George

i did not have the same relationship with this man, but i am now closer to him because of what my brother, Ian, wrote.  i’d like to share it with you.

I recently lost my grandpa. He was a major part of my life and I feel like a piece of me is missing. A part of my life that has always been there is gone now. I know he’s in a better place and he’s not gone from the hearts and minds of those he loves, but it doesn’t stop it from hurting. To know I will never see his face, hear his voice, be in his presence… it breaks me into pieces. Tears are rolling down my cheeks as I right this. One of the strongest men in my life, one of my heroes, one of the reasons for who I am today is forever gone.

To say he was a perfect man would be lying. He, like everyone, had his share of downfalls. But to say that he was a good man, and a good grandfather is no stretch of the imagination. He did all he could to be there for me. He doted on me, saw me often, and always tried to make it to my sporting events. Even later in his life he never went without asking after me. He always wanted to know what was going on with me. It tears me apart knowing that I was so far from him the last few years of my life, and I wish I was around more. It hurt even worse not being able to see him in such a frail and helpless state. A man I saw live his life his way, and never bowed to anything, it killed me to see him have no power. I wish I could have been there with him in his last moments.

I am thankful for the 25 years I did have him. He gave so much love to me, and I can never thank him enough for that. He loved me unconditionally, and it’s something I will miss for the rest of my life. I can say, however, that I had that. A lot of people can’t claim as much. I am lucky and I count my blessings everyday. He gave me life through my father, and gave me so many things that are the world to me. He taught me life lessons, how to be my own man, and how to never let life get you down or direct you in any way but your own.

I will miss my grandpa terribly, but the smart part of me knows I will never truly be without him. He will always live in my heart. I will always have our good times and good memories. He will forever be an influence on my life and who I am. I will never live a day without trying to be the man he taught me to be. I have a lot to live up to as the last male in the family line, but I had good teachers and examples in my father and grandpa. Without the most important male figures in my life, I would not be here today.

I will miss you Grandpa. I will think about you always, and I know you will watch down over me. I will not say goodbye, because I will see you again. Rest peacefully… You’re in my heart and mind.

George Luther Townsend

“When I look to the stars, I know just where you are, you’re looking down upon me…”, Fire by Dead By Sunrise

 

i wish that i had known him well.  he will be missed. 

the black one

Chloe Bailey Uhler-Hull-Stuart

born September 25th, 2002

died January 5th, 2010

rest easy, Monkey Tail.  we loved you very much.

Carol of the Stinkerbells

a lot of you know that i am a sentimental old fool.  i attach a lot of feeling and emotion to random things.  WIO just learned about my attachment with restaurants.  if i went somewhere for a special occasion with Gulliver, i wont go there with him.  i like to keep things sacred.  i know its silly and ridiculous, but i like to have special moments STAY special. 

also, i get pretty sappy around the holidays.  who am i kidding, i am a traditionalist.  i put too much emphasis on the little things.  if Santa put peanut MnMs in my stocking when i was a kid, you bet your sweet ass that heads will roll if i dont have peanut MnMs in my stocking every year until the end of time.  if i dont wear my Birthday Tiara Angela got me for my 21st birthday then it just isnt my birthday.  if i dont end up in tears on Christmas Eve, then we can’t call it a success.  i even went so far one time to IMPOSE a tradition on the Bencivengas.  years ago, Mike invited me over to sit by the fire with the fam and enjoy some wine and exchange presents around Christmas.  we ate Lamme’s chocolate covered cherries (which are STILL a weakness for me) and had a lovely night.  i can close my eyes and be right back on the steps in the light of the Christmas tree.  the year following, Mike called to ask if i was coming over.  i said “as long as we have those cherries again!”  the message that was relayed back to me was “those were a gift that someone sent and we just had them to eat that night”.  i had assumed that it was tradition.  i felt like such a jerk.  so for years Mama B sent me chocolate covered cherries for Christmas when i lived in SC.  see how i am?

anyway.  i think it was 2 years ago i was NOT in the holiday spirit at ALL.  and Christmas was fast approaching.  and then a Wal-Mart commercial came on that not only made me cry, but sent a lightning bolt of Holiday Spirit right through me.  maybe you’ve seen it?  it’s the one where all the checkers turn their lights on and off while the Carol of the Bells plays.  simple?  yes.  effective? TOTALLY.   it even got me again this year right before Thanksgiving. 

wanna see what i’m talking about?

