Home Runs and Strikeouts

Our Georgia Softball Dawgs continue winning with multiple home runs and double digit strikeouts.  After sweeping their first Southeastern Conference play last weekend against Mississippi State, Georgia this weekend will face Texas A&M.  Gerald and I wish we were there in College Station because our granddaughter Erin will be able to attend to see her sister Geri Ann play and to visit with the rest of her family.  We will be watching on the computer, of course.  Since I last wrote, the Georgia website has offered a live video, and that is far better than Game Tracker.  We always enjoy Kevin Copp announcing even when the audio and video or Game Tracker aren’t in sync.

Alex Hugo, an Olathe, Kansas, native has been the hero for the team recently.  Not only was she named Player of the Week for the SEC but also chosen national Player of the Week by both USA Softball and College Sports Madness. And no wonder.  Alex hit her 12^th home run Wednesday, and it was the fourth game in a row she hit either the game tying or the game winning home run.  Of course Paige Wilson hit her 6^th home run that night against Gardner-Webb and Katie Brown her 2^nd.  Home runs are expected when Georgia plays. Anna Swafford, Kaylee Puailoa, Tina Iosefa, Maeve McGuire, Geri Ann, and Bethany Beggs are all home run hitters this season. 

In the meantime, our pitchers Geri Ann and Chelsea Wilkinson make strikeouts look easy.  Chelsea with a 14-2 winning record had 14 and 12 strikeouts against Mississippi State, her sixth time for double-digit strikeouts this season. Geri Ann pitched against Gardner-Webb on Wednesday and now has a 12-0 winning record, and she tied her 9 strikeout high that afternoon.

Now I wish I had not started naming names because what would we do without the fielding skills and fast legs of Sam LaZear  (highest batting average right now on the team) and Naija Griffin, both of whom I love to watch play.   And Bekah Farris, Malia Rivers, Katie Sowers, Tiesha Reed, Adele Harrison, and our second Kaylee—Kaylee Williams all have played important roles this year. These young women  play as a team always trying to improve over their previous performance.  And that has allowed them to best quite a few other teams so far.

Yesterday was our youngest grandchild’s 15^th birthday.  Just as I wish I could be in Texas for the games this weekend to see that set of grandchildren, I wished I could have been in Freeport yesterday as I have  also wished I could have been there for all Cecelie’s  high school freshman concerts and performances. I finally got her copy of Heavens to Betsy mailed with her birthday card on Tuesday thanks to our granddaughter Brianna, who is home on spring break from Murray State this week. She did the post office errand for me since I was running late for Katherine’s house.  I have tried to share the Maud Hart Lovelace books with the granddaughters at appropriate ages because I loved them so much when my friend Lynn discovered them for us at the Anna City Library, oh so long ago. Because I was gone most of yesterday, Gerald and I did not get to render our phone call duet singing “Happy Birthday” to Cecelie until today. 

When I woke up this morning, I found Gerald’s note on the breakfast table that my brother was in the hospital. I called Jim after his procedure thanks to the phone number his wife Vivian left us on the phone. Then I called my sister to share what I had learned since she called him yesterday.  He seemed in great spirits and his voice was so strong.  A bleeding ulcer has happened to him before, and it is less scary than a diagnosis could have been. 

So talking to my two siblings was the happy highlight of my day at home. (The last three days I have unexpectedly had 8 to 10 hour shifts spending time with Katherine since one aide went to the hospital for an asthma attack and came out with a throat cancer diagnosis.  Another aide has a mother in the hospital.)  My sister Rosemary is eight years older than I am, and thanks to her twice-weekly Tai Chi participation is in better shape than I am.  However, we are both amazed at how busy we are during “retirement” and are saddened that our younger generations have greater health problems than we do. Rosemary and Phil still serve Friday night supper to anywhere from 10 to 20 for their extended families that they are rightfully so proud of.  Rosie quoted Phil today at remembering that the two of them went off to live in far-off Texas all by themselves, and now they are surrounded with family.  They still are pleased, however, when Illinois relatives come to visit. 

I am waiting for all this bad weather to clear to drive up for the day for a long-delayed visit with my brother and wife.  And maybe if the Georgia Dawgs keep winning, we will get to go to Oklahoma City for the nationals and on down to Rosie and Phil’s at Amarillo and see those Texas families they have created.

