2008 is upset ...

2008 was feeling left out so I decided that I would post some pictures.

What I found in ‘2008 June Week 2’s folder were not pretty, spectacular or ‘dead armadillo / vulture’ disgusting. ‘2008 June Week 2’s photos had stories behind them.

Gary’s mother had passed away earlier in 2008 and we were up in Utah on vacation and the house he had grown up in (from Jr. High on) was empty and being put on the market so we went to see it.

This is a kitchen Gary built in 1982 or 1983 ... somewhere around there - while we were both attending Utah State University.

It was his first big project and it all started with some kitchen appliance if I remember right. Something had gone out in the kitchen and so a new appliance was purchased, which led to buying matching appliances (I could be getting this part wrong) – the bottom line was Gary’s mom, Lee, wanted a kitchen in the basement so she could do her canning and chocolate dipping down there where it was cool and the mess was out of the way. So all the appliances upstairs were moved downstairs and Gary was commissioned to build the cabinets.

Most nights you could find Gary in his parents garage cutting, sanding … well pretty much where you can still find him when he is home – doing the exact same thing! I remember one night using a Sharpie pen with Gary to darken the divot in the cabinets so the design would show up better … final touches. I think after all these years they still look great. The cabinets got a lot of use throughout all those years and held up to all of it. Later, the kitchen became part of an apartment that housed many of Gary’s parents grandchildren as they attended Utah State University.

I remember coming home from Primary Children’s Hospital with Jessie into that basement apartment – we were moving to Houston and our house had sold quickly. While she was in intensive care, we had to move out of our house, so we had no home, thus – this was my kitchen for a while. I can still remember my fear of the unknown, the future, actually everything as I prepared preemie bottles of breast milk to feed her every three hours. But being surrounded by warm wood that my husband had carefully hand crafted seemed to soothe me. It is a beautiful kitchen and like all the furniture in my house – oozes ‘Gary’ and calms me.


Now this photo I had to think about for a bit:

Yeah, I know Gary is in it, but it is a photo of a ceiling fan? Then I remembered! THE INFAMOUS CEILING FAN!

Gary and I were married on December 19th, 1981 – forever ago! That year on Christmas morning, the siblings or someone gave Gary’s parents a ceiling fan. Nice gift, went well in the room it was intended for, …. needed to be installed.

Later that night Gary, his older brother and his dad, Rex decided to install the fan. A lengthy discussion ensued on the best way to do this. To say they disagreed on the method of installation is putting it very lightly. When the yelling started I sort of freaked – I had been married to this man for just days and I don’t come from a family that yelled. Looking back I am sure it was incredibly comical – three brainiacs convinced they knew the best way to install this fan. I believe there were problems with how to attach it to a joist in the attic. The yelling while they were in the attic was loud enough to distinguish words! The thing I remember the most is that it was the very first time I heard Gary swear!

I remember thinking who is this man and where is the guy I married … and his family? Around midnight Gary became so disgusted in their methodology or how things were going he said we were leaving. Me, probably looking like a deer in the headlights was more than happy to go, but was really hoping the Gary I knew was getting in the car with me! Got home, went to bed and the phone rang about 3:00am. It was his brother telling him they had finished installing the fan!

And the fan? It was still working the day I took the photo!



** disclaimer ** This is my memory of events - if I got something wrong, well, it was a very long time ago!