The Kids by Birthday - January is Kevin

Bruce, Deb,Ben,Shane, Amy, Kevin, Kerry. Middle: Ryann,Stephanie,Juliet and SophiaKevin (far right) and friends viewing the 'Golden Buddha" in Thailand

Baby Kevin

I've been trying to figure out a way to write about my children. It's difficult to do - as I've mentioned before - because we have an ongoing relationship. Someone suggested I do it as their birth month comes along. That means I will start with my son Kevin Matthew who was born January 19, 1979. Kevin is my third living child. I had a baby boy that I named James Nathanial Johnson about two years before Kevin came along. He was born way too early and did not survive. In fact, I barely survived. But that's another story. When Kevin came along I felt many things, not the least of which was gratefulness and relief that we both survived.

Each of my children has been a unique gift, but I suppose Kevin had a little extra glow for me because I had lost his brother such a short time before and as any mother can tell you, that is a devastating blow. His name means something along the lines of 'beloved Gift of God" and that is surely the way we saw him. Well...most of us.

His older brother Steve who had always been top dog felt a little put-out by this newcomer who took up a lot of his mother's time. Steve wrote a letter to his grandmother and mentions 'the boy, Kevin..." in not completely glowing terms. It took Steve several years to accept the roly-poly little boy into his heart. Someday I'll tell about the 'ring of fire' incident, but not today - or the time Steve put Kevin down the laundry chute. He claims he put a lot of 'soft' things at the bottom to catch the kid, so there was no danger.

Amy on the other hand, was delighted to have a real live doll! In fact in her mind, she raised Kevin from babyhood. Not exactly the way it happened, but she was a huge help.

Kevin was a very easy-going baby. I suppose his demeanor is most like his dad's. Very quiet and introspective. Athletic and agile, he excelled at little league and soccer. In Boy Scouts he made it almost to the top rank...all he needed was to finish one project, but the calendar and his 18th birthday came first.

When he was twelve years old he was involved in a bb-gun accident with friends where he lost most of the sight in one eye. It was a defining moment in his life that he still deals with every day, but he has learned to compensate for it and does very well. He did have to give up baseball and soccer because depth perception is important for games involving balls - but he got involved in track, cross country, and swimming and did very well in high school.

He went on to College at the University of Oregon and earned degrees in Economics and Business Administration. He worked for several years and then when the American economy took a huge dip, decided (with the goading of his siblings) to go back to school and earn his MBA (Masters of Business Administration). He will be finished with the work in just a few months and hopes to find employment with a major company. Its been a grueling schedule for him with a family and a long commute to school, but hopefully the payoff will come soon.

I've jumped ahead of myself. On July 8, 2000, Kevin married his high school sweetheart, Stephanie Aarenne Nelson. They both finished college after that and Stephanie went to work as a high school music teacher while Kevin worked in the home mortgage industry. They bought a house about 10 miles from both sets of parents and on September 23, 2004 little Sophia Brynn Johnson was born. Juliet Rose came along on March 25, 2006. I will write about each of this lovely ladies another time. I've had the honor of tending the little girls nearly every weekday while their mom teaches and dad worked or went to school. That will probably change next year with new jobs and school for Sophia. I'm not exactly thrilled about any of that, but change does happen. I suppose I'll adjust.

In looking over what I wrote it sounds very dry and more like a trip-tick than a biography. This is what I meant about it being sooooo difficult to do. Maybe I'll just plan on adding more details. Next year.

Yeah, that's the ticket!

more Bits n' Pieces

I've been meaning to put a picture of the beach house on here for some time, but I keep forgetting. That said, here it is. In the basement level is a small garage and workshop. On the main level there is a living room, kitchen, dining area, master bedroom and bath and a half bath. Oh and the ever important mud/laundry room. On the upper level there are 3 bedrooms, a large bathroom and a small family room.

The house sits a little high on the hill giving us a nice view of the ocean. I have a spotting scope set up for whale watching. The beach is about a 3 block walk.

Last week my granddaughter Sophie and I were chatting. There had been something on tv about a kid being told not to swim right after a meal. She asked me about that and I told her that it used to be believed that if you swam too soon after a meal that you would/could get a cramp and drown. She looked at me very seriously and said " Gramma, I don't know what it's like in YOUR world, but in MY world, that doesn't make any sense!"

Sheesh. She just turned five years old.

I got the first coat of paint on my doll house. I'll take a picture of it when I get the roof on. That will come next. It's looking like a house now. Sort of.Also working on a few different paintings. None of them are grabbing me so I'll probably just think of them as practise.

My garbage disposal was leaking so I got out the instruction manual and tried to find an answer. Turns out it just needed a little plumber's putty and its good as new. I put some on a little while ago and just did a test and no leaks!

My gosh I don't think I can stand the excitement. (and yes, I AM rolling my eyes.)

