Stories...

So many memories...the lunch box...the HUGE Joey button...the sleeping bag.  I thought that I was such a fan.

May I recommend going to the beach, even if its just for a couple of days.  I just got back from retreating to the beach for three days or so.  It was relaxing and good to spend time with my family, as well as TL's fam.  I am not sure when I will get back to the beach, but hopefully it will be soon.  Since I realized that I have some flexibility with my day off and vacation days, maybe we can go on some more trips. 

I read an article this morning about a local, all women's roller derby team.  I find the fact that our little city has a roller derby team quite fascinating.  I guess that I really find the entire concept of roller derby fascinating.  I don't understand it, is it a sport or just odd entertainment?  Rolling around on skates trying to just about tackle another girl does not appeal to me, especially after falling on turf at the Relay for Life event - falling on wood is not appealing, no matter how many elbow, knee, neck, or whatever pads I am wearing.  Maybe it is just something fun for women to do to make them feel athletic, sporty, and competitive.  Is interesting.

On another note, I find myself really enjoy Google Reader.  It is super efficient because it picks up new articles or pages for me to read without making me go to each page.  It also helps keep from having to remember so many web addresses or filling up my bookmarks with pages that I visit nearly everyday.  Plus, I tend to get a kick out trying to subscribe to page just to see if it has a feed!  It is so much fun!  With Google Reader, I have learned how to fix my squeaky shower curtain, where to buy organic or natural building materials, 25 different ways to use frozen spinach, and how to work from home.  Its amazing!

Check out the way Crossroads' Relay Team tackles this team relay.  Too bad we didn't win this one, but it did help us to win the overall team spirit award.

this is an interesting way of letting everyone know that you were wronged by a local business.  kind of random.

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i read an article about how to fix a metal shower curtain rod that would squeak or drag when pulling the curtain closed.  it recommended that one use crumpled wax paper to rid the metal rod of the metal dust. it said to crumple up the paper and vigorously rub the rod until most or all of the metal dust is gone.  i decided to try this technique because my shower rod is terrible!  the rod squeaks and the rings just drag - it takes like 5 minutes just to close the curtain.  so i tried, i was kind of skeptical about how well it work, but it impressed me.  i still probably should buy some roller rings because the ones i have might be a bit too small, but the squeakiness has gone away.  i highly recommend the wax paper technique if you have an ornery metal bar.

my family went to visit my grandfather's brother recently.  now, my grandfather has three brothers and three half siblings.  i believe that the brother that my family visited with is my grandfather's only living sibling and grandpa has not seen him in roughly ten years.  my great uncle is 86, has two children and a deceased wife.  when my family got home, my sister told me about how my great uncle got his purple heart.

first of all, my sis tells me that apparently most of my grandfather's siblings are war heroes in one way or another.  she said that all weekend she and my dad had been noticing that my great uncle had a purple heart license plate and became very intrigued by how he might have gotten his purple heart.  my dad and sis couldn't remember if the purple heart was given on account of a soldier becoming hurt or because they saved others from becoming hurt, so they were creating several different grand stories about how our uncle could have obtained a purple heart.  finally on their last night visiting and while eating at luby's cafeteria, they found out the story behind our uncle's purple heart.

our uncle explained that one day, during the war, he and his men were in a trench.  he said that they had been there a while and were getting very bored, so they decided to light some cigarettes to help pass the time.  it turns out that the light from the cigarettes alerted the enemy of my uncle's location and began to attack my uncle and his men.  my uncle immediately began to encourage the men to more their location in order to elude their enemies.  he said that he got up and began to run.  the process of doing, he got his gun tangled around him, tripped on the strap of the gun, and fell to the ground.  as he hit the ground, his gun went off and he shot himself in the hand.  my sister said that only someone from her family could be awarded the purple heart for falling and hurting themselves.

my sis went on to tell me about my uncle's ceremony to receive his purple heart.  my uncle said that when he got home his CO told him that he needed to attend a ceremony on this particular day and this time.  he said that at that time there was concert going on that he really wanted to go to, so he choose to go to the concert.  the next time he saw his CO, my uncle asked him about this ceremony that he was supposed to and what it was all about.  the CO then reached into his desk drawer and plopped out the purple heart saying, you got a purple heart, here you go.  my uncle said, that was his purple heart ceremony.

alright, i have kept you all waiting long enough.  i guess that i should end my teasing and tell you about what i was eluding to in my previous post.

