THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 133
FEBRUARY 2020
Dear Readers,
Since the start of the New Year I have
been busier than ever with my grandchildren. There have been snow
days, days when Lee Summit schools have been closed but not Blue
Valley, and too many days that Emmy Lou has been battling recurrent
ear infections! Grandma's daycare has been operating five days a week
sometimes! Just be glad that my diet and exercise plan seems to be
working for me children! This body has not been worn out by
exercising or deprived of a delicious calorie. I seem to be in fine
fettle! Maybe you should all consider giving up your gym memberships,
protein shakes and organic groceries!
We have had a cold, snowy, icy winter
but I was determined to make a trip back to Indianapolis and found a
window of opportunity on Thursday, January 23rd –
coincidentally Sean's 32nd birthday-. We had freezing rain
the day before and more was forecast for the weekend with snow . I
decided to go for it when I got up early Thursday morning as I knew
that once I made it to St Louis the temperatures would be above
freezing making the roads safer. I hoped the road crews had done a
good job as I headed off to I70 E! I texted Ming and Lori to let them
know I was coming and Coryn who was planning on flying out that night
and driving back with me on Sunday. Fortunately the roads were fine,
despite having to drive in rain and drizzle for most of the way! I
had to make a couple of stops, once too pee, and then for gas and
food but I ate as I drove so wasted little time! I did arrive during
rush hour again but it wasn't as bad as the traffic is here!
I was happy to see Ming-Lee looking so
good : amazed by the amount of food he was eating and his high
energy level after completing his second round of radiation
treatments just that week. Ming's strength in the face of such
adversity is awe inspiring! After supper we gathered around the
dinning room table and started to put a jig saw puzzle together,
another Lowe family favorite activity!
Claudia joined us later in the evening
after a theater event at school, bumping Lori out of her seat as she
took over her spot! This is a competitive family! Coryn arrived about
11:00 pm after taking an Uber ride from the airport. She had worn a
face mask on the plane and car ride as Ming-Lee had very low blood
counts meaning his immune system would have a hard time fighting off
germs.
The next morning I missed Claudia –
Lori had taken her to the airport as she was flying to Dallas with
her Karate team to compete in a meet that weekend. She won two
firsts! Her medals are quite spectacular! Mother would not have won a
medal for being first one up that morning! I slept until about 10:00
am and found only Coryn at home as Lori was driving back from the
airport and Ming was out on a walk in the drizzle. Mother drank three
cups of coffee and ate a blueberry muffin thoughtfully provided by
Lori who knows I am not a healthy cereal and fruit eater!
That day Ming and Lori taught us how to
play Mahjong which seemed incredibly complicated when they started
explaining the game but fortunately after a couple of hours I caught
on and actually found it enjoyable! Another new skill learned! I was
very impressed with the tile holders that Ming had made to help
facilitate the setting up and playing of the game. He is so good at
figuring out how to shape a piece of wood into something attractive
and practical.
The next day Lori and Coryn decided to
work out with Denise Austin on the big screen, while Ming was on the
treadmill. Mother was on the sofa with a cup of coffee exercising her
brain playing words with friends on her Ipad Later that morning we
bundled up against the cold and headed out into the falling snow to
walk the trails at their nearby state park.
Sunday morning Coryn and I were up
early, ready to head back to Kansas by 8:30am! Ming and Lori insisted
on scrapping the snow and ice off my car windows as we headed out
into the cold but sunny and dry day. I had hardly driven a mile when
something prompted me to ask Coryn to check my purse for my phone.
It wasn't there! I pulled over and searched my suitcase in the trunk.
Not there either. Coryn called my phone. No sound so I turned around
and headed back to Ming's thinking that I had probably left in the
kitchen at breakfast. But then a more terrible idea came to me. I had
set the alarm on my phone to wake me up that morning and had probably
tossed it on the bed as I was getting up and oh dear – I had
stripped the sheets and thrown them into the washing machine where
they were probably on the spin cycle by now with Coryn's sheets.
Coryn let Ming and Lori know we were heading back to look for my
phone which might be in the washer. They were pulling out the sheets
as I arrived but thankfully no phone! I raced upstairs to check the
bedroom but could not see it anywhere but then Lori called it and a
muffled ring was heard in the corner of the room where I had thrown
the comforter on a chair – with my phone wrapped in it! Much better
than having it tangled up in the sheets. On my previous visit Lori
had found my nightie in the sheets when she did the laundry!This
drama led us to lose some time but we only made two quick stops and
made it back to Lee's Summit about three thirty that afternoon,
gaining an hour as Indiana does not do daylight savings time. I spent
some time with Ava Claire and Owen, glad to see that Jeremy had
survived a long weekend with them and headed home for a nice cup of
tea.
