Not Meant to be an Orphan

Forty-one years ago in the year 1968, I was living in the small town of Cairo, Nebraska, population approximately 600, with my family. The year before, my dad had a career change, from a farmer to a mechanic, after he bought a garage in Cairo. For the first time, we lived "in town" instead of out in the country.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and had two surgeries, including a mastectomy, during July and August of that year. Her recovery was slow and it was a very difficult winter for her.

Recently my older brother John was in Cairo, and an elderly person he visited there had all the back issues of the local newspaper, "The Cairo Record". She couldn't find this article while he was there, but found it later and sent it to him.

From the December 20, 1968 Cairo Record:

”We just couldn’t think straight”

"Stan Troyer, his son John or Dan Kroeger can tell you what it is like to be monoxide poisoned after a brush with asphyxiation Saturday night. The three men were working in Troyer’s Garage on Dan’s truck, actually had the door open while the truck was running, yet half an hour after they shut the truck off, Stan keeled over. Both John and Dan were partially asphyxiated at the time, but had the presence of mind enough to get Stan outside, Dan Kroeger told John to call the Doctor, then passed out himself. John managed to call the Doctor and Dan’s wife, then staggered outside where he also became unconscious. By the time Dr. Harb arrived, Stan and Dan had come around, but John was still under. Dr. Harb had fire chief Al Veeder called to bring the oxygen resuscitator and about half an hour later, John was back on his feet.

Stan said he had often wondered why a person receiving an overdose of carbon monoxide could not do something about it, such as go for fresh air, or open a door, but he said all of them were staggering around trying to work, but they were unable to think clearly, John said at times he can recall that everything seemed hilariously funny.

Perhaps the thing that saved their lives was when Stan passed out. Until then, apparently, everything seemed under control and none of them felt they were in any way in danger, but when Stan fell over, it jarred them into the knowledge that they must get fresh air.

Dan recalled being dizzy at an earlier point, but said he went back to work thinking it was after effects from the flu.

At any rate, all three feel lucky to be alive and will not soon forget their experience."

Wow. I have heard this story many times over the years, but reading this made me think about how different my life would have been had I lost my dad and/or brother that night. My siblings and I would have been orphans five years later after my mom died! What would have happened to me and my three younger siblings? My imagination can run wild! Obviously it was not God's time for them to go, and I am so very thankful for that!

Even Really Stubborn People get Sick

If sheer determination and stubbornness prevented one from catching the seasonal ailments that go around, then I would never get them. (Not that I'm admitting to being stubborn.) I set my mind that I will not get sick and miss work. Perhaps it helps slightly, because I rarely catch anything that keeps me home more than a day or two. But last Wednesday at work, a dry cough kept erupting from me, and a headache wouldn't go away.

Maybe you've noticed that we are currently living in a social climate where any coughing, nose blowing, or related behaviors are greeted with more than distaste; some people become very alarmed. I did not feel very popular in the office that day, and it was just a dry cough! By the end of the day I knew for sure I was getting sick and was very happy to find that one sub who does a great job was available. I made arrangements with her to come in, optimistically saying to plan on just the morning because surely I'd be fine by noon. I came home and went to bed.

Hah. Optimism didn't help me either. Although I did tell her to plan on just the morning again the next day because surely I'd be fine by then. Double hah. Shortly after noon on Friday, my temperature reached its' high of 101.2, which really isn't bad. The next couple of days I felt very fortunate that I had a mild version of the ailment, with only a couple of hours a day with a fever, but constant extreme exhaustion and tummy aches when I tried to eat. But no upper respiratory symptoms - the dry cough even disappeared! And no nausea or other unmentionable digestive problems.

My dear husband treated me like royalty the first day that I was in bed, bringing me drinks and even an unsolicited pancake, and toast and chicken noodle soup when I asked. Texting was a great way to meekly communicate my simple needs, and oh the joy of his predictable response, "Yes, Princess." When I moved downstairs to the living room couch the next day, he was a bit less servile. I suspect he had been trying to keep me isolated. But I stayed out of the family room, never touching his recliner or his remote, washing my hands often and spraying disinfectant on surfaces I touched in the kitchen.

