Adventures in New iDevices

It's been a week without my iDevices and I'm going through withdrawal.

I mean, it's only a phone, right? It's only an iPad? What's the big deal?

It's a major #firstworldproblem and then some, I understand. But every time I come back to my desk and reach for my <fill in the blank iDevice> I am reminded all over again that someone came into my space and took something that wasn't theirs.

I spent the week updating the new phone, changing passwords, answering questions from the police and providing them with serial numbers, and borrowing my husband's iPad so I can watch Drop Dead Diva on Netflix from the comfort of my own bed.

Even with the office's new security policy and the increased awareness, it's still like someone broke into my home. And now I'm back at the desk every day and wonder who in the world could have stolen from me.

The police have used the word "victim" a few times when referring to me and my co-worker. I realize that that word technically does describe me now - a victim of petty theft. But it just seems that they're talking about someone else when they use that word. It almost makes me cringe. I never really thought of myself as a victim and I don't want to be.

Whatever they call, whether they find the stolen property or not, we're moving on. Nothing to be done - no Find My Phone feature to be activated - so we are pressing forward. We're working on the house, I'm running my events and getting excited about the fall and all the holidays. Life does go on, with or without iDevices.

Adventures in Stolen iDevices

With such a great weekend with my cousin and his wife in town, I was feeling pretty good on a Monday morning. I started the day with a good physical therapy session for my strained sacroilic (SI) pain that I've been experiencing in my lower back for the past few months and even was able to get coffee on the way into the office. Meetings went well, and then lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse with my cousin on their way out of town. All in all, good stuff.

I was back in the office for an event debriefing and was feeling pretty good about the productivity level of the day. Had even texted with the husband and confirmed some fun house shopping items for the evening - namely, a programmable thermostat and light switch plates! Awesome stuff, really.

When I got back to my desk, I noticed that my iPhone 3 in its pink silicone case was missing. It wasn't plugged into the headphones that were still lying on the desk where I had dropped them an hour before, pausing my music and headed into my 2 pm meeting.

I thought that was strange and started looking around. It was then that I noticed my iPhone 5 in its green and white polka dot case wasn't on the stand where I had left it. So I called it from my office phone but it rang and rang and went to voicemail, without me hearing the familiar "In the big, blue world!" from Finding Nemo the Musical at Disney World.

Huh. Maybe I left it in my cousin's car? I found his number via Google contacts and gave him a call from the landline. He and his wife looked throughout the car and it wasn't there. I called the smokehouse and no one had a lost phone there either.

I started to panic a bit. I opened every drawer around and enlisted my intern for help. Was it in the board room where I just was? The coffee closet? My car? The downstairs bathroom for some reason? Did anyone turn it into the front desk? No, no, no, no, no.

It was when I was describing to a co-worker what to look for when I realized my iPad in its purple stand up case wasn't on the carnival tickets I had purchased for this weekend's event and dropped on my desk this morning.

Three iDevices were sitting on my desk and all three were GONE. I called my phone number again and now it went straight to voicemail. Someone had taken it and turned it off, tired of the ringing.

Losing your phone is awful. Having it stolen truly is a violation. I feel like my arm has been cut off. I've lost about 500 photos since the last time I backed up and I've been working all afternoon to change every password I can think of.

We suspended the number and went to the AT&T store this evening to get a replacement. The store manager was able to approve a new phone for me, even thought I have a year left from being eligible for an upgrade. I had to sign up for the Next program, but even thought it's more per month, I can get a new phone in 12 months and go back to the 2 year contract if we want. But I have *MY* phone number. That's what I was most worried about. I've had this number for over 10 years and so many friends, family and event planning vendors have that number! When the customer service lady on the phone said I couldn't get it back without the physical phone, I freaked. Thank goodness for the store rep who set me straight and got everything set up.

Now I have to go back it up and reinstall things... so how's your Monday going?

Adventures in Warming a New Home

My new home is very, very, very warm. :)

We had our housewarming party yesterday and saw so many wonderful friends and co-workers happy smiling faces filling our new home. I feel very loved.