After a fifty year wait my beloved
Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl and I was literally bowled over
by their amazing come back in the final seven minutes of the game. I
had actually had to tear myself away from the television late in the
forth quarter as I was so stressed by our seemingly hopeless
situation and was distracting myself with a sewing project but
hearing that we had just scored I raced back to the television to
catch the replay and watched in amazement as we did the seemingly
impossible and won by 11 points! A decisive victory after playing
well below expectations for the first three quarters. The whole city
was elated and all the schools closed on the following Wednesday so
people could attend the huge downtown parade! Mother watched from the
warmth and comfort of her couch! I am so looking forward to our next
season.
On the Saturday evening prior to the
Superbowl game,Kay had picked Coryn and me up for an evening she
gifted to us at Christmas before the Chiefs made it to the Superbowl.
The Power and Light district was a very busy sea of red bodies! It
was not easy to get around as there were lots of road barriers,
pedestrians and blocked streets and it took us awhile to find a
parking space within walking distance of our dinner restaurant and
the Sprint Center where we were going to watch the newest Cirque du
Soleil show on ice. We were eating early as the show started at 7:30
so Kay was surprised that the restaurant was heaving at such an early
hour. The line for the ladies restroom was out the door – largely
held up by some poor girl who had locked herself in a stall and was
obviously under the influence of drugs or acholol. Coryn alerted
management and a group of people were sent to deal with the
situation.
This was not the only drama that
evening. Once in our seats to watch Axel, four late comers sat in
front of us and proved a huge distraction to our enjoyment by
continuously waving their arms in the air and swaying in their seats.
Coryn mumbled something about not being able to deal with them and
needing to move seats. She insisted there were some empty seats
further down but I couldn't make them out in the dark with my aging
vision so I tapped the lady on the shoulder and explained that I had
come to see the show – not her performance. Unfortunately my words
did not deter her bobbing around so I had Coryn lead the way to the
empty seats several rows in front of the rude and thoughtless members
of an otherwise lovely audience!
Sarah has been to Canada and Los
Angeles for work these past two weeks , only being home a couple of
nights a week so she is thrilled that her advancing pregnancy should
preclude any further work trips. Leslee-Ann was also in Canada for a
work trip at about the same time but in a different city. Marc and
Leslee-Ann are spending the last weekend in February visiting
Ming-Lee and Lori and I plan to visit the following weekend! Road
trip with Mother anyone? We are all so grateful to Lori for putting
up with us all and can not thank her enough for taking such great
care of Ming-Lee! We are all so blessed to have her in our family.
Kay and Richard had a wonderful time in
Singapore, Paris and Barcelona and almost as soon as they returned
from their honeymoon they decided to put their present home on the
market and hopefully move even closer to me! Richard's dad has been
doing a lot of the handyman projects needed to get the house ready
for market as determined by their Realtor. He has just retired and
seems to enjoy fixing up houses which is very fortunate as Richard is
not a handy man!
Sean and Sarah are also actively
thinking about moving too and plan to meet with their Realtor for
suggestions on what needs to be done to their house to make it as
marketable as possible and I think they also appreciate the
convenience of my location right off all the major interstates!
However with a new baby due in a couple of months it may take awhile
to get everything done that needs to be! Hopefully Josh will be
around for awhile when he returns in April to Kansas City.
Valentines Day has just passed, I was
fortunate enough to spend some time on Thursday with Ava Claire and
Owen as schools were closed due to the frigid sub zero temps and icy
streets. They gave me a cute card and a box of candy which they were
ready for me to share before lunch which Coryn had bought over with
her for us all. Chicken tacos which the kids turned their noses up at
asking me for apple slices, English muffins, peanut butter and of
course chocolate milk!While I fixed their lunch Coryn fixed ours. She
returned the following day to work from my home while Owen was at
preschool as she had the day off. Fortunately I had scheduled a
mammogram for that morning that allowed me to be home in time for her
to pick up lunch for our Valentine's day celebration and Sean and
Emmy Lou stopped by with supper from McDonalds! So fortunate to spend
so much time with my family here !
A heartfelt hug and kiss to all my
Valentines, big and small. There is nothing I enjoy more than being
right in the heart of everything happening in your lives! Love Mother
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| My little Valentine Callie in an outfit I made for her |
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| My slightly older Valentine in an outfit I made for her |
