A Little of This, A Little of That....

An update on baby Kylie.  After the third surgery I wrote about (to put a mechanical valve in) she had a fourth one.  The last surgery was to implant a pacemaker.  On  Friday (5/11) she was released from the hospital although they are staying nearby the hospital for another week until they can come home.  She will require many follow-up visits and since Juneau doesn’t have any baby cardiologists they will have to make a trip to Anchorage several times a month.

Kylie, leaving the hospital!

A couple weeks ago her cousin organized a fundraiser dinner of Indian Tacos and about $3500 was raised.  In addition, a bank account now has about $1500 in donations and fundraiser site (http://www.gofundme.com/ksabk) has raised $1800 and Krista still has leave donations to draw from.  Many generous people have stepped up and help support them financially and with leave donations and I am so thankful for that support, as are they I’m sure.  I can’t imagine what it is like to go through something like this but I it warms my heart to see how people gather around someone in need. 

May has been cold and wet here and my garden is suffering.  I compared a picture of one garden to how it looked two years ago and it was  pretty pathetic.  Lots of blank spots where stuff coming up has rotted and other stuff just hasn’t come in yet.  I am gathering all my yearly annuals for container baskets but it’s been too cold to go out and put them together.  I refuse to go dig in the dirt with frozen hands!

Work has been very busy lately.  I had kind of a slow winter when I thought, “this isn’t so bad after all” and then I got slammed.  Some days I can’t  even keep up on the onslaught of emails I have to answer, let alone any real work done.  I got through my first construction project though, and I’m working on a second one.  I’m soliciting for space for a new public health center in Nome and trying to reconcile the 4^th quarter billings with DGS’ numbers.  Getting ready for fiscal year end as well.  I feel like I’m making progress but my boss assures me it will be a couple years before I’m really proficient.  I think I was given this job to teach me patience, which has never been among my virtues.

Marge Matthews

Yesterday was Mrs. Matthews' birthday.  I'm not sure how old she is but somewhere in her 80's.  She was my neighbor lady growing up and still lives in the same house with her cat, Inky for a companion and still grows flowers and a few vegetables.  She is legally blind due to macular degeneration but other than that seems to be in pretty good shape.  I have so many memories of her, she was like a second mother to me growing up.  She is a devoted Christian woman, a quiet witness and a wonderful testament to faith in God.  I had her for a Sunday school teacher when I was young and I still remember her teaching us Psalms 100....

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 
Worship the Lord with gladness,
come before him with joyful songs,
Know that the Lord is God.

Okay, I confess, that's all I remember. She was a school teacher by profession but she was the librarian at the public library for many years. 

She had 3 kids that we grew up with too.  She has been a widow since 1975.  Our houses were very close as the crow flies but you had to walk down our lane and then down Comstock Road if you didn't take a shortcut.  I remember all us kids walking that walk in the dark, having a "flashlight party"....and Mr.  Matthews sneaking in the woods to scare us.  We thought that was great fun.  Mrs. Matthews was a bit of a prankster as well.  She made the greatest cream puffs and one year on April 1st she came driving up in  her little white Volvo just as we were finishing dinner to deliver cream puffs to Tom & me.  We were, of course, delighted, until we sank our teeth into their oatmeal middle and bitter chocolate tops.  My parents howled in laughter at the April Fool's joke while Tom and I are still plotting our revenge.

So Happy Birthday Mrs. Matthews, and may you have many more before God calls you home. 

The Incomparable Ed Lyness

Today I got a Christmas card from Ed Lyness.  He is an 80 something year old man who was married to my dad's cousin until her death.  They were the best of friends.  They really did have a marriage to admire and one that withstood the test of time.  I'm not sure what our consanguinity is but I am really honored to count him among my friends.  He lives a great life in Philadelphia.  This past year he started off meeting a bunch of church friends in Florida for a 20th annual reunion.  These are all folks who "snowbird" it to Florida during the winter months.  Then in April he went on a mission trip to Haiti.  His church paid for a new school and his job was install the main electrical service to the school and prepare a solar power system to light it.  This permitted them to disconnect from the unreliable and expensive Haiti Power Grid. 

When he got back he had a rotator cuff surgery and then in May he went on a annual canoe trip down the Susquehanna River.  He does electrical maintenance and construction at his church.  He attends the symphony, band concerts, stage plays and ballgames.  He plays street hockey with his 7 year old grandson and performs horn and piano duets with his son Eric (he plays piano).  He has three grandchildren and states they make his heart glad.

His own children are pretty impressive as well.  One is a country attorney in a small Iowa town.  They speak on the phone every night while she walks her dog.  His son Eric works for NASA developing software for control and data handling for an unmanned probe in 2011.  Katy is a freelance photo enhancer in NYC and takes jazz piano lessons and for fun a soil chemistry class at the NY Botanical gardens. She is also an amazing artist.  The baby of the family (Bob) lives in Washington DC and travels the world.  This last year he has been to Hawaii 3 times, Japan, England, France and NYC 17 times.  His passion is a Japanese dance form called "Butoh"  and he goes to workshops all over the world.  Ed says Bob doesn't tell him much about his job and until otherwise notified he is convinced he is a spy - but we are to keep that under our hats.

He is really an extraordinary man who has raised his children well and still lives an amazing and fulfilling life.  I find him very inspirational.  I was exhausted just reading his letter.

Happy Birthday Mollie

Yesterday was Mollie’s 53^rd birthday.  I wanted to post this last letter I wrote her – she died before she got it but the sentiment remains the same.

Dear Mollie:

Your mother told me about your situation and I just wanted to write you and tell you how damn sorry I am.  It always confounds me how and why some people draw this card in life and others, seemingly far more deserving, do not.  I am really sad that your situation looks so bleak and I would never presume to second guess when someone has had enough.

I want you to know how much I have enjoyed being your friend over the years.  From those childhood birthday parties to our many play dates to bike rides out to 11 miles in the long days of summer; those are all cherished memories.  You are one of the people in my life that I don’t ever remember not knowing.  I am so glad we reconnected via the internet in recent years and shared some laughs and our mutual love of kitties.  If I ever get that Kathy’s Animal Park I will have a hedgehog named Mollie. And every time I see that sun catcher I will remember to appreciate life, even when life kicks me in the gut.

I have no idea what to say to you here, I just want you to know you are in my thoughts and prayers and I wish you peace and the absence of suffering.  Mostly I just want you to know that your time here on earth has brightened my world.  I wish you could have fulfilled all your dreams, the dude ranch, the published material, the riches you dreamed of.  This outcome is so unfair.

In a way I almost envy you.  There are so many uncertainties in our futures; the turmoil our world is in, the natural disasters that will befall us, the threat of terrorism and the ailments and decline of old age.  It would be nice to avoid all that along with the certain heartaches we all have to look forward to, broken relationships, death of loved ones, and all manners of situations we can neither predict or avoid.  Many times in recent years I’ve thought of Cheri Pardee and wondered in the cosmic scheme of things if she wasn’t actually the lucky one and not the less fortunate one.

I don’t want this to be all maudlin; I simply want you to know how much I have enjoyed our friendship, how much I wish none of this were happening and how much I’ll be thinking of you in the coming months. I want to celebrate your life, to honor your contribution to my life and the lives of others.  SO, until we meet again my friend, peace and good wishes.

Oh, and if in the future you see my Gretchen & Hillary, give them loves from me! Tell Rissy to quit hissing at them!!

Love Always,

Your friend Kathy