Dinner on the Table at 6

October 2010

In September the hubs and I took a spur of the moment road trip to Colorado. We were just wanting to get away and enjoy the quiet, slower paced, less traveled roads and towns in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. We decided to eat at only locals joints....no chain restaurants. We'd bypass all the crowded attractions and bask in all the beauty of the rivers, mountains and natural surroundings this state has to offer. We all know Colorado is known for it's white water rafting, ski resorts, Pike's Peak, Royal Gorge and Rocky mountains. As we drove through the towns of Pueblo, Canon City, Buena Vista, Florence, Ft. Lyon, LaVista and many more we kept seeing the same familiar sites in each town. Prisons, prisons, and more prisons! Canon City has 7 total including the Colorado State Penitentiay. You can even drive up Skyline Drive.....a perilously narrow, single lane, one way road winding 3 miles up and then down a mountainside built by prisoners at the turn of the century. Hubs didn't want to go but I insisted. No safety rails, anxiety attack, tears... equal.....bad idea! From Canon City, we took a short drive to Florence which has 4 federal prisons. Located there is the highest security federal prison in the United States nicknamed the Alcatraz of the Rockies. It houses the Unabomber, 911 conspirators, Olympic Park bamber, World Trade Center bomber, Al Qaeda conspirators, John Walker( the American Taliban) and Terry Nichols( the Oklahoma City bombing conspirator. Tim McVeigh was there before his execution for that bombing. From there we traveled to Buena Vista and as we approached the small town......yep! there it was...a huge prison. Traveling to Ft. Lyon I spotted a sign that pointed to a National Cemetary. Wanting to drive through we approached the entrance to what was an early 1900's VA complex now turned into a ...yep..you guessed it....a state prison. There are so many prisons and penitentiaries along the highways of Colorado it makes you wonder if you really want to pitch a tent right there next to the river, or pull your camper up into the woods in the mountains, or hike along the never ending trails. If there are that many criminals that they need that many prisons I'd be leary to go to far off the beaten path. Oh and did I mention we decided to set out on this road trip with no reservations on Labor Day weekend. And did I mention we drove 80 miles one dark night seeing only NO VACANCY signs in each town at each motel. And did I mention we had cell phone service just sporadically in those mountains. But never fear....our youngest daughter came to our rescue and called around and found us a motel. A motel up Monarch Pass where there was no cell phone service. We would not be able to call until the next day and tell her we made it up the pass to the motel. A motel that had a sign outside advertising biker rate specials......5 nights for $195. There were plenty bikers there taking advantage of the special in the off season just hanging around outside near midnight. At this time of night we were just glad to have a place to sleep. We showered and slide under the moose print sheets in our 1970's decor laden room. As we lay in bed talking about all the prisons in Colorado and the eery feeling of the motel, the hubs got up an shoved a chair under the doorknob of the door. Oh ...and did I mention our daughter said the internet picture of the motel looked like the motel in The Shining!!
I love adventure and sometimes you have to lay aside well executed planned vacations and go with the wind and see where it takes you. You never know what you might see and what you might learn.

