Morgan and Harris were born 4 years and 15 days apart. Both in April, Morgan turned 28 on the 7th and Harris turned 24 on Friday, the 22nd. We had family celebration of birthdays at our weekly Sunday family dinner and at Morgan's birthday dinner I asked Harris what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner two weeks hence. He said "pizza." I know, it's shocking! But wait - there's more to the story. When I met Hollis he was 19, going to college and working at Pizza Inn in Huntsville. I mentioned to Harris that since his birthday dinner was on Easter, it might be hard to call in pizza. Hollis said not to worry - he knew how to make pizza. This began a typical Hollis event. On my iPad, he spent hours researching recipes for dough, sauce and baking techniques. He got some basic supplies and we had test run just a few days later. The crust was a bit thicker than he liked but it was a quite respectable first effort (after many years since the last homemade pizza). Then he had to go to Ace Mart Restaurant Supply ($50 gift card + reason to shop = great fun) to get some pans. He did not mind going. Then it was time for round two of test pizza. One night last week, Clayton was hanging around having ridden a horse over here from his place and he announced that he probably needed to get the horse ridden home before dark. But before he left - he asked the important question - "So, uh, what are y'all doing for dinner?" His dad said, "I'm gonna make another test pizza." Clayton said, "The horse will be fine for another hour." and Hollis used his new - do you spell it t-o-y-s or t-o-o-l-s? - and made the pizza. Only slightly underdone - cooked but not quite crisp - this one was substantially thinner thanks the cool pan and the also newly purchased rolling pin. It was, however, determined that one more trip to Ace Mart would be necessary for screens and maybe a large enough cutting board to roll out a pizza. He came home with screens and a big pizza spatula. Somehow I missed out on both trips.
So, certain he was ready, Hollis asked me Saturday if I was going to the grocery store to get flour, yeast, toppings and cheese. I said I would go on Sunday - yes, Easter Sunday - after church. There was a rough moment when we realized HEB (preferred grocery store) was closed but thankfully, Wal-Mart was open. We made from one end of the store to the other with me in high heels not designed for shopping and then we went home. We forgot the yeast and the Dr Pepper so I went back to Wal-Mart in more comfortable shoes. Once changed out of his Sunday finery, Hollis made 3 bowls of pizza dough. He sliced and diced veggies for toppings and put them all in bags. Then, he went out to work on the tractor for the balance of the afternoon. We were expecting 12-14 people total for birthday dinner so I made little order sheets so that each person could order a custom pizza with toppings of his or her choice. As people arrived, they marked their choices and then I put the order forms under a magnet on the vent-a-hood and Hollis went to work. He had brought in some fire bricks to be heat sink in the oven because he knew it would be opened and closed so many times. This man made 13 pizzas. Some were 8 inches, some were 12 and a few were 16 inches. He allowed me to top my own and it was sooooooo cool to have exactly what I wanted on my pizza. There were anchovies involved! Everyone had a wonderful meal - Grandma made her 3 layer chocolate cake and in general, I think a good time was had by all. He finished getting his pizza out of the oven about 8:00 after two and a half hours of rolling, saucing, topping and baking pizzas. I hope you are impressed by all this - I certainly am! - but the fact is, this was indeed a typical Hollis event.
When I mentioned he went to work on the tractor for the afternoon, it was to say that he made more progress on completely rebuilding the tractor engine. By studying and planning and working very hard, he, all alone, is overhauling the John Deere that he uses to bale hay. Some people take their broken tractors to the tractor hospital. Not H. He is a bit over half way in this project that has taken several weekends and countless evenings since early February. He will have it running again in another week or two. He just plain amazes me. Other than laundry, quilting and scrapbooking, which he leaves to me, this man can do anything he sets his mind to. Anything.
When we were young marrieds and lived in the city, he had his blacksmith shop at his mom's home about 15 miles from where we lived. A couple of nights a week and most weekends, he would straight there from work (aka, his day job), have dinner with his mom and then work in the shop. When we moved to the country in 1994, he built his shop here at home and continued to build his blacksmith business and with what he earned aside from working full time, we put Morgan and Clayton through college. A couple of years ago, he began learning casting techniques for a restoration project he was helping with. We say he has entered his bronze period. I know I can only imagine what will come next.
Did I mention he makes me laugh? All the time. Two weeks from this coming Saturday we will celebrate 30 years of being married. I really don't think ANYONE understands what this means to me. If you had asked me as a 20 year old on my Thursday wedding day in 1981 at the Walker County Courthouse if we would still be together in 30 years, in all honesty, I would have said that I just didn't think so. I knew he was smart and that meant a lot to me. I knew he was morally upstanding. It was evident in the way he lived his life. I knew he was artistic and creative because he drew all over everything in college. I knew he would make me laugh. He's not perfect. There were a couple of times I would have sold him on Craigslist and probably a larger number of times that he would have sold me - but, when I ask him why this has worked for so long, this is what he tells me: "I like you. I married you expecting to stay married to you for the rest of my life." Amazing. Overused adjective, I know, but what other word is there? I try to remember to thank him. We are pretty good about expressing how we feel about each other. We have a really good time together and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to the next 30 years. And the best part is - I can have homemade pizza any time I want!
