Firsts variety pack

6 parts

Look! Pumpkin pie from scratch! (this photo is from a few years ago).

6 parts!  Miss Universo, Rain run, Bin day, It’s not garbage yet, It’s getting old, Thanks for giving

First part - Miss Universo

I started writing this while watching the Huskies beat the Beavers. When that ended I was hoping to find some soccer, but no, not tonight. Tonight on Telemundo (Spanish channel, btw) we have Miss Universo. I have to say it’s far more entertaining hearing it with Spanish dubbing. It’s like a fancy language lesson.

Yeah, I’ve never watched it in Spanish before. I haven’t watched it at all in years. What a weird, cultural, global (is it really global?) event. Smile smile smile. Walk curvy. Pause. turn. smile. save the children. feed the hungry. educate the people. smile. think posture. white white teeth. walk curvy. world peace. They are pretty. I can’t deny that. Oh wait! wait wait!  They’re calling the top 20 (I think, it’s in Spanish so I’m not sure) and they called Nepal and she’s like, a full figured real looking woman. O MY GOLLY!  The world is upside down! 

All this cleavage on TV reminds me of my Grandma S.  She was a tiny Mormon woman. We’d drive up to see her and have lunch or dinner. While there we might watch Lawrence Welk (bubbles!) or, or ….  wait for it.. Solid Gold. My grandma loved Solid Gold. We’d all sit together and watch The Solid Gold Dancers gyrate and move in mysterious ways and she loved it.  I loved it too, but I think for different reasons. 

Second part - Rain run

Ahhh, refreshing.

Ran in the rain for the first time in a long time today.  First real rain in a long time for our area.  We’d gone dusty and brown. Hopefully green lush leaves will start sprouting. The air smells good.

Third part - Bin day

I live in an apartment. The back side of the building butts up against a cute little park. On the other side of the park is the bay. It’s lovely. On Thursdays when I get home I take out the recycling and trash bins for our building. They are stored on the back side of the building next to the cute little park. I walked out this week and for the first time in a while there were a bunch of deer, four, sitting under the oak.  They just looked at me each time I walked toward them. I’d greet them, ask them how they are doing, ask them how they like the weather and they just sat there chewing their cud.  Usually by the time I do 3 bins (walking back and forth to the curb) they get a little nervous and move away. Not this week, only one stood up and she just moved over to clean the ear of another deer. 5 bins I took out and they all just sat there watching.  Some help would have been appreciated. How far away were the deer? Oh, the closest one was maybe 5 yards away.

Fourth part - It’s not garbage yet

We get the whole of Thanksgiving week off this year. That means on Friday the 5th-8th graders had to clean their lockers. We don’t want any smelly grossness going on from rotten bananas when we return in 10 days. The 7th graders did their lockers right before their lunch. While they were doing their lockers I was helping with lower school lunch. They’ve not been transitioning from lunch to recess well. Noisy and messy! After I was done I walked by the 7th grade lockers and there was this fellow standing alone, tears in his eyes, hands on his head. I asked him what was wrong. He had accidentally thrown his project that’s due the next period away when he was cleaning his locker. He was beside himself.  The recycle bin was still over there. I said “come on, let’s find it” and the two of us started digging through all the papers in the recycle bin. But it wasn’t on top and it was getting messy. You end up looking at one and putting it back and then looking at the same one over and over again. So I went over and got another recycle bin and we gradually moved every piece of paper from one bin to the other. Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope…   nope.  Finally, I was standing there looking at the bottom of the bin. 3 papers were left and he exclaimed, “There it is!” I reached down to get it (he’s too short to reach), pulled it out, “this?”, “yes!” and he smooths it out with his hands. Tears still in his eyes. 

Fifth part - It’s getting old

Last week the sister of one of our school volunteer’s had a major stroke. I made sure to give her a big hug when I saw her. She lives across the country so can’t visit her. It’s hard. This morning, a running friend texted the group to let us know that his mom had suffered a major stroke yesterday and he’s flying to the Midwest to help take care of things. It sucks.

This afternoon I attended a memorial service. The first one I’ve been to this year that wasn’t for a family member. The mother of a friend at work had passed from dementia after  a few years struggling with it. I met the woman a few years ago at an ugly sweater Christmas party. She was pretty cool. Going to the memorial, even though I only went at the end and helped clean up, was hard. So many memories and thoughts of my own that are still so fresh. It helped that I got to take part in a conversation about bathroom stalls. I wasn’t aware that narrow stalls could cause dressed up ladies so much difficulty! 

Sixth part - Thanks for giving

Our school community comes together to give a lot of food to local food banks this time of year. It’s pretty cool. Before Covid, Katie and I spent a couple of our Thanksgivings volunteering at Dorothy’s Place in Salinas. Katie and I got garbage duty since we weren’t regular volunteers. Basically, there was a crew of people serving food buffet style to homeless folks. Once their tray was full, they would go to a table, eat and then bring the tray to us and we would deal with the trash and plates and silverware and trays. Dorothy’s place was a well oiled machine that served hundreds quickly. Amazing place. We would work hard for our four hour shift and the time flew by. I hope they’re still running so smoothly. 

Thanksgiving was always our favorite holiday. I like that it isn’t really commercialized. It’s still just about being thankful. I don’t like that it’s associated with taking the land from the indigenous peoples, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a feast and be thankful. Every year Katie and I would have the full assortment of comfort foods. Sometimes we’d have friends or family over. Sometimes it would be just us. Stuffing, green bean casserole, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, Brussel’s sprouts, apple or pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, pickles, olives, carrot sticks. mmm. Up until a few years ago Katie would make almost everything herself (not the pie) and kick me out of the kitchen. As she slowed down, I was allowed to help.

I have a lot of fond memories of spending Thanksgiving with my family. My mom usually invited a bunch of people over and it would be a big fun bash. Unfortunately one of the last Thanksgivings we spent with my mother was really the beginning of her health turning. That had to be at least 12 years ago. Wow. Her journey was a long one. 

One fun thing about Thanksgiving is that about every 7 years it would fall on my dad’s birthday. Double party! 

This year, I’m not so sure. It’s all memories. My dad died years ago. My mom and Katie died this year.  And last year at this time it was really when her downturn accelerated.  Yeah, it sucks. Last year I had to cook everything. I’m glad the stuffing turned out. I think she ate the whole batch herself.  

I actually have four invitations this year, but I’m not looking forward to hanging out with other families on the special day. I’ll probably pick the one that I think will be the least like what Katie and I did. I have also sent out emails to try and contact the Food Bank of Monterey and Dorothy’s Place to see if they want help. I think I’d rather do that. I’ve not heard anything back yet.  I hope it’s because they have plenty of helpers and not because they’re so busy they don’t have time to reply to email. 

And then I think a little. Katie’s aunt and uncle are still alive and she liked them. I like them. I need to visit them. My nephew and future niece are pretty cool. I should see them more. I have a new/old friend that has been most welcoming. Some other folks are reaching out to see if I’ll take their hand and welcome them into my life. Just because I am set in my ways and I am used to just coming home after work and piddling around doesn’t mean I have to maintain that pattern. 

Make new patterns. Be thankful for what we have and for what we had. Thank you.

One of many rainbows today.