July 2010

In March of 1975 I went to Sears and made a purchase. As a young stay at home mother of 2 daughters, I decided to use the knowledge I obtained from Mrs. Wright in my Jr. High school Home Economics class. I bought a sewing machine with a cabinet for $174.95. I spent an extra $34.95 on a green vinyl sewing chair that had a lid on the seat so you were able to store sewing supplies in the seat. 1975.....the era of great colors...everything was green, yellow or orange. Throw in a 2 year service maintenance contract and the total came to $226.25. That was a big purchase in 1975!
I started purchasing patterns and adorning my little girls in all kinds of fashions. There were the corduroy capes with the fringe balls, matching Easter dresses, rompers, sundresses and even Holly Hobbie floor lenght dresses with matching bonnets. Then for myself I made dozens of polyester pantsuits in colorful colors. Hancock's carried lots of polyester! Plus dresses for church and my favorite...a duck cloth white sailor style stripped shirt that I absolutely loved. Loved it so much I still have the pattern. I even have the pattern for the corduroy capes. Somehow I don't think my granddaughters or their mothers would think they are as cool now as they were then. With that machine, I made 5 dresses for my little sister's wedding...3 for the candlelighters and 2 for the flowergirls. I made Easter and Christmas dresses until my girls started high school. In the late 80's I cranked out lots of crafts with the machine and sold them in craft shows to make money to pay tuition while I was attending college for a nursing degree. I made bears from old quilts, rabbits, Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, Annie dolls and various other dolls. The last few years the machine was mostly used for mending, window coverings, and crafts. In it's old life it was getting catankerous, skipping stitches, making loud noises and in general just acting up. A few weeks ago, I packed it up and dropped it off at the Goodwill. Just a piece of metal and wires, but boy it tugged at my heartstrings. Not the machine itself but all the memories it made. Sew long old girl......

I love to watch all the medical shows on TV like Mystery Diagnosis, Trauma in the ER, etc. As an RN I have worked in many hospitals but never a big urban trauma center like you see on most of these TV shows. They are so busy with critical patients coming in one after the other. I have been in an ER as a patient only twice for minor injuries....a broken toe after encountering a coffee table in the middle of the night and a lacerated heel while attempting to kickstart my motorcycle. Yes....June Cleaver use to be a motorbiking mama! Mostly slow paced ERs with your usual coughs, abdominal pains, broken arms and chronic pain.
Two weeks ago I ended up in the ER in Waco. Waco is just a mid size town but has a new 1 year old hospital with a trauma level ER consisting of 40 beds. Because I had a cardiac emergency I got to bypass waiting in the ER lobby for hours and was ushered back to one of the 6 trauma rooms. Being a Friday night, the ER was full and very busy. After an hour I felt like I was in the mist of what you see in TV ERs. The trauma rooms see lots of action and it was all happening in the 5 rooms surrounding me and I was seeing it all from trauma room #3. The stretchers with vehicle accident patients came one after the other. Many escorted by a city policeman or sheriff because they were alcohol or drug related. My husband brought to my attention one patient being walked down the corridor in shackles attended by a sheriff.
Because the trauma rooms are separated by glass you could hear what was going on next door in room #4. It was a busy room that Friday night and what I heard coming from that room over the next 6 hours was heartbreaking. Two episodes were most disturbing. A 22 year old male in a car accident had multiple fractures and bleeding in the brain. He was yelling out in pain and calling for his mother. After intubating him and stablizing him he was life-flighted out to a higher level trauma center 30 minutes away. The cries of his mother was heart-wrenching. Just a few minutes later a stretcher rolls by surrounded by paramedics giving CPR to a man no older than my husband. I could see the hustle and bustle of feet below the curtain and hear the urgency in the voices of the ER staff through the glass walls.
"How long has he been down? When did you get a pulse last? 4:20...It's 4:40 now...that's 20 minutes since you got the last pulse? Yes that is correct."
After 15 minutes the room became quiet and the staff quietly left the room and I lay there as the light was turned off in room #4. The next sounds I heard from the room were the soft cries of a grieving wife, mother and other family members brought in to say their final good-byes. As they left the room and walked past my door, I was overcome with grief for a family I never met.
While waiting to be admitted to a room upstairs, the flow of patients never slowed and I lay there thinking about all the lives that were affected in some way that Friday night in the ER. Lives affected by consequences brought on by alcohol, drugs, reckless driving, crime, disease or illness.
Lives that cease to exist, lives that are physically or mentally changed forever, lives that will endure criminal punishment or mental anguish, lives that will grieve for loved ones......Lives changed forever on a friday night in a real-life ER.