NOW dont you feel empowered by the Spirit of Christmas?  i know i do.

so this post is long and drawn out and not really touching on my point.  i think my point is what does it take to FEEL like a special moment?  or part of something?  or empowered? 

i had ALL of those feelings this morning. 

it makes more sense for me to take Kiddo to her Grandma’s on my way to work.  this morning i was up about 3 hours before i had to actually be there.   i had to work on vitamin orders.  and get myself dressed and ready to go.  and usually i have help getting Kiddo ready, but WIO looked all cozy and snuggly in bed this morning, i let him sleep.  i was bustling around the house, putting boxes in the car and getting my lunch together and starting the wake-up process for Kiddo (she’s a slow starter) and grabbing clothes for her and getting her dressed while she was still all sleepy (cause i was starting to run late, she takes her own sweet time, i needed to hurry) and hugs and kisses for WIO and breakkie for Kiddo and then putting her in the car.  this is where it happened.  we just got our driveway re-done yesterday and the stuff is still wet and messy.  she asked me to pick her up and put her in the car so she didnt get it all dirty and as im buckling her in, i realized i was all up in her face, so i smothered that face with kisses.  and the smile once she realized that i was taking the time to kiss her face up instead of rushing her, warmed me all the way to my toes.  and it was that moment when the rushing around and grabbing and dressing and doing and and and made me feel like a Mom.  yes, i live WITH this Kid about 5 days a week.  and i can parent her all day long, but TODAY i felt like a mom.  her actual Mama is amazing and i wont take anything away from that, but today i felt like part of something bigger.  and something in me has changed.  i can feel it.  and the way she hugged me when i dropped her off, i know she felt it too. 

i love that damn Stinkerbell. 

Merry Christelmas.

November Ninth

today is my honey’s TWENTY-NINTH birthday.

and i don’t want to hear any cracks about MY age, right now.  it’s about him.  my TINY BABY boyfriend.

so for my handsome irish lad, here are some thoughts:

May your mornings bring joy
and your evenings bring peace…
May your troubles grow less
as your blessings increase!

May you get all your wishes but one,
so that you will always have something to strive for!

May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live.

May you live to be 100 years, with one extra year to repent.

May God grant you many years to live, for sure he must be knowing, the earth has angels all too few and heaven is overflowing…

 

and finally:

We drink to your coffin. May it be built from the wood of a hundred year old oak tree that I shall plant tomorrow.

 

i love you baby.  Happy Birthday!

love on the rocks

i need a new iPod.  mine is 3 years old and i keep it in my car.  therefore it has gone through the rigors of texas weather for those 3 years.  now it won’t hold a charge unless plugged into the transmitter.  the button hardly works and they don’t even SELL the model i have.

the other night when i was looking into new iPods, WIO said, “i bet you could weed through the 14 gigs of music you have and make some space and then a 16 gig nano would suit you just fine”. 

i said, “NUH-UH… i listen to ALL of the songs on here!”  and then i looked at the songs that had NO play time.  yeah, i’m sure i could make some room. 

so my NEW game is this.  hit “shuffle” and then don’t touch it.  i HAVE to listen to each song that plays and cannot skip.  which seems like a fun thing to do, until you find that you downloaded “Love on the Rocks” by Neil Diamond.  welcome to the 80’s.  they called and want their crappy song back. 

i’m trying to see what stays and what goes.  i have a feeling that WIO might be right and i COULD clean it up a bit.  do i honestly need 6 versions of Oh Holy Night?  and when is the next time i will have a desire to listen to ABBA?  unless i’m trying to win the GAYEST MIX TAPE EVER contest, i don’t think i will. 

hey Steve, just go ahead and make me a 30 gig  purple nano, wouldja? 

