding day! Besides, celebrating our marriage is hardly a once-a-year deal; it's something that happens everyday, one way or another. (Well, almost everyday!)

As grateful as I've always been for the gift of George in my life, this past year, as we've struggled with my mom's illness and death, has added a new dimension to my gratitude. He has been so loving and supportive throughout the whole ordeal. Without him I think--no, I know--I would have completely fallen apart. He's the one who keeps me going even on the loneliest, darkest days.

We've been through a lot together during these past four years in addition to my mom's death: my fibromyalgia, depression, ptsd and other assorted health problems, our constant money worries, not being able to have children, and his mom's declining health. It hasn't always been easy. But it has always been worth it. I can't imagine the world without him in it.

a house divided no more

Last week we were a house divided, with me rooting for the Red Sox, Fiona cheering on the Cubs, and George pulling for the Phillies. While we are all, first and foremost fans of our beloved Twins, I am a Red Sox fan after spending my college years in Boston, George worked at a TV station in Philly for a while which I guess explains his strange (in my opinion) prediliction for the Phillies, while Fiona falls into the Cubs camp because her nickname is "Miss Wiggly Field." (Although all three of us have a soft spot for the Cubs.)

So a household crisis was narrowly averted last week by the losses of both the Cubs and the Phillies in postseason play. What if the Cubs had played the Phillies in the NLCS? Or even worse, what if the Cubs or Phillies had played the Red Sox in the World Series? Now we are all safely cheering on the BoSox. YAY BOSTON!!!!!

Fiona sadly contemplates the Cubs' postseason record

update

Mom sounded better this morning on the phone. She was finally able to sleep last night and is breathing better. She's probably going to be in the hospital for a while, although I'm hoping she'll be out by Xmas. I've been reading up on emphysema and apparently as the disease progresses, these kind of episodes become more common; I guess what I'm really having a hard time dealing with right now is the knowledge that her emphysema is getting worse. I watched two uncles whom I loved very much die of this disease, and it's a horrible, horrible way to die. It's like suffocating to death very slowly, over the course of months and years. As much as I dread the thought of losing my mom, seeing her suffer is going to be far worse.

I am trying to be strong and keep a positive attitude for her--she always worries more about me than about herself--but it's difficult. I don't know what I'd do without George, he's being just WONDERFUL. I still can't believe how lucky I am to have him.

vacation, all i ever wanted

Vacation all I ever wanted
Vacation have to get away

That's all I can remember from the song by the Go-Go's (I think it was a hit long ago, like in the '80s.) That didn't stop me from humming it constantly last month though, when George and I went up to Duluth/the North Shore for a couple of days last month. We ate, drank, saw family and friends (George is from the Iron Range, graduated from UMD, and worked for now-defunct KDLH for several years after college. And his sister Fran and her family live there.), ate, drank, ate some more, etc.

We stayed at The Lake Breeze Resort, which is located a few miles north of Duluth on Hwy 61. Our cabin was adorable, and reminded me of vacations up north with my mom and dad when I was little. Very cute, very kitschy:



It was PERFECT, very romantic in a fun, silly way! (I copied these pics from their website; that's why they are all different sizes.)

These were all taken at Brighton Beach, right down the road for our "resort."
Here's the Lake our first day there:

And the day we left:
George took this one of me:
And this is our self-portrait (a better picture of him than me, as usual--it's not fair!) :
And best of all, little Fiona welcoming us home:

Actually, this vacation was better than last year, even though we stayed longer then (and at an incredible B&B). Last year my depression was bad enough that I was weepy and preoccupied; this year I had fun.

three years and one day

I think the nasty weather we've been having yesterday and today is my fault. It's God telling me to quit complaining about rain on my wedding day three years ago (yesterday). I have to admit, I'm actually nostalgic for the rain; at least it was warm! And of course, it was a lovely day all the way around despite the rain--I was going through our wedding pics the other day, and re-lived the whole incredible day. (We were hoping to buy a printer/scanner with the anniversary money from my mom but, of course, we couldn't find one for $50. We'll probably bite the bullet and get the $80 one--I mean, who needs groceries?!--and if/when we do, I'll post some of our pictures.)

Because of the weather, we didn't do very much; we just went to Grandma's for a yummy and warming dinner. After George went to bed I sat up and cried for a long time. If someone had asked me on our wedding day if we'd be childless three years into our marriage, I would have said NO WAY. I would have been wrong, obviously. However, I'd marry him all over again in a flash. I still can't believe I found a thoughful, caring, talented and funny guy like George to share my life with, I really can't. Snuggling together in bed yesterday morning with our coffee, the newspaper, and Fiona, I felt a wave of pure contentment wash over me, and gave thanks. (There are many moments like that. I just always seem to forget to write about them!!!)

And I've come to realize something about love: Love doesn't come to us because we deserve it, because I've never done anything to deserve the kind of love I have with George. Love comes to us just because we are, not because of what we do. It's pure grace.