This husband and I…

Drove the streets of the little town where he was born, after visiting the cemetery…

Saw the historic school house…hit up the thrift shop…walked through a different cemetery, just in case we’d been searching the wrong one…

Read the interesting school house information…was relieved to know an old gal wasn’t crazy in regards to the popularity of the iron-on transfer…and was encouraged wholeheartedly to continue to beat to her own drum…

But found no more information on that beautiful, young mother of his…

Pondered that at lunch…eating at the same place each year…recognizing the cashier and the waitress from times before…had located that cousin on his dad’s side but nothing for mom…

Knew she had a sister, who had a daughter with the same name…did an internet search of the name while munching away on chips and salsa and what to my wondering eyes should I see?…

A profile…a social media profile of a familiar face…a familiar face we’d just seen at that very restaurant, standing at the cash register when we walked in…

Who just so happened to have left after her shift ended at 2…

And so it is…in life…some things will just have to wait…but maybe, just maybe…we are on to something good…
​
And this husband of mine…agrees…

This husband and I…

Took our annual trip to the town where he was born…the town where his grandfather is buried…the town where his mother was tragically killed…

In a car accident…mother of 9…little him only 3 years old…doesn’t remember her but wants to find her…find her grave which has been lost over time…find relatives that might still be around…find the lot where his grandfather’s house used to be…

Found articles in the archives…located the cemetery…but five years in, the headstone, a little stone heart, seems to have disintegrated and any other progress seems stalled…

But yet we come…yet we search…defying dead end after dead end…

Visited the cemetery…walked the site, checking names…family plots…decided to post a question on it’s social media page and what to our wondering eyes do we see?…

Responses…support…people who know people who know people…who go the extra mile to contact more people…who connect us with a cousin…

A long lost cousin…a sweet and beautiful long lost cousin…whose mother lives where Grandpa used to live…in the same town with lots of other family…family we plan to visit next year when we come to town…

And so it is…in life…have faith…have hope…and take it from an old guy who’s little boy’s heart is happy…

Miracles happen…
​
And that husband of mine…agrees…

This husband and I…

Enjoy visiting the little towns he remembers as a child…Seguin, Floresville, Brady, Fife…see how they’ve grown…see how they’ve changed…

Headed north to Luling, when what to our wondering eyes should we see?…a Buc-ee’s…not just ANY Buc-ee’s, but apparently the biggest Buc-ee’s in the whole wide world…

Had to stop of course…check out the merch…buy a souvenir…stopped next at a lavender field…would love to see one in bloom some day, but settled for browsing the shop…

Then headed downtown…small…quaint…simple…did some antiquing…ate some barbecue…drove around…the town didn’t seem to have changed much…

And said so…to which that husband of mine had to disagree…”Back in the day,” he said, “there were cotton fields everywhere. We came up here to pick cotton and now there isn’t a field to be seen”…

And that’s when something clicked…the story…HER version of the story she pictured in her head was wrong…way wrong…super wrong…

Always picture the boy in these stories a preteen…like 12, maybe 14…traveling with his dad to pick cotton…but that couldn’t be…couldn’t be at all…

Because that cotton picking boy moved to Iowa when he was 7…moved to a different Texas area when he was five…so this Luling boy…the Luling cotton picking boy had been 4 years old…

His mother dying in a tragic accident, little him and his brother two years older had to go along with dad…held cotton bags…picked that fluffy stuff off the thorny plants…

And so it is…mama me thinks of that daughter of hers…teenager…mad for some teen reason would often lash out with, “You don’t know my life!”…

And we don’t really, know someone else’s life…our friends, our neighbors, the checkout gal at Walmart…

Have an open mind…a kind heart…extend grace…share the love…
​
And that husband of mine…agrees…

​This old gal…

Decided to have a full skin check at the Texas dermatologist’s…get a second opinion…

Plus this guy…this young dashing new skin doctor guy…doesn’t charge extra to have those hideous old people growths burned off…

Pay 70 bucks a zap in Iowa and warty sun worshipper me knows to remove all those ugly buggers at that rate would cost a fortune…

Was seen first by a student doctor…26 years old…getting married in two days…cuter than cute…chatted while she checked the skin, super duper professional-like…

Came to the nose spot…a month since biopsy…and there it was again…concern…lots of concern…’This looks interesting,’ she says, ‘very interesting’…

Looked at it again, and again, then went to the hall to consult the doctor who was waiting to hear her observations…which she shared behind closed doors…or closed door…RIGHT behind the closed door, so one of us could hear every word that was said…

All professionalism gone…her excitement palpable…her voice taking on a valley girl lilt…

‘OMG’…came the words…’she has something on her nose that looks bad…really, really, bad…basal cell bad’…

Then the door opened and in walked two professionals…he deeming it most likely scar tissue…she then saving an old gal tons of money by zapping off any spot either of us deemed ugly…

And old gal me left with burn spots all over her body and a smile on her face…because that girl…that young intern of a girl…her zest for life…compassion for people…enthusiasm for her new career…

Reminded her so much of those daughters of hers…and sometimes…even in the most awkward of situations…that’s all an old gal needs…
​
And this husband of mine…agrees…

This husband and I…

Were caught off guard when it came to Easter…tucked away in our little Texas cabin of a world, had no idea when it was…had no idea it was near…

And that’s sad…not gonna lie…those daughters and I never missing church or a service-Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunrise in the park…

For years and years and more years…it was special…so very special…and now it’s come to…when is Easter? This Sunday? Seriously?…

Haven’t found a church since the move…the move FOUR years ago…not that we’ve tried particularly…loved our church out of town, but the drive is far…

And so it is…Easter…the time of new beginnings…new beginnings in New Town in Iowa…gonna make the effort…visit a church with a sign out front that says…Everyone Welcome…

