Lots of Drama
This is a drama report compiled in list form. It covers, in chronological order, the events that have occupied my time for the past ten days or so and kept me from posting. I may or may not elaborate later on any of these events.
1:00 AM, Friday, March 29–Leave for a straight drive to Columbus, OH, with my sister Linda, and Shane’s family, in Shane’s new mini-van.
5:00 PM, Friday–Arrive in Columbus, OH in time for the evening calling hours for my brother-in-law, Matthew. After we all eat a supper provided by members of the small group from Matthew and Clara’s church, Shane goes off to Matthew and Clara’s family’s home with assorted nieces and nephews of Clara and Matthew–several dozen of them?–to practice the singing for the funeral. The rest of us stay at the funeral home.
8:00 PM, Friday–With singing practice over, and with Dad joining us, we leave for Holmes County, and arrive at 10:30. I go to a friend’s house for the night, and the rest all go to the home of Mose and Erma, who are close neighbors to my host.
?????At an hour more than 24 hours after I left Kansas, I go to bed, after having a soul-restoring conversation with my host, Clara (Ropp) Troyer, my co-teacher and housemate during the first year of teaching in Ohio. (It was the first of several such conversations with her during my stay.)
9:00 AM Saturday–Calling hours for Matthew begin at Messiah Church where Matthew’s family attended during his growing-up years, and where he and Clara attended during the years when the first three of their four children were born. I go in time for the beginning of this, in hopes of being able to meet former students and other friends who come. I am not disappointed. It was wonderful. Shane practices again with the singing group.
2:00 PM Saturday–Matthew’s funeral begins. Burial follows in the Schrock family cemetery, which turns out to be on a hill on his grandpa’s farm, a muddy quarter-mile walk from the parking spot. The day is clear and very cold, with an overnight temperature in the teens, and a chilly wind.
6:30 ? PM Saturday–Leave the funeral-meal gathering to attend calling hours for Mose Troyer, the father-in-law of Esther (King) Troyer, another of my dear co-teacher/housemates from school teaching days in Ohio. We had made plans to get together while I was still in Kansas, but this death rearranged her schedule so thoroughly that this was the most workable way to see each other. We stayed around till most people had left, and had a nice, though short, visit with Esther over snacks provided for the family.
9:30 AM Sunday–Service starts at Messiah Amish Mennonite Church. I decided to go there after hearing that the Shrocks and the Millers were gathering there. My brother Lowell had the opening meditation and my brother Ronald preached. At the end of the service the “moderator” called Shane to the front to lead the final song. It was a surprise, magnified since it was actually a new song for him. It went OK, in spite of that, but had to be limited to some pretty basic maneuvers rather than varying volume, tempo, and various other kinds of interpretations that are more likely to work with forewarning and a familiar audience.
Sunday evening–Spend a quiet evening at Clara’s house, along with the rest of the group traveling in our load.
5:00 AM–Monday–Leave for Kansas. En route, we learn of the death of Mandy Nisly, a lady from our church. Shane gets asked to organize the singing for the funeral. He inquired of someone in charge to see if the service planned for Good Friday could be canceled, since he had been asked to plan the singing for that service and was feeling the crunch of too much to do. It was canceled.
10:45 PM Monday–Arrive home. I had messages from the doctor’s office stacked up on my answering machine. One of them informed me that I have an appointment for 9:45 the next morning. I sent my co-teachers a message saying that I would be late arriving at school.
10:15 AM Tuesday–Hear this diagnosis: Stage 1 Endometrial Carcinoma.
12:15 PM Tuesday–Show up at school in time to teach my first class of the day. Find a lovely bouquet of flowers on my desk, gathered and assembled by some of the girls, along with two wonderful cookbooks–gifts from my school family, as a token of their caring in the loss of my brother-in-law. Little did they know how timely that expression of caring was.
Wednesday–Lots of phone calls to set up an appointment with a gynecological oncologist. April 16 is the initial visit.
Thursday morning: Attend the funeral of Mandy Nisly. Get to school around noon.
Thursday, late evening–Join the girls for the annual sleepover Norma organizes for the girls. I left around 11:30, before anyone actually went to bed.
Shortly after 11:30 Thursday Night–Arrive home in the middle of terrific winds, blowing dust, and a little hail. The electricity was off.
Saturday–mid-day–Go to Shane’s house and do laundry and plug in the computer, and do a bit of catching up.
Saturday evening–Eat pizza made and delivered by Clare. We had just finished washing up a great pile of dirty dishes after Hiromi hooked up the generator he had bought this afternoon.
7:30 Saturday Night–After 44 hours, the power came back on. The “powerless” days of this long weekend made it feel very unproductive. Media reports tell us the storm was very widespread from the Colorado border east, and was called a bow echo storm--a new term for me. Some straight-line winds reached 100 mph, and some areas had hail up to 2 inches in diameter. We had very little hail and even less rain. I think our wind speeds were likely lower than in some places, although one trunk of the redbud tree snapped off.
I think I’ve done a lot of mixing of tenses in this list. I guess that’s indicative of how some of my thinking has been–a tense confusion. No really; intense is a better word. I feel well all around, and am grateful for many good things that have come my way during the past week and a half.
1:00 AM, Friday, March 29–Leave for a straight drive to Columbus, OH, with my sister Linda, and Shane’s family, in Shane’s new mini-van.
