Aunt Gail

My Aunt Gail passed away this past week. She was 86 and had bright blue eyes and a smile that lit up any room that she entered. She was one of those people that you hear described as one of a kind. 

Aunt Gail was one of my mom's three sisters. Their mother died of tuberculosis when Aunt Gail was about six years old. Having lost their own mother at such a young age, it's amazing that they all turned out to be great mothers in their own right. I was lucky enough to have a beautiful, nurturing, loving mom. But wait - that's not all - with Aunts Gail and Linda and Mary I had three bonus moms. I'm sure that my siblings and all my first cousins would agree. We grew up in a wonderful environment surrounded by unconditional love whenever any or all of the four sisters were around.

Aunt Gail was a special aunt. She was eighteen years old when I was born, and she told me many times that when I was born she thought of me as her baby. I was the first grandchild so I'm sure I got a good amount of attention (until the other siblings and cousins all started arriving about a year and a half later). I never doubted that I was special to Aunt Gail. And I'm pretty sure she made many, many people feel the same way. 

Aunt Gail loved life - but most importantly she loved her life. Just out of high school in Hope, Arkansas, she met and later married a sweet boy from Bodcaw named Royce. The two of them adored each other. Uncle Royce and Aunt Gail had three beautiful daughters - Patricia Gail, Dianna Lynn, and Regina Kay - and they were crazy about them. Aunt Gail loved being a wife and a mother, and later a grandmother.

Aunt Gail had three sisters and four brothers who all together gave her twenty-one nieces and nephews - just on the Lauterbach side of the family. She loved being a sister to her siblings and she loved being an aunt to all of us. We all have Aunt Gail stories. We loved her so much.

Aunt Gail lived in Garland, Texas all of her adult life. She made friends constantly and there's no telling what the number would be if we tried to count them. We would probably need to get those Guiness Book Of World Records people involved. She didn't just make friends. She kept them. So many of Aunt Gail's friends over the years became chosen family. They all loved her so much.

Aunt Gail was a really good cook. It has often been said that there's no greater demonstration of love than cooking for people. I'm not saying she was a super healthy cook, but I am saying she was a really good cook. I remember being at Aunt Gail and Uncle Royce's house on Dawn Drive one weekend. Aunt Gail was preparing dinner and she had decided that we all needed to be a little more healthy with our food choices. For dinner that night she made a big ol' salad. That salad was delicious and it was loaded with ham and cheese and bacon and all kinds of tasty stuff. Of course, the were big bottles of Thousand Island and Ranch dressings to complement our healthy meal. There were also yummy warm buttered rolls. Like I said, Aunt Gail was a really good cook.

Aunt Gail loved life and she loved singing. She loved playing cards. She loved so many things. But I believe more than anything, she loved her friends and her family. I think that if she could, she'd probably ask for just a little more time with all of us. I know we would all cherish a little (or a lot) more time with her. We will hold on tight to our memories of a wonderful woman. We will think of her often. We will miss her tons.

Aunt Gail was one of a kind.

Our Summer 2023 Road Trip

It is not my intention to write a holiday newsletter sounding kind of thing, but it may seem a little like that. I don't expect many people to read this anyway, but...

Now that we're in the retirement phase (or maybe semi-retirement phase) of life, things have slowed down a little bit. Sleeping a little later in the morning has become our new normal. Naps happen sometimes. Getting a lot of things done in one day has become not normal. Having a list of just one or two essential tasks/errands to accomplish in the course of a day seems much more reasonable.

With the slowing down, we seem to be able to enjoy different things and enjoy some of the same things differently. Before retirement, I could feel myself growing less and less patient with bank tellers, people in front of me in line at the local grocery store, other drivers on the road, you name it. Since retirement (and maybe I'm fooling myself here), I feel that I am more relaxed and less stressed. Less prone to road rage, for example.

Being retired means that we have more time to do the kinds of things that we might have not had time for in the past. Road trips, for example.

Just a few weeks ago I was looking at the calendar and realized that we would most likely be in Mexico for a lot of the rest of 2023. Like maybe from mid-August until January 2024. Maybe. I started thinking about the people in our lives that we might want to make an effort to go see and visit with a little bit. We talked about this and decided that a good old road trip might be in order. a day or two here, a day or two there, a few days somewhere else. We came up with a tentative schedule (with the idea that we would keep it loose, flexible). We sent our loved ones whom we hoped to see along the way a copy of that schedule and hoped that we'd be able to see some precious friends and family.

I won't bore you with our day-by-day travel diary, but I will say that we had a really good time.

Some of the folks we got to see we hadn't seen in a while. Nieces and nephews in Texas and Oklahoma  have all grown up and started families of their own. They are all working hard and raising beautiful children in the most thoughtful and caring ways. They are doing all kinds of cool adult things like buying houses and planning family vacations.  At one stop, we were taught a few tricks of the parenting trade about getting a child to go to bed at bedtime. (It was pretty amazing.)

Aunts and uncles are still as sweet and smart and kind as they ever were. They're staying busy and active. Some are still working (because they love what they do) and some are doing volunteer work at their churches. When I asked Aunt Linda if we might come by her house in Arkansas, she immediately said, "I'll fix y'all lunch." I told her she didn't need to fix us anything and that we didn't want to be any trouble, she came back with, "I'd be happy to." She also advised me to tell my brother Larry that she would be providing lunch, saying, "Food will get him here." She was right. When we got to her place Larry was there, and Aunt Linda had the kitchen counters covered with food - casseroles, side dishes, desserts, everything. It looked like a Thanksgiving dinner for 20 people. We enjoyed a great meal and a great visit.

