dianegclark

Some people say that men and women can’t be close friends. Not true. Some of my closest friends are men. Dave Romero is one.

When I first met Dave, he was way different than anyone I had ever met. Scott recently described him as a hummingbird. His energy level is off the chain. He has a unique, west coast style of clothes and hair. He exudes confidence, almost to the point of overconfidence until you get to know him and find out his history. Now I know that he is one of the most humble people I know. Who loves to talk about himself, probably to remind himself of who he is and what is important to him. Dave welcomes friends like us who can call him out, are real with him. Dave was a rock star and he is still a rock star. Not many of us have actually met one so of course, he’s going to be a little different. Now he just rocks it out as a Pastor.

People are important to him. I am important to him. Scott is important to him. His words and his actions show this on a daily basis. Dave is there for us. Not just there, but there there. I can tell him anything. He listens and he accepts me and he hears me. He understands me. He always has just the right thing to say to me. He never ever lectures me or judges me but he speaks truth to me.

Sometimes we joke that I am the female him. We are so alike in so many ways.

I absolutely love to sing with Dave, to hear our voices blend together. We’ve gotten to this place where he doesn’t have to tell me when or where or what to sing, I just know. My job as his back up singer is to harmonize and add to what he is singing, to make him sound better, if that is even possible. And when the three of us sing together, Scott, Dave and I, its like magic.

We love to have Dave over to hang out. He’s easy to be with. He is hilarious. Even with his energy level, he can chill. He loves to eat and just hang. And talk. We don’t have to put on any pretenses at all. We have a pile of private jokes between the three of us.

Oh my goodness, Dave’s sermon’s lately knock it out of the park! I used to accuse him of reading my journal for inspiration for his sermons because it seems like they are just for me. He is so genuine! I write notes as fast as I can and then go back through them because even though they are simple, they are deep. So inspiring. Always exactly what I needed to hear.

I am so very grateful that God brought us together. This is what friendship is supposed to be. The type of connection we were created for.

I have such great kids. My heart bursts with pride. God gave Scott and I such great parents and then helped us raise up these three fine individuals.

Our oldest, Hannah, is such a beautiful person. She cares so deeply about people, especially marginalized people. Hannah was recently asked to be one of two representatives to go to Washington DC to represent and advocate for LGBTQ rights in health care. She was selected because as the President for the National Physical Therapy LGBTQ Club, she got to speak at a National Physical Therapy School.

Hannah is almost done with her second year of Physical Therapy School. She will graduate with a doctorate in Physical Therapy. It took Hannah awhile to figure out a career path but I think that is because she is such a free spirit! Hannah left high school and attended Baker University to play soccer. She was coming off of an injury and surgery so it was a tough go. She initially majored in nursing.

Her second year of college, Hannah transferred to KState. She majored there in art education and then dropped the education part and focussed on art. She worked at the Beach museum. Her junior year, she did a national exchange year in Laramie, WY at the University of Wyoming and ended up staying. While there, she got into rock climbing and crack climbing. Scared us to death! She also started working the summers for Americorp doing wilderness work for three weeks at a time. She ended up being a leader the second summer and met her soon to be husband, Kent. Hannah would have to organize all the food, activities, equipment and safety for her whole work crew. They built trails and even chainsawed in the deep wilderness!

After graduating with a degree in art from UW, Hannah lived in Lander, WY where she did an externship in art and worked part time in a PT clinic. It was there she figured out she wanted to go to PT school. So she returned to Laramie and took two years of science and math classes, prerequisites for PT school. She rocked them! She applied to one PT school, Regis in Denver and was accepted! This is a huge accomplishment.

Hannah continues to nurture her creative side while kicking ass at PT school. She and Kent plan to get married in August through a series of four parties for families and friends in various locations.

Hannah is the kind of person who lights up a room. Everyone’s attention is always drawn to her. She lives and laughs large. She is beautiful and stylish and doesn’t give two shits what anyone thinks of her. But she cares deeply for people, almost too deeply sometimes. She’s an awesome daughter, granddaughter, sister and aunt.