Everyone came bearing gifts - which I totally did not expect! We have a great supply of wines of all colors, little Disney knick-knacks to decorate our mantle and bookshelves, gift cards to the home improvement stores, and a very sweet set of things that might seem incongruous, but with the poem really made me cry.

Blessings for a New Home:

Bread - that this house may never know hunger.
Salt - that life may always have flavor.
Wine - that joy and prosperity may reign forever. 

There of course was bread and salt in the bag, and the biggest magnum of Riesling wine I'd ever seen! Along with those things, there were fall-themed kitchen towels and a pot holder. To add to it, she gave us a fluffy blanket to "warm" our new home. 

The blessing is from It's a Wonderful Life which I guess I should go watch now, huh? What an incredibly sweet present. I think I might end up making this my go-to housewarming gift.

P.S. I promise when my house is cleaned up after the party, I will take pictures and show you the new place!

Adventures in a New (to me) Decade

Today is a very exciting day.

At 10:57 p.m. this evening, I will have been on this earth for exactly thirty years.

30.

That seems like a huge number. It's a new decade. There's a new bigger number at the start of my age. I am no longer in my 20s.

A few weeks ago, I was apprehensive. People kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday (I never know) or what we should do to celebrate (I never have any ideas, even as event planner). The big 3-0 seemed to be looming and I didn't know what to do about it.

Growing up, I think that everyone looks to the ages of their friends parents or cousins or what have you and you imagine where you'll be at their age. 30 seemed very far away. But then again, I feel like I just turned 21 and made some really bad choices by accepting the Humphrey's birthday plunger that evening and then having to make it home up the hill outside the Laclede garage. ;)

I don't quite know where I thought I would be at 30. I always thought I would be married and perhaps I thought we might have kids at this point.

But in 30 years, I have had some amazing adventures. I've met the love of my life, traveled to Europe and Africa and all across the U.S, discovered my absolute obsession in Disney. I've been planning events (the ideal job for me, even if I didn't know it growing up) full time for almost six years. I've been a small business owner planning weddings for a year and a half. I've put a husband through law school and seen the joy in my love's eyes when he comes home happy from his day at the office. I bought a house.

Who knows what the next year, ten years, thirty years, sixty years holds? I know that I want to enjoy it. I want to travel the world with the love of my life. I want to expand our family. I want to end a day and actually complete all my to-do list.

I think I can make that happen.

Adventures in Disney's Missouri

It's been a crazy few weeks, but what's new?

After the funeral in northern Missouri, we were driving home on the state highways and saw the above sign. We knew we were close to Marcelline, but I had no idea where exactly it was! One of my mom's grandparents actually moved from the farm near the cemetery to Marcelline back in the day. So of course it would be relatively close and not clear across the state.

With my in-laws following behind us, we had to stop by the original Main Street. I had read a few blogs and heard some podcasters talk about their Marcelline experience. Even though we were having sort of a somber day, we had to stop by!

There's actually a museum right in town, a few blocks off the original Main Street. That was our first stop and there was a photo op (obviously!)!

The museum wasn't huge but started with a tour guide who gave us a brief overview of why a museum in the middle of Missouri and why Marcelline is important in the Disney story. The rest of the museum was a self-guided tour. 

For a Disney fan like me, I actually knew most of what the tour guide and the placards said. But still, a bit of Disney in Missouri?! I'll take it any day. 

The connections to the trains was really fun. The museum is situated right next to the tracks and over 70 trains per day come through! A few came barreling by while we were on our tour. One interesting fact? If the conductor is a Marcelline native, you'll hear additional train horns beyond the standard four that have to be given when coming through a town. If there are any more 'toots', it's a conductor saying hi to mom and dad! Isn't that fun?

 

After the museum, we drove the few blocks down to Main Street. This view really says it all. It's much wider than I anticipated but it does kind of feel like the one in Disneyworld! I can see the inspiration, definitely. Can you see the Uptown Theatre towards the middle and beyond the mini van? So neat.

 Such a fun view!

