Sunday, December 28 – Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28
Today was another travel day…400 miles from John and Carol’s front door in San Antonio to Jimmy and Cathey’s front door in Lubbock. We were up and away from the house at 7:30 to begin the 7 ½ hour drive that took us through Junction, Eden, San Angelo, Big Spring (where we got gasoline at $1.30 per gallon) and then to Lubbock.
After getting our “stuff” into the house, we visited for a while, took some pictures of Jaycie on the trampoline, had supper (soft tacos…yum-yum), and then settled in for our sixth Christmas celebration of the past two weeks (including taking some more pictures).
Sunday, December 28
Today was another travel day…400 miles from John and Carol’s front door in San Antonio to Jimmy and Cathey’s front door in Lubbock. We were up and away from the house at 7:30 to begin the 7 ½ hour drive that took us through Junction, Eden, San Angelo, Big Spring (where we got gasoline at $1.30 per gallon) and then to Lubbock.
After getting our “stuff” into the house, we visited for a while, took some pictures of Jaycie on the trampoline, had supper (soft tacos…yum-yum), and then settled in for our sixth Christmas celebration of the past two weeks (including taking some more pictures).
As was true every place we’ve been, it was fun to watch Jimmy, Cathey, and Jaycie unwrap and discover the things we had found for them during our travels. Afterward, we settled in to watch “Leatherheads,” a movie that Cathey had rented.After our long trip, we were ready to call it a day, and we all shut the party down around 10:00 p.m.
Monday, December 29
It was a nice slow morning for us. Barbara got up before I did and then I was up and around by 7:30. Since the kids were still sleeping, we kept things as quiet as possible. Barbara went over to the Wal-Mart close to the house to exchange some clothes that we had gotten Jaycie and get some fresh Krispy Kreme donuts, a real luxury for us.
When everyone was finally up and moving, I started another loaf of bread, the 25th of this journey. Meanwhile, everyone was ginning around and getting their day started.Later, Barbara and I drove to another Wal-Mart, out on 82nd Street, to either exchange some of Jaycie’s outfits or buy her something else. I also wanted to look at boots, but they didn’t have the style I wanted, so I stuck with helping look for outfits for Jaycie.
On the way back to the house we decided to drive down Memphis toward the loop on our way back to the kids’ house. About three blocks from 82nd street I glanced over and saw what I thought was a wallet in the middle of the street. Since there was a driver almost on my bumper, I drove another block or so until I found a place to turn around and returned to where the wallet was.
I got out of the car, grabbed the wallet, and got back in so I could get out of the middle of the street. Meanwhile, Barbara checked for any identification so we could figure out how to get it back to the rightful owner.
Since there was a driver license in the wallet, we quickly figured out where we needed to go; and, it wasn’t very far from where we were going anyway. So, we went to the address, but no one was home. We left a note with our phone numbers on it and went on back to the house.
By then Jimmy and Jaycie had already left for cheer tumbling practice; so we visited a little more with Cathey before heading back across town to the gym to watch Jaycie at practice.
She was having a lesson today, so we didn’t get to see her doing her cheer routines, but we did get to watch as she did some tumbling exercises and we were really pleased with the way the coach (a Texas Tech cheerleader) worked with her.
Barbara: Since the owner of the lost wallet had called us as we were arriving at Jaycie’s gym, we asked if we could just bring it to him as soon as we finished watching Jaycie. He understood and was very appreciative though he was dumbfounded as to how his wallet had gotten in the middle of the street on Memphis, especially since nothing was stolen…his credit cards, $$$, etc. were still safely inside. Obviously, we could offer no viable suggestions!Once we returned to the lost wallet home, TN and his wife were very grateful to get it back (even though they didn’t know it was lost until we told them we had it) and offered a reward, but we refused and said to just “pay it forward” when they have a chance to help someone else. We did get to learn the secret of the missing wallet though…Seems as though they finally remembered leaving the dry cleaners and coming down Memphis…so…they assume that TN put the wallet in his back pocket as we was on the running board; but, he must have missed his pocket…wallet dropped on running board and chose to jump off on Memphis so we could find it. Okay, so I embellished the reason it was in the street just a little! Anyway, the lost was found! That’s all that mattered.