Octo Mom

and i don’t mean that swollen lipped monstrosity of a woman who had a litter of babies.

i mean the Mom whose birthday is in OCTOber.  ya know… myveryownpersonal Mother. YAY!

this post is for the woman who gave birth to me.  the woman who went hungry so HER kids could eat.  the woman who scraped and pinched so that my brother and i could have a life not knowing that she scraped and pinched.  the woman who is loved by so many and doesn’t even know it.  the woman whose smile lights up a room.  the woman who is the reason for my obsessive nature.  the woman who painted my tights while they were on my legs to make me Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween one year and my legs were green for a week.  the woman who loves with abandon and has a heart as big as the moon.

Ama, happiest of Birthdays.  see you in 2 weeks.  i love you.

p.s. y’all should email her and wish her happy birthday too!

legacy

it takes a taste of mortality to get your mind working.  WIO and i went to a “friend’s” funeral yesterday.  i put friend in quotes because he was merely an aquaintance of mine and he was an employee of WIO’s.  but we went because we had kept up with the progress of his hospital stay after his car accident with a neat feature of the hospital’s.  they have a “blog” for the patients and we were able to see how he was doing.  the fact is that he was driving drunk and messed himself up enough for 3 people.  his body was destroyed.  he developed meningitis.  but he survived for 33 days in the hospital before he had an aneurism and died.  it was terribly sad.  but it also served a great purpose.

i am not going to stand here and say that i have never driven drunk.  but after this, i can tell you that i never will again.  and if that is the message that i needed from this, then i have received it and the point was made.

during the funeral, many people spoke of how the man lived his life with love for his family and his church and his beloved Red Sox.  and that he was a great friend.  and i believe all of those things.  but i also know that he was reckless with his life.  and that was a hard one to swallow.  the thought of anyone i love being reckless with their life is not acceptable.  the thought of me being reckless with my life is not acceptable.

when the service was over, we went to eat with a close friend of ours.  we talked about the service and about religion and about wills and what we would like OUR funerals to be like.  JB asked me if i had a will.  i dont.  she asked if i had a living will.  i dont.  she asked how people would know what i wanted.  i said, i’m pretty sure Angela, my mom and WIO can figure it out.  and i’m pretty sure i will blog about it and that’s how everyone will know what i want.  she said, i bet in this day and age that would stand up in court.

so here goes.

when i finally give into the next adventure this is what i would like.

• i want to be cremated.
• not sure where i want my ashes spread yet.  just hang onto them for now.
• nobody wears black.  i’d prefer purple.
• no snotty sobbing nonsense
• no sappy ass soundtrack that makes everyone cry.
• no sports memorabilia
• an irish wake (more importantly THIS part: After the funeral, all the friends and relations drop by the house and partake of the vast quantities of food and drink that have appeared, as if by magic, into the house. Often, the family will arrive home and find that the house has been cleaned from top to bottom and every surface of the kitchen and beyond is weighed down with the best of food and drink. This is where the “Irish wake” stereotype comes from. The people gathered remember the life of the deceased, and the taller the story the better. A stranger would think there was a real hoolie going on, and in a sense there is: it’s a way to celebrate the life departed. There may be tears, but there’s plenty of laughter as well, as all the funny stories, happy times, and triumphs of the dead are shared and recorded in the memories of the living.)
• no church service (find a nice park, or hell they have destination weddings, can you have a destination funeral?  lets go to Bora Bora!)
• 2 songs i really DO want played at the “service”.  first Into The Mystic by Van Morrison (i know you ALL saw that one coming) then at the end Your Love Keeps Liftin Me by Jackie Wilson cause i picture you fools disregarding the whole “no snotty sobbing nonsense” and then when that song comes on, you HAVE to dance.  if you dont dance when you hear that song anyway, then you have no soul.  and speaking of souls, i’m sure i’ll be hanging around to watch over all of you and hear what you have to say about me cause i’m like that… and then the part where he sings, “your love keeps liftin me… higher and higher….” then i will be able to make that journey.
• then i want you to find somewhere nice to plant a cedar tree.   and then play the song by the Indigo Girls.  it goes like this: you dug a well you dug it deep for every wife you buried you planted a cedar tree the best you ever had i stand where you stood i stand for the bad or good i am green you are wood the best he ever had i dig a well i dig it deep and for my only love i plant a cedar tree the best we ever had

so basically get drunk, wear purple, share stories, and laugh.

and y’all can divide my stuff as you see fit.  cause im the one who puts weird sentimental value on some strange things.  who knows WHO will want my vintage lava lamp or my damn-near life-sized Wicked Witch legs.