Zurcher's was the inspiration for Walt's Coke Corner or Casey's in Disneyworld, I believe. Behind this newer building, there was a Victorian facade that was there during Disney's time. 

What a road trip!

Adventures in Normalcy

Getting back to normal is hard.

But is there ever really a normal?

We've had a hard weekend. Saying goodbye is never easy.

Flowers sometimes make it easier. We spent at least an hour at the florist's shop on Wednesday choosing the right blooms to have at the funeral. Mom picked the purple gladiolas and the florist added the eucalyptus around the base of the vase that really showed it off well. My cousin and his wife had the purple and white arrangement in the upper left corner and with their selections of flowers it was just perfect. I picked the lower left arrangement with some lilies that were also in the casket spray.

We ended up taking the casket arrangement's flowers up to the internment the next day. Just like for my grandmother's funeral, we placed flowers on top of the urn as it was placed in the ground. We each took a handful of dirt and tossed it in along with the flowers. My aunt had done just that same thing at her mother's internment so there was symmetry there.

We did have some fun looking through family photos in preparation for the funeral. This might be one of my favorites. That's my aunt on the left, my brother is the little one in front (probably not older than 6), my cousin behind him. My dad is the one with the gun (which is hysterical because he was so not a gun toter), then my mom and a 12 year old me. My brother was very unhappy with the whole picture taking operation, so that scowl is not just for the character of the picture! It's him being really annoyed with us.

What I love about my family is our roots. Both of my mom's parents are from northern Missouri, from very small towns. Our family cemetery is up there, about three hours north of Kansas City. There's something soothing about going to the same place where my ancestors are buried. My grandma's family actually homesteaded the county back in the 1880s. There are members of that family going back to that time, all buried here. It's very neat.

We talked about purchasing more plots near our family plot, because they're only $20 a piece! Can you believe that? We might end up doing it sometime. Because the idea of all my family being in this one place, so peaceful, so quiet, up on a hill in northern Missouri, surrounded by farm land, just seems right.

Adventures in Having a Small Family

 

This is my family. My mom's mom is seated in the middle of the photo and her husband (my step-grandfather) is seated next to her. Then in the back row, from the left, is Husband, me, my little brother peeking out from behind me. Then my only cousin (on this side of the family), his wife, then his mom (my aunt and mom's only sister). My dad and mom are on the end on the right.

We've had a lot happen since this photo was taken in Kansas City for my grandma's 75 birthday in 2008. 

The house that the picture was taken in is still there, and has been since my mom and aunt were raised in that kitchen. The booth around the kitchen table is gone (wasn't in this picture actually) but the clock is still on the wall and booms on the hour and wakes me up, since I'm not used to it when I stay there.

But the people in this picture have changed. We've now lost three of them - my dad in 2010, my grandma in 2011 and now my aunt.

Families ebb and flow - we lose parts of our family and gain others. My cousin's wife has been with us through a lot and my husband is as much a part of the family as I am. But with such a small and tight knit family, the loss of any part is felt keenly.

                                           

On Monday afternoon, around the exact time she had the stroke four years before, my dear aunt passed into the fullness of Eternal Life. The chaplain of the nursing home was there, praying with her, and read her a verse from Revelations about the New Jerusalem.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The chaplain told her, "These are your promises, Nancy..." She took another two breaths, and then was gone. It was as peaceful in the end as we had hoped it would be. 

We grieve not for her, but for ourselves. I tell my cousin this, but it doesn't ease the pain of losing your parent. Nothing really can, except for time. I can be there for him, I can drive to Kansas City this afternoon to be with the family, and I can make arrangements for the funeral music and for the reception afterwards. Those are the things I'm good with and that's what I can do at this time. 

When we were on hospice watch a few weeks ago, I was sitting in her room with my cousin and we debated which was harder - losing a parent quickly to an embolism (like I did with my dad) or watching a parent slowly fade away (like he was experiencing with his mom). 

We decided that both really suck.

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Thank you for all your prayers and kind words. More of the same is always appreciated. Hug your loved ones tight and tell them you care. Because that means the world to them.