Today you are celebrating your 80th birthday in
Heaven, and we are selfishly shedding tears on earth wishing that you could be
here to celebrate with us instead.
So many wonderful things have happened since you went to
Heaven…John and Mary Alice got engaged! Mary Kathryn and Conner got married! Matt
and I became Eucharistic ministers at church! I silently tell you these things as
they occur, and I know that you are smiling down on us as you watch them take
place.
It makes me sad that I never got the chance to tell you
about our trip to the World Cup…that I never got to show you pictures of me all
dolled up as a bridesmaid in Marion’s wedding…that I instinctively grabbed the
phone to dial your number and tell you about all of my St. Agnes friends who
recently got engaged and who knew and loved you just as much as you loved them.
We made it through the first Thanksgiving without you, and
it was not easy. Christmas is coming up in just a few weeks, and we know that
it won’t be easy either. Please do not worry though! You created a strong and
loving family who will continue to support each other and look after Paw Paw
for you.
It is only fitting that your birthday happens to fall on "Giving Tuesday"…Did you know that we established a scholarship at St. Agnes in
your memory?! The Mary Donahue Jorgensen Scholarship Endowment Fundwill provide short-term financial assistance to a current student
whose ability to continue her education at St. Agnes is jeopardized due to
financial hardship caused by the sudden death of a parent or guardian. Just as
you were able to continue your Catholic education after the death of your
father at the age of 14, your memory will now afford future St. Agnes girls
this same opportunity.
I will conclude this letter with a video of your speech from the
St. Agnes Academy Hall of Fame Inductions held this past February. Your speech was the perfect mix of reverence, gratitude, joy, reflection, and humor, just like you. This
occasion was truly special, as it was the last time that all of your children
were in Memphis before your death. We celebrated your numerous accomplishments
and the WONDERFUL example that you set for all of us!
Not a day goes by that I do not think about you and miss you terribly, but I am comforted by many wonderful memories and the peace in knowing that I will see you again one day.
22. It has been 22 days since my beautiful, loving grandmother went to glory. She is with me every day, her smiling face staring back at me from the framed wedding picture that sits on my desk at work.
I have cried bucketfuls of tears and I know that more will come as we approach each "first" without our matriarch, but I am determined to find the light that will break through all of this darkness. Granny would not want her absence to put a damper on the WONDERFUL (her favorite word) things that will continue to happen in our lives. She was an avid reader of Generals and Gingers, and even though she cannot log on to her Macbook and check out this latest post, I know that she is up in Heaven enjoying wine time (it is always 5 o'clock there, right?) and smiling down on us as we embrace life.
Granny, this update is for you.
I celebrated my first anniversary at The Coca-Cola Company in June! Here are a few quick facts about my first year.
Audits completed: 6
States visited: 2 (Florida and Ohio)
Bottling plant fires witnessed: 1
Visits to the Wonderful World of Coca-Cola: 2
Favorite employee event: The 2014 Share-A-Coke campaign kick-off
Celebrities spotted at Coke: Akon and Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef
This summer also brought bachelorette parties in Nashville and Memphis...here are a few pictures.
My beautiful friend Marion got married last month, and I was blessed to be a bridesmaid in her wedding!
If you follow me on any other form of social media, then you know that my June and early-July were 100% consumed by the Women's World Cup, which took place in Canada. I booked my ticket to Vancouver (where the final game was being held) in December without obviously knowing if the US would make it or not. I was an avid believer from Day 1, and they did not disappoint me. Experiencing a World Cup final game in person and watching my country lift the trophy is something that I will never forget!
Matt and I are headed to Chicago next week to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. I cannot believe it has already been two years! If you have any suggestions on things to do/places to eat, please let me know!
Our lives are blessed beyond measure and we have so many more exciting things to look forward to in the coming months. Here's to peace and light for the remainder of 2015!
You know that your trip is off to a great start when you finally arrive in Memphis after a 6 hour car ride and your husband looks at you and says, "We have a problem." My first reaction was obviously focused on me, myself, and I -- did you forget to load my suitcase in the car, husband?! You didn't? OK, then what is the problem? Ohhhhhhh - you forgot to load YOUR suitcase in the car! Super!
Yes, it is true. My lovely ginger-headed husband got out of school early on Thursday, spent 5 hours at home, loaded up the car, picked me up at work, drove us to Memphis, and then realized that he packed everything I had laid out for him EXCEPT for his suitcase. He even told me that he had added stuff to his already-packed suitcase while at home during the day and still forgot it. He luckily remembered his hanging bag with his Easter suit, and my mother's semi-extreme couponing habit came in handy as we raided her stockpile for toiletries, but we had to venture out the next day to buy underwear and dress shoes so that we didn't have a "Very Redneck Easter" on our hands. I should have known this day was coming. We have a lot of experience in the bad packing department (i.e. forgetting to pack underwear, packing T-shirts and no coat for 35 degree weather, etc.) and I now oversee all of Matthew's packing jobs, but I never thought I'd also have to monitor the loading of perfectly packed suitcases in the car. This marriage thing is definitely a team effort!
