Great-Grandma McAlister

I've always loved this picture of my Great-Grandma McAlister. She just looks like such a neat lady, and from what I've heard, she really was a neat lady. Grandma Mac, as she's referred to, died a year before I was born.

Verlene June (Shoden) McAlister

She's my Grandma Joanne's mom and my Dad's grandma. Each weekend up until at least late elementary school (I'm kinda guessing on the time) my Dad spent his weekends at her home. My grandparents packed up my dad, uncle Brad, and aunt Susan and drove over to Austin, MN each and every Friday and spent two nights with Grandpa and Grandma Mac. Whenever my Dad or aunt and uncle speak about that time of their lives, they seem to have nothing but fond memories.

This is my favorite memory that my dad tells: My dad was the middle child, and for some reason, every Saturday morning at his grandma Mac's house, he was the first one up. I think he liked being up first because he could choose his favorite cartoons to watch. He tried to tip-toe around the house to the TV room, being as quiet as he could so no one would hear him and wake up. But sure enough, a few minutes after he'd settled down to watch cartoons, he could hear his Grandma making him toast in the kitchen. I picture her lying in bed as a big smile spreads over her face when she hears my Dad trying so hard to be quiet. Being the loving Grandma that she was, she couldn't resist making breakfast for little Rick.

I hear that my Grandma was kind and loving, with a quiet-gentle heart. She didn't have anything bad to say and didn't complain. My mom didn't get to know her for too long, as she died a few years into my parents marriage, but even she has all nice things to say about Grandma Mac. It was a sad sad day when she died, too young, in her 60s.

I can tell that my Grandma Joanne still misses her Mom a lot. Sometimes she'll tear up and talk about how much her mother would have loved all of her great-grandchildren, and now even Audrey, that she never got to meet.

I'm not sure why it is, but I've always felt that we'd be close. Like if I had gotten to meet her and spend time with her, that we'd get along and have a lot in common. I feel like I'd love to be around her. I wish I could have met her.

Whenever I've been asked who I'd like to see in heaven, besides God of course, I say, "Grandma Mac". I'm not totally sure how heaven will be, but I really hope that I will get to meet her and that she will be this kindred spirit that I feel she is to me.

Despite wishing I could still have my Grandma Mac, I am anything from lacking in the Grandma department. I have grown up with the two most wonderful Grandmas a person could ever have: Grandma Mary and Grandma Joanne. They are the perfect pictures of a Grandma: loving, selfless, caring, giving, hospitable, generous, fun, goofy, and the list goes on. They're the backbones of our families, keeping us all together by opening their homes to us and making us feel welcome :) I love you both! And how lucky am I that my Grandmas are able to be a big part of my daughter's life as well :) Also, now my very own mother is starting a new generation of Grandmother-ness and she, of course, is fabulous. Hmm...I'm getting excited to be a grandma now, haha, ok I'll wait for a while.

Joanne Inez (McAlister) Hemmer

Mary Ilene (Thomas) Erickson

Thank God for Grandmas here and in heaven.

One to Remember

It feels so good to be home! I just finished my weekend at work. 8 hours on Friday, 14 hours on Saturday, and 12 more hours today, Sunday. It's exhausting and tiring, but it feels like a job well done and now it's time to go back to real life!

This weekend was nuts, we were so busy, getting admissions left and right. I'm so glad I'm not a charge nurse having to organize all the craziness.

Saturday was a day I'll never ever forget. About 1/2 way through my shift I met a patient who found out he need to have a somewhat urgent, unexpected surgery. I spent a few hours with him and his wife and sat nervously with them as they heard the risks of the surgery and what to expect. I imagined how scary it would be to start off your day like any other day and then a few hours later finding yourself waving goodbye to your husband as he's rolled away in stretcher down to the operating room. I helped bring this patient down to the OR and as he was being wheeled in the room, he was still telling jokes. As I walked away I remember thinking that he was a perfect patient: nice, funny, cooperative, positive....

A few short hours later I got a call that things were going very poorly in the OR and through a rare and unexpected sequence of events, my patient was most likely not going to live. My heart dropped to the floor and pounded in my chest for the next hour as I waited to hear more news.

As the clock hit 7pm and my shift was over, I got a call that I needed to bring the patient's wife down to the OR area to speak with the surgeon. I had somewhat secretly hoped this would occur after I went home, but that was not the case. I really did not know how I was going to tell this woman that we needed to travel down to the OR because her husband was dying. The next few hours were rather surreal as she got the worst, most unimaginable news of her life. She was supposed to see her husband in a few hours and now she would have to say goodbye.

We learn about death in school and are given tips on how to act/what to say, but when it actually happens, it's hardly something you can prepare for. Mostly, I just sat next to her, for 2 hours, holding her up and listening to her cry.

How unreal to lose your spouse. I cannot imagine the pain. And after all that, she looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry you're having to go through this, this must be the worst day you've ever had a work, but I'm so glad you're here." The worst day of work for me? Well....yeh, but wow, I can't believe she was even able to think about anything beyond her own pain.

Dealing with a patient's sudden and unexpected death was an experience I didn't really want under my belt, but I do feel like next time, I won't be so afraid. I got home 2 hours late that night.

I always say a prayer before work that God won't give me anything I can't handle. That night I was praying I'd get to go home before that patient died; I told God I couldn't handle telling that wife what had happened. But I guess God decided that it needed to be me and that with Him, I could handle it.

We usually don't meet our patients before they go to the OR, so if they don't make it through surgery, it's like hearing a sad story that has nothing to do with you. But it's completely different when it's someone you've met and started the process with. Sigh.... I hope it never happens again.

A Spontaneous Little Trip

When you live in the frigid, cold state of MN, it gets a bit challenging to think of things to do to fill the time with! It gets even harder when you have a little one. Once we've played with every toy, danced to music, read books, colored, watched Elmo videos on You Tube, it's time to get out of the house! I dunno who needs it more (probably Chris and I), but I can't sit inside all day. We covered the normal stuff today; we went out for lunch, visited Walmart, and of course, walked around the mall. As I wondered what we would do to fill our evening time, Chris declared that he had a craving for Dairy Queen! If you know my husband, you know he's not a big dessert guy. He eats sensibly and doesn't usually have many cravings. So, I was delightfully surprised when he suggested we drive to Zumbrota after supper to have DQ! It's nice to have a plan. So, after supper, we set up Audrey's DVD player in the car and took off. It's only a 20 minute drive (if even), but she was pretty happy to watch Elmo and Chris and I got to chit-chat in peace the whole way there and back! We thought it would be fun to let Audrey have her own treat. Luckily we discovered that DQ has 'mini' blizzards, so Audrey got a oreo one all to herself. She was such a good girl the whole time and seemed to like her treat. However, once she noticed her Daddy's 1/2 eaten cone, she really wanted that! (she loves cones). So Chris  and Audrey switched treats. At one point on the drive home I was watching Audrey watch Elmo. She saw me looking at her and gave me a tiny polite smile but then waved and said, 'bye-bye' to me, as if to say, "I love you Mama, but please turn around so I can enjoy my Elmo DVD!" I thought that was pretty amusing. It was a fun evening and whole day with all three of us together. I love Saturdays! I even got to go shop by myself during Audrey's nap! And the day ends with Audrey tucked in bed, Chris playing Playstation, cookies in the oven, and me relaxin'. Here's a couple pictures from this evening :)