Last Saturday on my way to meet Shelley to Shop Hop in Austin, I heard a story on Weekend Edition on NPR about a group of non-medical hospice workers in St Louis. They call the group Luminaria and the members work with terminally ill people helping them to create their legacies. One mother of a young adult woman said that the weekly visit from the Luminaria team member was by far her dying daughters favorite thing. No matter how bad she felt, how painful her illness was, she dearly loved working on the letters, DVD's and scrapbooks that she was preparing as her legacy. It was a lovely story. It wasn't sappy - I didn't cry. It was just a story I was really glad I got to hear. But - it got me thinking. Why must we be under a death sentence to begin deliberately working on our legacy? Maybe you have considered your legacy already. I admit, turning 50 has had the term crossing my mind more often and I also admit, my legacy is important to me. For purposes of this conversation, let's define legacy as how I want the lives of those I love (sorry, can't do the whole world) to be changed/impacted/improved because I was a part of it. I hear we firstborns are people pleasers by virtue of our birth order. I have always been willing to use that as reason that making others lives better matters to me. I have very little use for or patience with those who do not concern themselves with the needs and wants of others. Can't really see myself getting worked up over making their lives better. But making life better for those I love - I live for that! Major endorphin rush happens when I make something that makes someone happy. I feel really lucky that I have an interest that allows me to not just buy and give my loved ones something that will make them happy but to make them something! I think most of my quilting buddies would agree, our hand made items are a great start on our legacies. I'm right in the middle of quilts for Clayton, Harris and Curtis. I plan to make one for Morgan and Desiree for a wedding gift. Friday night I finished one for Hollis and me - the first bed quilt I've made for us and our 30th anniversary is next month. So my quilts and crafts are very much a material (no pun intended) legacy and my genuine desire to bring whatever happiness to those I love is my whatever-the-opposite-of-material-in-this-context is. Frankly, I'd love to give everybody I like a quilt I made - not exactly practical but I sure wish I could. I just want to leave a good legacy - physically and spiritually so that when I'm not around any more, there are examples of my love left behind.
Now to be certain, this leads directly to creativity. I heard a quote from our speaker at guild yesterday. She's a fiber artist, not a quilter, so I didn't know what exactly she had to offer us as a group of quilters but this quote alone was pretty much worth listening to her lecture. "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." - Maya Angelou. I went through a complete creative drought the last year that I taught and while Harris was hurt. I couldn't sew on a button, much less make a quilt and I did not enjoy the way that felt. I knew the stress in my life accounted for the drought and I was so relieved when the creative juices started flowing again but then things got a little crazy. Now I actually worry about dying before I get make everything I want to make! I always know at least 6 things I want to make as soon as I finish the project I'm on now. This quote from one of my favorite sages certainly clears things up!! I don't exactly know how I'm going to keep up but I'm sure trying. Shelley and I have plans to put our creativity and instructional ability to work for us. You can't even imagine how exciting that is for me to even think about. We pretty much have way more ideas than we will ever be able to implement - and a couple of grand notions about how much we will love it and be sought after for our ideas and knowledge - another rush indeed. Apparently creativity begets creativity. So here's my prayer: Lord, help me to build the legacy that reflects my faith and love for you and shows my fellow humans that serving and giving reaps great rewards. Help me to be aware of needs and full of determination to meet them and help those I love to see your love for them in my legacy. I have to get some sleep now - so I can create something this week. . .
So, certain he was ready, Hollis asked me Saturday if I was going to the grocery store to get flour, yeast, toppings and cheese. I said I would go on Sunday - yes, Easter Sunday - after church. There was a rough moment when we realized HEB (preferred grocery store) was closed but thankfully, Wal-Mart was open. We made from one end of the store to the other with me in high heels not designed for shopping and then we went home. We forgot the yeast and the Dr Pepper so I went back to Wal-Mart in more comfortable shoes. Once changed out of his Sunday finery, Hollis made 3 bowls of pizza dough. He sliced and diced veggies for toppings and put them all in bags. Then, he went out to work on the tractor for the balance of the afternoon. We were expecting 12-14 people total for birthday dinner so I made little order sheets so that each person could order a custom pizza with toppings of his or her choice. As people arrived, they marked their choices and then I put the order forms under a magnet on the vent-a-hood and Hollis went to work. He had brought in some fire bricks to be heat sink in the oven because he knew it would be opened and closed so many times. This man made 13 pizzas. Some were 8 inches, some were 12 and a few were 16 inches. He allowed me to top my own and it was sooooooo cool to have exactly what I wanted on my pizza. There were anchovies involved! Everyone had a wonderful meal - Grandma made her 3 layer chocolate cake and in general, I think a good time was had by all. He finished getting his pizza out of the oven about 8:00 after two and a half hours of rolling, saucing, topping and baking pizzas. I hope you are impressed by all this - I certainly am! - but the fact is, this was indeed a typical Hollis event. 