Sunshine and Rain, Sadness and Joy

Life rolls on too full and at too fast a pace despite the lack of an email account. This has been a week of contrasts including fear, grief, and celebration.  After weeks of being careful to avoid falls on ice, tor the first time in a long time, I walked down our lane to the mailbox on Tuesday. I did not even wear a hat because it felt good to have balmy breezes gently moving my hair.  Only a thin layer of ice covered our lake with many gaps with water showing through.  Since then we have had another lovely day and then a rainy day yesterday with tornado warnings and high winds last night.  All the ice is gone from the lake today, and the weather is nice.

Not as nice as it is in Orlando where the University of Georgia Bulldogs are playing in the Citrus Classic softball tourney. We have  spent a large part of the day in Gerald’s office downstairs watching ESPN3 on the computer.  Mary Ellen and Fifi  had come over for a morning visit and enjoyed the game with us. We saw Geri Ann not only pitch a good game against Marshall, but also hit two grand slams in that game.  Freshman Bekah Farris came in to relieve Geri Ann, and they combined for a shut-out game winning 17-0 in five innings. The Georgia hitters were showing their stuff with two more homeruns by Kaylee Puailoa and two more by Paige Wilson and Maeve McGuire, both players from Illinois.

This afternoon Mary Ellen came back and our friend Don Boyd joined us as we watched the Bulldogs put down North Carolina State 8-0 also in five innings.  Chelsea Wilkinson pitched a complete game shut-out.  Geri Ann, Alex Hugo, and freshman Bethany Beggs hit the three homeruns in that game.  Needless to say, the Glasco family was in high spirits at the end of the afternoon, and we needed that. 

Our week has been filled with sadness.  Last Friday Gerald and I enjoyed dinner out for Valentine’s Day before I went on to spend the evening with our daughter Katherine as I do most nights. I came home and checked the computer as I also do most nights to distract myself from the grief of what multiple sclerosis has done to our beautiful and talented daughter.  I try to turn off my mind from the evening’s sufferings  before I go to bed and try to sleep. But the first message I saw on Facebook was from a daughter of Sam White, our friend and former pastor for over nine years. Laurel  shared that he was being brought home from Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Saint Louis to have hospice care. He had lost his battle with leukemia, after all.  There was nothing more the hospital could do.  Before I had finished crying over that message, I read the second message directly beneath that one from Sam’s other daughter.  Aimee told us that when he reached their Makanda home, Sam passed away.

Last fall just when Sam was ready with prepared syllabi to begin a full time teaching position with Morthland College, he learned the reasons for his health problems.  Soon he was a Barnes-Jewish with the diagnosed of leukemia.  Sam and Pam are both writers, and they and their two daughters kept their many friends from around the world updated on Facebook as they shared their struggle with this awful illness. Pam managed to continue to teach art and music at  DeSoto elementary school and carefully guarded her sick days to still be in St. Louis when Sam needed her. Driving through all the bad weather and managing to always find good things to share with us, Pam told of their struggle while constantly expressing appreciation for the friends who helped her at school and home and for the many visitors and prayers said for their family.  Her inspirational posts kept us close and reminded us of God’s love.

People celebrated with Sam and Pam when he was released from the hospital to come home for Christmas and to continue his recovery there.  We rejoiced with his family as they had a wonderful Christmas together celebrating the birth of Christ and Sam’s successful stem cell transplant from his brother Cecil. Although it was still necessary for many return trips to St. Louis, finally as he improved, some procedures were able to be done at the Carbondale hospital. With all the bad weather  and Pam’s full teaching schedule, friends knew how stressful and exacting their lives were even as they rejoiced at his recovery. Sam and Pam were strong and resilient and eager to use every new experience including all the hardships to serve wherever life required them to be. 

Before he pastored churches in our area, Sam and Pam had worked many years with college students and eventually ended back in this ministry at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. (That is how Katherine knew Pam and Sam.) After they left the SIUC ministry, Sam continued as a volunteer helping international students in English and in any way he could as their friend. Because they had so many close friends and multitudes of connections locally and around the world, Facebook was the only efficient way for their family to answer the questions about Sam’s condition and the bombardment of concern. 

Sam spent his last Valentine’s Day with Pam, the love of his life. They used that last day together to share their love with each other and to prepare for Hospice and his approaching death. They barely arrived at their home in Makanda before Sam spoke his last word:  Home.  His son Mike felt Sam meant it both literally and metaphorically as he arrived at home and was transported to his heavenly home.  Although she had expected some more days with him, she realized that Sam had held on so she would not have to make that return trip home without him. 