There was no doubt from the moment that Hannah was born that she would be a strong leader. She’s had a strong will and been a leader all her life, from calling kids in each grade to start a Bible story club while in 1st grade, to singing at church and in musicals and plays, to playing against boys soccer teams all the way through high school and starting on the varsity team 9-12 grades, to being in student council in high school.

One of my favorite stories of Hannah is the day she watched the security guards give a Hispanic student a hard time in the hallway for being on his cell phone moments after she walked by them on her cell phone and they did nothing. I did get called to the high school to meet with the Principal and a teacher Hannah was going in circles with and also to meet with the truancy board, oops.

I have no doubt Hannah will have a huge impact on making this world a better place.

Our sweet little Henry turned one yesterday! Leah threw the cutest party on the mezzanine (the cool rentable space above their store Prairie Harvest). All the closest local family and friends were there. We drove up and took Mom and Julie.

Henry woke up with a big fever and Emmet was wound for sound but it was still very fun. The theme of the party was animals. Leah’s decorations are always so cute and well planned. Be sure to check out her blog at Lavender and Clover this week.

Henry loved his cake, the abacus we got him and all his presents.

I already wear my hair in a style that is a little edgy. And sometimes I dress a little younger than I am. But I am not getting any younger folks! I’ve wanted to go a little further out and the other day I saw a style I liked so I am going for it. Its a faux hawk. Right now it doesn’t look a whole lot different than the shorter version of my regular hairstyle. But it is close all the way around and the top is going to grow longer while the sides stay short. I haven’t had a chance to experiment too much but I can swoop it back and the other direction, braid the top, put the top in a bun to go to the gym, and wear it down across one eye.

To top it off , decided to needed some more piercings. So I got two more in each ear. I was so nervous! I went to a tattoo shop where the expert piercer had been recommended to me. He was super kind and helpful. He pierced my ears with hollow needles folks! I was pleasantly surprised that I could do hoops right away and not studs. It hurt, yes it did. But I survived!

Now I purposefully dress a little more conservatively and feminine to balance things out.

I am so so proud of Leah. Leah is a confident, strong, artist, Mom, and entrepreneur.

It was so fun watching Leah grow up and become her own person.

Leah was born two weeks early, the tiniest of our babies. She slept 22 out of 24 hours for the first 6 months of her life and then had her days and nights mixed up. She had the tiniest little wrists and dark hair as a baby. She was a busy child, always moving, but very quiet. In elementary school, Leah had braces, glasses and we had to give her two allergy shots a week. Leah is a middle child. Growing up, she was often ill with asthma, sinus infections, and pneumonia, but she ran cross country in high school without an inhaler! I remember when she first played soccer, she ran behind all the other kids because she didn’t have enough lung power or long enough legs to keep up, but she proudly announced, “I kicked the ball once, mama!” She tried volleyball and basketball. Once her basketball team was way ahead and her teammates kept passing her the ball, hoping she would get a basket. She tried and tried! By the end, even the other team was in on it! She was musical and she loved hanging out at our neighbor’s house behind us. She and Anna played in the yard for hours and were pretty much inseparable. It was from Kathy, that Leah learned to bake and decorate. Leah always had pets and was an amazing caretaker of them. She had a baby doll that she took everywhere she went for an entire year when she was 5. Leah was always in multi age classrooms even in kindergarten! Leah played violin in the gold orchestra. I got to travel to New York City with her in high school and watch her orchestra perform at Carnegie Hall!

In middle and high school, Leah had a great friendship group and still is friends with many of those same girls. Leah wasn’t a rule breaker but she developed her own ways of doing things.

Leah decided to go to Bethel college in North Newton and it was the best choice ever. She initially decided to major in elementary art instruction but also played in the school orchestra. Leah met her husband, David, at Bethel and they married fairly young. Leah taught art for two years at middle and elementary school.

Leah and her husband and two kids live in a beautiful little house, perfectly decorated, close to where David works at Flint Hills Design. They co own Prairie Harvest, a local cafe and health food store for which Leah does the social media and some floor displays.

Leah runs her very own business from their home, Lavender and Clover. She makes and sells art products from cards and prints to printed fabrics, baby items, etc. She sells online, at pop up shows and has her products in many stores.

