Thankful for Ken - Part 4

 While I understand that November is over and today is December, I have decided to continue sharing about Ken.  I am more convinced than ever that these stories are important (at least to our family) and have meaning even beyond that.  So much history is lost when people die without having memories saved in some way.  I have scrapbooks full of pictures and journals that tell the story of our life together after 1972.  My goal in sharing is to motivate you all to think of ways to tell your own stories so that they will not be lost.  Don't put this off.  Share them now!  Tell those stories verbally to your kids and grandkids, but more importantly, write them down.  Think about the stories that your parents told you and put those on paper.  We, as a society, have not done a good job of keeping our personal history for future generations.  Enough said.... on to my sharing for today.

After the last blog, I was thinking about some of Ken's best memories.  The stories that made him so happy to tell and retell.  This photo represents one of those cherished memories.  This is Ken getting a hair cut from his "Uncle Charlie".  Uncle Charlie was actually his mom's uncle. Charlie and Alva had a cabin in the Cooks Forest Pennsylvania and also had a home next door to Ken's grandparents in Nokomis Florida.  That cabin in the woods was the site of this haircut and so many great memories for Ken.  I never got to meet Charlie and Alva.  They were already living in an assisted living home by the time Ken and I got married.  On Ken's 21st birthday, his mom gave him a picture of this cabin that she had painted.  It hung in our hallway for many years.  The frame is broken and needs replacement now.  But Ken wanted Doug and Susie to have it. 

 On our last vacation in 2019, we went to Cook's Forest and tried to find the location of that cabin.  But with no real idea of where it was, we were not able to find it. Charlie and Alva were certainly like another set of grandparents for Ken.  Charlie and Alva had bought their home in Florida before Grandma and Grandpa Baker were retired, and many of the visits that Ken made to Casey Key before he was 8 were to visit Uncle Charlie and Aunt Alva.  Around 1960, Grandma and Grandpa Baker made Nokomis home and Ken became a regular visitor there.  

This picture was taken in 1976 and is Ken helping Grandma Baker clean up her palm tree.  Ken's mom is in the background.  The house is really Ken's very favorite place.  We recently drove by and the home is sadly not in very good shape anymore.  But it held so many great memories for Ken.  

After living in Ohio, Ken's parents moved to Pittsburg when Ken's dad took a new job there.  They only lived there about one and half years, but Ken often called Pittsburg home.  When we visited there in 2018, Ken was able to drive right up to their house and find his school with no problem!  

This was his one and only birthday in Pittsburg.  He never was much of a big sports fan, but he loved the Steelers and we have many hats to prove it.  

After that short time in Pittsburg, his family relocated to Russelville, KY.  Ken spent his entire Junior High years in this small, very southern town.  He loved the weather (warm year around with not much snow.  He said that one year they had 2" of snow and the town shut down).  He had a really good friend, John that he lost track of after moving to Illinois.   Something he always regretted.

During those years in Kentucky, Ken's parents purchased a lake lot on a nearby man-made lake, Lake Malone.  They also purchased a boat.  These were truly happy years for Ken.  He loved the lake and the boat.

One of our first driving vacations, we stopped in Russelville and revisted Ken's favorite spots.  We even kayaked on Lake Malone and found the lot that his parents had purchased.  It was truly beautiful.  In the last years I would often see Ken searching Zillow for property on Lake Malone.  It was a dream of his to someday own a house on that lake.

Of course after moving to Elk Grove, the lake lot and boat didn't make much sense.  They sold the lot first but kept the boat.  Anyone who lives around here knows that there is not a really good place to use a boat anywhere around Chicago (think small fishing boat, not a boat suitable for Lake Michigan).  His parents did keep it for a couple of years and they actually took one "camping trip" to Minnesota and Canada when Ken was about 15.  

His favorite memory of that trip was the fish that he caught while camping in Canada.  His parents were not really the camping sort, and shortly after that trip, they sold the boat.  Again, something that Ken always wanted, but we never had - a boat.  

As I was thinking of these blogs, I spent some time really trying to remember the memories that Ken held on to.  I think I have captured some of the stories and things about his life before we were together, that were important to him.  A few pictures and several paragraphs can't embody someone's life.  But it can give you a glimpse into a deeper part of a person that you might have only known casually.  Both Ken and I moved around as children, and we knew that it had impacted our childhoods.  So we did decide to stay rooted in one place.  Our kids only lived in one house growing up and I still live here! Whatever the reason, I am incredibly thankful for the years we have spent here in Warrenville.  And I am very thankful that Ken and I got to visit each of his childhood homes and I got to see and experience the places he lived.  We had plans to go to South Dakota and Minnesota in 2020 to visit each of my childhood homes, but illness and COVID intervened.  I can assure you that I intend to make that trip myself at some time in the future.  

If you haven't visited your childhood favorite places, I encourage you to do so!  Make plans now to take that trip - hopefully in 2021.  Look for those old pictures and make plans to call or write to (or Facebook message) those old friends.  Scrapbook and journal your memories.  Do it before it is too late.  Your children, your grandchildren, your friends and family will thank you.  

