Feeding the Fish

   

Feeding the fish

with Owen and Sarah.

June 4, 2006

We are grateful for the time we had with her.

We miss her every day.

Lucky Us

 

October 2000

     Ten years ago this month my friend Angie and I were traveling from Nashville to Memphis on a business trip when we were run off the interstate by a semi. Angie's car rolled several times before landing right side up in the median.  The guy driving the truck didn't stop.  Several other people stopped though and one gentleman in particular stood by the side of the car and helped me remain calm until the paramedics arrived.  Angie had gotten out of the car and I can remember looking over and seeing her sitting on the grass and listening as she called 911.  In a story that has become funnier with time, she told the 911 operator that we had been in an accident and that they needed to send someone because her friend who was with her (me) was 14 MONTHS pregnant.  I leaned over as far as I could and said to her "Hey - I'm not an elephant . I'm only 14 weeks pregnant."  Good times. The two of us got to ride together in an ambulance to a "hospital" in Lexington, TN where the staff seemed more concerned with ordering pizza than assessing our situation.  Amazingly - miraculously even - we weren't injured much.  We were bruised and sore with a few minor cuts and scrapes (and I lost a patch of hair off the top of my head where it hit the ceiling of the car) but compared to what could have happened we were fine (even Owen, who was only 14 weeks at the time*).  I can remember calling Joel to tell him about the accident and hearing the panic in his voice and I can remember seeing the relief on his face when he finally got to the hospital to take us home.

 



April 2010

Fast forward to April 2010. My parents were driving from Knoxville to Nashville on Good Friday when they were run over by a semi truck. Their car ended up in the truck's wheel well. Both of them survived the crash with only minimal injuries.  Their car was a total loss but my parents were fine-ish.  Things could have been much much worse.  Looking at the photos of the car it is a miracle that neither one of them was killed. According to the State Trooper who investigated the accident, the truck driver was 100% at fault.  Yeah, I hate big trucks. Hate them. 







October 2010

     This bring us to last Monday. The kids and I were in Orange Beach, AL when Joel called to tell me that he'd been in an accident and he was pretty sure the car was totaled.  I kept asking him if he was alright and he kept telling me he was but I didn't believe him.  He finally asked if I wanted to talk to the State Trooper who was with him and I said no.  He is mostly alright but after seeing the photos of the car I find it amazing that he walked away with no significant injuries.  It was not a minor accident.  So, it's been an emotional week here at Casa de Vallejo, one filled with Sliding Doors moments and bad dreams and gratitude.  It's been exhausting but I am well aware that things could have turned out so much worse.  Once again, all we have lost is a car. Lucky us. Lucky lucky lucky us.



*Owen's nickname for the duration of my pregnancy was Crash and I think it's more than just a little bit ironic that he is one of the most cautious children I have ever known. 

Just What the Man Wanted

My grandfather, LJ Hurst,

and his 1967 Red GMC 351-V6 Pick-Up Truck.

Purchased for $3095.00 on December 13th, 1966

  This truck had a cushion in the middle that folded down (I'm assuming for an armrest but it made a nifty seat) and that's where I sat when Gran and I went places together.  I'm not even sure this truck had seatbelts although it probably had lap belts that we just never used. It was a different world way back when in the 1970s.  We also used to ride in the back of this truck which was all kinds of fun. Can you imagine letting kids ride down the highway in the back of a pick-up truck - someone would call 911 if they saw that today.

Girly Girls Day

Charleston, South Carolina
2008

     This is the photo that my sister-in-law, Stacey, took moments after Sarah had her ears pierced. I was hiding behind a large rack of earrings because oh good grief  they were putting HOLES in my baby's ears! It was July 4th, 2008 and we were in Charleston celebrating with the [then] South Carolina Vallejos. We took Sarah to get her ears pierced at Claire's and then we went to a sweet little store called Girly Girls where Luz bought Sarah several dresses and pairs of shoes and a purse. Then we went back to Aunt Stacey's and had chocolate chip cookie cake. It was a perfect girls day - at least that's what I wanted Sarah to remember. Luz passed away on October 25th, 2008. Only time will tell what Sarah will remember about her Lola, but when she asks about her I can tell her about their day in Charleston and I can show her the pictures of Lola smiling and so happy to be spending the day with her grandaughter. I wish that Sarah and Luz could have had many girly girls days, but I am forever grateful that they shared this one.

