The Boss...

I didn't have many bosses in my life. Last 4 were ministers mind you. Still none of them ever managed to stack up. I was a stay-at-home mom most of my life, and wouldn't change that for anything. Loved being there when the kids got home from school and needed their 4-course-meal-snack-2-hours before supper. The only time I regretted my choice was when I signed up for Social Security. I had earned so little they wanted me to pay them. A tale for another day. This is my story about the best boss I ever had. Mark, the owner of McDonald's in North Muskegon.

Mental-pause-oh...

 

Glanced at the calendar and see I'm celebrating an anniversary of sorts. It's been about 15 years. Hard to tell exactly. The start up date sneaks up on you when you're not paying attention. Too busy with marriage, kids and work. My early-to-mid-40's. Josh and I at his High school graduation, 1993. Where and when it began, ugh.

The Bonus...

 

 

Dad worked for the Iowa State Hi-way Commission over 30 years. He never said he loved the job, but rarely complained about the work. Co-workers at times, but not much about the work. Summers were tough. Hot, humid, pavement blow-ups, but it was the shoulder and ditch mowing duties that got to him. He had acquired several allergies over the years. He would start a sneezing frenzy at the crack-of-dawn. As a kid sound asleep in the bedroom across the hall, I can remember hearing and counting sometimes 30+ sneezes in a row. It was enough to disturb even a teenager sleeping, ugh. Maybe that's why I'm always up at 5. Don't think he ever went to the doctor for allergy tests or relief. He just sneezed his way through a million blue and red work hankies from April to November.

 

Retirement gift from Iowa State Highway Comm, 1981...

Quizzes & Questions...

 

I've got several FB friends who post stuff from different sites. Something I don't normally do. I'm inept, plus I get enough from them cause they know what they're doing. I'm more likely to write about my kid's and grandkid's accomplishments, or take goofy pictures of food, family, tankers or trees. I really like my friends posts though, (Anne, Cindy, Janice and Ari, you know who you are) especially the ones with "mandatory" quizzes that pertain to some of life's deepest and most provocative questions. Here are a few examples:

Decade of Dangers...

Just read a piece on being a kid during the 1970's. According to this hilarious article, they should all be dead now. Major concerns from a lack of government safety regulations, (you mean there was a time when big government didn't control every facet of our lives, really?) plus blaming lackadaisical parents on everything from smoking in the car, (guilty) Lawn Jarts that maimed, (guilty) no seat belts or car seats (guilty) no sun screen. Yada, yada, yada. You know where I'm going with this, right? Well I managed to check off having or doing all 8 accident prone, injury inducing, lacking good parental judgement things, plus a hundred more.

On the farm in 1976, Shannon 6, Josh 1...

Quite Offensive...

There's a certain almost palpable demeanor in some people. Dad didn't have much of a formal education, yet he carried a very quiet confidence. He knew much of the bible frontwards and backwards. Very well versed in the New Testament. Wasn't very fond of those odd-duck-prophets from the Old Testament. So he didn't spend a lot of time studying it. Many of his views were based on his deep faith that he was indeed a child of God, and heaven-bound when his life on earth was done. This can be amazing, inspiring, and kind of ethereal to be around. It just sort of exuded out of him. On the other hand, being in Dad's little realm could be tough to take. Dad's faith and beliefs were so strong, there was NO WAY he could be swayed that his way wasn't the right and only way. He always believed that his sins were forgiven. This is what the bible teaches. To Dad, this meant even if he said or did something offensive, it didn't matter because, ALL HIS SINS WERE ALL FORGIVEN.

Dad in the late 1980's...

Oh Fudge...

 

For the last several years of Mom's life, my trips to Rock Valley were much more frequent. I flew about every 3 months, staying with them about a week at a time. When Mom got non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, she immediately went to the hospital in Sioux Falls to start chemotherapy. The cancer in her chest was fast growing and she was having trouble breathing. But it also responds quickly to treatment. After the initial scary first treatment, she was already breathing better. She was scheduled for quite a few treatments, but after 5, she suffered a stroke. There was definite weakness on one side. That was enough chemo for awhile, the cancer was being held at bay, so Mom went home. That propelled Dad into caregiver service, a job he was neither trained for or ever wanted.