Period of Adjustment

What an entertaining Friday! I would love to blog about a few Carter stories but I better not pick on him too much. Just this once anyway. He doesn't always have a sense of humor about those things. For example, for some reason he doesn't think our new countdown is funny. Daddy and I sure do!

We don't even really know how many days of summer vacation he has. We just took an estimate and put it up on the wipe board for our enjoyment. Carter, not so much.

He had a busy day while we slaved away until our summer hour release at 3 p.m. He wanted to bike into town to the school to go lift weights. Now, we had some concerns about whether he knew how to get there. The kid does not pay that much attention. But he got there eventually. And the weight room was locked anyway.

Somehow he knew the way from school to a friend's house so they biked around a bit and he made it home safely. He said it wasn't too bad. I said, great because he might have to bike to driver's ed a few times if we can't get a ride for him. He actually said, "No problem. I can just bike there every day."

Now this was Daddy's idea all along. I thought it was too far and that he'd get tired. But heck, 7 miles one way is nothing for a 15-year-old. Plus, now that is was HIS idea, not ours, he's completely willing to commit to that. Yay! I still have to adjust to him being out there on the road... on his own. A mother always worries.

The other thing the three of us are adjusting to is our new summer baseball community. Since there were not enough kids in the 14-and-under age group signed up for the tournament team in Rapids, they don't have one this year. Major bummer. As an alternative, we had him try out for the tournament team in Rudolph, north of Rapids. He made the 14U team (remember, they go by age on April 30 even if Carter turned 15 the next day) and tonight was their first game.

It was weird sitting with a whole new group of parents after 3 summers of the same ones. But that doesn't mean we don't know any. Three of his teammates also go to Assumption, so we know a few faces. And Carter still is wearing red, so that part won't take getting used to.

In tonight's matchup in Pittsville, our South Wood County Cardinals played the host team first. We led 1-0 and they ended up with a productive inning to lead 4-1. Due to time constraints, the 6th inning was to be our last. Carter had walked earlier but in this inning, with 2 outs, he hit a single that started a rally and we ended up tying it 4-4. So then it was extra innings. Pittsville scored 2 and we could only answer with 1. So we lost 6-5 but it was an exciting start to the weekend.

I was just glad to see Carter get a hit his first game. Hopefully, it's a sign of good things to come.

I could get used to that without any period of adjustment!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation... the First Day Anyway

While Carter slept in until a little after noon, hubby and I worked from home and had just as many technical difficulties as we would if we had been in the office.

I was trying to connect a new all-in-one printer/scanner/copier thing but every time it would get to a certain point in installation, everything on the computer would lock up and I couldn't work or do anything... except shut it down and try again. After many tries (and hours), I figured out what I had to fix on the computer, got that fixed then got the thing installed and working.

Then had a headache I still can't get rid of!

In the late afternoon I had to make a quick run into town to get stamps and a few groceries at Wal-Mart. I've decided that there are just too many temptations out there to keep a person on the path of healthy eating for too long. Look what's new...

It's like there's a Pop Tart Committee in my head just thinking of ways to get me to cheat on my diet! Chocolate and peanut butter might do the trick! 

It certainly got past my wall of willpower, that's for sure. I mean I bought a box -- just one box -- but I haven't opened it yet. Its seems like it would go great with my morning coffee. Or cold glass of milk. Or even ice cream. (What doesn't go with ice cream??)

I'll let you know how they are. The only reason I honestly haven't tried them yet is we were gone for the evening. The Assumption girls soccer team was playing a sectional semi-final so we went to cheer them on in the cold and drizzling rain. I had on a winter coat and hat and gloves, plus an umbrella. I was just right.

The game was good, too. We were up 1-0, fell behind 3-1 then tied it up. In the end, though, the other team (which has ended our playoffs many times over the years) scored one more so we lost 4-3. Bummer.

Now that is officially it for all our school sports. Then tomorrow, Carter has his first weekend baseball tournament. I hope he enjoyed his one day of summer vacation!

One More Gig

School's out for summer.... Classes may be done for the boy, but he had one more band gig duty to fulfill before he could officially start his summer vacation.

Tonight was Assumption Catholic Schools night at the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters baseball game. The Rafters, into their 3rd season in Rapids, are part of the Northwoods League, basically a summer collegiate baseball league around the Midwest.