Because it’s time…time to find a community of love…a community rooted in faith…a community who supports everyone, including two old folks who may forget what day it is but will never forget the sacrifice HE made for us so very long ago…
​
And that husband of mine…agrees…

This husband and I…

Went to breakfast at McDonald’s…a newer McDonald’s…no play area…limited seating…set up for to-go and delivery type orders…

Sat at one of the few tables…took in the decor…sleek…modern…yet someone had hung red paper garlands and set heart balloons out in honor of upcoming Valentine’s Day…

Then what to my wondering eyes do I see?…candy canes…little candy canes in the shape of a Christmas tree stuck on the wall by the bathroom…seemed odd…candy canes still out in February…

Until one took a closer look…those candy cane stickers…most likely picked up at some dollar store…were stuck…like really stuck…like pull too hard you rip off the wallpaper stuck…like gonna need some fancy tool to take off the backing stuck…

And Egg Mcmuffin eating me felt a kinship with that McDonald’s wall decorator…knew all about those little regrets…the wish I handn’ts…

Wish I hadn’t laid out in the sun in high school, used baby oil, used the tanning bed…rolled my eyes, goofed around, stuck that paper clip in the outlet in junior high science…

Those things that had repercussions…unexpected repercussions…unanticipated repercussions…immediate repercussions or those that rear their ugly heads 50 years later…

And so it is…in life…if we only knew then…what we know now…but would it have stopped us anyway?…

Probably not…
​
And this husband of mine…agrees…

This old gal…

Had a little scare…the Texas sun making someone’s aging skin go a little bonkers…spots here, spots there, spots, spots, everywhere…

Especially on the nose…one spot in particular…been dealing with it for years…the Iowa doc aways checking it…treated it once…since then no worries…

Until Texas…it got ugly…real ugly…so ugly that husband of mine insisted his lovely wife with the ugly nose see a dermatologist stat…

And so she did…a nice young man…took one look with that magnifier of his and there it was, the old ‘let’s look at that again’ phrase…

So he did…

Then decided to cut it off, do a biopsy, and make Nervous Nelly me wait three days for the results…which turned out benign…leaving one of us with a noticeable scar and both of us extremely relieved…

And so it is…in life…when in doubt, check it out…
​
And this husband of mine…agrees…

​This old gal…

Couldn’t help but notice the moon one middle of the night during catnoodling…

Full, bright, surrounded by rapidly moving clouds…eerie in a way, yet beautiful…brought back memories…memories from a lifetime ago…

Single me…navigating life…learning how to date again…it had been years…like a gazillion years…had been seeing someone long distance for awhile…quite awhile…

Was outside chatting on the phone…one of us commenting on the moon…the miles between us yet we see the same moon…blah blah blah…smarmy blarmy…

There was agreement…the yea-just-you -and-me kind of agreement…just you and me and apparently a buttload of other me’s…in other towns…looking at the same old moon with the same old you…

Not gonna say it was a big surprise…not that it didn’t hurt…not that it wasn’t humiliating…but sometimes it takes a heart time to see what it needs to see…

And so it is…in life…trust your gut…if it doesn’t feel right…it’s not…

Trust your friends…if they have doubts…listen…

Trust your family…and if they say it’s not for you, then you say…

Goodnight moon…and put your little heart to rest…

Because when it’s right…you’ll know…
​
And this husband of mine…agrees…

This daughter of mine…

And that adorable husband of hers…shared some news…good news…happy news…a long time coming news…

She is having a baby…they are going to be parents…and mama me…is soon to become…grandmommy me…

Been following their journey from afar…a difficult journey…a frustrating journey…a many-times-over heartbreaking journey…

Tests, procedures, more tests, more procedures, surgeries, recoveries, more surgeries, more recoveries…then weeks and weeks of morning sickness…navigating it all with positivity and grace…

And here we are…five months in…Little Nugget no longer a little nugget…Auntie J lending that hometown support…Auntie Smidge suggesting a new but more ridiculous name for Nugget almost every day…

Had a saying when those girls of mine were growing up, involved in activities, doing school work…

You don’t have to be perfect…you just need to try your best…

But now…so many years later…that daughter of mine with the best news ever…on cloud nine…texts that Besties chat of ours after her monthly checkup with…

‘The doctor says the baby is perfect, absolutely perfect’…

And for once mama me…isn’t going to argue…with perfect…
​
And those daughters of mine…agree…

One would think…

That the middle of night catnoodling would be quiet, quieter than quiet, but surprisingly there was noise…different kinds of noise…middle of the night noise…

Traffic on the interstate miles away, swish swish swishing by…a distant train lumbering down the tracks, it’s sharp whistle paired with a clickety clack, clickety clack…

The rustling of the brush as a hungry armadillo digs nearby, looking for whatever it is armadillo’s eat…
The crunch of a stick as a tiny fox, sleek, beautiful, rounds the corner of the cabin, stopping in the light of the moon as he spies a pair of catnoodlers…curious…watchful…

There was something calming about those noises, often hidden by the rush of the day…like waves lapping against smooth rock…

Until it’s interrupted by voices…body-less voices coming from a balcony next door…hidden by buildings…hidden by dark…

A man and a woman…not young by any means…talking to their son, loudly, on speaker phone explaining an incident that had recently occurred…

They on a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico…some big fight…he pushed her-according to him…he THREW her-according to her-across the room into the coffee table and broke her collar bone…

It was unnerving…is STILL unnerving…never saw the pair…wouldn’t know the pair…but in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time-me…can’t unhear or unpicture the story…

And so it is…in life…the secrets of the night may not be quite as secret as one would think…all you have to do…is listen…

Even if you don’t mean to…
​
And that cat friend of mine…agrees…