What a day… I really did not know what to expect.  I don’t think Cody and Tamara (who were running the show) did either.   

It all really started about three years ago with the YMCA here in Hutchinson, well, maybe it started with the “Dodge Ball" movie.  Not sure.  But when my grandson, Chance, told me to come watch him play dodge ball at the “Y” and that his dad was coaching, I questioned Cody about it.  As everything Cody does, he was excited, “Mom, I think it’ll be something every kid will enjoy, they don’t have to be real athletic, it’ll just be laid back, fun for all.”  Well, we didn’t get through one game and the entire adult crowd was looking at each other and saying “hey, when do the adults get to play this?” and the kids were hooked.  It was a blast watching and the kids were intense and having fun.  It never got out of Cody’s head that this could be “great” for adults too.   

If one more person asks me “Well, what do you do with all your time now that you’re not working?” I’m gonna scream!  I know they mean well and maybe even really care, but sometimes I detect a sarcastic side to their comment, maybe jealousy, maybe the assumption I’ve become extremely lazy and worthless - not sure, but lots and lots of people ask that of people like me that quit work after working for 38 years.

You can’t really give a good answer.  Not fairly or truthfully anyway.  You wake up to a new day everyday in the world you're in right now.  Wow, what a change.  It’s been two months now and that’s probably not a fair “time frame” to judge anything.  I found the first couple of weeks I was extremely unorganized, started several different projects and finished nothing.  We then went into that awful flu season, and I had two grandchildren ill that I helped out with - that is something I want to be able to do.  Then the big thing during that time span was putting my step father in the hospital, in a long term care facility, back to the emergency room with what they thought was a stroke and then back to the facility - all those things against his will which makes it very trying.  I am still on the same four community/church boards that I was involved in prior to quitting so that has not changed, and, for right now, I’m not taking on any more.  I’ve done my Christmas shopping, wrapped gifts and Christmas cards are out - but that would have gotten done if I was still working also - that’s just me.   

I received an email today from a very dear friend that I’ve known since I was about four years old.  She’s actually my oldest friend in life and we’ve remained in contact now 52 years - that’s amazing.  It was a very unique friendship also - very different from most.

Marilyn came from a family with 2 sisters, Suzanne and Dian and one brother, Freddie.  Her dad, Fred, was very tall and her mother, Mary, very tiny.  We all lived in the small community of Pratt, Ks., and they lived across the street from me.  Now that all seems normal.   Well, here goes.  Marilyn’s last name was Razook, mine was Jordan, she was very dark skinned and dark haired, I was blond hair and light.  The two of us never noticed that and were together constantly.  Marilyn’s family was very close, wealthy and lived in a beautiful brick house.  My family was poor, slowly going through a difficult divorce and living in a trailer park.  Marilyn and I did not notice those things either.  Marilyn had a Beagle dog that followed us everywhere on our bikes (or pretend horses), and I had a toy terrier named Pal that never left our sides and followed us to school every day.  I later learned they were Syrians - which meant nothing to me except that their mother made great food that tasted different than my mom’s. They also went to Wichita to a strange church and often took this little blond headed girl, but I never noticed I was the only one there with that color of hair.  I ate at their house, slept at their house and remember many times being hugged and kissed by their parents, as they were extremely affectionate people.  Sometimes I do remember they could talk a language that I couldn’t understand and I thought that was so funny. I heard later on that people were mean to my Syrian friends - that is so hard for me to understand, they were so kind to me.