Legacy

Life has been full-speed ahead lately, which has not left much time for blogging. Hopefully I’ll be caught up someday. But first, I had to post about something that I didn’t want to forget.

Wade & I attended the funeral of a dear friend’s mother, who died way too suddenly and way too early. Even though I knew her children, but had never met her, I walked away from the service with an unbelievable amount of respect for her.

When people spoke about her, it wasn’t about her worldly success, amazing career, talents, or even skills. It was about her strong faith and the way she showed love.

Her children clearly knew about the love she had for them. But what was even more impressive was how aware they were of the love she and her husband shared for each other.

Even after 30+ years of marriage, they still left love notes for each other. She had even written one to him on the morning of her sudden death. Her children spoke about how they were confident in the dedication and unconditional love between their parents even through good times and bad.

I haven’t been to too many funerals in my life, but this is one that will be forever in my memory. What a legacy to leave for her children and what a lesson for all of us to learn from.

The King of Pop

Since I had a little more time than usual watching TV after my surgery last week, I was pretty much glued to the coverage of Michael Jackson’s death. I am a child of the ‘80s after all. He was such a mystery. Clearly there were some deep, dark things from his past and from his recent choices in life that led to a destructive path. It angered and saddened me at the same time.

And yet, as I watched video after video, I was reminded what an amazing musical artist he was. Thanks to VH1, I’ve now seen pretty much every video he made. And I’ve also realized how far the music video has come. Wow. Some of those give cheesiness a whole new meaning. I decided that I’m a fan of “the middle years” the most. Post-Jackson 5, but Pre-Crazy. My compilation of his greatest hits would be:

Rock With You
We Are The World
Billie Jan
Man In the Mirror
PYT
You Are Not Alone
Black or White
The Way You Make Me Feel
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
Shake Your Body
Thriller
ABC
Human Nature

The ones that could be destroyed forever would be The Girl Is Mine, Ben, Smooth Criminal, or Bad.

And I did some digging around to find this little artifact:

At only 8 years old, I went to the Michael Jackson Victory Tour concert in 1984. Floor seats, 20th row, Texas Stadium. (If you know my parents, you know the concert was probably just as much for their enjoyment as for mine.) :) I wish I could say, I remember it being an unbelievable concert experience. But honestly, I don’t remember much of it at all. I was only 8! I do remember that Eddie Van Halen showed up for a surprise appearance, and I remember that I got burned by someone throwing a cigarette butt in the parking lot. I’m sure it was great, though.

And this video will give you a trip down memory lane if you are any kind of fan of ‘80s music. The part that cracks me up the most (not including everyone’s hair, Latoya, or facial expressions of the singers) is as they’re singing the important lyrics about poverty and world hunger, the camera pans up to MJ’s sequins socks, glove, and blinged-out ensemble. Funny.



Despite all of that, you have to admit it to its coolness and the greatness that was Michael Jackson's music.

Going Under The Knife…I Mean Balloon

Woo-hoo, it’s over! The anticipation of a surgery looming is the worst. I’m glad it’s over and thankful that it went well. My doctor says the everything went great, except for the fact that I seemed to have a high amount of bleeding. Not sure if I really needed to know that or not. But other than that, he seems optimistic that it will relieve most of my sinus headaches.

It’s very strange that a tiny balloon (think angioplasty) can make that much difference. And it’s strange that by looking at me, you can’t tell I just had surgery. Although my post-anesthesia, loopiness might give something away. Coming out of full anesthesia is one of the most bizarre things. As I was in the recovery room and was back and forth from sleep to alert, I remember feeling like Darth Vadar with huge, ginormous arms. The oxygen mask must have been the Darth Vadar issue, but I'm not sure about the huge arms. So weird??

The recovery from the surgery is supposed to be relatively easy. I’m still pretty tired and a little uncomfortable, but that should go away soon. The hardest part is that I’m not supposed to lift more than 10 lbs. for a week and then no more than 20 lbs. the next week. Ummmmm…since Tate is 30 lbs. these days, I’m not sure how that is going to work. He may be learning some new climbing tricks.

Now I’m supposed to rest with as little activity as possible. Thank goodness for laptops, because there is really nothing good on TV, and I can’t take much more of the news coverage about the South Carolina governor’s rendezvous in Argentina. Maybe I’ll finally get our vacation pictures from last month posted.

I’m so very thankful for the blessings of modern medicine and sweet family and friends!

A Brief Escape Into Denial

Denial: a. the refusal to accept or believe something. b. blogging while in the midst of a swarm of moving boxes and/or dirty diapers two days prior to surgery.

I am in denial. I really, really should be wiping down a few areas with anti-bac wipes for the umpteenth time or unpacking the umpteenth box of the day. Instead, I’m blogging. That’s clear denial folks.

Even though this is the first “real” day for me in the house we moved into a week ago, I feel the need to show just a little love to the blog and document the chaos that is our life right now. Surely, it will provide for great perspective later on when things have slowed down.