As The World Turns No More



"As The World Turns" ended its long television run on Friday, September 17th.  Once upon a time I knew every plot twist and turn of that show, following Lily and Holden and Dusty through their various stages of falling in and out of love in Oakdale. I became a fan of ATWT because my mom watched it and she watched it because CBS was the only station that came in clearly when she was home with me when I was a baby.  We lived in the "the basement", a basement that was supposed to be the foundation for the house my parents would someday build on top - but only the basement was ever finished and when I was 18 months old we moved to the yellow house on Hallsdale Road where I grew up.  We could watch all three network stations in our Hallsdale house, but the CBS soaps -"The Young and the Restless,"  "As The World Turns" and "Guiding Light" - continued to be part of the background of many summer days and snow days. My grandmother wasn't much for soap operas but she told me many times as I sat in her den watching "Guiding Light" that her mother had listened to that show on the radio and she would comment that the same characters were still on the show.  I hadn't watched "As The World Turns" or "Guiding Light" in a very long time and when I was home with my own babies reruns of "The Golden Girls" and "Law and Order" were the background noise of our days. Still, I'm sad to hear that it's been cancelled - I liked knowing that the world was still turning out there somewhere, even if I wasn't watching it.     

Love Endures

Norma and John Maguire

on the occassion of their wedding

Cathedral of Christ the King

Atlanta, Georgia

September 4th, 1965

       When my mom and dad decided to get married, there were a few things that my mother had to agree to. Because my father was Catholic (and she wasn't at the time) she had to agree to be married in the Catholic Church during a Catholic Mass and she had to agree to raise any children that the two of them might have as Catholic. All of that was fine with her, but there was one part of the wedding ceremony that my mother would not agree to, she would not agree to say the word "obey" in her wedding vows - well, unless my father said it too. I'm pretty sure that they both said they would "love, honor and cherish" each other and that they would stay together for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health - but "obey" wasn't going to be part of the bargain. My mother wasn't about to start out a lifetime committment with the word "obey" as part of the deal.

   My parents didn't have a big wedding, I think there were less than 25 people in attendance and when the ceremony was over the two of them stopped at a hamburger stand to kill some time so that my mom's sisters could get back to the apartment to set up the reception.   They took a honeymoon trip to New York where they met Muhammid Ali walking down the street and even had their picture made with him only to have their car broken into and their camera stolen a few days later.
  
     My parents have had their share of ups and downs in their 45 years of marriage. There were several points along the way where one or both of them could have thrown in the towel and walked away - but they didn't. The two of them continued to stubbornly hang in there. One of my favorite passages from the Bible is the verse from Corinthians that says that love is patient and kind and that love bears all things, and believes all things, and hopes all things, and that love endures all things. Forty-five years of marriage really puts all of that to the test, but this weekend I am celebrating the fact that despite the obstacles they faced along the way, my parents have remained committed to each for the long haul.  Love truly endures all things.

Kmart Smart

    

Clockwise from the top,
Aunt Marie with her nieces
 Norma Jean, Brenda and Cathy.

     Kmart has a back-to-school commercial out right now that features a group of middle school kids running around and dancing to "We've Got the Beat."  It's been a long time since Kmart was on my shopping radar but someone in their marketing department knows what they're doing because every time my daughter sees this commercial she asks if we can go to Kmart - because it's so cool.  I'm fairly certain that Sarah has never been inside a Kmart, mainly because I have no idea where a Kmart is here in Nashville, but after seeing this commercial over and over again she really wants to go.  I've told her that when I was her age we shopped at Kmart all the time because Target hadn't been invented yet. "Lucky!" she yelled at me. Now she thinks I'm depriving her of some great shopping experience because she's never been to Kmart.  Things only got worse for me after I told her about my Aunt Marie.
 
     Aunt Marie was my grandmother's older sister (you're welcome, Grandma)  and she was a woman who lived life on her own terms. She had a long memory for grievances, cooked badly but proudly and had her husband sneak ham sandwiches into the Cardiac Care Unit at the hospital because her restricted diet was too bland. Aunt Marie also loved the Kmart Blue Light Specials - a lot. When I explained to Sarah just what a Kmart Blue Light Special involved (an announcement over the store intercom, a flashing blue light, a mad rush to get whatever was on sale whether you needed it or not) she became even more convinced that she had to get to a Kmart. And silly me, I realized too late that I'd introduced my daughter to the idea of competative shopping - something that even at the tender age of six really appeals to her.  So, on our next road trip while I'm in the front seat scouting the horizen for IKEA signs, I'm guessing Sarah will be in the back seat keeping her eyes peeled for a Kmart, and when we find one I can tell her about her Aunt Marie all over again.