I considered staying in bed the next day hoping he would again wait on me hand and foot, but my back ached from being in the recumbent position for too long. At least on the couch you can vary from sitting and reclining!

I watched a lot of HGTV and Food Channel because they didn't require full time alertness to be enjoyable. It doesn't really matter if you doze off in the middle and miss the ending. Apparently the Food Channel had quite an impact on me because I tossed quite a slab of butter in the skillet tonight and sauteed some chicken tenderloins with garlic, lemon pepper, and a bit of thyme. It was so juicy and fabulous. I normally would have used just a small slosh of olive oil. The Food channel shows cook with a lot of butter. They seem to have no idea that it's really high in fat and calories. There is one fun show with a husband and wife bantering as they chop things and cook very fattening food together, swooning as they taste the delectable results. I would like that to be me and Will in our kitchen, without the cameras and fattening part. I felt kind of jealous. Actually, after a few days, I was jealous of everyone who was well and out of their house doing things.

HGTV helped me become extremely aware that my home is very dated and needs some updates before anyone would ever consider buying it. Fortunately it's not for sale. It's so '90s.

I had a very restful day yesterday, holding my breath that my temp wouldn't go up again. It didn't! I got up this morning at 5:30 feeling great. I saw myself in the mirror after my hair was done and make up on. My eyes were sparkling and I just looked great to myself! Craig was also sick yesterday, and his comment that "It's a good thing we look so good in sweats!" was very kind and amusing but not at all factual. I was really sick of seeing myself in the mirror looking sick!

The sunrise was streaking the sky with color as I drove to work this morning. The world was such a beautiful place. The office and the people there looked wonderful, and they were all very kind and happy to have me back. Although they cruelly pointed out that I missed out on the payday coffee that one teacher always brings us, and on the Krispy Kreme donut sale that happened Friday.

The in-box is very full but it's doable. Will and Nick are taking off for a week of hunting on Thursday, so I have plenty of time to catch up.

I love feeling good!!!

Camping at McIvar

Friday morning as we prepared to depart for McIvar State Park near Estacada, Will was nearly soaked through his rain gear by the time the fifth wheel was hooked up. As I headed out the door, I perched my sunglasses on my head in a humorous gesture of optimism. Will dropped me off at the library while he went to Coastal Farm in search of better rain wear. I can think of worse things than being in a cozy warm place with a stack of books while the rain pours outside. But the rain let up as we headed north with our bags of books and raingear, and it was the last rain we saw until it sprinkled as we returned home today.

This campground is thickly forested with large private sites. Inside the fifth wheel, I could look out all the windows and feel like I was in a cabin in the woods. My optimism paid off as we hiked in sunshine that afternoon. The weather was gorgeous all day Saturday as well.

The park is huge, with 13 miles of hiking and horseback trails. Our explorations included watching some guys fly their model helicopters in the model airplane field and viewing groups of disc golfers on the huge disc golf courses.


There was a beautiful big open dog run area, and of course Zeek loves walking the trails with us. Although he'd prefer if we ran instead of walked. Several times I heard Will say, "Zeek, I am not your wagon." Zeek jumped gracefully up onto this ledge, but getting down was a different story.


A wonderful relaxing weekend, and now I'm ready for a great week of work!

Conferences

Once again my hopes to get lots done were dashed by people and mess ups. (Not mine, other people's!) But it was a good day. Started out with a teacher calling to tell me she'd be late. If you are easily grossed out, skip to the next paragraph. She was upset, voice quivering, reporting that on her way out the door she noticed that her dog, a standard poodle, had a bloody butt so she loaded him up and was going to stop at the vet on the way in. She called later to report that she was on her way. He had been diagnosed with a ruptured anal gland and would be fine. Later she came by to tell me he hadn't been feeling well and started to tell me some symptoms he'd been having the past week, but after seeing the look on my face said, "Well, you probably don't want to hear this, do you?" Just like you didn't want to read this. How sensitive we both are!

