Broken Chips & Guacamole

Think of the people you’re most comfortable around. Whatever the circumstances, when you’re with those people what do you need to have a good time? In our family, the answer has always been food and each other. 😉 We do like to play games but by-and-large, our time is spent chatting and eating. Typically everyone brings something and we just graze. During a recent visit my cousin said “All we need is broken chips and guacamole”. He said this when we had just finished eating just that. Yesterday Dad asked the group of family that was visiting if anyone wanted strawberries and whipped cream. Jeffunk responded “that’s like asking ‘would anyone like some happiness’?” Suffice to say food is a big deal in our family and pretty much does mean happiness. For the most part, Mom is still able to enjoy this favorite pastime of hers, albeit in significantly smaller portions.

Another thing she has taken to doing to pass the time is playing online word games. Many of these utilize “words” that we continue to contest aren’t actually words in the English dictionary! When she comes across one that doesn’t ring familiar, she googles it. Reading aloud the definition of one recently, which included the fact that the word is now obsolete, she said “They ain’t got no business using words that are obsolete! That’s not nice!” DOFL. On the subject of obsolete things; Mom’s hospice nurse, Mary, was calling in an order for Mom last week and she said “I need to order for an existing patient.” Dad quickly retorted “That’s better than a non-existing one, I guess.” True enough, I suppose!

That order was for a hospital bed for Mom. As her strength declines, getting in and out of the bed alone has become increasingly difficult. That’s been a bit of a turning point for us mentally. Dad realized that for the 1st time in 45 years he won’t be sleeping in the same bed as Mom. We held each other while we rode the wave of tears. We didn’t drown though and quickly recovered. Jeff said that a good cry is good for you. It releases endorphins, or in his case, enDORKins. DOFL!  Mom immediately resolved Dad sleeping on the floor by insisting that we arrange a twin bed for him right next to her bed. No more grunts and joints cracking for him to get up in the middle of the night!

Mom has always been loving but firm in her opinions. She (and Dad) always expressed themselves with generous facial expression. I’m sure you can’t imagine that because Ben and I are so stone-faced! *Waves Sarcasm Flag* Children do an excellent job of imitating their parents and it begins early! My grandmother, Jenny, remembers once when Ben was very young and did something naughty at a gathering. Mom grabbed him up, set him on the kitchen counter to have a little chat with him and Ben pointed his tiny little finger in her face and said “We’ll talk about this later, Mama!” I’m not sure how Mom reacted but if I had to guess; she held in a laugh, inflicted an age-appropriate measure of corporeal punishment then laughed again when she told everyone about it later! As we have discussed previously, Mom was also very reserved in the dress and grooming she chose/allowed for us. We were talking about one beautiful family that Mom & Dad assisted to learn the bible when we were kids, the Gunter family. They had a few daughters and during one study they asked if they could paint my nails. Mom acquiesced, with certain limitations: they had to remove every speck before we left. We squealed with delight! I never remember having my nails painted before this and it was electric blue!!! They, of course, removed every. single. sparkle. before we headed out.

Dad was also pretty strict. He was especially strict in his views of self-control thanks to some Marshmallow study he read once. He practices these methods – i.e. letting a small piece of chocolate fully dissolve in his mouth, never chewing it! and counting how many chocolates he has. He wanted to pass on these patterns to us. Once in a store Ben grabbed a candy bar and Dad told him to put it back because they were going home to eat dinner. Ben returned it without thought. The cashier was taken aback. She wondered how on earth he managed to get Ben to submit so calmly. Dad simply said it was good training. Then, he told us “I don’t know why Ben was wanting the candy bar to begin with! I would give him a M&M every now and then!” DOFL All things considered, they did a pretty decent job at raising us, if I do say so myself. ;-P

We weren’t the only ones who learned to imitate Mom & Dad from watching them. Joon, Dad’s sister, was watching too. She said when they got married she was 9 years old and thought she was hot stuff because she had a sister-in-law now! Having a sister-in-law makes you more grown-up, you know? She also thought Mom was so pretty, and she was! I present the evidence here:

But that wasn’t all Joon learned from Mom. She said she also learned her cooking an cleaning skills from watching Mom. Mom has always been a master homemaker! Some look down on this vocation as being less important, difficult or valued than a secular job. Mom has been as near perfect as a woman could get in this career choice! Joon observed her meticulously scrubbing her pots to a perfect shine after each and every use. We were expected to do the same on our assigned dish duty exclusively using BonAmi. I thought for most of my childhood it was the same can under the sink… The neverending can of BonAmi!​ I hated doing dishes then and I’m not much more fond of the chore today! Fortunately my roommate claims she loves to do dishes! 😉 But, that BonAmi worked! I’m fairly certain those pots have lasted for 40+ years and still look practically brand new!

This year Mom will likely have to watch the Regional Convention from home (such an amazing provision)! We were talking about conventions and Dad said there was one year when he was 18 years old and an attendant. He ended up next to a certain family each day and on day 3 or 4 the father of the family started talking about Dad marrying his daughter and coming to run his construction company in Texas! Dad said “I was scared and I ran!” Kim quipped back “You didn’t run from Mom!” He replied “I ran at her!” 🙂 From the looks of them circa 1973, I’m surprised she didn’t run from him! DOFL! She. Was. A. TEN! and Dad… well, he has certainly improved with age! Mom saw his potential! 😉

Herewe are, 45 years and two kids later… Mom is still beautiful and Dad has met the potential Mom saw in him! Dad says he’d much rather be laughing than dying laughing and I must concur. But in this hand we’re dealt I’m glad we have been able to enjoy Mom’s last months with family eating broken chips and guacamole.