A Family Reunion, Birthday and Celebration of Life

This weekend we went to Wisconsin to visit with my parents. We also got to see their beautiful new house that they just moved into last weekend! The main reason we chose this weekend to go to Wisconsin was for the big family reunion that was planned. It was also a birthday party for my Aunt Ali and a celebration of life for those whose time with us may be limited.

img_7253.jpgimg_7305.jpgimg_7379.jpgFullSizeRender-6img_7257.jpgThe family reunion was held at Lindberg Park in Combined Locks. It was a really nice park with a lot of grassy areas, a huge pavilion with a kitchen, plenty of parking, a playground and a basketball hoop. It really was a perfect setting. I told on of my aunts that I’d never been to this park before and she laughed and said our family had been holding reunions there for 50 years. According to my mom I’d been there when I was young. Also, on the drive to the park I passed by the house where I lived in Kaukauna (although I didn’t recognize it), the street that I lived on in Appleton (Drew! I didn’t remember it til I saw it) and the place on the river where my dad grew up (which I recalled driving past often when I used to drive from Little Chute and Kaukauna to work in Appleton).

img_7264.jpgimg_7277.jpgimg_7269.jpgimg_7283.jpgIt was my Aunt Ali who was celebrated her 57th birthday three days early. She has had a tough battle with breast cancer for many years. Her positive outlook on life in the face of death should be in an inspiration to all of us. I’m sure she has her dark times, but the positive energy that flows from her being is uplifting to everyone around her. Amazing lady. Makai decorated  birthday card for her with markers and stickers and included two photos of himself. Aunt Ali has always had soft spot in her heart for Makai. It’s so sweet!

FullSizeRenderFullSizeRender-1img_7399.jpgMy cousin Dawn has been visiting from Florida for several weeks. It was so great to see her again!

img_7389.jpgMy dad and his brother Doug.

img_7403.jpgMy mom with her sisters Connie, Wanda, Sue and Alice

FullSizeRender-4img_7352.jpgThe sisters: Connie, Wanda, Mary, Sue, Alice and their brother Maurice. (And Charlotte!)

img_7398.jpgMy mom and her brother, Morey.

FullSizeRender-2Kiara is my cousin’s grandaughter. FullSizeRender-3I’m not sure what the officially makes her to me!
img_7290.jpgKiara and Makai blowing bubbles. Both are just about 3 years old (She in September, he in October). img_7291.jpgOn a family tree, Makai would be on the same level as Kiara’s Mom, Miranda (I think.)

img_7419.jpgArt by Aunt Sue.

img_7393.jpgimg_7330.jpgimg_7391.jpgCousins: Tiffani, Melissa, Marla, Kelly, Rachelle, Dawn, Skyonna, Katrina, Ciara, Kelly, Richard, Molly, Pat. (And Charlotte!) Me: “Is Pat the only guy?” Everyone: “Uh, no. Your brother… ?”

img_7404.jpg
Cousins Pat and Kelly

FullSizeRender-10Family photos: Amanda, Jessica, Richard, Stephanie, Rick, Mary, Rachelle, Dallas, Makai

img_7397.jpgFamily photos: Kelly, Margo, Jeff, Sue, Charlotte, Tessa
FullSizeRender-11img_7260.jpgFullSizeRender-9FullSizeRender-7FullSizeRender-5FullSizeRender-13FullSizeRender-12img_7401.jpgimg_7400.jpgThe kids (even the big kids) played so hard on the playground! I hardly even went in because Makai had lots of babysitters: Stephanie, Jessica, Tessa, Charlotte, Margo. Ok, maybe not Margo. And Larry.

img_7320.jpgLucky for Richard, Dallas, Matt and Dominic, Larry had a basketball in the trunk of his car. Dallas was feeling pretty great about his “old man game” when he beat some of his competitors who were 20 years younger than him!

Fun fun day for everyone! So glad we came up and could see all of the the family!

Superbowl Bound!

I bunkered down in my living room with my fellow Packers fan Caroline today and watched the Packers beat the Bears to win the NFC Championship and earn the right to play a Superbowl XLV. Caroline brought over all of the Wisconsin necessities: A port wine cheese ball made in Kaukauna, WI (where I lived for a few years); cheddar from Weyauwega, WI; summer sausage from Oshkosh, WI; and Packer-themed cupcakes (not from WI, but fun anyway). She also brought over some Leinenkugel’s beer from Chippewa Falls, WI and a microbrew from Horny Goat, out of Stevens Point, WI. And I had some Shine On beer from Central Waters Brewing in Amherst, WI and a variety of beers from Sand Creek Brewing in Black River Falls, WI. It was awesome!

Later on Jess came by and watched the end of the game with us. It was fun to have a girls football party where in between plays we could ponder important things like “Who is cuter? Matthews or Rodgers?” and “Did you hear that Cutler is dating Kristin Cavallari?” and rewind BJ Raji’s touchdown play 5 times so we could giggle at his dance. Fun day. AND!!!! PACKERS IN THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!

Foreign Familiar

Homemade Christmas Ornaments, Ukrainian Village, Chicago
Homemade Christmas Ornaments, East Ukrainian Village, Chicago

In 1995 I was 20 years old. I was in my 6th year of a 7-year-long relationship and we lived together in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. I was 20 going on 40, or at least it felt like it, and I made a lot of homemade Christmas ornaments. Plastic canvas, cross stitch, painted ceramic and wood. I remember being so proud that there wasn’t a store-bought ornament on our entire Christmas tree.

Fast forward through a whole bunch of stuff to the summer of 2001. I was in San Diego preparing to move to New York City. I knew my apartment was going to be small so I packaged the things that meant something to me and shipped them to my parents’ house. All of the rest, I sold. When I moved to Chicago earlier this year my parents brought down some of the things that they’d been storing for me. I was eager to use my closets (closets, can you imagine!?) and I didn’t really have time to go through it all so I stored it away. Last night I went through some of the boxes and found all of my homemade Christmas ornaments.

Yesterday I was talking to Margaret about deer hunting and the shooting that happened over the weekend in Wisconsin. The suspect is Hmong. Margaret grew up in NY state, not a great distance from New York City, and didn’t know what a deer stand was. She also didn’t know anything about the Hmong community and the prejudices they many times face and are going to face in the wake of this weekend’s shooting. And I knew far too much. When I talk about these things, when I hold a Christmas ornament in my hand that I spent hours making almost 10 years ago, it feels foreign. But so familiar. Like it was another life, and yet it could have been yesterday.

I look around me right now and wonder which things that I hold dear, which things I make with my own two hands, will seem foreign to me when I look back at them 10 years from now. My digital camera? This website? Who knows. But one thing is for certain: I am getting fucking old. And sappy.

From Kaukauna to New York City

Today was my first official day of work in New York. At lunch I passed by a NY
Fire Department firestation
. The fire stations here are shrines and memorials to those who died on September 11. There are pictures of deceased fire fighters and missing people who were in the towers, letters and notes from the public supporting the firefighters, police and spreading messages of peace and victory, pictures drawn by children, candles, flowers, etc. There are two fire stations that I pass by every day. Today I saw that there were pictures drawn by school children in Kaukauna, WI at one of them. I used to live there.