Having "our" night at the game meant we had a tailgate party at school starting at 5 p.m., the band marched up to the ballpark at 6 p.m., played the National Anthem at 7 p.m., then marched back to school.

With all that was going on last week with my dad's death and funeral planning, I completely forgot about getting a ticket to the event -- which included the tailgate meal, a hat and game ticket. With nonstop rain (practically) since yesterday, the tailgating event was moved inside the gymnasium. I wasn't so sure the game would even be on. But since Carter had to be there for band, I decided I would take him to school and see if I could help as long as I was there.

I ended up serving up dozens of hotdogs and feeling useful. Then, as it turned out, despite the threatening weather, the game was still on and a friend had an extra ticket -- including a hat for me! So we walked up to the game, got to see our kids play the National Anthem and decided to stick it out awhile.

As I mentioned, I wasn't planning to go to the game because I figured it would get rained out. So I really wasn't dressed appropriately and it only took about 2 innings before the cold wind got the best of me. Carter wanted to stay so I walked back to school and ran some errands around town then parked closer to the field. I think I sat in the car and read for about an hour. But that was fine. I was WARM!

Thank God I have a wonderful hubby who turned on my electric mattress pad hours before I got home. Now we can all be snug in our beds with no alarms set. Carter doesn't have to get dragged out of bed for school and we are working from our home office so we'll have a short "commute" that does not require getting up before 7:30.

Hello, Summer! Can't wait until you are really here -- and not just in name only.

The Finals Countdown

This week is finals week for Carter. He is wrapping up his first year of high school and, while he may have learned a lot, there's one thing he didn't learn: Good study habits.

I can't completely knock his efforts. He gets decent grades. But we think he could do better.

He, however, thinks he does just fine. And that listening to his iPod while he "studies" is not a distraction. And that if he is allowed to use a note card during a test, there is no sense in learning and remembering everything, just write microscopically small and hope you can fit a whole semester's work in a 4x6 space.

So right before the birds started chirping this morning -- that has been consistently at 4:32 a.m. -- Carter went to bed. Yup, it takes a long time to write that much, that small. So he went to bed at 4 a.m. and his mean mother got him up at 6:15 a.m. as usual.

I am surprised he stayed up the whole day. I will be more surprised if he did well on those two finals today!

Right now he is "studying" for his final two finals tomorrow. This time he is not just writing notes, he is studying with a friend over the phone.

I think that will be helpful if, based on what I heard through the door, the science exam has something to do with blondes versus brunettes... hmmm....

A Time to Dance

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; ... a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

It was by pure coincidence that I was in the middle of reading the book 90 Minutes in Heaven last week when my father passed away. The book is written by a minister who allegedly was killed in a car accident, went to heaven, but came back to life 90 minutes later after a stranger prayed hard for his recovery.

I say "allegedly" not because I doubt there is a heaven, but because I'm always a bit skeptical of people -- clergy or not -- who claim they've been to heaven and now live to tell about it... and make money selling their story.

His description of heaven, however, is a good reminder that my dad is in an indescribably beautiful place. He is surrounded by love and music and singing and yes, dancing. Dad can now dance to his heart's content without the aid of a cane or walker. Isn't that magnificent?

I take comfort in that.

I am also reminded (as I often am) that if I am capable of dancing...well, moving my legs under my own free will... then I should.

It was with this mindset, I went for a nice run/walk this evening. After a month of a different exercise routine, I figured I should ease my legs back into into running. I did not get tired. I did not feel pain. I thought, wow, this is how my dad feels right now. He can polka with the best of them -- tireless in his young 44-year-old legs. Ha.

Listen up, angels: It's time to roll out the barrel...

Points of Reference

Since I did not have access to photos when I blogged last night, I did not have an opportunity to illustrate a few of the things I talked about. Here are some photographic points of reference...

First is Dad and his dancing puppets...

It is hard to explain without looking at a photo. He had a board situated firmly under one leg. Then he'd use his thumb on the corner of the board to make it bounce up and down, thus making the wooden puppet (be it man, bear or horse) dance up and down with its legs moving and arms swinging around... all to the beat of the music of course.

It's not as easy as it looks. I think we've all tried it with only some degree of success.

Notice how he is wearing suspenders in that photo, too?

Here are the grandkids yesterday with most of the guys still wearing their suspenders several hours after the service. They got a kick out of them!

By this way, this is the first time in a few years that all the grandchildren were together since Tim (who lives in South Dakota) is often missing. If you don't recognize them all grown up, they are, from left to right: Ashley, David, Travis, Zachary, Eric, Timothy, Caryn, Beth, Carter, Tony and Matthew.