Soooo Sorry (Heheheeee)

I guess the first thing I need to do is apologize to everyone about the last post. My excuse is this: Joe told me to be sure and write about Jim's time here, so he could keep up with it. I just couldn't write that we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then drove around Salem a little while and came home...where is the drama in that? So I exaggerated a little. OK, I exaggerated a lot. The only truth to that post was that we did go and see Avatar that night. You'll notice I didn't even mention the Governor's name (Kulongoski) because I couldn't remember it while I was writing. He keeps a pretty low profile. I'm not sure why.

I hope I get some points somewhere for the fact that at the end, I made it sort of clear that the whole thing was a lie.

Joe posted his comments and I appreciate that. My favorite response came from Lori. She said she was reading along and started calling for the guys in the family to "come read this!" As she read along she got to the end and just said a flat "Oh". Ian and Cullen both said "Aunt Debby...that was mean!" Judy admitted to totally buying into the whole thing until the end where the twisted and weird sense of Stewart humor became obvious. This is the same Judy who is well known as the teddy bear kidnapper who held her sister's bear for ransom while doing unspeakable things to the bear and telling about it in great detail in her ransom notes. Sheesh...I'm not the only one....

Another comment said that it sounded so plausible because things like that just happen to us. I suppose it could have been. I'm sure the Gov and Jim would get along famously, but the lunch thing? That would have been dutch for sure.

Wow! What a day!

Bruce went to work today so Jimmy and I decided to look around Salem a bit. I gave him a quick visual tour of the museum I work at sometimes, then we went to the Capitol Building here and that is where our excitement began...

Since I worked at the Capitol several years ago, I know some of the ins and outs of the building that not all people are privy to. I showed Jim the lovely murals we Oregonians are so proud of and explained the history behind them. Then I wanted to show him the Governor's office because it has a lovely public reception room that is truly beautiful. We tromped up the stairs-ok, I tromped, Jim walked with great dignity-and I began to point out some of the sights: the Senate wing of the building, the hallway to the lobbyists best hideouts and then we noticed a fairly small crowd outside the Gov's office. We walked over and discovered that it was a press conference and that television stations from all over the state were there. I recognized several well-known local tv personalities. We worked our way into the back of the room and watched. It was really interesting. It was near the end so all the tv guys started finishing up. Since we were among a very small group of onlookers we found ourselves being asked our opinions on several key issues. Of course the whole time the cameras are rolling. I didn't notice that the Gov was standing nearby and one of the tv reporters asked him what he thought about Jim's comments on the issue." Wow...this is cool" was what I was thinking. In about a minute Jim and the Govenor were exchanging ideas right there! They were just having a friendly conversation it appeared. The tv guys finished up and said for us to watch the news this evening because we will surely be on it. Again I'm thinking "cooooooool"!

Well, I thought it was all over so I turned around to find my brother and there he is standing with the Gov and they are STILL talking. By this time I'm beginning to feel a little like a third wheel. It turns out our Gov is a rancher in eastern Oregon and when he found out what Jim does, he was fascinated. So they are talking and talking and I'm standing there shifting from one foot to the other. Finally the Gov asks if we'd had lunch! Well, no we hadn't had lunch - that was going to be next on our agenda - so he says "Well, come on downstairs and let me buy you lunch...I still have some things I want to talk to you about Mr. Stewart!" You could have knocked me over with a feather.

So downstairs we went to the cafeteria to eat. I had a yummy chicken salad sandwich and Jim had a chicken quiche thing. The Gov had a shrimp salad. All the while he and Jim are just chatting it up! I thought it was interesting that there were two police guards with the Gov, but they stayed discreetly away. They always had their eyes on us though. After lunch we walked back up to the office and he gave us both little coin-type tokens with the Oregon State seal on them. Pretty cool. Then he got Jim's business card and said he would be in touch because he had some more questions! How cool is that!

Tonight we are going to see Avatar. I'm not sure if today's lunch was more exciting or tonight's movie.

Oh, one more thing...

If you believe ANYTHING I wrote above I'd like to talk to you about purchasing some 'beach front' property I own in Florida. :)

Beaches, Birthdays, and Brothers

Brother Jim is visiting so we decided it would be fun to go out to the beach house and share some of the joys of vacation living. It's also Kevin's birthday this week, so it seemed fitting to make it a birthday celebration weekend as well. So Amy, Shane, Ben, Ryann, Kerry, Kevin, Stephanie, Sophie and Juliet came out to enjoy some time with Uncle Jim and also to honor Kevin on his 31st birthday. It's rather strange that Kevin is now in his thirties, since I'm only 39. I wonder if I should bump up my age a decade or so.

The first two days were fairly low-key because of the rain outside and the brewing storm so we mostly stayed indoors and played pinochle, read, watched some tv and enjoyed the kids antics. I spent time searching the sea for whales, but didn't have any luck this time. We seemed to be able to keep each other entertained and really didn't need any other activities. Bruce did invite Jim on his early morning walk on the beach. Ryann and Ben wanted to go along so they left before the sun came up and walked a long way on the beach at low tide. They all remarked on the strangeness of the light at that time of the day and seemed to enjoy it.

