Category: Family

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I Miss Mom’s Visits To Our Abode

Bow Tie o’ the Day naps with Mom in 2017, on one of her last sleepovers with us in Centerville. She had been wearing Bow Tie while I was taking post photos of all of us during her visit. She suddenly needed to doze, so I took Bow Tie off her neck and she conked out on the couch immediately. I’m sure Skitter is just out of frame, because when Mom and Skitter are in the same room, Skitter is right at Mom’s side.

This is a dear photo to me because Mom looks so comfortable. This snapshot was taken just a few weeks after Mom broke her hip. The ambulance drove Mom from the Delta hospital to the hospital in Provo, where Suzanne and I were already waiting for her arrival. I was shocked to see Mom in such pain. There she was—with a broken hip and in need of surgery, and she was trying to be her usual chatty, glittery self. She was trying to be upbeat with the nurses, the ambulance crew, and me and Suzanne. But her face had an underlying grimace of pain I had never seen on her sweet face before. And I hope to never see it on her again.

Even through her pain that June night, Mom had us roaring. The nurses, the ambulance crew, and Suzanne and I were clustered around Mom’s gurney in the hall outside her hospital room waiting for the room to be ready for her. A nurse asked Mom if she needed anything. Mom thought for a second or two and said, in her best dead-serious voice, “I’d like a tall glass of morphine, please.” The nurses stood shocked. Suzanne and I laughed immediately, because we know Mom’s gift for humor. And then the nurses realized Mom had not been serious, so we all enjoyed Mom’s floorshow. Mom entertained through her pain, as is her way.

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The Grandma

These photos are from 2008, a few months after Dad died. The adorable baby girl Mom’s holding is Ronni Wright. (You can never have enough Ron Wright’s in my family.) Her big brother, Bosten, is supervising the occasion. Bosten and Ronni are two of Mom’s army of great-grandkids.

For all of my adult life, when I’ve shown up in Delta at the grocery store or the swimming pool or a restaurant, inevitably someone not related to me will ask me, “How’s Grandma doing?” I know exactly who they are asking about. Mom has always treated the friends of her grandkids and great-grandkids like they belong to our family. She’s an extra grandma to them. And I’m sure she knows what kind of cookies each one of them likes best.

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Mom’s Pandemic Birthday Month

Here’s a tieless Mom at 17. Dad’s aiming the camera. I decided TIE O’ THE DAY is going to be heavy on Helen, Sr. this month. She will be 90 on September 26th, but because the world is pandemically challenged this year, we have to forego giving her the bigly community birthday bash she deserves. She would relish a snack-filled party in her honor, with relatives and friends showing up from far and wide—and Delta. Mom’s a party animal. She loves people and their stories. But such a bash is not to be. I have no doubt Millard Care and Rehab will see to it that she is celebrated there. I will try to do her justice here on TIE O’ THE DAY.

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Mid-week Mom O’ The Shades

I don’t know exactly what Mom is up to at Millard Care and Rehab today, because I can’t make phone contact with her. She has so many family members and pals on this earth who regularly call to check on her that her phone is always busy, especially since she’s living in lockdown. That’s a good thing, and I’m very grateful to everyone who cares so deeply about her—except when I want to talk to her and her phone is busy. I’m annoyed I have to share her with anyone else when that happens.

This is a photo of Mom at MCR demonstrating her crafting skills earlier this year. The duster she’s wearing has a small Bow Tie o’ the Duster at the neck, thus qualifying Mom to be on TIE O’ THE DAY. But my fave detail about this pic is that when you look closely at Mom’s ear, you can see she is wearing her clip-on earrings. Yes, she put on earrings to do crafts at the care center. What a sense of her own style, Helen Sr. has! She knows exactly who the Hell-en she is, and she’s not afraid to show her true hellion self to anybody. No wonder she sleeps well. May we all be so comfortable with who we truly are when we’re 89. I’ve got a lot to work on to feel that cool about myself, but I’m trying. Mom’s always been a phenomenal character, drawing people into her circle without even trying to. Which is why her phone is always busy and I can’t get in touch with her.