I love simplicity. I loved the 50's and 60's. Simple, slow, easy, uncomplicated.
This June Cleaver does not embrace technology of today easily. I knew that but it really hit hard today when my 3 year old granddaughter asked me if I had an IPod. I told her Papa did but I didn't and if I did I wouldn't know how to play it. She promptly told me she knows how. Saturday my daughter and I were sitting making hair bows and she said it was too quiet and got up to put some music on. I saw the TV was on and asked her how she got music on it and she said it was a CD. I said...what is it playing on and she said the DVD. Geez...I didn't know you could play a CD in a DVD player. I never play music so how did I know that!
I have never paid a bill online, had an automatic withdrawal payment, and still keep a checkbook register which my husband balances each month.
When my grandkids come over they play with 1970's Fisher Price little people house, school, and hospital sets. I have baby dolls, a windup jack-in-the-box, a Viewmaster, sock monkey, tea sets and hot wheels. We play games like ...Mother May I, Red light, green light and Simon Says. The kids seem to love them so maybe there are things in life that don't need to change. Things that stimulate our minds and imaginations. Things that don't make me frustrated and make me want to pull my hair out.
Simple ....well yes that is me. But hey! I do have a facebook account. And I do use a debit card to buy gas. And I do have a laptop and a blog! Slowly June is inching her way into the technological realm of....ummmmm......shall we say semi-simplicity.

January 27, 2010

Really?? Until death do us part???
Yes really! We are in the process of making plans for a 65th wedding anniversary party for my in-laws. Now how many couples get to celebrate that milestone! We thought it was great when we did a 50th anniversary party for them 15 years ago but to be planning this one is the greatest. Congratulations Dale and Doris!!!

Marriage has changed so much in the past 50 years. We used to be younger, more carefree, less worldly and less stressed. We didn't worry about having our careers set, having financial security, having a multi$$$$ impressive wedding, or prenuptials in case things don't work out.

The Golden Wedding Anniversay.....how many marriages will make this milestone in America today. The Forest Institute of Professional Psychology predicts 50% of 1st marriages will end in divorce...67% of 2nd marriages....and 74% of 3rd marriages. Marriage is a committment between two people to give the best, live the best and do the best to show their love for one another. It is not an I or You relationship but rather a WE partnership.

Almost 41 years ago I married my best friend to be my life partner. We were young, carefree and probably a little naive but we grew together, took life's ups and downs and endured. We didn't give up what was important to us. Now we want to become that statistic that celebrates a Golden Anniversary like my parents and my in-laws did.

What a tribute to marriage it will be when the children, grandchildren and great grands share and experience 65 years of committment from such a great couple!

Over the years we have all heard of the warnings and dangers of smoking. Smoking started to be banned in hospitals, government buildings, workplaces, and even airplanes. What is up with that....you are in the air in an enclosed metal tube and if you sat in the back of the plane you could smoke! And I am sure none of that smoke drifted to the nonsmoking seats in front of you! Just as the imaginary line in a restaurant kept the smoke from the smoking section floating over the the nonsmoking table next to it. Well at least in later years they started separating the sections into different rooms.
I grew up in a house with parents who smoked. As I grew older I had a choice and I didn't like to be around it. I realize it is an addiction and hard to kick. As a nurse I have seen the consequences of smoking on a patients health. It was hard to see patients with emphysema and COPD who came in hardly able to breathe and struggling to get a breath of air. I wondered what the future would bring to those I loved who had continued to ingest the toxins of tobacco.
My mother quit smoking in 1994 but my daddy continued. I also had a brother and brother-in-law who quit. Kudos to them!! Sadly I began to see the effects of smoking take hold to those who had fed this addiction for more than a half century. First the shortness of breath, the coughing, the need for inhalers, the oxygen dependency, the dreaded diagnosis.......
In 6 months my mom, my dad, and a good friend.....also a nurse, lost their battle in the fight that ravaged their lungs and through the years determined their destiny.
Many cities today are fighting to become smoke free and want to be able to go into public areas and not be exposed to secondhand smoke. But I also know that those who have this addiction have rights too and we have to be tolerant of their rights. I can see clearly now that smoking is not going away but I hope we will become wiser and see the effects of these toxins and change our destinies to live and breath longer and healthier.