Rock Out

When I found out Betty and her husband were going to make me a "Grammy" I immediately wanted to go shopping for baby clothes. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to find out the gender of erstwhile named "Nigel" until he/she was born. Well, that puts a cramp in one's style for buying baby things . . . they are all very gender specific with either football, baseball themes or pink, very pink feminine ruffles.

So, I had to tame my urge with the thought, that OK, I will concentrate on buying one big thing. What one big thing could I get that they would need, and I say need, because the parents involved here are very practical. No frivolous purchases please. Well, then it had to be a rocking chair.

When dealing with infants, if memory serves me correct, when trying to calm them some type of rocking is necessary. Having a chair makes the process so much easier! It's also great for nursing. I expect it will be a stress reliever for anyone involved.

So my quest began. I really would have liked to purchase an antique rocker, but after looking a while without much success I settled on a newly made oak hand-rubbed rocker made by inmates at the Fort Leavenworth DB (disciplinary barracks). Not only are they beautifully crafted used dowels (instead of staples) they come close to the design that Dad of baby-yet-to-be-named favored; the Cracker Barrel wooden rocker. So, hopefully I scored some points there.

Now that the gift is purchased, I await that very special call! My bag is packed, I will load up the rocker and I can be at their home in 4 1/2 hours. Get ready to rock out!

TV Law and Order: NOT

Last night Ward and I were flipping channels and this show caught our eye. We are not regular followers, we rarely watch any current TV shows, but the idea of a pregnant teen's boyfriend going on trial for killing the unborn baby of his girlfriend by beating it death in the womb caught our attention. As we watched there were subtleties about the case that we couldn't figure out. It became curiouser and curiouser, until BAM it hit us right between the eyes.

The show is Law and Order: Special Vicitms Unit and it was the episode titled Rockabye. Here is TV.com's summary:

After sixteen-year-old Lauren Westley loses her unborn child due to a severe abdominal beating, her father's insistance that Lauren was raped leads detectives to the baby's father, but it isn't long before the detectives realise that Lauren was an active party in her own beating, and the two teens had found it necessary to take the steps they did because the abortion clinic kept putting off Lauren's request for an appointment. Novak faces a tough opponent in her own office when she and Branch disagree over the appropriate action to be taken against Wayne Mortens, the young girl's boyfriend.

Isn't that interesting wording, that the two teens found it "necessary to take the steps they did"? No, they couldn't just have the baby and give it up for adoption, that thought never occurred to them. But I digress, the plot line follows the story as to the plight of their dire situation, that after having tried for two whole weeks to get an abortion. You see the doctor at the abortion clinic said she had a fever at 22 weeks and she shouldn't have the procedure done due to risk of infection. But she called the clinic everyday (gosh sometimes three times a day) for two weeks and then because she was past 24 weeks they NO CHOICE but to take matters into their own hands, gee these poor kids were forced to brutalize the fetus. Oh the inhumanity of it . . . as their case is told in court about how the cruel doctor kept them at bay, the judge realizes in a light bulb moment that here we have a very simple case of medical malpractice! This doctor obviously was subverting abortions!! It was the doctor's fault that they had to kill their baby, oh wait, we're only allowed to call it a "fetus" in court . . . but it was the doctor's fault that they had to terminate the pregnancy in the only way their feeble little teen minds could come up with . . . they pummeled it to death. Having aroused the sympathy of the entire court room, the judge says, let's let these poor kids go. Please see to it that the doctor is arrested on grounds of criminal malpractice (or some such charge).

So the twisted logic of the court seems to say, because the doctor didn't kill the baby, if was his fault the baby was killed!

Now I realize that I am getting all worked up about some idiot television show, except that I am told that these shows are based on real cases. And if that is true . . . God help us all!

Meet Me In St. Louis

Spring break is always a challenge. Stay home and be bored or venture out and try to do a road trip with the family. This year I got to do a bit of both. The guys (Ward and the Beav) headed off for a four day weekend of college wrestling magic with the finals in Omaha. It is a dream come true for Ward, who wrestled in high school. The Beav is just going along for the male bonding!

I, on the other hand, did a singular road trip of my own to do some serious female bonding. I spent the first half of the week in St. Louis, visiting a getting-to-be-very-pregnant Betty. She and the expectant father-to-be are amazingly informed and calmly ready. They are attending Bradley classes, watching birthing videos, reading and carefully monitoring protein intake. If they were any more prepared they would be having twins!

We went into St. Louis for some shopping and a short trip to the Art Museum. I was scolded by the concierge for loitering too close to a painting, and all I was doing was pointing out some wonderful detail . . . I remarked later how horrible to have a job whose sole purpose is to be negative . . . "You're too close! Step away from the painting! Don't touch the artwork!"
After the museum we went to have lunch at a little Tea Shop in the city. A turkey panini, keemun tea and lemon blueberry cake and oh, I didn't have to eat the whole thing! We split it just the way we used to when having lunches out at Starbucks. I love having a daughter!

I finally got to see the inside of a Trader Joe's and buy some "two-buck chuck". It should really be called "three-buck chuck" now, and really it is an awesome price for fairly decent wine.

We did some other shopping at Whole Foods, whose nickname is "Whole Paycheck" and I can see why, but really what a wonderful store . . . everything a "crunchy-granola-organic-mother-earth hippy" could possibly want.

The best part of the whole trip was seeing my daughter and her husband getting ready for my grand baby! They are waiting to know the sex until birth, which is wonderful but makes it very hard to buy cute little baby outfits. There are no unisex outfits and it has been hard to wait, but we did get to one little shop where I got to purchase the cutest little diapers and covers. It helped the craving to buy all things baby . . . but only a little!

Transformations

Things are changing. Things cannot remain the same, though we wish it we cannot make time stand still.The next year will be a time of great transformation.

