Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Remembering Harold Staubitz

(Before I begin - have you ever had a night when sleep was so hard to come by that you actually started debating the necessity of sleeping? No? Just me? Sorry.)

Jason sent me a rare text message yesterday:

"Mom called. Harold Staubitz died."

I was immediately taken back to South Carolina, where we lived for four years before moving to Mississippi.

(Well, not literally. I was still in my office, which is good because I was pretty swamped. But you get the idea.)

Harold Staubitz and his wife were members of our church. Three of their four children had also attended there at one time or another. Jason taught piano to one of their granddaughters when we first got married.

He was retired - maybe on disability. He had pretty bad diabetes, which may be what finally took his life. Jason said he'd heard that Harold's leg had been amputated in recent years.

If my memory serves me correctly, he was having a particularly bad time with his health when I was pregnant with Anna Marie, and Jason was visiting his hospital room on September 11, 2001 when I called to tell him what was going on.

I don't know what his ethnic background was, but he was always speaking Italian and making pasta e fagoli for our church's annual Super Bowl Soup and Salad Supper.

When we had our housewarming party after we got married, Harold brought a gift bag containing some salt, and a loaf of bread, and some sparkling grape juice (since we don't drink). He told me what each gift represented, but for the life of me, I can't remember just now.

As I lay in bed last night, unable to sleep, I couldn't help but smile at his memory.

He and his wife (who worked at the Dollar Tree in town) would come by and help me at the soup kitchen I ran, sometimes volunteering if I had to be off for a doctor's appointment or a church trip. His diabetes left him with a good bit of nerve damage, and he shuffled a little when he walked, but that didn't stop Harold from trying to help the less fortunate.

Their daughters started riding the bus to church when they were small, and after years of coming to see their kids in church activities, the parents finally asked Jesus into their hearts and started coming as well.

He loved to hear me sing - he called me a maestro - and when his three-day-old, premature granddaughter died, he asked me to sing It is Well at the service.

And yes, that was at least as difficult as you would imagine it to be.

He and his wife always had a kind word, and I'm sure that packed up somewhere I still have the porcelain baby shoe they gave Anna Marie for a shower present.

I've often wondered how they were doing, and I guess now I know, at least in part.

When I get home tonight, I plan on finding a card to send to his wife.

And for a while to come, I'll be remembering Harold Staubitz.

Friday, July 04, 2008

What is July 4 all about?

It's about the birth of our country, and those who have fought and died to keep that country free.

It's about those freedoms that were fought for, like the freedom to worship as we please, and live as we please, and (one of my personal favorites) write whatever we want in the newspaper.

Well, within reason. And libel laws.

It's also about spending the first part of the day playing with your kid in your backyard, and getting an unexpected text message from your oldest and best friend. And going back to the house that was her actual home, and your second home, when you were teenagers, and spending hours sitting outside in the breeze, just shooting the breeze.

It's about going to see fireworks, parked on the right-of-way in front of a stip mall, talking about old memories and making new ones.

And about little ones falling asleep on the way home, and being carried inside by daddies, only to wake up long enough to remind their moms to take their sandals off.

I hope you had a great, safe, freedom-filled July 4. Did I host a grand feast? Nope. Did I spend a small fortune on bottle rockets and sparklers? Not this year. But I got to spend time with some of my favorite people in the whole wide world. And my voice is tired from all the "visiting" we did. And I wouldn't change our spur-of-the-moment, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of day for all the Roman candles in the world.

That, I think, is what July 4, and freedom, are all about.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Here comes the bride!






I'm about to BLOW Blogger's mind with all these pictures.

We had such a good time with the wedding this weekend. Friday night was the most entertaining wedding rehearsal I've ever been to, and believe me, I've been to plenty.

(It was my first Catholic rehearsal, so I don't know - maybe they're all that way?)

I have to say, the priest was hilarious, and having someone in authority in charge of the rehearsal is a stroke of genius. No one is going to argue with a man of the cloth, the way they might with your Aunt Ethel who is coordinating things.

The church was spectacular, to say the least. After I had the honor of helping Marcia get dressed, I snapped a few pictures around the sanctuary.





This is the baptismal font. The priest said it had won an award for liturgical design. (And my mother walked past it - twice - without even noticing it.)













