Saturday, February 28, 2009

George Robie

My mother's father was 92 when he passed away this last week. It's been a few days since the news and only now has it sunk in after seeing the memorial site my sister recently put up. http://grfmem.blogspot.com

When is was less than twelve I experienced both of my father's parents passing and my mother's mother passing. I don't really know how it affected me as a young pre-teen. I know many other people have experienced loss of fathers, mothers, brothers, and or sisters at an early age, but to that I can only hypothesize the affect or emotions.

My dad's father "Pa" as he was called was larger than life in my memory. I only knew him as a spoiled grandchild - and rightly so I guess. I never really knew much about him and still today I don't fully know much about the lives of any of my grandparents except my mother's father.

Not that I had a personal preference towards any of my grandparents. No. Not at all. I loved them all. It is the simple fact that he (George Robie or Grandad) was the only grandparent I knew as an adult. There were things I got to ask him that I never got the chance to ask the others. I guess it mostly had to do with age and stage of life, but that was my experience.

I remember when grandad used to stay in my eldest sister's room before his age had caught up with him. I came home from whatever function I was attending to a bald headed man asleep with his face buried in his Bible. I never got to the point where I talked spirituality/Christianity with my grandad and I figured he wasn't the type to open up too much on a topic like that. Besides - here was a man who had lived through the Great depression and been a paratrooper who jumped out of planes for pete's sake. I never had the courage to ask him about his time during WWII. I always wanted to, but I figured if he didn't talk about it then he didn't want to. I'm sure there were a lot of painful memories. Probably not all bad, but I didn't want to impose.

I also never got a chance to talk to him about my grandmother. I guess it kind of fell into the "WWII" category. He was a tenderhearted man as far as I could tell. I think the only two times I ever heard him speak of her name he cried. I think the main testimony to Grandad is the legacy of his grandchildren. He has so many. Not only so many, but so many who loved him so much. His room at the Pres. Village had countless pictures of his grand children and great grand children.

It feels so unreal to me. I feel like the trip Lindsay and I will be taking tomorrow could very well be back to Little Rock where we would pick him up and take him to the house so he could argue about smoking outside on the porch. Vantage was his cigarette of choice. Talk about brand loyalty. I never saw that man smoking anything else.

I think men/young guys or whatever you want to call guys like me around 26 don't like to feel or be seen in a vulnerable state. Ever since college I don't think I've really cried in sadness. I don't think my wife has ever seen my cry, but tonight I cried. I know that we are supposed to be happy that he is with Jesus and his wife again, and for that I am happy, but I will miss him.

For my Grandad: I love you.

J

Friday, February 27, 2009

25 Things

Seriously...who hasn't been tagged a dozen times for the "25 Random Things" thing? I don't even know how to write a note in Facebook, but since Kath just did hers on her blog, I figured I could finish mine on here (I actually started this awhile ago but it takes a long time to come up with 25 things about yourself).


1 - When I was about 4, my dad pulled out my sister's trundle bed on my foot and I had to get stitches. It's still the most serious injury I've ever had (I've always been the cautious type).


2 - I was a serious nose picker (we're talking to the point of bleeding people). I can remember picking my nose and hiding the boogers behind the pillows on that plaid couch we had in North Carolina so that my mom wouldn't know. Ewwww...


3 - When I was 5 or 6, I wanted to be a belly dancer for Halloween. My mom bought all the supplies to make my costume and I changed my mind because I was embarrassed to tell people I was going to be a belly dancer. So she made me a purple princess costume instead.


4 - The next year, I went as Lauren's poodle (she was a poodle skirt girl - I had originally wanted to be a poodle skirt girl, too, but she talked me out of it). My mom made me a killer costume, probably because she felt bad that Lauren had convinced me to go as her dog.


5 - I was in speech therapy because I couldn't say my Rs. My tongue still hurts if I think about it.