SHAMELESS

we have listed our Cubs/Pirates tix on craiglist and ebay. 

if you are in Chicago on September 30th, then go buy them. 

 

here is the sad story:

We drove 16 hours from Austin, Texas to Chicago, Illinois on August 16th. We rode the EL to the stadium and stood like awestruck fans that we were AT Wrigley. We walked inside and ordered up 2 Old Styles and tried not to look like tourists and non-locals. We found our amazing seats and went to sit down to FINALLY watch a Cubs game AT Wrigley. We sat in the rain for 3 and half hours HOPING that the boys would take the field. Despite hoping and crying into our beers and praying to the Rain Gods to let the boys play, they announced that the game had been cancelled.

Sadly we gathered up our belongings and trudged out of the stadium.

Today, you can take advantage of our sad tale of woe. We aren’t able to make the trip BACK to Chi Town to catch the make-up game. We are offering to you our tickets. Our Amazing Seats. Our Summer Trip Adventure Seats. Please make sure you have an Old Style or two for us while you enjoy the game. Section 127 Row 11 Seats 7 and 8

Paypal payments only. since we aren’t IN Chicago. We will email the tickets to you.

 

 

 

GO BUY THEM NOW.  Momma needs nail polish money. 

 

 

Waterbug

so a couple of weeks ago, i kinda had a small fender bender.  it was my first day back after the Labor Day vacation.  it was raining.  it was traffic-y.  i had gotten a text message but chose NOT to look at it and then WHAMMO!  smacked right into the back of a Ford Expedition.  my coffee went flying into my windshield and my head snapped forward and back.  i was going MAYBE 20 miles an hour.  but with the rain and the size of the ford, it was a good impact. 

we both got out and surveyed the damage.  not a scratch on the ford.  but Gita looked like this:

the lady asked if i wanted to call the police.  she looked a little terrified.  i asked if she was ok and we both looked back at the school traffic starting to pile up behind us.  she chose NOT to call the police.  (i assume either she was an illegal, or had no insurance) and she drove away.  i called WIO and told him what happened.  he told me to find somewhere to park the car since the airbag COULD conceivably still “deploy” (what a weird word).

i found somewhere to park about a mile away and got out of Gita and surveyed the damage again.  and i wanted to cry.  but i was a big brave girl.  i didn’t.  Gita was doing enough of that on her own.  evidently i had loosened a ground wire and she was making some very interesting noises.  it was like she had turned into Herbie.  so i stood in the rain and waited for WIO. 

thankfully i was still close enough to the house that it didnt take him long to get there.  he offered to drive back to the house so i hopped in the truck where a sleepy-eyed Kiddo asked, “when it’s raining do you have to drive DaDa’s truck?”   “Yes baby, i do.”  

we drove slowly back to the house and i got online with Progressive to see what the process was to file a claim.  i was pleased that i could fill out the claim online.  within 30 minutes a guy called to finish processing my claim.  i was still too shaken to form complete sentences so WIO did most of the talking.  i was told that i could pick up my rental from the concierge center and that they would come get Gita and tow her to the shop.  once they assessed the damage, they would fix her, take her BACK to the claims center and make sure it was all done right and then i would take the rental BACK and drive Gita home.  thank YOU Flo! 

that was about 2 weeks ago.  i have driven a crappy little Nissan Sentra for those weeks and HOPEFULLY i get Gita back today.  i have missed my little Waterbug.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

i be happy that thar be a day for me and me like.

here’s a fun way t’ change all o’ your Twitter posts into “Pirate Speak“

and turn your iPhone into an AYEPhone

and if ye jus` need some seafarin’ hearty words today, go HERE an’ translate from English t’ Sea dog

drink yer grog. kiss a wench. an’ buckle yer swash.

YARRRRRR….

~Yer Favorite Saucy Wench