Visiting with some cherished college friends (who now work in a college/university setting) gave us a chance to catch up on each others' lives and to learn about some of the trends in higher education these days. Here's something: A professor was teaching a class one day and heard a student's cell phone ringing. The student answered the call and started having a conversation. The professor asked the student to put the phone away. The student said, "It's my mom." The professor, concerned, said, "Is everything okay? Is there an emergency?" "No," the student replied, "she just wanted to see what I was doing." Colleges and universities have professionals these days whose job is to facilitate "Parental Engagement." Parental Engagement - to my understanding - is to try to help the parents to distance themselves enough from their children that they can have a full college experience without unnecessary interruption. I may have not gotten all of that exactly right, but that's the gist of it. We were taken aback, remembering our own college experiences. Back then we rarely called home. It was long distance. (I know. Long distance. What's that?)

The last stop on our road trip was at a lake outside of Sulphur Springs, Texas. We got there on July 3, and were welcomed with a big ol' fish fry and homemade ice cream. The fish fry and ice cream business was happening anyway - that wasn't just for us - but our timing was great. Everything was delicious, and hanging out at the lake was relaxing and peaceful. There was a good amount of fishing going on, and a fair amount of corn hole playing. Eleven children (from 5 to 15) enjoyed a bounce house with a waterslide and inflatable pool. A good time was had by all.

We did come away from our road trip with one big regret though. We took no pictures. We have to try to get better at doing that. We had a great time and we have great memories, but it would be nice to be able to scroll through pictures and relive some of those moments.

Charlotte's Corn Dip

You're probably going to want to try this. Make a batch and take it to the next party that you're invited to, or make some and invite us over. We'll bring something, too, and we'll catch up.

The Lauterbach family got together again this summer in Columbus, Arkansas, just outside of Hope. When we gather, everybody generally brings too much food. it's pretty much a given. Uncle Dan will tell everybody what the tentative plans are for meals. My cousin Melanie will try to organize a food list and ask people to sign up for things that will fill the menus for the two days that we'll be grazing from those long tables set up in the lodge. Poor Melanie. She might as well be herding kittens. She might as well be trying to nail jello to the wall. She will ask people to bring different things like bottled water, bags of chips, dips, etc., and then out of nowhere, a random family member will say something in the post/thread like, "I'll bring the sweetened condensed milk!" And the rest of us are left thinking, "Whaaaa?"

Charlotte, in a goofy mood.

Anyway, my sister Charlotte was asked to bring her corn dip. I think I've had Charlotte's corn dip before, and I remember that it was pretty good. But these folk were jonesing for the corn dip. Charlotte agreed to bring the corn dip. She even said she would make a larger batch. And she did. And it was good. I mean, I got to taste it. And then it was gone.

So here's the recipe, as she gave it to me:

Corn Dip

Ingredients:

2 or 3 cans of Mexi-Corn, drained

1 cup of sour cream

3/4 cup of mayo

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

2 serrano peppers, chopped

Mix all together, then add these dry seasonings, to taste:

Kick'n Chicken

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

Salt

Pepper

I suggest you serve with tortilla chips or Frito's Scoops. And in the interest of full disclosure, I added 8 oz. cream cheese to mine.

Enjoy!

When you're chopping onions or peppers, be sure to use gloves. You'll avoid having smelling, burning hands and fingers.

Start your day... or not.

Just some random of advice - and this took me a long time to come to for myself.

1. Get up in the morning and make your bed.

2. Take a shower. Brush your teeth.

3. Get dressed for the day.

I'm not sure at what point Mr. Beers and I decided that we should start the day by making the bed, but I'm glad we did. I'd be willing to bet it has nothing to do with being reminded by our moms to do such a thing. But who knows? Maybe it did. We feel good about having that be the way we start our day. Sometimes we do it together. Sometimes one of us will already be in the shower and the other is left to make the bed alone. It's not that big of a deal. It might take five minutes, and then you can feel like you've already checked something off that overwhelming list of things you have to do today.

Take a shower and brush your teeth. Sometimes you might not feel like it. Especially if you're sick or just feeling generally blah. A shower and tooth brushing always make me feel better about everything. This is true especially if you've had too much fun (yeah, let's call it that) the night before. And this is good for anytime of day. After a day of work or running errands or anything. Sometimes we will have plans for the evening, and by the end of the work day, I find myself not looking forward to the evening's festivities. But after a few minutes under running water ---> I have a new attitude. A little more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, a little less furry-tongued and dragging ass.

Get dressed for the day everyday. Those baggy gym shorts and that oversized stained t-shirt that you sleep in are not your revolutionary costume for the day. Even if you have nothing scheduled for the day, get up and get dressed. You will feel better than if you just slug around. A few years ago our Mr. Beers had heart surgery. Afterward, as the spouse, I got some training and counseling about how to care for the patient once we were home. The folks at Cleveland Clinic emphasized the importance of making sure that our Mr. Beers got up and showed and got dressed everyday. They know that starting your day with this kind of routine will help stave off some of the depression demons that might try to get into your head post surgery. It works. For the rest of us who may not have had such surgery this is still important. This is especially important if you've found yourself in a rut, or have been feeling a especially crappy about things in general. Get up, get dressed, and get out of the house. It makes a difference.

If you start your day with a positive routine, you'll find yourself feeling better - more positive, more productive. Wow. When did I become Stuart Smalley? Never mind everything I said. Go back to bed. You deserve to sleep in today. Seriously. Go. Back. To. Bed.