Leah is an amazing parent to her two kids, Henry who is almost one and Emmet, almost three. She is so patient and kind. She teaches them to share, play together, get along, and express themselves. She lets them get dirty and help with gardening and chores. She teaches them love of art and music.

I love Leah’s creativity and joy for life. I love to look at her Instagram photos and visit her house. She has it tough staying home with two little guys but she handles it with such grace. She is her very own person in her gentle way. I also love it when she comes to see me!

We got to watch Emmet and Henry a lot this weekend, here at our house. Leah had her 10 year high school reunion.

Memorable events and pics:

When they got here, Emmet went into the livingroom to say hi to Rex. Rex came over to say hi to him! Later, Emmet said, “Grandma house. Papa house. Diego house. Rex house. Emmet house.”

Henry says “Oh, Wow!” Its pretty darn cute.

Emmet rewarded me with another poop sticker. He looked in the toilet, announced, “She pooped!” and picked out a sticker for me. I am so proud. Lol.

We took the boys to worship rehearsal. Emmet sat on the front row and quietly listened while trying to get his little iPad thingy to work. Jason helped us figure out the baby carrier and we strapped Henry on my front facing out. He just listened and waved his little arms.

When leaving to go home at the end of the weekend, I asked Emmet if he was gonna miss me. He answered, “Your face.”

They didn’t feel great so the night we had them after rehearsal was pretty stressful, I’m not gonna lie. But overall, I always enjoy my babies.

Photo by Leah Gaeddert

Photo by Leah Gaeddert

Photo by Leah Gaeddert

Day Four in beautiful Puerto Vallarta started with breakfast alone for me as I was in a hurry to get in the sun. I had my coffee and quiet time then hit poolside and laid there til 12:30. I only read one and a half novels this trip! Unheard of.

Scott and Mom joined for awhile and I did get up for a short jaunt up and down the beach with Scott, this time without my shoes. Lovely.

We had lunch in the cafe, the buffet line mid afternoon. We are all up to three desserts now. We all agree the cream puffs are the best.

More sunshine and Scott and I played in the ocean. We tried out a boogie board. I rode the tiny waves and Scott went out and tried the big waves. Apparently he almost drowned while I was napping in the sun. He got hit with a big wave, knocked to the bottom where he hit his head, and he drank a huge amount of salt water. But he survived, obviously.

A nap in the room, worked on my novel, then gussied up for dinner. We ate at the seaside grill. A Mexican steak is not a Kansas steak. Mom and Scott thoroughly enjoyed the salmon.

After dinner, Mama hit the sack and Scott and I headed over for our big Karaoke debut. We performed a couple of our favorite car tunes for a huge audience of three adults and one child plus the two workers. We were a big hit.

Now bedtime as we have an early early flight home.

Mexico, thank you for a very lovely vacation. We hope to see you again soon.

Bet ya wonder what that title means?

Day three started with coffee and quiet time on the balcony.

Scott and I then walked on the beach for 3 miles.

And then the three of us laid in the sun most of the day. We picked up rocks for Emmet.

At 3, we went to the spa for the most amazing massages. Scott and I had a couples massage. So relaxing and luxurious. Then hydrotherapy. Loved it! Started with the sauna. Mom didn’t love that. Then a cold rain shower. Then a heated pool where the gal set us up near spray stations, first for the lower back, then an all over jet spray, then a neck and shoulder spray. Then we sat in a whirlpool. Then a hot tub with cucumbers on our eyes.

A quick shower and clean up, then came the adventure. We caught a taxi over to another location where there was a fancy jungle set up. We sat on benches and made friends with a couple who lived off the grid in sascatchua for 30 years and recently moved to Sacramento. (Now they use Alexa and everything). He was a retired fire fighter. Then we piled onto a large boat where they plied us with alcohol and we got silly. I should say, my new friend Laverne and I got silly. The sea was very wavy and the boat rocked and swayed a lot. You should have seen us walk over, down the stairs and to the bathroom. Try that while drinking.