6 - I started taking piano lessons when I was 5. I begged my mom forever to let me quit. The recital that I literally sat at the piano and didn't know my song (and the teacher wasn't there to help get me through it) was pretty much the breaking point. She finally let me quit, but sometimes I wish she hadn't.


7 - In Kindergarten, we had nap time right before recess. I can only remember going to recess like once the whole year. I've always been a good napper.


8 - When I was in first grade, we moved back to Texas in the middle of the year. In North Carolina we had actual desks that had a little place to keep your pencils. In Texas, they just had tables, and everyone had pencil boxes...everyone but me. So I held my pencils all day...took them to lunch...took them to recess...hid them in my lap when we sat on the floor...because I was embarrassed that I didn't have a pencil box. I went home and made my mom take me to get a pencil box.


9 - In first grade I was also afraid to use the restroom at school. So I didn't. Ever. I held it all day until I got home. Had to learn to minimize liquids.


10 - I had a pet hairless rat named Templeton for several years.


11 - I'm incredibly afraid of roaches...to the point of tears. Something traumatic must have happened to me in my childhood but I've suppressed the memory.


12 - I've always been obsessed with having everything picked up and organized. I can remember in high school that my mom would come in and clean my room so that I could do my homework.


13 - For some reason in college, I learned my roommate Abby's social security number and would check her grades for her. I still know it.


14 - I've never tried to water ski and really have no desire to.


15 - My Indian Princess name was Dancing Firefly.


16 - My favorite alcoholic beverage is Bailey's Irish Cream.


17 - I get really lazy when it comes to food when Jay's not here. Tonight for dinner I had 2 hard boiled eggs, honey roasted peanuts, and french fries. I thought about going to Chik-fil-a but then realized I could find protein and fried crap without having to leave our apartment.


18 - I was finishing my first (and only) triathlon when Hudson was born.


19 - I'm terrified of breaking the rules. I don't like getting in trouble.


20 - I don't like coffee, so I drink Diet Dr. Pepper every morning instead.


21 - I didn't really like Jay when I first met him (he knows this). But I knew I was going to marry him before he knew he was going to marry me.


I quit. That's close enough.

Friday, February 20, 2009

The MOVIES!

Movies.

Man I love the movies. I love going to movies. I love the previews even.

I know I need to watch less T.V. and I also know I need to get outside and enjoy what God has made.

But, with that said. I still love going to a flick now and again. Or at least I used to.

How many times after two or three different advertisements during the previews concerning talking, cell phones, or just plain being distracting are there still people that answer the phone, talk loudly, or even talk to or about the movie (as if they think their personal commentary is wanted by the rest of the theater). Recently I had an old guy who actually fell asleep and SNORED. No lie - he was all bent over the chair and snoring! At a matinee!

I'm sure we have all had ridiculous stories of rude people in the theaters. Guys answering their phone saying "Hey man! ....... (pause) No I can talk - I'm just at the movies" - are you freaking kidding me?

Or people behind you kicking your chair - or the guy in the corner who can't get his candy open and is trying to do it slowly because he knows it's really loud. Just open the darn thing and get it over with.

So here is the latest happening:

Me and a couple of friends of mine decided to go to "The International" which is just a blah typical action film. About 35 minutes into the movie we start to see a couple of people walking around down at the bottom right of the theater. We were up in one of the top rows of this particular showing and after a few minutes of shuffling around we noticed what the commotion was all about.

There was an elderly woman probably in her early to mid 70's with a walker attempting to climb the stairs to a higher seat. She was accompanied by a friend who didn't appear to be much younger. It was dark... I couldn't see that well... give me a break... they were old. Inside my brain a few different questions began to arise:

1. Why is a 70-year-old woman going to see an action film? Not that there aren't any elderly women who don't like shoot'em'ups, but I would assume that's not an unfair assumption and so would also assume it wouldn't be a typical film an old woman would want to see voluntarily.

