It's Been 84 Years... No, No, Five. It's Been 5 Years

 Do you quote movie lines at your house? We do it a lot around here. My title is from Titanic, but you probably already knew that. 😊 Can you see 'old' Rose beginning to tell her story?

Anyway, today - May 23 is Beth's fifth anniversary working at Westgate!

She had worked at Little Caesars for 5 years folding pizza boxes, when the new owner got rid of her position. The manager lobbied for Beth, the other employees tried to keep her there, even the DART driver when he heard she was losing her job went in to speak to the manager. Nothing changed her mind. When Beth got home from work that last day she sobbed. It broke my heart.

For the next two years we waited for Beth's job coach to find her a job. She went on a few interviews but then we heard from the coach less and less. It was during this time I got the supervisor position at my job and after about a year I asked my boss if I could hire Beth. He loved the idea and she's worked there ever since. 

This was her very first day, May 23, 2019 

 

She started out cleaning our preschool two days a week: emptying the trash and vacuuming all seven classrooms. She now works one day a week because I changed the days I work, and we've hired an overnight cleaning crew. (We have a huge building and two dozen events every day. It was putting a huge strain on our custodial staff.)

Over the years she's set up chairs, vacuumed carpets, stocked shelves, and disinfected everything from bathrooms to push bars on the Sanctuary doors.

We have a Length of Service award lunch every fall, celebrating those who have worked 5, 10, 15... years. As her supervisor I'll get up and say a few things about her and she'll get a small bonus. I'm looking forward to that! 

1982

We celebrated our 41st Anniversary this weekend. We were married on August 14, 1982, Chuck was 24 and I was 21.

 

 

 It's crazy when you think back to those first years, you have no idea what your future will hold. And honestly I didn't really know him. In April I had just started attending his church and we hung out in the young singles, but we were just friends. On July 4th we started hanging out together. And August 13 he asked me to marry him. 

 

We decided to set the date for the following year, and we both felt the Lord show us the exact date: one year from the day he proposed. August 13 was a Friday that year so we decided to make it the 14th. 

 

And now 41 years later, here we are. I think the thing that defines our marriage and family the most (besides the Lord of course, He's the foundation on which our marriage and family is built) is our traveling. We know many people who put their money into their home, raise their kids, and then after the kids have moved out, mom and dad start traveling. 

 

We did just the opposite. Our first road trip was in 1986 when Sharaya was a month old. We've taken more than 40 since that time - all over the U.S. We've taken our kids to many national parks, spent a week at an orphanage in Morelia, Mexico and instilled in them a love of travel and exploration. The memories we've made with them will last a lifetime. (Some of our pictures are on my side bar.)

 

This weekend Chuck and I went to a movie at Cinnabar, a theater where you can order a meal and they bring it right to your seat. That was nice. We saw Oppenheimer, have you seen it? I'm not sure how I feel about it. There were some nudity, plus the controversy of the Project itself. My grandfather assisted in the Manhattan Project (not sure how I feel about that either) so I was curious about it. But, it's not a movie I will ever see again and definitely won't have in my library here at home.

 

On our very first date we went to see Raiders of the Lost Ark, so we watched that again this weekend too. Chuck fell asleep during part of it and I laughed when I woke him up. We're a little more comfortable around each other now than we were back then. 😂 

 

1981

 

 

1987

 

 1995

 

 2012

 

  2021

 

Stay tuned for a new family photo that includes Adelaide!

Forty

August 14, 1982 we said "I do." 

 

It's crazy how much things have changed since that day. This was taken in 1986 -

 

 This was at Diana and Peter's wedding last year -

 

 Last night we had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. It was the first time we'd ever been there and it was delicious! After we ate we walked about a block to the Paramount Theater and got to see Hamilton! It was incredible to watch it live. Their voices were phenomenal; the costumes and sets were captivating ... the entire room was electric! As soon as the lights went down everyone began to clap and cheer! It was so much fun!

 

 Heading into the city

 

 

 

 Our seats were in the 12th row!

 

 

The view from our seats

 

 During the Intermission we went down front to see if one of the attendants could take a picture of us. At first he said no because then EVERYONE would want him to take their picture but after he saw us trying it ourselves, he had pity on us and very quickly took one. 😂

 

 We went back to our seats and tried again. I wanted to get a picture with the full stage behind us but we just couldn't make it happen. This was our second or third try -

 

 

While we were trying, Chuck got a Facebook notification. It was a friend who was also at the show! She had been watching us and sent us this:

 

 We hadn't seen her in years so we got to talk for a few minutes. It was so good to catch up. 

 

We had such a good night! We stayed up until 2:00am talking.

 

The Lord has poured His blessings on us the last 40+ years. We've been able to experience so many good things in this life. I hope it continues for another forty!   

Wait, How Long?

As I was leaving work on Thursday I asked my co-worker if she had any plans for the weekend.

"No, not really. You?"

"Our new washing machine is being delivered tomorrow but other than that, no." 

Then as I was pulling into our driveway I remembered:

Saturday's our Anniversary!!

A couple weeks ago I asked Chuck if he had any plans for "a week from Saturday." 

"No, why? What's a week from Saturday?"

That's life lately. So busy things just run together!

But... August 14. This is our 39th Anniversary. I've told a couple people it's 29 because I just can't believe it's been that long! Then I correct myself and wonder where the time has gone. 

We've had so many fun adventures, I feel stronger when he's with me, more confident, and he still makes me laugh harder than anyone else! It isn't always sunshine and roses but I'm so glad I said yes all those years ago!

A Whirlwind, 20 Years, and You've Got Mail

The day after Diana found her dress we decided to go to New York. We drove to the Rahway Train station and rode into the city. We walked around Central Park, that place is huge! We walked with Sharaya as far as the Met. She could probably spend all day there! Then Diana and I turned and headed out of the park. There was a bakery she wanted to take me to and we decided to go there for brunch.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Diana actually has a drawing of this hanging in her house!

On our way to the bakery we stopped on a sidewalk and Diana goes, "I think this is where they filmed You've Got Mail. Near the end when he says, 'As long as we both shall live.'" I go, "Yes! And where he tells her 'he' could be the zipper man. 'She'd never have to buy new luggage again!'" I think you're right Diana! This has to be the street! We got to the bakery and Diana was so disappointed that it was closed for renovations. Then I realized why. It was the place in the movie when they decide to meet and she waits inside with a rose and a book... "If you don't like Kathleen Kelly you aren't going to like this girl. Because it IS Kathleen Kelly." That's the bakery!!! Oh my gosh!! And then I was really disappointed too. And we had just watched it on TV the night before! Amazing! (Little did I know the girls had planned the whole thing. They streamed the movie, it wasn't actually on TV!) Have I told you how much I adore my daughters?! 💖

 

We finally found a place for lunch and Sharaya met us there. Then we took an Uber to One World Trade Center. We had visited there back in 2004 when they were just beginning to rebuild.

I just saw this picture in my scrapbook...

 And realized Sharaya took this one last week from the same angle.

 

We wished we'd had more time so we're planning to go back again in September. We got another Uber to take us to the train station, then rode 45 minutes back Rahway and Diana took us to the airport. It was a whirlwind weekend but one I will always remember!

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 attacks

Did you ever see the Twin Towers?

Have you been to the 9/11 Memorial in New York?