I remained perky and cheerful with all the people who called saying they just heard about conferences, needing to know what time they started and wondering why we don't let them know about them. It's on the calendar we handed out at registration, in the newsletter we mailed out a few weeks ago, on our web page, on our readerboard, on the flyer we sent home yesterday, and we've been announcing it to kids for the past week. Perhaps I need to make a personal call to the home of each of our 690 students before the next event. I'll mark my calendar.

Funny yet sad was the grandparent who came in worried about his granddaughter who he thinks is running with a rough crowd this year. She herself is the biggest bully our school has ever seen!

But the joy of my new discovery of Corn Candy Hershey's Kisses made the day very special. I shared them with staff and parents and kids who came through. Most people got nearly as excited about them as I was. The Federal Express deliveryman tried to steal the whole bowl! They smelled great sitting on my desk and they are beautiful to behold!

My boss ordered us to close the office tomorrow so we are going camping! If Will is really nice I might buy him some Corn Candy Kisses to take along!

Didn't Dent the Inbox

I was eagerly anticipating lowering the height of my inbox today, with no school for students, staff development in the morning for teachers and grading in the afternoon. So I would have the morning to myself to attack my piles!

First I opened the box of retake picture flyers that arrived and discovered the date was wrong. I looked in my file and confirmed that the date I've had on the calendar, advertising since registration, was indeed the date from the contract. I wasted quite a bit of time on their automated phone system trying to get the rep and finally left a message. Late afternoon after the third try, I finally got to talk to someone who knew something. They say they can reprint the flyers and have them to me by Thursday. I doubt it.

Then I made the mistake of opening the mail and finding a bill that I remembered paying in June. I looked it up, called that company, and they say their records don't show a check was ever received. I dug a little further, got the check number, and called someone at the district office to investigate. She told me the check had been voided. Someone else had to look into that, and later she called telling me the check had been returned with a note from the office manager of the company saying that the bill had already been paid in full. For the rest of the day I tried to reach that company, and they never answered the phone.

I also got a bill from a magazine "Science World" that a teacher only ordered because we had received a notice from the company that she had a credit. The credit didn't show up on the invoice so I found my credit invoice, called the company and got to tell my story to three people before I finally got someone who found the credit and said he would re-issue the invoice.

Then I discovered a duplication on orders from two PE teachers, one from last year and one from this year, who didn't know what the other was doing, so I had to talk to both of them before I could do the order. Still waiting to hear back from one of them.

A former student dropped by to chat and stayed awhile, which is an interruption I truly enjoy and was glad to have. But you can't really do paper work while you're chatting.

So before I really got anything done, the morning meeting was over and teachers were needing supplies and information and other assistance. One special teacher called the office and the principal was standing by the intercom phone so he picked it up and said hello. She said, "Is this LeAnn?" He laughed and said he didn't know his voice was that high! And I didn't know mine was that low! There's a reason Cindy always tried to make me answer the phone when that particular teacher is calling!

I got an order for supplies from Office Max and another order for construction paper done, updated tomorrow's school announcements and this week's web page announcements, dealt with some other problems that came up and it was 3:30. Electricians had scheduled a power outage for that time and my boss had told me to go home when the power went out. So I did, but on my way out the door, a trouble alarm started beeping so I had to go back in an call the alarm company. The glitches were never ending today!

So I never did get to attack my inbox. Lucky me, it will still be there tomorrow! Along with the nonstop phones and interruptions of a regular school day. Maybe if I'm really fortunate I'll get to talk to my favorite parent. I received another outstanding insult from him last week. Some teachers doing outside bus duty after school called the police because they believed his wife appeared under the influence of something while waiting in her car for her child. I stupidly picked up the phone after 4:0 and got the phone call from the angry father demanding to talk to the principal, who wasn't there, then letting me know he didn't appreciate teachers calling the cops on his wife. He asked if I knew who the six teachers were who did bus duty. Six? I thought there were only three! I said, "No, I don't know." With greatly exaggerated politeness, he said, "Of course you don't know. You have never known anything in your life, have you, ma'am." Then he hung up on me. And I laughed out loud. This was the same guy that called me last year when our librarian was out sick and ordered me to have our library open before, during and after school every day, no matter what, "Is that clear, do you understand" and got so irate that I told him I would no longer listen to him and needed to hang up. I'm not sure why I find him so entertaining.