Besides the suspenders, headgear was a staple in Dad's wardrobe.

He sported this style of hat in a handful of colors. All a bit cock-eyed, of course. That's what was so entertaining with the grandsons trying on his hats. They mimicked him to a T.

Carter had so much fun wearing the hat and suspenders, he is officially having a Grandpa dress-up day for his first day of finals tomorrow. Not kidding.

We actually had to stop in Eau Claire on our way home from Up North today to see if the mall had a selection to match Grandpa's sense of style. It did!

Carter will be sporting some bright, neon green suspenders (they are actually so trendy now they come in a variety of colors) and a striped bow tie of sorts. Those, too, came in several color choices. Was Grandpa actually a fashion icon??

Didn't see that one coming.

Looks like he really is going to leave a legacy that will live on and on...

Celebration of Life

Leading up to today, I was expecting it to be one of the saddest, most depressing days of my life. Maybe I'm still in the "denial" stage of grief, but I have to say, today was actually uplifting in many ways. It was -- as a the funeral service bulletin stated -- a true celebration of my dad's life.

The celebration was set to begin at 11 a.m. at the church in Cushing, which as a child seemed so much bigger than it actually is. I guess I was comparing it to the sister church out in the country with its six pews on one side and five on the other. Today, knowing how big our immediate family is and knowing how many people came to visitation, I wondered where everyone would fit.

Somehow, between the overflow area and the balcony, I think only a handful of people had to stand in the back of the church. Those special guests included some friends who drove from Wisconsin Rapids, Waupaca and Madison -- those are 4- to 6-hour trips -- to show their love and support. If I haven't mentioned yet that I am blessed, let me say it now (or again): I am blessed. I also had email messages and cards to give me strength today.

And they did.

While our service was held in a church, we sort of made it a bit non-traditional, taking over a large part of the celebration to share Dad's life story, including two of his favorite songs, "Showers of Blessings" and "Why Me, Lord?"

That was followed by an absolutely wonderful tribute from the grandchildren. All the boys wore suspenders, as Grandpa always did, and all 11 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild lined up to spell the words LeRoy Hedberg. They each held a letter and told something special about Grandpa related to that letter -- like E is for Entertaining, G was for Genuine, etc. Then three of my nephews played the wooden puppets that my dad used to make "dance" while the rest hummed "Roll Out the Barrel."

While we siblings knew our kids were going to do "something" for the service, how they presented it and what they said was a complete surprise. And we couldn't have been prouder. We know Grandpa was looking down on us all and got a hoot out of that!

Before the sermon and final words from the pastor, we also had a time for sharing special memories. Our initial thought in planning this was that we would let attendees speak if they wished. I hope no one wanted to because they didn't get the chance! Instead, somehow, most of us kids got up to say a few words.

Some of my sisters had typed something up and came prepared. I had no intention of getting up there. I figured I'd be too emotional. But even after bawling through "Why Me, Lord?", I couldn't let the special memories end on a green-and-gold note. So of course I had to defend being a Viking fan and assure everyone my dad still loved me! I honestly don't remember what I said, but I know I didn't cry. Not sure how I or any of us did that, but we muddled through OK.

Afterwards, we got a lot of positive complements about how it was such a nice and personal celebration. We're pretty sure Dad was entertained and will possibly forgive me for bashing the Packers. We'll see.

After the lunch was done and crowd of supporters dispersed, we headed out to the cemetery at our little church in the country. It was Dad's wish that his grandchildren dig the hole to place his urn. Again, they stepped up to the plate and worked as a team, each taking their turns with the shovel and taking pride in their role to give Grandpa a final resting place.

That was emotional to watch but not as emotional as seeing Mom carry the urn and reluctantly, with many tears, set it down and let Dad go. Oh my poor mother! How does one let their other half of almost 64 years go?

She placed a red rose on top of the urn and we took turns with our final, final goodbyes before he was officially buried. Each child and grandchild then placed a flower on top of his gravesite and with some prayers and hugs, we let him rest in peace.

Our afternoon and evening was spent at Mom's (sounds weird not to say Dad AND Mom's) opening cards and reading the wishes of love and support from countless family members and friends. We just couldn't get over how many people expressed their sympathy in one form or another. They all said Dad was such a special guy.

But we knew that, didn't we?