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Skitter Loves Her Old Rowan

Our incredible Rowan turned the bigly age o’ 23 over the weekend. He managed to squeeze in some time to celebrate with his moms last evening, and we were so glad he did. I fed him vegan frozen dinners, and Suzanne made him a vegan birthday cake. Skitter wore her mustache Tie o’ the Day for the occasion. I managed to dig up Rowan’s 2nd Grade school photo, in which his gorgeous brown eyes bulged with glee. Last night, he was more than willing to pull his now-adult version of his 2nd Grade facial pose. He hasn’t changed a bit. His brown eyes are still gorgeous even when he makes them bulge. Merry Birthday, Flick Muckle Spinner!

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Hemingway Or Connery?

For the past 12 1/2 years I’ve been under the impression Dad passed on to the Great Coyote Hunt In The Sky. And then today, I’m flipping through the trillions of tv channels, when I come upon movie evidence that he has simply run off to be a monk AND the captain of a submarine. Wherever he is, I hope he’s happy. But if he’s not really dead already and Mom finds out he’s traipsing around in the pandemic world without her, she will surely hunt him down and see that he does indeed go to that Great Coyote Hunt In The Sky for real this time.

When I was working on my Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Utah, my friends were all writers. When they would see a picture of my bearded dad in my apartment, they always commented that he was a good likeness for Ernest Hemingway. Of course, that’s what writers would see. Everyone else who saw him—especially in person—thought he was a near-ringer for Sean Connery. I can’t argue with either choice. He was a handsome fella, either way.

BTW Dad’s beard was all salt-and-pepper, not white as it appears in these pix. Blame my brilliant photographic skills and the disposable cameras I used back in the day.

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The Chia Politicians Have Sprouted

TIE O’ THE DAY’s 2012 Presidential contender Chia heads are showing their first sprouts of “hair” growth. They are thriving under the watchful eye of Suzanne—the official gardener of the household. Her 30 years as a member of the infamous Champagne Garden Club have prepared her for this hairy Chia moment in history. Who will sprout the most magnificent hair? Mitt seems to be in the lead right now. But there’s plenty o’ time left in the race.

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Mom And Skitter Miss Each Other

When I talk to Mom on the phone, she always wants to know what Skitter is up to. I tell Mom Skitter is up to the same things she always is: She sleeps, potties, eats, runs around like crazy, naps, barks at the world, eats, potties, and sleeps again. She naps in as many different places as she she can, all day long. That’s when Mom tells me her daily routine at MCR is the very same as Skitter’s. That’s when I tell Mom that’s exactly why she and The Skit love and miss each other. You can surely tell Mom and Skitter apart in these photos. Mom is the one with the cup o’ Pepsi, and Skitter is the one wearing her Tie o’ the Day.

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Mom’s Individual Fashion

One of the bigly things Mom misses while she’s on lock-down inside Millard Care and Rehab is their regular field trips into the community. Here she is last year, on a field trip to Nephi for lunch at Lisa’s Country Kitchen. Mom is wearing her James Dean shades, as she does 24/7. Her neck bling is holding her cell phone. She’s got her corsage on for no reason other than she’s Mom, and that’s how she rolls. But the true Helen Sr. style shines out in her Slippers o’ the Day. Mom knows that your personal fashion should scream out to everyone exactly who you are.

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Mom Knows All

Some days we just need a glimpse of yesteryear—with Mom on my porch, holding her glass of Pepsi. Note the can of oven cleaner next to Mom. She had been spraying ants on the sidewalk with Raid on her way over to my house, but used up all the ant spray. She went back in her house and retrieved a can of oven cleaner, which she sprayed into ant-filled sidewalk cracks from her place to mine. She told me the oven cleaner spray killed ants just as well as ant spray. Batman Bow Tie o’ the Day did not argue with Mom about her scientific discovery.