5:00 PM, Friday–Arrive in Columbus, OH in time for the evening calling hours for my brother-in-law, Matthew. After we all eat a supper provided by members of the small group from Matthew and Clara’s church, Shane goes off to Matthew and Clara’s family’s home with assorted nieces and nephews of Clara and Matthew–several dozen of them?–to practice the singing for the funeral. The rest of us stay at the funeral home.
8:00 PM, Friday–With singing practice over, and with Dad joining us, we leave for Holmes County, and arrive at 10:30. I go to a friend’s house for the night, and the rest all go to the home of Mose and Erma, who are close neighbors to my host.
?????At an hour more than 24 hours after I left Kansas, I go to bed, after having a soul-restoring conversation with my host, Clara (Ropp) Troyer, my co-teacher and housemate during the first year of teaching in Ohio. (It was the first of several such conversations with her during my stay.)
9:00 AM Saturday–Calling hours for Matthew begin at Messiah Church where Matthew’s family attended during his growing-up years, and where he and Clara attended during the years when the first three of their four children were born. I go in time for the beginning of this, in hopes of being able to meet former students and other friends who come. I am not disappointed. It was wonderful. Shane practices again with the singing group.
2:00 PM Saturday–Matthew’s funeral begins. Burial follows in the Schrock family cemetery, which turns out to be on a hill on his grandpa’s farm, a muddy quarter-mile walk from the parking spot. The day is clear and very cold, with an overnight temperature in the teens, and a chilly wind.
6:30 ? PM Saturday–Leave the funeral-meal gathering to attend calling hours for Mose Troyer, the father-in-law of Esther (King) Troyer, another of my dear co-teacher/housemates from school teaching days in Ohio. We had made plans to get together while I was still in Kansas, but this death rearranged her schedule so thoroughly that this was the most workable way to see each other. We stayed around till most people had left, and had a nice, though short, visit with Esther over snacks provided for the family.
9:30 AM Sunday–Service starts at Messiah Amish Mennonite Church. I decided to go there after hearing that the Shrocks and the Millers were gathering there. My brother Lowell had the opening meditation and my brother Ronald preached. At the end of the service the “moderator” called Shane to the front to lead the final song. It was a surprise, magnified since it was actually a new song for him. It went OK, in spite of that, but had to be limited to some pretty basic maneuvers rather than varying volume, tempo, and various other kinds of interpretations that are more likely to work with forewarning and a familiar audience.
Sunday evening–Spend a quiet evening at Clara’s house, along with the rest of the group traveling in our load.
5:00 AM–Monday–Leave for Kansas. En route, we learn of the death of Mandy Nisly, a lady from our church. Shane gets asked to organize the singing for the funeral. He inquired of someone in charge to see if the service planned for Good Friday could be canceled, since he had been asked to plan the singing for that service and was feeling the crunch of too much to do. It was canceled.
10:45 PM Monday–Arrive home. I had messages from the doctor’s office stacked up on my answering machine. One of them informed me that I have an appointment for 9:45 the next morning. I sent my co-teachers a message saying that I would be late arriving at school.
10:15 AM Tuesday–Hear this diagnosis: Stage 1 Endometrial Carcinoma.
12:15 PM Tuesday–Show up at school in time to teach my first class of the day. Find a lovely bouquet of flowers on my desk, gathered and assembled by some of the girls, along with two wonderful cookbooks–gifts from my school family, as a token of their caring in the loss of my brother-in-law. Little did they know how timely that expression of caring was.
Wednesday–Lots of phone calls to set up an appointment with a gynecological oncologist. April 16 is the initial visit.
Thursday morning: Attend the funeral of Mandy Nisly. Get to school around noon.
Thursday, late evening–Join the girls for the annual sleepover Norma organizes for the girls. I left around 11:30, before anyone actually went to bed.
Shortly after 11:30 Thursday Night–Arrive home in the middle of terrific winds, blowing dust, and a little hail. The electricity was off.
Saturday–mid-day–Go to Shane’s house and do laundry and plug in the computer, and do a bit of catching up.
Saturday evening–Eat pizza made and delivered by Clare. We had just finished washing up a great pile of dirty dishes after Hiromi hooked up the generator he had bought this afternoon.
7:30 Saturday Night–After 44 hours, the power came back on. The “powerless” days of this long weekend made it feel very unproductive. Media reports tell us the storm was very widespread from the Colorado border east, and was called a bow echo storm--a new term for me. Some straight-line winds reached 100 mph, and some areas had hail up to 2 inches in diameter. We had very little hail and even less rain. I think our wind speeds were likely lower than in some places, although one trunk of the redbud tree snapped off.
I think I’ve done a lot of mixing of tenses in this list. I guess that’s indicative of how some of my thinking has been–a tense confusion. No really; intense is a better word. I feel well all around, and am grateful for many good things that have come my way during the past week and a half.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
7:24 PM
2 Comments:
You and your family have been and will continue to be in our prayers. Praying for God's presence and healing. And for His grace for each of you where you are.
By
Anonymous, at 4/05/2015
Miriam I was stunned as I read your post. First to hear that Mandy Nisly died. Then to read of your diagnosis. I am so sorry to hear this. May you feel assured of God beside you as you walk through this. God knows. God sees you.
By
MaryAnn, at 4/05/2015
Post a Comment
<< Home