The visitation and the celebration of Sam’s life at his funeral brought many friends and family to support and share their grief with Pam and their children.  We did not try to go because we had our own hospital visit to make Wednesday for tests and procedures.  We took overnight cases with us in case we needed to stay over night. I would not be honest if I did not admit to fear. Mary Ellen came over to stay with me in the visitors room and to drive her dad home if reports were good.  They were.  Very good. Gerald invited us to celebrate with a late afternoon meal at Cracker Barrel on the way home. The nurse who heard him broke into a praise for the chicken and dumplings there.  I always order the grilled fish dinner,  but she threw a craving on me.  The dumplings were as good as she said.  Gerald followed the doctor’s orders and took the next day easy, and so did I.  Katherine had arranged for another aide to be with her the last two evenings, so I was glad to see her again tonight.

I hadn’t realized the Florida tournament started today, and I had planned to start cleaning off at least one paper piled desk in my office.   Instead I watched the Georgia reach their 11-0 record for early season play.  Tomorrow we will be watching the games on game tracker as usual, but exciting images from today’s plays will help us visualize those hard-hitting Dawgs.

Catching Our Breaths

Last Sunday night our family gathered at the Cedar family’s town church as Sam had been invited to speak.  The far-away families needed to leave for home and had planned to leave in late afternoon, but going to support Sam won out.  Mike and Leslie with their dog, little Millie, had left us for their drive home to Tennessee, but everyone left the farm for the 6 p.m. service.

We arrived in three cars at different times, so everyone could leave for home immediately after that service.  So we were sitting in three different places, and we all began to look for Sam’s cousins who had come in a fourth car.  The service had begun and none of us were seeing them.  We were communicating with looks of curiosity at first, and someone realized they might not even know the way there without Sam in the car to guide them. Because the kids had turned off their phones as they should have, texting and phoning brought no results.  Our curiosity had turned to concern, and my imagination began to run wild.  It was hard to concentrate on the service, but I know all of our family was praying much the same prayers as we thought about the possibility of an accident enroute to the service.

Although I did not see our son-in-law Rick leave, when he quietly came back to his seat again, I knew all was well.  The younger generation was somehow out of our view from our spots in the sanctuary, but Rick had found their car in the back parking lot and knew they were safely inside.  I am sure each of us adults was ready to worship with great thankfulness after it had occurred to us how horrible an accident could have been with young people from three families traveling in one car.  So by the time Sam spoke, we were relaxed and filled with gratitude that at least for then that life could continue in a peaceful fashion.

I have been catching my breath and getting back to normal for me and Gerald here at Woodsong ever since.   Mary Ellen was hopping up and washing our dishes throughout the weekend, and last Sunday afternoon she had both the dishwasher full and sink-full washed.  So things were in good shape when our families left here.

 

Finally we have given away, frozen, eaten up, or fed to Jake all the left overs.  As I reduced bowls of food, larger serving pieces were emptied and I have those all washed up and put away now.  Tablecloths have been laundered and fresh ones put back on the tables.  A pair of jeans, someone’s charger, and the lost oval Pyrex lid have all been found among the left-behinds which always occur after families visit. Two beds have been changed and sheets laundered and the third set of sheets is in the washer now.  All the towels used throughout the weekend are clean again, and as soon as the drier stops, the last ones will be folded. Or maybe I will let them go till Monday since I am going in to Katherine’s house soon.

Katherine has had a busy week and with the help of aides accomplished much.  She arrived for one doctor appointment and one dentist appointment two days in a row, and she met a request for more information from a government agency.  She now has a new state of Illinois identification card in her billfold and a new Social Security card ordered. 

Gerald had a busy week too.  He had scheduled a checkup for our furnace since it had been two years since the last inspection.  Unfortunately, a very expensive replacement part was needed, and it was finally decided it would be cheaper in the long run to get a new furnace with a ten-year warranty than to keep having to spend such large amounts to keep the old one running.  So two days were spent replacing our furnace. And the repairmen found out the cause of the hot water shortage we had over the weekend and that too has been made to function correctly.

Wednesday night Gerald and I breathed a sign of relief as we watched the video as our Georgia Bulldogs won over their in-state rival Georgia Tech with a mercy ruling.  Last weekend at Fayetteville had brought three unexpected losses and heightened our disappointment that Gerry’s family could not be with us at Easter.  Playing 5/6-ranked University of Tennessee Volunteers was going to be a real challenge this weekend, but we were hoping after Wednesday’s many UGA home runs that we were ready for the challenge.  Yesterday and today’s games have been a disappointment, however, but we are hoping things change tomorrow afternoon with the third game of the series.