Monday, April 29, 2013

Busy Weekend!

What a weekend!!! VERY busy!!!

Saturday was the Pekin-Eastern Alumni Banquet. It was a very nice evening. Left Madison at 8:30 AM and arrived back home at 10:45 PM... that made for a VERY long day. But in between setting up the banquet and the actual event, I had the opportunity to visit with my parents, and that is always nice!

For me, one of the best things about this years banquet is that my middle daughter was a member of the 10 year class. She and a few of her friends came, and it was awesome to see them all there together.

Yesterday, I was pooped.... and I could feel a fibro flare starting up... AND we were expecting Rachel and family for the day... so we didn't go to church. And yes, we missed it, and it didn't feel like Sunday!

We had hoped to take them downtown and give them the Madison Main Street Tour. There are just so many neat buildings and shops here. However, it seriously POURED down rain for the longest time. Around 4:30 the sun finally came out, and a check of the radar indicated that we were in a dry slot, so we did go down and walk the river front. It is so beautiful down there, and peaceful. The kids even walked with Mickey and Robert down to the boat ramp and checked out the ducks that were swimming there.

They ran and played and had a great time. And it is always good to get to spend time with one of the girls and their family. We are truly blessed!

Today, we're back at school. Michael only has 14 more school days left, and as we have finished most of his books, we're just doing some unit studies, math and writing. Oh, and reading... there is always reading. In fact, we'll be heading to the library this afternoon to get some books on butterflies, our next unit study!

As for the flare I felt coming on yesterday... it is visiting full force today. But I am thankful... thankful that I KNOW it is fibro, it could be something worse... thankful the flare will NOT last forever (while I have pain all the time, these "bad days" come and go) and thankful that I can look forward to "good days" ahead. I have managed to go without the usual fibro meds (thankful again for a high pain tolerance!!!) and hope to be able to continue to do so! A silver lining exists for EVERYTHING if you just look for it!!!!

Have a Blessed Day!

Lynn

Friday, April 26, 2013

What's in a Name!!!!

So, what is in a name.... EVERYTHING! I'd recently gone back to blogging and thought I'd go for something a little different... "On the Porch"....  but then what happens??? Patsy Clairmont announces that she is going to be doing a little something called "On the Porch with Patsy".... yeah. So what is a girl to do?? Go back to the original Blog - Neal at the Cross... and remember why I started to blog in the first place!!!

So here I am... back home, where it all started. I will admit it has been kind of fun to go back and see some of the pictures that I've posted. Some of the stories. Most of which seem like a lifetime ago...but really aren't.

This has definitely been a busy week. Saturday is the Pekin-Eastern Alumni Banquet, and I'm the treasurer for the committee that puts it all on. I graduated from Eastern High school a LONG time ago... 1977! That is 36 years ago!!! Isn't that crazy?! Last year, my class gathered for our 35th reunion...


... yes 35 years... and we had a BLAST! It was wonderful to get to see so many friends. This was about 1/3 of our class... and I think that is great!  But I digress....

The Alumni not only give away hundreds of dollars in scholarships to graduating seniors, but it honors those who have been out of school for 50, 25, and 10 years. This year is middle daughters 10 year class reunion! Only a few of her classmates have decided to come to the banquet, but I am excited to see them! Just a few more of the 25 year class will attend than the 10 year class. And the 50 year class has a little over half of their graduate attending.

This has made me wonder, when my class gets to its 50th year out of school... how many will come to the banquet? How many will even come to a reunion? There was a time when people graduated from a school, they didn't move very far away. They got jobs, married, had kids, and did it all where they were born an raised. That is just no longer the case!

As honored classes searched out addresses so that I could send invitation letters to the banquet, many had a hard time getting current addresses. And the 10 year class just had a hard time finding classmates, period! People had moved. They'd married (or divorced!). They were living out of state. And some were living out of the country. I sometimes find this a hard concept to understand... but this is coming from a girl who lives 52 of her 54 years on earth in the same town.... until this year!

We have become a society on the move, and I wonder if that is really a "good thing"! It has me wondering... where are your roots? Where do you call home?  And if you've moved... and you think of home... is it where you live, or where you grew up? To me, Pekin will probably always be "home".... even if it isn't where I live....

And that brings me back to my original question... "What's in a name?" The answer for me... family history... and at the Alumni banquet tomorrow, there will be three generations of our family present! Four generations have graduated from the Pekin-Eastern schools... I think that is pretty impressive!!!! No matter how far away you may travel from home... never forget your roots... your history... it is part of who you are!

Have a Blessed Day!

Lynn