My Farewell to Aunt Bertie

Yesterday I lost my Aunt Bertie to colon cancer. I won’t say that she lost her battle with this sick and heinous disease because she didn’t. She remained brave and courageous until the end and the cancer never stole from her what is truly important. It never stole her dignity, her pride, her intelligence or her sharp wit and sense of humor.

I think that every child needs an Aunt Bertie in their life while growing up. To me she was someone that loved me unconditionally and accepted me and my choices in life as if I were her own child. She was tough with me when I needed it and didn’t mince words, which I needed! She always spoke to me as an adult and valued my opinion and most importantly, she told me what I needed to hear, not always what I wanted to hear.

Growing up I spent a lot of time at Aunt Bertie and Uncle Joe’s house. I thought then, as I still do now, that it was the coolest house and I loved to be there and spend time with them. Even an ordinary dinner at their house was fun and made me feel special.

I can’t remember a holiday or important event in my life that Aunt Bertie wasn’t a part of. But for me it wasn’t only about the big, important holidays that we were together, but the ordinary days throughout the years that solidified our relationship.

My heart is hurting right now for the loss of my aunt and for the impact her passing will have on my parents and extended family. Aunt Bertie brought such a sense of humor and quick wit with her everyday right up until the end that added so much flavor and spice to even an ordinary day. I pray that someday we will meet each other again which helps me with the sorrow and sadness I feel at her passing.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

- John 16:33

*The picture above shows my mom on the left with her baby sister Aunt Bertie on the right taken this past February in Florida.

My Tribute to Grammy

Today I lost someone very special to me and very dear to my heart: my Grammy Boduch. We knew in the days preceding her passing that the end of her life was drawing to a close, and yet, the pain is no less acute and leaves me with a dull ache where my heart is.

My Grammy lived a full life of 91 years and raised five wonderful children (the eldest being my father), and had nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. However, her life was not measured by numbers but in the quality of time spent together and laughter shared. I would have challenged anyone to spend only five minutes with Grammy and not walk away loving her.

Grammy was strong, ageless, smart and so much fun to spend time with. I looked forward to visiting Grammy no matter my age and each time I went away from my visit with an even greater love and respect for her. I could share experiences and memories about Grammy all week long, but there is one particular experience that I want to share.

When I was in high school Grammy was hit by a car when crossing the street to get her mail and came to live with us for several months as she recovered. I have always viewed this horrible accident as a blessing in disguise for my parents and I as we had the privilege and treasure of Grammy staying with us. I hold this time that I got to spend with Grammy very close to my heart. I looked forward to sharing my day with her each day when I got home from school and it made me so happy to know that she was there every day. Without this accident, I never would have had these weeks and months to spend with Grammy and get to know her so well before I went off to college and a life of my own.

When I had our oldest daughter Grace nearly four years ago I quit my job to stay at home with her which allowed me greater freedom to drive the two hours to my parents house and visit. Each time I went home to visit we would drive up to Mayfield and visit Grammy and Aunt Carol. Over the course of these visits, first Grace and then Emma got to spend time with Grammy and they loved those visits nearly as much as Gram did. She would sit and look at books with them and marveled at each new thing my girls did. I feel privileged that my girls were able to know their great-grandma if only for a few years.

I promise that I will never, ever let Grammy’s memory die. I will ensure that she lives on in the memories of my girls and I. We will talk about her often and share stories to keep her alive in our hearts. So, I thank God for giving me Grammy in my life and most importantly for blessing me with my father and being such a wonderful mother to him and a wonderful person to all that came in contact with her.

So, rest sweet Grammy, I can’t wait until the day we see each other again. 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

- Matthew 5:4 

The Pooler's Come to Town!

Just a few days after my sister and her girls left, my in-laws came to visit for a week. We had been anxiously anticipating their visit for a long time and it was every bit a s good if not better than we had hoped for. The girls were so excited to have them here and ad justed very quickly to having Grandpa and Grandma here.

Their visit started with an Easter egg hunt in our little community and coloring eggs for Easter. It was nice for us to have family in town to celebrate Easter with and share in the girls excitement over finding hidden eggs and getting their Easter baskets.

We had a fun week with Grandpa and Grandma and we went to the playground, the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, a local state park and into San Fran.

We had saved the trip into San Fran until Saturday to avoid traffic. The day ended up being unseasonably cold and very windy. Our first stop of the day was the marina (my favorite part of San Fran). When we got out of the car, we walked over to a sidewalk that had a brick wall and steep slope into the ocean. I was in charge of the double stroller at this point (and now probably never again!) which was thankfully empty at this point. The wind was really whipping and I wasn't holding onto the stroller and was taking a picture on my phone to send to my sister, so I didn't notice the stroller start to move away from me. By the time I noticed, the stroller was out of my grasp and headed for the steep brick walled slope into the Pacific. I watched in horror as my stroller flew over the edge and tumbled into the ocean, then I stood and screamed and yelled like a banshee and attempted to throw myself over the ledge to get the stroller.