Everyone else had left by 10:00 a.m., so I talked Bruce and Jim into a drive south to Newport beach. I wanted Jim to see some of the Oregon Coast besides the view outside my windows. The weather seemed to cooperate somewhat and we were able to make several stops to see many of the natural wonders as well as a few of the man-made ones. Seas were high because of the storms so it was fun to watch the water churn and smash against rocks. We also made stops at a few lighthouses. My favorite one is the Yaquina Head lighthouse where we were able to climb up to the top and peek out near the light. The lighthouse is 93 feet high and has a spiral iron staircase inside. Its a bit of a climb, but certainly well worth the effort. We also stopped at the Yaquina Bay lighthouse which is no longer in service, but fully restored from the 1870's and very interesting to see and imagine life in those days. We had lunch at Mo's and the sandwiches were yummy, but the clam chowder disappointing. Some Marionberry Cobbler helped ease the sting of the crummy chowder. Late in the afternoon we returned to the beach house to finish a few things, then headed back to Salem.

Tomorrow is our last full day with Jim and we are already looking forward to future visits.

No Life in This Day

Its been a week since I last wrote. I've been waiting for inspiration to strike but it hasn't.

I've been alone all this week. My plan was to get my act together and go workout each day. So far I've only walked a few miles and my week is nearly over. It's amazing how when you have a lot of time, you seem to waste a lot of it - yet when you are busy and have very little time you manage to get so much more done because you have to. When every day is the same and your time is unlimited you put things off until later. I have a ton of incomplete projects on my desk. I'm building a doll house but it currently has no roof. I have several partially finished paintings near the window of my painting desk. (I did end up throwing out the clarinet painting I alluded to in an earlier post-my heart just wasn't in it.) I have an awesome area set up for doing my beading and jewelry making...maybe I'll think about doing something there. I suppose I could look around and find some home improvement project to work on, but the rain and dreariness outside kind of suck all the interest out of that.

I am excited to see my brother tomorrow. I'll pick him up around noon in Portland. For part of his visit we'll go out to the beach so hopefully we'll be able to share some of the joys of the Oregon coast with him. I'm hoping if he takes home a good report that I'll get more relatives up here to visit.

I should look around and make sure the house is all ready for visitors. Ah phooey...I have time...I'll do it later.

What day is it?

Brother Jim told me tonight on the phone I need to write more often. He's getting bored looking at the same page. I'll try to pull something out of my...hat.

I called Jim today because I found myself a little confused about the date of his visit. I kind of had it in mind that he was coming THIS week instead of next. That sort of thing happens to me a lot. I get a 'round-about' date in my head and somehow never confirm it with a calendar. I don't know why I don't write more things down. Several times in my life I've shown up for meetings the day before or the day after the scheduled day and time.

Somehow I managed to mess up the date of my departure when I went to Russia and went a whole day early. Of course Bruce was in Siberia when I arrived in Moscow, so I just went to the hotel I was supposed to be in the next night and told them THEY must have made a mistake. The weird thing was, Kevin had left me at the airport at 5:00a.m. for my trip. I couldn't get hold of him to have him come back and get me. Its an hour-plus trip to the Portland airport form Salem. Anyway...the fellow at the check in desk did a little magic with his computer and put me on the plane anyway! It turned out OK because I got to sleep a whole day and get used to the major time change. Of course there was no one at the airport in Moscow to pick me up as Bruce had so carefully arranged (they would be there the next day and wonder where I was) and I had to make my own arrangements to get into town in a language I didn't know, but it all worked out.

It happened another time when I was supposed to be arriving for a visit to Ventura (my hometown in California) from Ames, Iowa where I lived at the time. It was sometime back in the 80's. I was at home in Ames, ironing my clothes for my trip that I thought was the next day. My sister-in-law called and said "WHERE ARE YOU!" I said..."uh, I'm here ironing...where are you?" She was at the airport in L.A. waiting to pick me up (NOT an easy drive from Ventura) and she was not happy with me.
Ding-a-ling Deb does it again. Somehow these earlier experiences didn't end up costing me any extra travel money. Back in those days, airlines were more willing to work with ding-bats and make concessions for stupidity. Not anymore.

I came close to making a similar travel mistake when I went to visit my neice and her family in Maryland last September. I thought I had another day at home before I was to leave. Several days before the trip I thought about my travel fiascos of the past and decided I must check my flight info with my calendar. Low and behold! I was a day off in my estimation! Whew! I saved myself that time.

How in the world do these things happen to a (relatively) intelligent woman who has managed to keep a handle on four children and not lose any of them. (Well, except for the time I misplaced Kevin in Thailand, but that's another story...)

I better get a calendar and use it.