a couple of weeks back my boss, mother, and i attended the funeral of one of my employees.  she was in the 60s and had developed lung cancer in the fall that quickly spread throughout her body.  the visitation and funeral were on the same day, just about an hour apart.  several other staff members went to the visitation and came back to work talking about how few people were there and that hardly any of the family were present.  that information kind of made us uncertain about what to expect at this funeral, but we headed out (without directions, of course) to pay our respects to ms. janet. 

on our way, we got lost.  all the information that we knew for sure was that the church's name was something something holy rosary something, it was located in the ghetto, and we had did have the street name.  eventually we called back to work and got the right directions and after we turned around we, of course, ended up getting stuck by a very long train that thought it would be fun to just stop and hang out.  20 minutes later, we arrived at the something, something, holy rosary something church.

to our surprise, there was a huge line of people standing outside of the small church.  we pulled around and parked half a block and across the street from the church.  as we walked up to the church we realized that they were not letting anyone in, so we just hung out in the warm sunshine.  next to us was a stretch hummer.  yep, that's right.  a stretch hummer at a funeral for the family.  as it turned 12pm the funeral staff began to let everyone in.  the staff began to hand the attenders programs and a key with ms.janet's picture on it. we walked into the small foyer and tried to look into the sanctuary, but there was no room in the sanctuary and very little room in the foyer.  we signed to book and just waited for the service to begin. 

the service was fairly typical.  there was an old spiritual song sung, a prayer, and then another spiritual song that developed into congregational singing.  the parish priest got up and began to speak.   during the first song, people became fairly emotional and about six of the young family members got up from the front and went outside to calm their weeping.  as they were walking past me, i noticed that one of them had their bluetooth headset on and in her ear.  yep, a bluetooth headset on and in her ear at her aunt or mother's funeral.  wow.

now, i do not know what normal catholic funeral services consist of, however, this seemed to an odd service sermon.  the priest began by talking vaguely about ms. janet (we gathered that he didn't really know her) and about how she loved children, left a large family, and will be missed.  he proceeded to talk about how none of us could ever know where she went when she died.  he explained that none of us could ever know for certain where we would go when we died.  all that we could hope for was that if we were good, believed in God, and tried to help people that when we die we would go to at least purgatory, if not heaven, and not be condemned to hell.  he said that we did not know what ms. janet believed, except that she did believe in God.  he continued to talk about what a gift life is and that we can reflect on ms. janet by realizing how wonderful life is.  the priest continued by telling the congregation that just the past friday his brother (also a priest) was walking back to his church with a friend when a group of three of four young men approached his brother and pulled out a gun to attack him.  now, this group did not see the friend because he had gone ahead of the priests brother.  when the friend looked back, he screamed at the boys and they scattered.  the priest used this story to emphasize the gift that lift is to each of us.  now, we are at a funeral.  someone is dead in her caset at the foot of his podium and he is speaking about how great life is.  ironic?  rude? insensitive? 

the priest continued and  somehow he was able to touch on how the Bible speaks against abortion, gay marriage, and the importance of acts of service.  i am still trying to figure out how anit-abortion and gay marriage fits into a funeral service. i can only hope that his sermon lead somehow to the family finding some peace because i left kind of depressed.  i feel like his sermon can be summed up by the following: i have no way of knowing where i am going when i die, i can only hope to go to purgatory when i die, life is a gift as long as you don't die, abortion is wrong, and gay marriage should be protested at all costs. 

the last speaker was one of ms. janet's sister.  she was very well spoken and her speech was written incredibly coherently.  she offered encouragement and hope, supported by Bible verses.  one interesting thing that did was encouraged everyone in the congregation to talk with their familes about what they want regarding end of life care and for their funeral.  she supported everyone writing down their wished in the form of an advanced directive and telling their families where they can find that information, if needed. 

the priest closed with a prayer and we cleared the foyer so that the rest of congregation could leave.  that service was very interesting.  i am not sure what the norm is for funerals, i have only actually been to two and one of them i was too young to remember. 

hope that you enjoyed my detailed pbp.

just not right now.  Due to an overwhelming amount of peer pressure from those who shall remain nameless (theBM), I am planning on adding some thoughts/questions to this "blog" that has not been posted to for about a year.  I just do not have the time to right this second.  In order to remind myself of what I am going to post about, I have decided to jot down a few topics to spur my memory.  This will also serve as something for you, my fans and comitted readers, to look forward to - this will be a tease, of sorts.  Until next time, think about the following...

catholic funeral
abortion
gay marriage
where to go when i die?
purgatory
reminder of gift of life at a funeral
stretch hummer
key chain
advance directive

should be interesting, huh?