Thankfully I am a chicken when it comes to water and even more thankfully Chris kept a calm head and found a place to get down onto the slick, wet bricks and make his way to the stroller before the tide carried it out to sea! He was able to get the stroller, we pulled it up over the wall and he was able to spend the rest of his day in the city in jeans, socks and sneakers that were soaked with ocean water. I felt horrible for my stupidity and subsequent disaster that took place but I was eternally grateful that no one was hurt (just my pride!) and that the stroller did dry out very quickly with minimal damage, but most of all that I had a husband willing to risk life and limb to get the stroller and subsequently momentarily shut me up!

The rest of the day was fun and we were able to show the Pooler's some highlights - the harbor seals, sourdough bakery, the pier area, marina, Golden Gate Bridge, etc. We were very sad to see them leave to go home on Sunday, but we had a fun week and we look forward to seeing them this fall when we go East for Courtney's wedding!

The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
- Psalm 116:5 

Fun Family Visit

So, this blog is a little late as I am blogging about something that happened at the end of March - but I'm trying!

My sister Lisa and her two girls (almost women now!) Haley and Bethany decided to come and visit on their spring break. They live in Eastern Washington, about 15 hours away. My sister has an amazing capacity to drive ridiculously long distances with no sleep, so they drove to our house and made it here in record time.

We had the best visit we have ever had and for the first time, I truly loved every minute we had together and was so sad to see them leave just a few days later. I wish we could see each other more often, but I am thankful for the visit that we had together. I am hopeful that this is the start of a closer relationship as we move forward in life (a.k.a. get older). My nieces are so terrific and any fears I had about them being dreaded teenagers vanished the first minute I saw them. They are so funny and smart and were really a joy to be around, I loved every minute with them. They are growing up to be phenomenal women.

Lisa and I and all four girls (Grace, Emma, Haley and Bethany) took a day and went to the Oakland Zoo and had a great time in spite of the cold and wet weather (what is up with that California!). And we got a lot of time to hang out and catch up since we saw each other last summer.


neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Romans 8:39 

A Whole Lot of Firsts!

So I have been more than a little neglectful with this blog. I'm not even sure if anyone reads it or not, but still, I should at least update it once in a while! This post is aptly titled as we had our First California Thanksgiving, our First Christmas ever not in New York at our childhood homes, First bike for Grace and First day of school for Grace.


The last time I blogged, we were just settling into our new house. It is now 2 months later and we are officially settled in and really loving the house. Since I last wrote, my parents visited and spent 2 weeks which was really fun, we did some sightseeing (San Fran, Golden Gate, Carmel and Pebble Beach to name a few) and lots of things around the house and the yard.

A week after they left we had our first California Thanksgiving which was very relaxed and fun. I did all of the cooking and we all lived to tell about it which is good and shocking - I even made homemade apple pie!

In December we spent a great deal of time and agonizing and visiting trying to find a nursery school that really fit Grace where we think she could thrive (more on this in a few paragraphs!).

We also prepared for our First Christmas with just the 4 of us. In the past Chris and I have always traveled to New York for Christmas to be with family no matter where we lived, but that all stopped this year. I was prepared to be really sad and lonely, but I realized that I had my family right with me, Chris and our two girls. It really showed me that Christmas isn't about where you live, or if it is a "white" Christmas, it is about being with family, and I was lucky enough to have that - just in reduced numbers this year!

A few days before Christmas we were thrilled to have Chris's sister Courtney and her fiance Tom visit. They were on their way to LA to spend Christmas with Tom's family and graciously flew out of their way to visit us and in the process got stranded en route. Regardless, we had a fun time with them and visited some local wineries (we have 30 wineries about 20 minutes away).

We had a nice low key Christmas and enjoyed the upper 50's weather and bright sunny skies! The girls had a great Christmas, Santa brought them just what they wanted and we spent Christmas Day playing with toys and hanging out together. The girls got a good mix of books, crafts, doll clothes and toys. Santa was good to Chris and I too - he brought us a Wii!

 


Chris had the week after Christmas off which was great family time and we used it to work outside, go to playgrounds and start our family biking! This leads us into another First - Grace's first big girl bike (with training wheels) and we got Emma a bike seat that attaches to Chris's bike so we can all go together. This area is rich in outdoor activities including biking due to the great weather year round so we want to take full advantage of it when we live here.



We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home and geared up for another exciting year at Casa de Pooler! Today was our final big First in this blog. Grace went to her first day of nursery school today. After much searching, we decided on a small, private, Christian academy that teaches children from pre-school through 8th grade. We found it provided the best atmosphere and mix of fun and education that we were looking for. Grace really enjoyed her first day at school and adjusted very well. I, on the other hand, had a hard time letting go, but I know deep down this is the best thing for her and she needs to grow and become her own person.

So, this sums up our last couple of months. I hope and plan to be a bit better at updating the blog more regularly - maybe that should be a New Year's Resolution!

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
- Psalm 20:4