Starting Weight: 242 lbsCurrent Weight: 211 lbs
This Week's Results: -2 lbs
Total Results: -31 lbs
My Dad Carl and Mom Joyce ==>
circa 1996
So many things happened this month already... October 2 was the 11th anniversary of my Dad dying of cancer. October 1 was my aunt Janet's turn to see the Lord face to face, finally laying down her long battle against cancer.
Its kind of weird, how time passes. It seems to telescope in and out for me all the time. Eleven years Daddy's been gone, but sometimes it still seems so fresh. I feel like I was just getting to know him as a person, rather than the complicated personage I always recall from my childhood.
Growing up, the five of us kids two aunts, Janet, and Joan, my mom Joyce's sisters. Daddy was an only child, so no aunts or uncles there, but his dad had 4 younger sisters, Lillian, Marion, Margaret, and Evelyn; and a baby brother, Ralph; so we had lots of great-aunts and uncles. There are something like 70 Boettger relatives in our family tree, and that's the siblings starting with Pop-Pop, or Carl, Sr., his siblings, their spouses, nieces and nephews, my Daddy and his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
Mom is the oldest of the three girls, then Janet, and Joan was the baby. I think I get my sardonic sense of humor from Mom's side of the family, and Aunt Janet was the queen! Mom is a much nicer person, like Aunt Joanie, but Aunt Janet always got her little zingers in on her sisters as well as Grandma and my great Aunt Florence, which cracked me up. Grandma and Aunt Florence were sisters, and Aunt Florence lived with Grandma and Gramps from the time they married, I think.
Daddy grew up in Ridley Park, which is 15 miles south of Philadelphia, and Mom moved there from Tower City, Pennsylvania, when she was 12 years old. They were NOT high school sweethearts until senior year, because Mom said Daddy was really annoying.
But I digress. Aunt Janet graduated from Drexel University in 1958 with a degree in home economics and education, I think. She returned to college and earned a degree in Medical Technology from Our Lady of Angels in 1981. She lived in Delaware after marrying Uncle Jim, in the same house in Claymont, until she died. She was a medical technologist at Chester County Hospital until 2006 when she had to retire due to her health. She also volunteered at DuPont Hospital, swam almost daily, played bridge, and traveled. Boy, did Aunt Janet travel! She and Uncle Jim lived in Turkey during the early 70s with their children, Jaime and Jennifer, while Uncle Jim, an engineer, helped to build oil refineries. She went to Egypt, Asia, Europe, all over the world.
We didn't get to see much of our Northerner relatives, but when we did it was like we'd always been together. I saw my first ever fireflies at Aunt Janet's house. I remember running around the yard gathering them up and putting them in a Mason jar with Jaime and my sister Amy, and then releasing them in the bedroom at night. What a cool thing to see, blinking little lights in the jar, and then witnessing them softly rise out of the jar and take over the whole room! I think we did the same thing another time, but with baby frogs, when they came to visit us in Tampa.
I really miss my Dad, and I'm already feeling the loss of Aunt Janet's presence in my life, but there's a huge caveat to those emotions. BUT! Daddy and Janet were both devout Christians, believing in the grace that the Lord extends to everyone who believes in Him, all of their lives. The best thing about being a Christian is knowing with all your being that death is not the "forever and forever" end.
Here's my prayer for the week. Please, if you have a dispute with someone you love, patch up your differences. Love on them, tell them you're sorry, or let them apologize to you, and mend those bridges, or at least try. You can't control how someone else will react, but you can extend the olive branch. We know neither the day nor the time when we won't get a second chance to fix things.
...Maybe my next entry will be about weight loss!
But I digress. Aunt Janet graduated from Drexel University in 1958 with a degree in home economics and education, I think. She returned to college and earned a degree in Medical Technology from Our Lady of Angels in 1981. She lived in Delaware after marrying Uncle Jim, in the same house in Claymont, until she died. She was a medical technologist at Chester County Hospital until 2006 when she had to retire due to her health. She also volunteered at DuPont Hospital, swam almost daily, played bridge, and traveled. Boy, did Aunt Janet travel! She and Uncle Jim lived in Turkey during the early 70s with their children, Jaime and Jennifer, while Uncle Jim, an engineer, helped to build oil refineries. She went to Egypt, Asia, Europe, all over the world.
We didn't get to see much of our Northerner relatives, but when we did it was like we'd always been together. I saw my first ever fireflies at Aunt Janet's house. I remember running around the yard gathering them up and putting them in a Mason jar with Jaime and my sister Amy, and then releasing them in the bedroom at night. What a cool thing to see, blinking little lights in the jar, and then witnessing them softly rise out of the jar and take over the whole room! I think we did the same thing another time, but with baby frogs, when they came to visit us in Tampa.
I really miss my Dad, and I'm already feeling the loss of Aunt Janet's presence in my life, but there's a huge caveat to those emotions. BUT! Daddy and Janet were both devout Christians, believing in the grace that the Lord extends to everyone who believes in Him, all of their lives. The best thing about being a Christian is knowing with all your being that death is not the "forever and forever" end.
When we go to Heaven, I hope we get to continue to have a window in on our loved ones, to see how they're doing without us. If so, I'm sure Daddy is very amused by his great-grandchildren as they are born and grow teeth, and learn to crawl and walk, and speak, and develop their little personalities. I'll bet he whispers in Pierson's ear at 3:00 a.m. that what he really wants to do is wake up and make his parents play with him until the alarm goes off. I'd also be willing to bet that he is the one who is enticing Phoebe to act like a crazy child at bedtime.
Here's my prayer for the week. Please, if you have a dispute with someone you love, patch up your differences. Love on them, tell them you're sorry, or let them apologize to you, and mend those bridges, or at least try. You can't control how someone else will react, but you can extend the olive branch. We know neither the day nor the time when we won't get a second chance to fix things.
...Maybe my next entry will be about weight loss!
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