A Week in Review

Hello All. Welcome to another edition of A Week in Review. Let’s just jump right in, shall we?

What the heck?
I have not posted one thing on this blog all week! That really isn’t like me. I guess it’s been an uneventful week, and I had the stomach flu, which is weird because I don’t get the flu, I’ve had it maybe one other time since high school, but I got it this week and was down for a couple of days. But let’s not carry on about that because it’s boring. Sometimes it’s ok to talk at length about health and illness, but then there are other times when it just bores a person to death. I think that most find it boring most of the time.

Courtney
My youngest brother’s birthday was this week. I can honestly say that Courtney is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I remember Mom and Dad telling us that they were going to have a baby – they had us all sit down together at the dinner table. Of course Marla and I were convinced that he was going to be a girl, because we already had three boys, and only two girls, so it was only right that we have a third girl to even things out.

Mom and Dad went to the hospital during the night, and when I woke up the next morning Aaron told me where they had gone. It being February in Minnesota a blizzard was raging, so school was cancelled, and we went to a neighbor’s house for the day. That evening we got the call that we had a new baby brother. Geesh was I angry, Marla and I both. I think that it was at that moment that I learned that nothing is fair in this life, a tough lesson when you’re seven.

The next day we went to the hospital. I had a picture in my head of what the baby should look like – dark hair and chunky, rosy cheeks. He looked just like that. And I loved him. He was, of course, still suppose to be a girl, and the fact that he was a boy didn’t stop Marla and I from dressing him up in our old dresses when he was a toddler, but still, for a boy he was very cute, and so much fun.

Here are a couple of my favorite Courtney stories. When he was maybe five years old, which would have made me 12, he liked me to read to him. He’d come up to me and say, “Ang, let’s read.” Mom and Dad had a collection of children’s books that were all about American history. I think that I’ve mentioned them before. Court loved the war stories, especially one on the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. The first time we read it, I came upon the name of a German general that was just impossible to pronounce, all j and k and z. After stumbling over it a few times, Court said very matter of fact, “Just call him Frank.” Frank he was from then on.

My other favorite story – Dad, Court and I were riding in an old Plymouth van through a field that Dad was working on at the time. Court was five or six years old. He was sitting in the front seat of this van, with the window down, and he was leaning out of the window with his arms bent and elbows hooked over the window/door frame. He was doing this so that he could look at himself in the rear view mirror make funny faces. Dad slowed down to make a left turn, and when he turned the inertia on the van made Courts door, which must not have been tightly shut, swing open. He held onto the window frame for the full swing, until the door was wide open, and then let go and dropped into the ditch. I wish so bad that I could video the picture in my head and post it here. You’d laugh for days. Dad shouted, “Well!” (one of his favorite things to shout), stopped the van, and Court climbed back into his seat, shut the door, and we were on our way. He wasn’t hurt, just very dirty. What kills me (well I guess it all kills me) is that we acted like Court falling out of a moving van was no big deal. Pretty typical, really.

I still love that boy. We were very close growing up, and are close still. I’m grateful for a brother who is also one of my great friends. There’s no one who can make me laugh like he does. Today he’s an optometrist in Rochester, MN, is married, and has two little boys and a little girl due next week. He’s done very well. He’s a good man, a good husband and father. And now that he’s driving a mini van (because of the three kids), he’s officially older than I am, which is nice for me.
Courtney with his wife Andrea and their little boys, Spencer and Andrew, on the train at This is the Place park.

A History of Britain
If you, like me, are a freak for the British history, then do I have a DVD set for you, “A History of Britain” written and presented by Simon Schama. It’s brilliant. Five disks with fifteen hours of England’s history – England has been around for a long time. When I was home on Wednesday I sat for about three hours watching all of these fascinating people and events, and it was great. You know, I’m still taking English classes thinking that English is my major, but I have to wonder if I’m in the wrong field. Maybe History…? Anyway, I found on Amazon.com a set of books that go along with the DVDs and ordered the first one. Now I can watch the video, and then read up on the things I didn’t fully understand. So awesome. And now I’m laughing at my own ridiculousness.

Well, I think that’s it for now. Thanks, as always, for your kind consideration.
You are loved.