Having completed our mission there, Jim and I headed for Becky’s! Ju
st as a refresher for those who might have forgotten or don’t know, Becky will always hold a special, special place in my heart as we faced one of life’s greatest challenges together.On July 23, 1990, I “met” Becky for the first time. Oh, not physically, but in my heart…I can remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was lying in the bed in my Lubbock home, crying as I read Henry’s obituary when I noticed that a man a little younger that Henry’s 48 had also died the day before. John left behind a wife and 3 children, same as Henry. I remember saying I know how you feel, Becky. (I was too angry at the time to even pray for her or myself!)
Now jump to either September, October, or November of 1990 (can’t remember which) when I finally realized and admitted that I needed professional help if I was going to learn to deal with the grief and anger. Everyone had been pushing me to go to Hospice for their group counseling, but until then I resisted. However, on this night, I forced myself to go sit in the stupid circle, feeling so very out of place. First rattle out of the box, I find that we’re going to go around the circle introducing ourselves. I was ready to get up and leave when this beautiful, poised, blonde-headed lady said, “My name is Becky Roark…” I have no idea what she said after that because I knew her and her story! (Now tell me if God wasn’t giving a chuckle over this…it was no accident I wound up at that meeting!)
When it was my turn, I looked into Becky’s eyes and said, “I know you. My husband, etc….” And, that my friends and family, is how Becky became a vital part of my life. God sent her to me to remind me that He was in control and that out of every bad thing in life that happens to us, something good will happen.
From that night in 1990 to this day in 2009, Becky remains implanted in my heart!
Once again take a jump in time. This time to December, 23, 2008…I get a call from Becky our last night in Mineola. Her news was NOT good; so why did I laugh??? That in a nutshell is the closeness of our relationship…Becky fell on December 13 and now after surgery and many hours of pain, she is confined to home and has to get around on a scooter! Just the imagine of her scooting around brought my laughter to the front…but don’t think I’m too callous…after all, both times I shattered my wrist, she got her laughs in!
Normally, when we’re only going to be in Lubbock for a short time, we just talk on the phone and catch up so I don’t miss time with the kids, but… we decided that this time, a visit to this invalid was in order! But…let me tell you…I never looked this good when I was incapacitated!
Jim: We finally made it to Becky’s house to visit for a bit and were telling her the story when she said that she thought she knew who the man was. It turns out that he is an author and she has one of his books. The man and his wife both attend Becky’s church…just another example of “it’s a small world after all.”
Barbara: No visit to Becky would be complete with the standard photo session; and, of course, this time was no different except that Becky did tell me that I was the only friend she had who wanted photos of her foot! What can I say? This is a history of our lives, and her foot just happens to be the star of this visit!
Jim: After our visit with Becky we returned to the house where we spent the evening watching “Iron Man” and listening to Jaycie and a couple of her friends as they had a hilarious time playing a new “American Girl” game that we gave her for Christmas. We were rather apprehensive about this gift, but it turned out that this time we did quite well! So well that when the girls asked Jaycie to come to a sleepover, that she took the game with her. Now that’s success!
Jaycie was concerned that our feelings would be hurt if she left for the night, but we assured her that we could still remember being young and the importance of friends! However, before we’d give her our permission, she had to take some good-bye photos with us. She thought that was a splendid idea and readily agreed to our request.