I even got all fancy-schmancy and put my camera into black and white mode. And turned off the flash, so I had brace myself against various things.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and the priest was very understanding, given that about 95% of the folks there had no idea what was going on. It was a Catholic wedding full of Baptists.

The priest did mention Marcia's aunt in the prayer, and her family was there. You could tell it was really hard for her husband and kids to be there. In fact, he took his grandson (who is 6) and left the reception early. They went to McD's so he could spend some time with him.

I was so exhausted afterward. I was also thankful that I had successfully worn high-heeled boots and walked up a ramp to the podium without slipping, and that I had managed to get through the scripture and the responsorial reading without making a total fool of myself.

Oh, yeah, and Friday night at the rehearsal dinner, Jason informed me that a couple from church was having a Super Bowl party at their house. Great. I had no time to do anything about it Friday or Saturday, so I braved the crowds and ventured to Walmart after church.

The man of the house was pulling for the Giants (who else, with Ole Miss alum Eli?) and he did not play. When his daughter grabbed the remote and changed the channel during a commercial, I thought she would not survive to see another morning.

We left during halftime, and, believe it or not, the two non-football-watching Turners finished the game after we got home.

And got to see little Eli make his family proud.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a murder trial starting this week. You may not see me around these parts for the rest of the week.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Movie memories

Ever have one of those birthday celebrations that lasts several days?

Valerie, I know you have!

Well, my birthday isn't until tomorrow, but we got a head start on Friday night.

The Orpheum theater in Memphis has a summer movie series each year. Last year, we went to watch Return of the Thin Man for Amanda's birthday. It's so cool to see those old movies on that huge screen, in that beautiful theater. And all for just $6.

This year, Jason and I met my BFF Marcia and her fiance Luke to watch The Wizard of Oz.

Marcia had to wait for Luke to come from his job (about two hours from Memphis) and told us to go ahead and eat. So we did.

We bought the tickets first - in line behind one of the weather guys from our local CBS station! I played it so cool, and wasn't spastic AT ALL!- and then went to Peabody Place Mall for a slice of pizza.

Peabody Place is like no mall you've (probably) ever seen. It's attached to the Peabody Hotel downtown, and is absolutely beautiful inside. Beceause of its downtown location (and late addition to the area) it's tall and narrow.



They don't have very many stores - it's really pretty much a tourist hangout, since there isn't any free parking attached to it. There is a 22 screen theater which includes a giant screen (I've seen Anchorman and X Men 3 there) and an indoor blacklight-lit neon golf course, not much more.

(Oh, and a Starbucks down in the courtyard, but I didn't get to stop there Friday.)

Then, after Marcia and Luke scarfed down their dinner, we walked back to the Orpheum. I was so glad we'd bought our tickets ahead of time, because there were people everywhere - including her (apparently an employee):



I don't know if you can tell, but she favored Chelsea Clinton an awful lot.

Inside, there was a costume contest. Some of the kids were spot-on, some not so much.



And, look at this cutie pie:



And she didn't even win! What is wrong with these people?

They had a contest for the adults too, but it wasn't as fun because they all either rented their costumes or came as sexed-up versions of the characters.

And Marcia said the Tin Man was creeping her out because he had face paint and everything.

After a Little Rascals short, the movie started.

It was SO MUCH FUN! We sat in the first balcony (maybe called the Mezzanine? I don't know). Luke wanted to throw peanuts, but Marcia put the kabosh on that idea. Really, unless you were seated at the extreme sides, there weren't any bad seats.

It was kind of like what I imagine a Rocky Horror Picture Show viewing is like - lots of audience participation. We sang and clapped along with the songs, and recited lines with the movie, and hissed when the witch appeared.

And we picked apart little things - like when the others come to save Dorothy, and she tells them the hourglass is about to run out, that doesn't mean anything to them - they don't know about the hourglass! And after the witch is gone, when they ask those green guys for the broomstick, he says "Please, and take it with you." Huh? Who asks for something and then leaves it there?

Guess that's how they do things in the Merry Old Land of Oz.

And one final picture, which should've been taken at the beginning of the evening and not the end (because it isn't the best picture of either of us, and I'm not quite sure why I'm even posting it, except that it feels kind of obligatory):



One final question, posed by Luke: there were two roads, one yellow brick and one red brick. Where did the red brick road lead?