Jesus, thank you for your plan and purpose for each of us that you have known since before we were born.  Remind us of your presence with us during the good times and the hard times.  Holy Spirit, help us all to let go of the hurts and trouble from our past.  Jesus fill us with your love and surround us with your peace as we see the past with your perspective.  Give us renewed joy as we continue to walk through this challenging year.  Thank you Jesus for your love and care for each of us.  Amen

A couple of days worth of running to September...

This is a panoramic view out of my hotel window as I sit and type this blog.  Yes, that is a great view of downtown Pittsburgh, PA.  Ken and I have always had Pittsburgh on our bucket list of cities to visit because his family lived here from 1962-1964,  It was interesting to try to find his house since Ken did not know the street address.  He had various memories as a 10 year old riding a bicycle around but other than that, not much!  Finding his school didn't help much since he took a bus to school.  The roads and all of the shopping have changed in the last 55 years, but surprisingly once we got in the general area, he was able to drive right up to the house.

I know that I have never seen a picture of this house.  Ken's family moved into this house in December of 1962 and moved to Kentucky in the summer of 1964,  So that brief year and half didn't get many photos!   At least now we made note of the street address so that we can find the house again if we want.  So today was a great day to check an item off of that bucket list and Ken got to share many memories that I had never heard before.  

Yesterday I got to check another item off of that bucket list.  Ken and I visited the Creation Museum. This destination has been something I wanted to visit for many years.  I had a few bits of hesitation when I saw how expensive the admission was.  But Ken insisted that we should go.  Well you know how sometimes expectations don't equal reality?  This was certainly the case for us.  We were looking forward to the gardens that are a part of the Museum grounds.  Unfortunately, most of the foot paths and foot bridges were closed.  I know that it is past the summer "season", but we were not expecting this.  And it seemed very commercial.  My prayer is that people of the many tour groups that we saw during this visit would have a  better understanding of the message of the Bible. There were a couple of little streams and waterfalls on the walkway to the museum and we stopped to snap this photo.  Flowing water - my favorite!

We had a nice day in spite of the let down of the museum.  We spent time just driving around and seeing the beautiful Ohio River.  It was a very restful day - a good thing on a vacation. And we were happy to have a down day before our driving day today!

 In addition to the previously posted pictures of Ken enjoying some of his much anticipated foods (Skyline Chili and Tim Hortons), we also visited...

Yep - that is a Big Boy restaurant.  Both Ken and I  remember eating at Big Boys during our growing up years.  The Big Boy was the original "Big Mac" and we discovered that, sadly, the Big Boy was not that good.  Again, a bit of a disappointment.   But it was still one of those experiences that we had talked about for years and finally got there.  

So this part of our vacation has been not quite what we had hoped for in some ways.  Yet in spite of that, we are having a wonderful time.  I love this kind of trip when we don't have very tight timelines.  We are able to sleep later.  Eat more leisurely and stop and see something if it catches our eye.  We know that the weather is always an unknown so we never depend on the forecast.  But we have some outdoor fun planned in the next couple of days so we are praying for good weather!  

I am just loving the view out my window tonight.  Being right on the river, with the backdrop of this beautiful city, just calms my spirit.  There have been so many small boats darting across the water.  Directly in front of our hotel is a water cruise and I have watched the boats go off on tours and then return to the dock.  I think the best part of vacations is having experiences like this.  It is funny how valuable a good view can be. We have a week left of our time away and I am practicing breathing and being in the moment.  I know that before I know it, this time will be done and it will be September and we will back in our usual routine.  

At the creation museum Ken and I went to a 4D movie.  The creation story was shown, day by day.  The photography was amazing.   Driving through the hills today, and now watching the river, I am taken back to those scenes.  How beautiful creation is!  I have a much better appreciation for that beauty after seeing the earth come into being in that movie.  So I am grateful for that visual now and also thankful that we did visit the museum for this reason alone.  When things don't seem to meet our expectations, when the weather doesn't cooperate, and even when the food isn't as good as you remembered, you can always - yes ALWAYS find a sliver of good.  I love how Jesus gives us these little nuggets and helps us to appreciate each day no matter what.  And it doesn't matter if you have to be reminded to find the good, or if the good just shows up. It seems like the very best thing when it comes in spite of the bad.  The joy and peace are wonderful.  

So very thankful tonight.  And also so looking forward to the rest of our time away.  No matter what comes up along the way.  I'm just going to rest and be refreshed by the river flowing by my window tonight.  Praying you all are breathing in and out in joy and peace yourself!

Jesus, thank you so much for the ability to travel and see this wonderful world that you created.  Holy Spirit, keep our eyes focused on the things that bring us joy and give us grace to move through the things that are difficult or disappointing.   Thank you Jesus that you bring us exactly what we need.  Give us all courage to keep walking on.  Amen