Since my husband won't be eagerly awaiting my arrival home because he is camping, I can stay and work guilt-free as long as I need to! Oh joy! It's supposed to be raining so I won't be able to enjoy my lovely new patio anyway. But I am bitterly disappointed that I didn't get a lot accomplished today.

Old Friends Reunite

Soon after Will and I were married, we became acquainted with a young couple at our church and discovered we had many common interests. They soon became our backpacking and skiing companions, both cross country and downhill.

We always enjoyed spending time with Jan and Steve. Steve and Will had a Boy Scout background in common, and they could spend hours making knots and discussing them. Jan is very artistic and the home they bought was beautifully decorated. It made me realize I had given very little thought to the decor in our little duplex, I figured as long as I had some avocado green and harvest gold I was doing well! But she didn't seem to judge me for my lack of taste. We were so comfortable together that sometimes Steve would lie down and the floor and doze off if they stayed after 9:00!

We had our first babies (both boys) within six weeks of each other and bonded as we went through those experiences together. But sadly for us, Steve took a promotion in Wenatchee and they moved away about two years later. We visited back and forth occasionally, and then came the bad news that Steve was being promoted again and they were moving to Maine! I can't remember what Will was doing but he was unable to make the trip up there, so I put the boys in the Caravan and drove up for a last visit. They had just built a beautiful new home in the mountains near Leavenworth, and the boys had a great time playing in the woods. Nick was only three, and I remember Steve mentioning how articulate he was. Talk talk talk! What happened? Now I don't know anything that's going on until his friends come over and tell me. But I digress.

Now it's fifteen years later, and they have moved to Seattle from Alabama. We finally met again when they drove down to spend this weekend with us. They couldn't believe it when the first thing they saw was the Bronco in our driveway! Yes, the same Bronco that we had taken us all to the mountains together many times twenty some years ago. (Will recently bought it back from Eric with renewed plans to fix it up. A retired guy can't have too many hobbies.)

It was so great to find them the same fun, interesting, generous people they were way back when - only more mature of course. They recalled the camping trip where we were making spaghetti for dinner and Will was draining it using a lid. I was cautioning him and amazingly, the lid failed and all the spaghetti disappeared into the bushes with the water! We had spaghetti sauce with bread for dinner. Will never has liked spaghetti much but really! This led to a story later on from another guest how as a young bride expecting guests for dinner, her spaghetti went down the garbage disposal as she drained it! Not knowing what else to do, she retrieved it, rinsed it off, and served it!

Two more couples joined us last night and we had many good laughs. Everyone remembered their signal for "time to leave". Jan would make a little clicking sound in her mouth...but it was discovered and soon everyone knew about it! Maybe that's why they had to move! We looked at our photo album of backpacking pictures and were horrified that we hiked in such short shorts! (Jan's were shorter than mine by the way!) Of course Will and Steve were wearing some pretty short ones too. But we all looked pretty good anyway!

It was absolutely wonderful to spend time with them again and see how God has blessed their lives. The weather was gorgeous this weekend, and we were able to sit around on our lovely new patio and enjoy the gorgeous red of the maple tree, in fact we ate lunch out there Friday. I could kick myself that I didn't take pictures.

We took some this morning before we tremulously said good-bye. (Jan and I laughed at that word in a newspaper article yesterday and I vowed to use it as soon as appropriate.) We plan to meet somewhere between before too long and camp together.

Friends, old and new, are wonderful gift from God!

Update

Will and Nick laid the last bricks on the patio Friday morning before Nick went to school! Now we are scheming on a corner bench, an outdoor kitchen, landscaping, a fireplace.... By spring it should be really great!

We enjoyed some time bonding with Galens and Dougs over pizza last night while the Beavers were on TV. They witnessed that Zeek can run full speed into our sliding glass door without breaking it. Zeek doesn't seem any goofier than normal either.

This week's priority is to get a new dishwasher. Mine has been falling apart for quite some time and reached the end of the road yesterday. I spent way too much time hand washing dishes today! These old hands can't take it for too long!