Tuesday, December 30We were up fairly early this morning and, after saying goodbye to Jimmy and Cathey, we finished loading the car and headed off to buy some essentials for the trip home…coffee for me, diet coke for Barbara, and gasoline for the Vibe. At exactly 8:00 a.m. we pulled off of 82nd street and onto U.S. 82 and pointed ourselves toward Artesia. Luckily, the trip was uneventful, and we arrived back at Jean’s place a little before 10:00 (MST) after just under three hours on the road. We were home again after 18 days on the road and 2,610 miles on the Vibe, and 6 Christmas celebrations in Liberal and Lenexa, Kansas, and Richardson, Mineola, San Antonio, and Lubbock, Texas.
We were welcomed home by bright sunshine, warm temperatures, and NO wind…a perfect day for opening up Big V, emptying the Vibe, and getting everything put away (mostly where it belonged).
After getting Big V squared away, we made a grocery list and went into town for stops at the pharmacy and Wal-Mart. Then, it was back out to the place to get the groceries put away and while away the afternoon checking mail we brought home from Mineola and napping.
We went over to visit Jean for a while and then returned to Big V, where we tried out the new Quesadilla maker that Barbara gave me for my birthday (it worked great…wish we had found something like that a long time ago).
While Barbara stayed in Big V and worked on editing pictures (we had over 500 that we took during the trip), I went back to Jean’s house and helped her watch a couple of bowl games. After watching both Nevada and Oklahoma State collapse in their respective games, I decided that my luck is such that I’m going to make offers to all the teams that are playing in the rest of the games this season to sell my cheering services…the highest bidder in each game will have me cheer for the other team, thus giving the high bidder a decided edge!
Wednesday, December 31: New Year’s Eve
Our first full day back in Artesia started out slowly, even though we both woke up earlier than we had planned. Mostly we just took our time working at the laptops on pictures and journals, trying to get everything in order.
Around 10:00 I got dressed in work clothes and went outside to do some cleanup along the fence lines. I hadn’t cleaned out the west fence yet, and the combination of wind and tumbleweeds guarantees that the other fences need constant attention. Today was a little cooler and breezier than yesterday, but still nice enough to be outside in the sunshine and fresh air. While I did that, Barbara tried to make some sense of the house…
James, Susie, and all their kids came through town on their way back to Hobbs, so Jean asked us if we would mind going to town to pick up some cheeseburgers to have for lunch around 2:00. Barbara told her that wouldn’t be any problem since we needed to go to the pharmacy and grocery store for a few things for ourselves.
The gang arrived at Jean’s house about the same time that we returned from town and we all sat down to eat burgers and get caught up as much as we could. Paul, Stephanie, and Wesley had been visiting from Grand Prairie and Karen was home for semester break from the University of Texas in Austin. Barbara and Warren were in transition, moving from San Antonio to Victoria, Texas, but each took time to come to Hobbs and Artesia to be with their family during the Christmas season. Since we didn’t get to join them for Christmas this year, it was nice to be able to visit with them, if only for a short time. The only ones of the Terpening/Francis clan that we missed were Amanda, Zeke, and the boys as we’ll see Jerry, Nancy and Becky tomorrow.
The afternoon was a real snoozer, literally. The early morning wake-up finally caught up with us and we went to bed to read, but found ourselves falling asleep. Oh well, there’s certainly no set schedule, so there’s no big problem.
The Artesia Main Street celebration featured Ricochet in a free concert downtown tonight, but we voted that we didn’t have any business out running around at midnight, so we just stayed home and watched TV…not very exciting, but then, neither are we.
Both of us made our important New Year’s Eve calls…me to college friend Max, and Barbara to friends Joyce and Gary. We certainly couldn’t bring in a new year without touching base with them!
We went to bed around 11:00 and read. I finally gave it up and went to sleep at 11:45, but Barbara stayed the course and was awake long enough to hear the fireworks at midnight…guess as long as one of us was awake, it must have been a successful transition from 2008 to 2009.
“Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go.” – Brooks Atkinson (1894-1984) American theater critic
Wishing you fond memories of the past year and great hopes for the new one,
It's time for us to say
good-bye to 2008!
Jim & Barbara