I will go from being a mom to also being a grandmother. That is a change I look forward to. As is the change of having a daughter-in-law. Expanding family is a wondrous and wonderful thing!

Then there is the transformation of the baby of the family, Beav, into a young adult. I know that this has been a gradual thing, and the chrysalis has been dropping away for quite some time now, but there are definitive moments when you feel it is done, a finished thing. That happened today when we had one of those chance conversations while riding in the car together. This young man talked about taking classes next year as a senior that would enable him to get college credits. And he added, "That would be a good thing, don't you think?" Huh?! Is this the same child that was arguing with me six months ago about . . . well, about everything?! These moments can catch you off guard, but, because this is my third child I actually recognize milestones when I see them and savor them.

A more traumatic transformation looms a few months down the road. We will be leaving the military lifestyle as Ward puts in his retirement papers and heads off to the civilian world. This is a huge change. For over twenty-six years we have lived and loved this way of life. As challenging as it has been, it has also been a source of pride that Ward has been allowed to serve this wonderful nation as a leader of its young men in uniform. He was good at it, and I like to think I was good at supporting him in doing his job well.

However, we won't look back with any regrets. We look forward to finding out what God has planned for us next. Stay tuned for how he helps us become first time home owners and transition out into "the real world."

Dinner with Robert Gates, Kansan of the Year

Ward and I were in Topeka last night to celebrate the 149th birthday of Kansas at the annual Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas banquet. No, we are not natives of Kansas, but lucky guests invited by a military foundation. After arriving and running a political gauntlet (some type of Republican convention was taking place in the great hall next to our dinner) we also saw in attendance four of the state's six members of Congress, Gov. Mark Parkinson and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. But, this was not an occasion for political hobnobbing. This was an evening to recognize and honor U.S. Defense Secretary Roberts Gates as he accepted the Kansan of the Year award.

Mr. Gates, who is originally from Wichita, spoke of growing up in Kansas, "My youth in Kansas was rich with good and modest people. Surrounded by such people, character and integrity, Kansas values, and Kansas common sense became the bedrock of my life."

And what a life! After serving in the CIA for some 27 years, he went on to Texas A&M University as its president, and from that post he was named secretary of defense. He has served under eight presidents.

Yet, he stood before us last evening as a humble man of sincere character reflecting on lessons he had learned from growing up in Kansas. He spoke in particular of his high school track coach Bob Timmons' life lessons in leadership, integrity, discipline, motivating people and treating all of them respectfully. And because Mr. Timmons was in the room last night, seated at the same table as Mr. Gates' own 96-year-old mother, he got to give a very personal, "Coach, thanks."

Mr. Gates said, "I will always consider myself first and foremost a kid from Kansas who got lucky." He made us also feel lucky to be in the same room on this very special occasion. And when you work inside the beltway in Washington D.C. I would say that is nothing short of a miracle. Good work Kansas!

Do You Remember Your First Car?

Of course you do! But I am so much older that when my son asked me about it I really had to think. I mean the first car I drove was my Mom's blue Nova, which was a piece of, well, you know! And my brother would also let me borrow his very unreliable blue Ford Pinto hatchback. Seriously, when it wouldn't start we would pop the hood and hit some part of the engine with what ever was handy, and for me it was usually a book. That would dislodge or re-engage whatever part that needed lodging or re-engaging and then the car would start. This was 1973 and I know that my Dad had a truck (that I was not allowed to drive EVER) because one of the cars I was driving was a standard on-the-column and it would always slip ot of gear on my way to work, and this always on a hill! So my Dad said he would follow me to help . . . and you guess it, it slipped out of gear and rolled right back into my Dad's truck. Hey, I TOLD him it would do that! But I guess he thought I would know to brake.

Anyway, after working many hard nights as a waitress at Ramada Inn (my first job) I saved enough to get my own car. This was the era of Datsun and Honda and Toyota and those cute little cars, which of course many of my friends drove. But this is what my $400 could get for me at that time:

It was a light blue 1965 Bonneville. Good grief it was a block long and none of my friends would ride anywhere with me. But it was reliable and got me back and forth to school and work.

New Year, New Food

We began our New Year with lots of family in and celebrating our favorite thing to do: Eat! For our first dinner I made Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon. A day long process, but very worth it! Savory chunks of tender beef in a butter laced au jus with carrots, mushrooms and pearl onions are ladled over crusty bread. Sigh. Make that a "French sigh!"

New Year's Day was perfect for a foodie as well. We began the day with Belgian waffles, made from scratch by the men of the house. Topped with cherries and whipped cream. Whoah! Did they taste especially good because I didn't have to make them? I did try to sneak in and give advice, but was finally booted out! Hey, I was just trying to show them what "soft peaks" are!!

We put a brisket on for the New Year's Day meal. Non-traditional, I know, but great to feed a crowd that maybe wouldn't have like my German sauerkraut, meatballs and mashed potatotes meal. And to tell you the truth, I liked the brisket better too! I had planned to serve some sauteed green beans, assorted rolls, and baked macaroni and cheese with the brisket. My plans went a little awry due to tobogganing! And my niece brought too really delicious sides; a corn casserole and a pineapple casserole. That together with my yellow baked macaroni and cheese made for a very uniform palette on the dinner plate as I somehow didn't get those green beans cooked! Oh well, it was all delicious! Dessert was Ghirardelli double chocolate brownies topped with vanilla ice cream.


The final morning I made an old family favorite, though to tell you the truth we usually made them for a light dinner or dessert. But I had the ingredients and I knew it was my last chance to make what I grew up calling German Pancakes, but are simply crepes filled with sweetened whipped cream cheese and topped with cinnamon sugar. Oy! Very good, with lots of hot tea or coffee.