Wade wrote a play-by-play of everything leading up to the last week here. Since then, we added a wonderful out-of-town trip for me. I had a great time seeing my friend Paige play a very convincing and conniving Lady Macbeth at the Arkansas Shakespeare Festival (you must go see it if you live in the area) and getting to see sweet Anna’s Preschool graduation.

While I was away, Wade got to suffer solo through 3 days of yet another stomach bug for Tate. Poor guy. He hasn’t had one single ear infection or even had to be on antibiotics a day in his life, but I have completely lost count of the number of tummy problems he’s had. This one is specifically working its way out in the lower areas, so the diaper rash is even worse than the ailment itself. So sad. Hopefully the combination of rice, yogurt, toast, probiotic supplement, and SmartWater (has electrolytes) will get him on the mends quickly.

And all of my catch-up blog posts may be coming soon as it looks as if I’ve got some forced down time ahead. After years and years of pretty intense sinus headaches and infections, it’s been recommended that I get a surgery that will hopefully fix the problem. So later this week, I’m going under full anesthesia to have someone “break my brain bones.” Wade just loves when I say that! :)

It’s really not that dramatic, but the outpatient surgery is called balloon sinuplasty. I’ve got to stop reading about it online, because I’m freaking myself out a tad. Or maybe it was the waiver I signed about the possibilities of even worse problems, facial deformity, and/or death. That’s always helpful in alleviating any fears.

Need to get back to those boxes and diapers. So until next time, we are all surviving over here and are remaining thankful for the blessings of a new home (even if it is a complete wreck still) and the opportunities for relief modern medicine will hopefully provide soon.

Goodbye denial. I’ll miss you.

Coming Attractions

It's only June 9, but I'm pretty sure I can confidently say that June is/will be a complete blur for the Strzinek family. I need to take a blogging break to keep up with real life, but just to entice you to come back for more, here are the sneak previews:

Gulf Shores Vacation

Tate 2.5

Saying Goodbye To Our 1st House

Summer Spectacular

My Friend, Lady Macbeth

Going Under The Knife...I Mean Balloon

Freelancing Around Town

"I Ride The Train!"

That is the quote that I've heard quite possibly more than 100 times in the last 48 hours. The rest of the conversation usually goes like this:

M: Yes Tate, we did ride the choo-choo train.
T: I go under bridge.
M: We did go under a bridge.
T: I go under another bridge.
M: Yes, there were big bridges and little bridges.
T: I see the waterfall. I ride the train.

You get the point. Tate had the time of his life riding on the Forest Park Miniature Train for the first time this past weekend. I wondered if the 40-minute ride would be too long, but I really think he could've done the whole loop two or three times. He loved it, and we all three had a great time.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Grandma Ellie

My grandmother passed away 8 years ago this week. My cousin recently discovered these pictures of her in the college days @ UC Berkeley. I just love the pictures and think they look like they came out of an old Life magazine.

I don’t know if it was the trip to California last month or what, but I’ve been thinking about Grandma Ellie a lot lately. She was such a fun person and had a true zest for life. I think it would be so interesting and fun to have conversations with her now. As a teenager and young adult, I was way too self-absorbed to take the time to have that kind of thoughtful communication. Since I’ve matured (hopefully!) with age and experience, I think I could appreciate even more the person she was.

She experienced hardship in her life and never let it stop her from having a positive attitude. Even after a leg amputation because of diabetes complications, she didn’t seem to let life get her down. She kept her sense of humor, her friendliness, and her sass! That is something we can all learn from.

Giveaway ~ Hurry, Hurry!

Hurry over here to enter a giveaway for super cute baby burpies. And I don't just say that because my sister makes them. They really are super cute. All are custom made, stylish, and durable.

You can enter for a free set, and she's taking orders as well. Keep checking back, because she sells out quickly and updates her inventory often.

American Idol ~ Top 2

Surely, you're on the edge of your seat waiting for my deep thoughts on the American Idol Top 2 night. Unfortunately, I didn't even get to see it. Gasp! The final day of our big family vacation was a little distraction from my normal viewing schedule. And low and behold, there is no DVR where we are. Can you believe it!!!???

So help me out fellow AI addicts. Tell me about the show and what you think the final outcome will or should be.

His Singing Debut

As Tate’s vocabulary has been growing by the day, so has his interest in singing. He likes to sing Happy Birthday, Wheels On The Bus, Jesus Loves Me, My Hair Had A Party Last Night, BarbaraAnn, Old MacDonald, My God Is So Big, and Jesus Loves the Little Children.* He knows most of the words to those songs, because he can fill in just about any of the blanks when we sing along. But on his own, he gets a little bashful and does the condensed versions. This is a pretty cute stage, so I had to try to capture it.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

*He also likes to sing the “Oh-Oh-Oh’s” from Beyonce’s, Single Ladies. But don’t let Wade know about that.