Mom’s memorial service is Sunday

Posted on June 25, 2010 by jackieinpdx

Sunday June 27th would have been my mother’s 81st birthday. We are having her memorial service Sunday. We wanted to wait until all of her beautiful flowers were in full bloom and hopefully the weather would be nice. The weather forecast for Sunday is calling for sunny and 81 degrees.

Last Sunday three of my sisters, a niece and I got together to work on finalizing the plans for the memorial service. There is not going to be a formal ceremony. The memorial service will be open house style. We expect there may be as many as sixty people attending. We hope that some family and friends will speak about their memories of mom. Every family member contributed photos of mom and family to use in a slideshow. We have some great photos, some current and some very old that represent many memorable occasions of mom’s life. We are going to have the slide show running continuously on the TV in my mom’s bedroom. Mom’s Christmas toys and decorations will be displayed in her room since Christmas was her favorite time of year.

Some of mom’s favorite foods will be served. Mom always wanted KFC and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for her birthday parties. Maybe this time we will finally get the timing of the cake just right; not too melty or too frozen when it is served. My sister Debi and a niece will be making mom’s famous potato salad. Everybody always raved about it.

It will be a tough day to get through but it will be good to have all of the family together including some from out of state. I am sure that I will take lots of photos of the gathering.

Filed under: family, friends, Mother | Tagged: , | 4 Comments »

I’m thankful for…

Posted on November 26, 2009 by jackieinpdx

Although the last few weeks have been rough I do have a lot to be thankful for.

My mother has stage 4 cancer, lungs, colon, lymph nodes and liver. But I am thankful that she is alive and recently celebrated her 80th birthday.

My daughter Tara survived not one but two cardiac arrests 11 years apart. I am thankful that she survived both times and that the second time the doctors got to the root cause. I am thankful that I do have my wonderful daughter and the her husband living close by.

I am thankful that all of my siblings and their families are in good health.

I am thankful that I do have a job with good health benefits and a decent salary.

I am thankful that I have such wonderful friends who are there for me when I need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on.

I am thankful that I have an apartment on Isla now so I don’t have to haul everything back and forth when I visit.

Everyone take a moment today to think about the things you are thankful for. You may be surprised by how long your list is. This is just my short list.

Filed under: Daughters, family, friends | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »

A very special boy!

Posted on March 30, 2009 by jackieinpdx

My daughter’s BF Cindy has a son named Marshall. Marshall was born quite prematurely. When I first saw him when he came home from the hospital at about 5 weeks old his little head fit in the palm of my hand like a baseball. He was tiny. As an infant and through his toddler years Marshall had difficulty eating. Everything that did go in his mouth was pretty much spit back up. Marshall spent a lot of time in speech therapy which was not so much to help him speak but to get his little throat to work to swallow food. At about age three or so Marshall was diagnosed as autistic. When Marshall started school he was assigned a personal aid which to this day he still has. Marshall has many of the classic traits of a person with autism. He only eats certain foods regardless of the meal. I have had several Thanksgiving dinners at Cindy’s house and sat next to Marshall who would only eat a toaster waffle or maybe a roll. He will eat french fries and just a few other foods. Marshall has social interaction issues and if you didn’t know that he was autistic you would think he was a rude child who may have ADD.

But all of this is not what makes Marshall “special“. What makes Marshall special is the absolutely unselfish, caring, loving thing he decided to do to help another kid. Over a year ago Marshall somehow heard about Locks of Love and decided to grow his hair so he could donate it to make wigs for kids. Not something your average nine or ten year old boy would think about doing. Right?

I saw Cindy’s comment on Facebook yesterday and it made me think of what a brave thing this was for Marshall to do.  Brave I say because I am sure more than once some bully made a crack about Marshall looking like a girl. Kids can be so cruel.

Cindy said “My beautiful boy grew his hair out for Locks of Love and finally had enough. It all came off yesterday!”

In a response to a comment about the photos on FB Cindy wrote “He has a few sensory issues, so for him to even grow his hair that long is HUGE.”

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Put the hair in a ponytail and whack it off.

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Buzz the rest of the hair off. Then the next step is to mail the ponytail to Locks of Love so that a financially disadvantage kid can get a wig.

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YOU ROCK MARSHALL!

Filed under: "Good causes", friends | Tagged: , , , | 6 Comments »

A stressful Chistmas Eve but all turned out good

Posted on December 24, 2008 by jackieinpdx

I do not think that I ever had such stressful Christmas Eve in all of my life. Tara and Kelly came over about noon and Kelly shoveled a walk way in my driveway so I could get to their vehicle. We drove about 20 miles to Beavercreek  on  pretty horrendous streets. We saw several trucks and SUVs sideways on the side of the highway or street and one truck in a huge ditch. It took probably three times longer than normal to drive to Cindy and Randy’s house for their early Christmas Eve dinner. It was well worth it though because the prime rib was great not as awesome as last year but really great. The grilled bacon wrapped asparagus was absolutely fabulous.

The temperature got up to about 36 so the precipitation was pretty much rain for an hour or so. The drive home was much better until we got close to home and off of the main roads. Kelly had to put the vehicle back into 4 wheel drive. The low tonight is supposed to be below freezing so there will be a nice sheet of ice on the streets tomorrow.

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Yum O!!!!!!!!

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Tara’s French boots

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Filed under: Food, friends, Holidays, weather | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Dinner out and Melissa Etheridge concert

Posted on August 24, 2008 by jackieinpdx

Last night dinner at Kincaid’s formerly the Portland Steak and Chophouse was great. We each had something very different. I had ahi prepared with chili sauce; Erika had Seafood Louie with grilled salmon, Dungeness crab, bay shrimp, deviled egg, and Tara had the petite filet mignon. Everything was perfect including the service.

The concert was at the Schnitzer Concert Hall which is a pretty small venue. Although I purchased tickets the second they were available online we were in the 17th row off to the far right. I took my binoculars with me but we were close enough that they were not needed.
Melissa was fantastic! She has so much energy and her personality shows that she really appreciates her fans. About an hour and forty-five minutes into the show she talked about being told that she had cancer. She said that at 43 she thought she had experienced most everything in life but then she was told she had cancer. She said that rock stars don’t have time for cancer.

It’s been years since they told her about it

The darkness her body possessed

And the scars are still there in the mirror

Everyday that she gets herself dressed

Though the pain is miles and miles behind her

And the fear is now a docile beast

If you ask her why she is still running

She’ll tell you it makes her complete

[Chorus:]I run for hopeI run to feel

I run for the truth

For all that is real

I run for your mother, your sister, your wife

I run for you and me, my friend

I run for life

It’s a blur since they told me about it

How the darkness had taken its toll

And they cut into my skin and they cut into my body

But they will never get a piece of my soul

And now I’m still learning the lesson

To awake when I hear the call

And if you ask me why I am still running
I’ll tell you I run for us all

[Chorus:]I run for hope

I run to feelI run for the truth

For all that is real

I run for your mother your sister your wife

I run for you and me my friend

I run for life

And someday if they tell you about it

If the darkness knocks on your door

Remember her remember me

We will be running as we have before

Running for answers

Running for more

I run for hope

I run to feel

I run for the truth

For all that is real

I run for your mother, your sister, your wife

I run for you and me my friend

I run for hope
I run to feel

I run for the truth

For all that is real

I run for your mother your sister, your daughter, your wife

For you and me my friend

I run for life

Ohohohoh

I run for your mother your sister your wife

I run for you and me my friend
I run for life

Filed under: Food, friends, Music | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »

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