The Royal Wedding

You know, it's interesting how people only care about the things that directly affect them personally.

In reading through status updates on Facebook today a good number of my friends posted about how little they care about the royal wedding this morning in Britain. Others were over the moon about it. But what I noticed is that no one who was over the moon was bashing anyone who didn't care, but a lot of the people who didn't care were bashing those who did, saying how we won the Revolutionary War and if you like monarchs so much move back. 

Silly opinion, I think, considering world events DO matter to us. People care about the situation in Lybia because we have troops over there and it's affecting our gas prices. People care about Iraq and Afghanistan because of the war against terrorism and the fact that we have troops over there. What if we tried caring about other countries, other people? 

I, personally, watched the royal wedding not to see her dress, not just so I can say I did, but because tomorrow it will be history. Important history. I don't know about you, but I learned about all the wives of Henry the VIII and about Bloody Mary and all of those other British monarchs from legends past when I was in school. The world was devastated when Princess Diana died, and yet look at all of those who could care less about her son's marriage and their efforts to make it in memorium of his mother. 

Prince William in second in line to the British throne after his father. At some point, circumstances permitting, he will be the King of England. While I know the king really has very little power, there is still much he would be in charge of and what he does can and might impact the United States. I guarantee that if/when that happens those people who could care less about the monarchs of England will suddenly care quite a bit. Not to mention that we like the British when they ally with us for the various wars we have fought in, among other things. 

So you know what, naysayers? I don't care if you don't care about the wedding. Kindly keep it to yourself. And if you write any comments bashing the opinions I write here in my personal blog, I will gleefully delete them. 

Happy Weekend!

Surprised Much?

So, I was driving home from Kroger and suddenly there was this overwhelming scent of melted cheese and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why... until I realized I was driving past the Macaroni Grill.

I hadn't been at work for long today when suddenly this girl I had seen around the office but never met appears and hands me this large white gift bag with a card hanging off the side. Confused, I thanked her and she walked away.

Brigette, across the aisle, asked if it was my birthday and I'm like noo... my birthday was in February! So I open the card to find that it's a condolence card. My first thought was, wow. How sweet of her! My second thought was how on earth did she know? As far as I knew the only people who knew were my boss and my two coordinators (at least until I told some other people about it) and they swore they hadn't told anyone.

In either case, it was incredibly sweet of her and the card she wrote to me was even sweeter.

Come to find out later that apparently this girl had overheard my boss discussing my Mom's death with one of my coordinators and so she asked about it and they told her. Then, for awhile now, God has been putting it on her heart to do something kind for me, so she gave me this present.

Inside was a lovely journal, a photo album, an orange-mandarin (? I think?) candle, and the entire bottom was laced with butterscotch candies, which I piled onto my desk with a homemade sign that says "Eat Me". No one did (I had a couple) but I left it there and will continue to leave it there until people do.

Anyway, this is by far the best thing that has happened to me at this job, besides being allowed to work from home for three weeks while my mom was in hospice. It absolutely made my day that much brighter. Thanks so much, Jessica! It meant more to me than you'll ever know. :)

Post-Easter Thought

My Easter was a little different.

For the very first time ever, I did not wake up in the house I grew up in on Easter morning.

And even if I had woken on Easter morning in the house I grew up in, I probably would have been overwhelmed by nostalgia and sadness because it was the very first holiday without my Mom. My mom, who filled Easter baskets for her daughters no matter how old we were.

Instead, I woke up at Johnny's house early so I could make myself presentable before the hour long drive to my Dad's church. When I went into the kitchen, I discovered Easter bags, one for me and one for Johnny, from his loving and giving mother. She remembered I can't have chocolate and gave me all of my favorite candy as well as a bag of banana chips, the best dried fruit in existence. It made me smile.

We went to church with my family, and that was weird because a.) we sat in the back next to the sound booth and we usually sit near the front and b.) they almost completely eliminated the church lobby in order to create more seating because c.) there were more people there that I didn't know than ones that I did. BUT. The music was wonderful, showcasing a few of the younger generation's ability to sing and play the violin, and Dad's sermon was the best I have heard in quite some time. It wasn't your usual Easter sermon at all, as he preached about the 1046 pages between Genesis 3:22-24 and Revelation 22:1-5, which is the number of pages between the banishment from the garden of Eden and getting back to the Tree of Life. "Jesus got us the garden back! How did He do it: the 1046 pages in between!" (Dad's facebook status on Sunday). It was wonderful. I wouldn't mind hearing it again.

However, the service was culminated by my younger sister getting up on stage and playing the piano. She was going to sing too, but the song she chose was "How Beautiful", the song my Mom always sang, the song I posted on here back in January. She couldn't even choke out the first line before the tears came. I was sitting with my other sister Jennie, and the two of us were crying as well, but also singing along from our seats until Jennie decided to join Anne on stage and finish out the song. I don't think any of us will ever be able to perform that song without releasing the floodgates.

After church we went back to the house, where I promptly locked my keys in my car and we were a half hour late getting to my sister's in Columbus because it took so long to break in. After getting hanger stuck in a crease in the door, Dad working on the passenger side while Johnny took over for me on the driver's, hangers breaking and a few close misses, Johnny finally scored and got the door unlocked. It put me in an unfortunate bad mood, but I got over it by the time I made deviled eggs at Erin's.

Yes. I am THE family deviled egg maker, and I am proud to say that I made 22 deviled eggs and they were all gone by the time everyone was served.

Dinner was also when Dad went through legal papers and gave each of his daughters a copy of the will he made up after Mom died, along with some other stuff.

We spent the afternoon eating a ridiculous amount of candy and playing Mario Kart on the Wii, which was great fun, while my Dad drove Jennie to the airport. Her two best friends paid for her to take a trip with them to Orlando, FL, to visit not only Disney but also Universal Studios and the new Harry Potter World. I could not be more jealous than I am about this. However, she did find out for me that butterbeer is caffeine free, so when I go someday I'll be able to have it. :)

The nice thing about my Easter was that it meant my trip back to Cincinnati was broken into three. I drove from Canton to New Concord, which is an hour, and then from New Concord to Columbus, another hour, and then from Columbus to Cincinnati, a mere hour and a half. It was glorious, and it meant that I could stick around at my sister's house and play Settlers of Catan and actually finishing the game before I had to leave.

It was all part of the new normal we as a family have to embrace. Traditions will change now that Mom is gone and that most of us are married or nearly married, and while that is the only kind of change I find hard to cope with it's something I'll have to get used to whether I want to or not. Now that we've experienced it once, every time it will get easier and easier until new traditions have been formed and cemented and we are all able to enjoy and appreciate and be thankful for the place this change has brought us to.

So I hope all of you, my wonderful readers, had a blessed Easter Sunday, whether you believe in God or not.