After the shock of Matthew's SNAFU (that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?) wore off, we settled in and caught up with my parents and the dogs, Bella and Lucy.
As many of you know, my dad had emergency surgery to fight a nasty infection that attacked his artificial knee. In addition to PT, he has to go to the doctor every day for 6 weeks to get IV antibiotics, so Matt and I served as his chauffeur on Friday and ran our errands (i.e. buying things Matt forgot to bring) in between my dad's sessions.
Since it was Good Friday and we could not eat meat, we feasted on a dinner of peel and eat 'em shrimp, salad, and baked bread.
One of the initial factors that drew us to Memphis for the Easter holiday was the fact that the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team was playing New Zealand at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Holy Saturday. St. Louis is not terribly far from Memphis and I am a die-hard USWNT fan, so I roped Matt and my parents into going with me. My dad's unforeseen surgery prevented him and my mom from making the trip with us, so we sold their tickets on StubHub and hit the road bright and early Saturday morning for St. Louis.
We arrived in St. Louis with a few hours to spare before game time, so we wandered around near the stadium and then headed over to a burger joint, Bailey's Range, for lunch. This restaurant was only a few blocks from the stadium and was buzzing with patrons. After not being able to eat meat on Friday, a nice juicy burger accompanied with some fried pickles, french fries, and an ice-cold Coke sounded just right.
After lunch we headed over to Busch Stadium to check out the sights and sounds. We saw a lot of people tailgating outside the stadium, dressed to the nines in their red, white, and blue get-ups. While our get-ups were on point (US soccer jerseys, beads, face paint, American flags), our ability to tailgate was lacking. I definitely want to wrangle up a group of soccer fans to go to the Gold Cup semi-finals in Atlanta this summer, so if you want to go then let me know!
The USWNT defeated New Zealand 4-0, and we were lucky that three of the goals were scored on our half of the field. Coupled with their victory over France in the Algarve Cup last month, this win for the USWNT definitely eases my mind a bit more as we get closer and closer to the Women's World Cup, which kicks off in June in Canada. (A quick fun fact - this was the second most attended game in USWNT history after the 1999 Women's World Cup, which was the last time we won the World Cup).
Here are the goal highlight videos:
The drive back to Memphis after the game ended was rough, but we got home just in time to see Kentucky lose to Wisconsin (sorry, Calipari!). The next morning we were supposed to attend mass with my grandparents, but on our way out the door Matt informed me that you could see straight through my new dress. Ahhhhh!! I thought our misfortune with packed items was over, but oh was I wrong. I purchased my organza embroidered Easter dress months ago after seeing it featured on Gal Meets Glam, but the fall and winter months precluded me from wearing it until Easter morning (big mistake). A few panicked minutes later and I was out the door wearing one of my mom's old slips, not really having the time to check and see if it was going to stay up (spoiler alert - it didn't). Mid-way through mass I realized that the slip was just too big and was not going to stay up, and thus there was no way that I could walk up for communion without the slip falling down and giving the entire congregation a view of my backside. Epic fail. We scooted out of church faster than you could blink, and my mom worked some safety pin magic on the slip to keep it from falling down before Easter brunch. We were even able to snap a few pictures post-wardrobe malfunction.
My family celebrates all holidays at my grandparent's house, so we trucked on over to Granny and Paw Paw's for Easter Brunch. Nothing says Easter like silver serve ware, cookies, Honeybaked Ham, Sister Schubert rolls, and mimosas.
My brother's girlfriend made these cookies from scratch - are they not adorable?!
Last year my mother introduced a new tradition to our family gatherings - themed Bingo. This Easter's theme was all about the "Bunny-jamins," with family members battling it out for either gift bags or money-filled eggs. If you win a round of Bingo, then you can only claim your prize if you do the "Bingo Boogy," which is always fun to watch. I won a gift bag that Granny put together and Matt won $10! Winner winner chicken dinner.
Easter wouldn't be complete without a visit from the Easter Bunny, who I must say did very well this year. Matt and I walked away with some new Easter decor and a renewed subscription to Bella Vita's Candle of the Month club.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday!
P.S. - We may not have a sweet little puppy to greet us when we walk in the door, but look what was patiently waiting for us when we returned home on Monday afternoon...
