5/23 Catch-up

Lots of catching up to do at work, but today I mean catching up on my weekend activities. So much happened that I just wrote in "snippets," trying to encapsulate moments that either moved me, made me laugh, or both.

Snippet: So many thoughts, so much activity, so many people, so much love and laughter. Few disagreements as long as we steer clear of politics and religion.

Mostly I hung out with the kids, playing Guerilla FourSquare.

Snippet: Jane and Pete have been married for 20 years now. For their anniversary Jane designed a ring for Pete to give her (we Bozarth women are rather assertive). It's very beautiful--a big diamond in the middle and on either side is the birthstone of each of her children.

Jan agreed it was gorgeous but said she would rather have a tree.

We sat on Jan's brand new wraparound porch of their newly-built home and looked at the beauty surrounding us on their acreage.

Jane smiled, looked at the trees and held up her hand with the ring on it and said, "I can come to your house, enjoy your trees, while wearing my ring."

Don't know if it's funny reading it, but it was hilarious in person.

Snippet: Two nieces are pregnant. On with her second boy and one with her third. Both are so beautiful.

Snippet: During most of the party tons of people were playing FourSquare. From my age (57) all the way down to a five year old. Such fun, and everyone was nice to the little ones. Not so much to the old ones. But when the "big boys" of high school and college age wanted to play rougher, they said no kids or girls allowed (except Aunt Jer). I felt like I'd been crowned homecoming queen.

After a few rounds I said I thought Sarah should be allowed to play. She's my 13 y.o. niece. I said, "She can play rough and she's not a whiner." The boys said okay. Then a few minutes later I got a 12 y.o. girl in the game. They allowed her in "on probation," but she did fine. Others didn't want to play rough so they just watched or found something else to do.

Oh, how I loved it...my old, fat body actually moved where and when I wanted.

Snippet: I tried to get a self-portrait style picture with every niece and nephew there. You know--the dorky kind of picture you take by holding the camera yourself and as far out as possible.

I only skipped a few of the kids. Riley Jo didn't want me to hold her, neither did Blake. But I got a picture of Blake with me, with his dad Matt holding him. It was fine because Matt's my nephew and Blake is my great-nephew. Brandon left before I got to him. I think I was playing boy games at the time.

Some nieces/nephews of the clan weren't there--Jenna (her boyfriend Josh was having his graduation party); Adam (in NYC with his art class); Suzie and Liza (only nieces who seldom attend family functions); Rob, Jill, Kayla and Hunter (my kids and grandkids who live far away); and Craig (lives in Columbus OH). There were 13 there and 9 not there, with two more on the way.

Snippet: Eric is the nephew who was the recipient of the party. One of his good friends is the son of a college chum. I looked up and saw Tim and his wife, Amy. (I did have to ask what her name was...I'm old, what can I say? Thanks to Cindy for commenting on this entry.)

I finished my first two years at Quincy University (then it was Quincy College), which was about 1 1/2 blocks from my home. Beef (his nickname) was one of my best friends. At this late date I can confess I had such a crush on him. Beef and Ex were friends. His name was really Ed, but he said he came to Quincy on an exodus from New Jersey, so Ex it was. And my best female friend was Gerri Flynn. We were known as the Gerris or Jeris, depending on which one of us was spelling it. The four of us hung out a lot. Gerri was from New Jersey too.

Anyway it was good to see Tim (and Amy, and to meet Brian). They said next time I'm in town I should give them a call and we could do something. That would be great. Also Ex comes to town every five years and I'd love to see him too. Even though I ended up graduating from another school, I have such great memories of QC.

Tim is chair of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at the local community college and I asked him about working there when I retire. But as homesick as I'm getting, perhaps it will be sooner. There's also a job at QU that seems made for me, Director of Alumni Relations.

Too bad I love CPI so much. That would make the choice easy.

More snippets later. Back to work for now.