2. She's 40 minutes into the film and even if she's "with it upstairs" she's going to be confused. I was confused and I had been there from the beginning. So why did she pay to come so late?

3. Why would you choose to sit at the top of the theater (which is where they eventually "landed" - on our very row (2ncd from the top)) if you need a walker for level ground? By the way - we were not in the 10 row dollar theater - we were in the 1 million row AMC 30 humongous auditorium.

So after pondering this and after they initially settled - My friends and I put our attention back onto the confusing and slow movie. But, soon after they settled, we observed another problem. She was hard of hearing and being confused and probably near-sighted as well, she began to ask her companion questions about the film very loudly. Not loud like - "hey we are on the same row and people below us can't hear her it's cool" - I'm talking - the guys who work outside the theater at the concession stand could have answered her questions.... well maybe if they had seen the movie from the beginning.

So immediately one of my friends said "lets move" and we did. We could still hear her through the rest of the film. She was a funny Ol' gal - I'll give her that. She said some hilarious things. I would elaborate, but it would eventually be a "you had to be there" type of funny.

Oh yeah also - the guy who fell asleep and snored - it was during this movie too. To top that off - he did finally wake up to his phone ringing and he answered it.

I was at the 3:35 p.m. matinee showing - what else do I have to do to see a movie without the typical nonsense?

I'm sure the Old gal just loved going to movies as a young woman and maybe she wasn't near sighted but far sighted - I don't really know, but nevertheless.... WOW. And thanks old guy for paying to take a nap next to me. Wouldn't your couch at home be more comfortable and if anything else FREE?

Amazing: I am a magnet for this type of stuff. It's like all the anomalies wait outside until they see me coming and they all watch what movie I buy tickets for and then they come and sit on my row.

J

Thursday, February 12, 2009

A Note on Toilet Paper

When Jay and I first got married and moved into our apartment, I spent a lot of time in the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store trying to figure out which specific type to buy. You see, we live in an older apartment, and that little niche where you put the toilet paper in the bathroom is too small to fit all those fancy double/triple/quadruple rolls. And I realized after spending all that time in the toilet paper aisle that there is no such thing as a normal, single roll.

So we tried buying all the skinny looking rolls. This was a very bad idea. I can recall Jay apologizing for one of his purchases because it was so awful - kind of like using notebook paper.

With all our product testing, we eventually discovered Cottonelle. And I will tell you what is so amazing about Cottonelle. It's not quilted or flowery - it's striped!

Graphically, this is so much more appealing to me...much more contemporary. I kind of feel as though all that quilted flowery toilet paper is dated. Everyone wants to get rid of the 80's floral wallpaper, so why is everyone OK with ugly paper products? Paper towels with roosters on them? Paper napkins with ugly flowers or teddy bears? Why do we need quilted? Why does no one change this?

And you might say this is a bit ridiculous for such small items that you don't spend much money on. But people spend a lot of time and energy picking out accessories that are of the same size that sit a few feet away on the counter. And you can buy well-designed, trendy shirts at Target that someone put a lot of thought into for about the same price as a pack of toilet paper. Consumers have just been conditioned to not care...that quilted is somehow better for us.

So if your home decor is not conducive to cottage-y, quilted accessories, I recommend trying Cottonelle next time you buy toilet paper. I think you'll feel good about it.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Money

I came across this today and felt convicted.

"Convicted" is such an easy phrase to throw around - it's easy to feel convicted isn't it? Maybe it's time we started applying our convictions from the Lord.


WHAT MAKES A GOOD LIFE?

The percentage of Americans calling themselves happy peaked in 1957 – despite the fact that consumption has doubled since. Having more does not then mean we enjoy life more – and yet consumption is increasing everywhere except in Africa, where the average household consumes 20% less than it did 25 years ago.


IF YOUR FAMILY INCOME 
IS AT LEAST THEN YOU'RE AMONG THE TOP

$355,000 1%
130,600 5
93,800 10
60,800 25
33,400 50



Jeez