Then we arrived on our island. It was a jungle island completely without electricity, lit by candles and torches. We walked through created smooth pathways to a theater where Mom and Scott and I got to sit in the third row. They put on an amazing show with historical dancers, a funny tourist, fire dancers, and acrobats, cirque de soleil . quality. It was colorful, entertaining, shocking, and amazing.

We were then taken to our candle lit table, sea side, a rough hewn wood table with big goblets. We had a delicious buffet and were entertained by a ribbon dancer (the long ribbons the people do acrobatics on up in the air). The food was delicious and the sounds of the ocean crashing so near us was exhilarating.

The whole thing was a little stressful with Mom not being able to see a thing but otherwise very enjoyable.

The boat ride home was fun for Scott, singing old time rock and roll as I worked hard to keep my dinner down with the high seas. But the crew did some lip sinc songs including the blues brothers that was pretty fun to watch.

We got back to our rooms at 1 am!

The name of the show was rhythms of the night. 🙂

Slept in, loved it! Had my quiet time on our balcony overlooking the pool then went to breakfast with Mama. I had a delicious made to order ham and mexican cheese omelet, bacon, 3 cups of coffee and 3 mimosas. Since I’m on vaca, I decided breakfast needed dessert, so I had a waffle with nutella, crema, and maple syrup. Scott joined us and he had to show off by having fruit for breakfast.

We booked an adventure for tomorrow night then laid in the sun by the pool for most of the afternoon. We did venture down to the ocean to play a couple of times. We had a picnic lunch of burgers and fries at poolside. A big cool wind picked up so we ordered daqueris and say in the Whirlpool for awhile. We made it til 2:30 then decided we were fried so back up to the rooms for naps in the A/C.

Scott and I went for a walk up the beach and missed our resort on the way back so it ended up being 5 miles!

Gussied up for dinner and ate at a fancy italian restaurant. I had cannolli, Scott had shrimp fettucini and mom had chicken parmesan. They had the most amazing cheese bread with garlic olive oil for dipping. And of course, dessert, chocolate lava cake and vanilla ice cream for Scott and I, and tiramisu for Mom. The amaretto sours were yum too.

We came up to the room and are enjoying our balcony. It is lovely. A light breeze, soft music, and the sounds of the ocean in the background.

Is 8:30 am and I’m sitting out on our patio in my nightgown and spa robe looking out over the pools, palm trees and in the distance, the ocean. I have praise music on the radio but I can hear the birds singing and the ocean waves washing up on the beach. The air is warm and cool on my skin at the same time.

Our travel went very well, only one hour wait longer in Dallas but we FaceTimed with Leah and the boys, mostly Emmet while we waited. I slept a little and did puzzles on the plane. We had a good breakfast and an amazing caramel cloud macchiato in the airport.

Our resort is just right. We were given champagne while checking in. Mom and I have stayed at many resorts and this one feels just right. It is fairly casual and everything is right here. The restaurants are all right here, breakfast and lunch just below us, and the ocean within view and not too far of a walk. Last night Scott and I walked on the beach after dark. I loved hearing the waves, seeing them break and roll up on the sand.

We unpacked and rested and explored the resort (Mom just rested) then Mom and I went down and had a cocktail (mango tango yum) before dinner. Scott joined us and we enjoyed steak, wonderful mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, bread, and cream puffs for dessert at an open air table.

After walking on the beach, Scott and I watched a fire show. Cool dancers in black outfits twirled fire for us. We were about 5 feet away. Oh to have abs like that!

The room is great, too, lots of plugs and light options, a big couch and bed, a large tub and an amazing rain shower. All the water etc in the fridge is included in our package. I’m ready for my coffee and breakfast and relaxing day.

P.S. I’m worried about Mom. She is really tired, I know, and overall, she did well at the airport. But she fell Sunday morning over her cat and has a big bruise and cut on the side of her face. She repeats things, asks questions and makes comments that don’t make much sense, can’t remember much at all, gets mixed up. She babbles like a magpie. She left her purse at home and then left her kindle on the airplane. When Scott helped her call the airline, she said the kindle was silver and it is white. She reads on it every single day. She was like this Sunday morning but being tired made it much worse yesterday. Its so so hard for me to see her like this. Scott said to focus on being vey grateful that we still have her. She’s 88 years old!