Happy Birthday, Aunt Gene!

Today is Aunt Gene's 85th birthday. What a great person she is!! She's always had a "glass half full" attitude. Growing up in a single parent household during the depression, she says that they were the happiest people and had everything they could ever have wanted. She finds great pleasure in the simplest of things: the Cincinnati skyline from the Kentucky side, the ducks at a local park & birds that nest outside her window. She says that she looks in the mirror and says to herself "Who is that old woman?" -- we look at her and are amazed that she's 85! She still walks 1/2 mile on most days and just recently gave up swimming (temporarily) because of some minor health concerns. May she have years and years of continued good health & happiness.

Years ago, Danny had to write a descriptive short paper on someone's hands. Here's what he wrote about Aunt Gene. I've always liked it because it fits her so well:

Geneva has had the same hands for 80 years. The same wonderful hands that held a tennis racket through her youth and won countless state championships. The same hands that typed gracefully on a typewriter at P & G’s headquarters are now weak and full of arthritis. The same hands that wore an engagement ring, but not a wedding ring, for war does odd things to the minds of fiancés. She still has the same hands that held two nieces when they were born, and five great- nieces and nephews, as if they were her own grandchildren. These are the same hands that held many young hands while crossing the street. These are the same great hands, that have hugged and embraced friends and family.

These hands have never missed church, unless they must. These are the same hands that finger through the Bible page after page. These are the same hands that fold and team up with the knees for a daily discussion with the Lord. These hands also hold the hand of Jesus, as they walk through the garden, in Aunt Gene’s daily walk with Christ.

These are the same hands that have never cooked a meal before. These are also the same hands that very rarely labor to benefit themselves. These hands are also the same kind and loving hands that have very little desire to spend time, love or money on themselves. These hands will never be forgotten, for they have touched a great amount of peoples’ hearts, minds and souls.

Time for an update

I really don't have anything meaningful to blog about, but it's time for an update on what's been going on in my life.

TRAVEL:
Last week, I went to a convention in Chattanooga for our church database software. Chattanooga is a cool little town and southern hospitality is a real thing. Everyone was so nice and friendly. I'm such a geek for being as excited as I was about the classes -- how many people would be energized by the topics "Maintaining a Clean Database" and "Managing Classes and Small Groups"?

AIRLINES:
The flights there and back were just creepy! We were on very small jets (40-50 people), including one that taxied up to the gate with only one propeller working -- that's right, I said propeller! We were also delayed 4 1/2 hours in Charlotte because they first didn't have a plane, then didn't have a crew and finally didn't have a captain -- who wonders why the airline industry is in trouble??

GARDENS:

Gardening time is upon us and I've been busy planting and weeding. We've got lots of strawberry blossoms, which means lots of strawberries! I can hardly wait. They'll come and then the raspberries will be right behind them -- Yum! We're also getting about 1 1/2 pounds of asparagus every day -- enough to eat and freeze some, too!

AUNT GENE'S BIRTHDAY:

We're going to Cincinnati soon to celebrate Aunt Gene's 85th birthday! (If you're one of my boys and you haven't gotten her card yet, be sure to buy it and get it in the mail by Friday.) I might post a happy birthday message for her, but it would be a waste because she's a real technotard!

HEROES:
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I really got hooked on Heroes. The season finale was last night and they did, indeed, save the world (or at least a large chunk of New York City). I was disappointed in the ending though, because one of my favorite characters died. He can, however, return next year from death in true soap opera fashion, since he has the ability to regenerate. Does anyone else watch Heroes? What did you think of the ending?

Turner and the Muskrat

I haven't posted in a while -- I've just been busy with the usual routine, so there wasn't anything to comment on.

We had some excitement here last night, though -- Turner, the 75 pound dog, had close encounter with a muskrat. For about an hour & a half, he ran around the base of one of the pine trees barking and lunging at the muskrat, which was cornered and occasionally lunged back. Turner's legs and paws got cut by the brush & pine branches and when we finally got him out, we spent the next hour finding the cuts, getting the bleeding to stop, bandaging him up and cleaning blood off of him and the kitchen floor. It's so much fun having a big dog in the country!

There are always things to be thankful for, though: he's going to be okay, he's a little subdued today (always a good thing), it was a muskrat and not a skunk and that particular muskrat will never come to our house again!