This Reminds Me

Archive for November, 2009

Just a little number my homies and I choreographed.

Kanye West says it’s way better than that silly thang of  Beyonce’s.

We love sharing a feast with friends – especially those we haven’t met yet.

One of the biggest blessings we’ve had in San Antonio is the opportunity to host airmen trainees from Lackland AFB for Thanksgiving.   We never know their genders, or ages, or hometowns until we’re getting acquainted while driving away from the base.  And we don’t need to.  We know what we need to know.  We’re all Americans.

Until I went digital in 2003 – I was always a “Nikon gal,” going back to my 1979  Nikon EM (“The plastic Nikon,” as my friend and professional photographer Steve sniffed).  My digital cameras have all been Kodak models, largely because -  I confess – I like the software.

But my latest Kodak  – a 2005 5.0 MP 7590 – has been sputtering with its shuttering for several weeks – slow and hard to focus, turning off by itself, etc.   I knew I needed a new camera, but didn’t want to spend the money on a new one, or take the time to learn it.

Keith removed the decision from my shooting finger by surprising me with a new camera for our anniversary.  A Nikon!  An SLR!  With a fabulous 18 – 105 lens (be still my heart!)  But dang – the thing has an instruction book an inch thick (literally).  I can barely squeeze in my 20 minutes of bus reading every day.   When exactly was I going to find the time to ingest the college course necessary to use the sucker?   I confess:  The thought exhausted me.  So the poor thing sat on my dresser – alone, unused, unloved – for more than a week.

Tonight was “Harvest Festival” at church – a pitch-in dinner followed by a fantastic choral program.  I hadn’t planned on taking pictures, but our music minister – whom I adore – seemed disappointed when he asked me if I’d brought my camera.  So Keith bolted his dinner, then raced home to get my camera.  My new camera.  My new Nikon.  Which I literally had not touched, for fear of the massive learning curve required.

It was time for some on-the-job training. Ten minutes’ worth before the program began.  No pressure.

The full choir and orchestra, from the back of the church.  Mono pod on a pew chair using the wide-angle 18 setting.  It felt so, so good to be twisting an SLR lens again.

Buds in the choir.  Mono pod.  Telephoto (105) lens setting.

After the service – Hannah carrying Samaritan’s Purse boxes for crating.  Our church is one of two San Antonio collection centers.  Hand-held; mid-range.

We crated about 1400 boxes Wednesday night.  There were probably 1000 more to crate tonight.  Need a ceiling-bouncing flash to illuminate the distant people.  I’ll have to get that figured out.

I confess:  As busy as the next few weeks will be, my Nikon would probably have sat unused on my dresser until after the holidays.  But as it is – I had to use it tonight, so…..

Thanks, Phil for motivating me.

Lois is getting her wisdom teeth out tomorrow.  I’ll have some reading time as I wait.

I confess – I’m thinking there’s a manual I need to read.

Confession is good for the soul, doncha know?

It was the week after Armistice (according to Keith.)

It was the week before Thanksgiving (according to me.)

But either way – we married November 18, 1989.  So we’ve been married 20 years today.

My brother David walked me down the aisle at Westbury Baptist.  We had practiced in street clothes, but not in my dress – which fed up into his electric wheelchair gears about 3/4 of the way to the alter.  I was gouging his back hissing, “Reverse!  Reverse!” while he countered  “I can’t!  I can’t!”   My brother-in-law Carl and Keith slowly extracted my dress from the mechanism.  When we made it to the platform, my wonderful Uncle Jim – the Methodist minister who married us – produced a gynormous white handkerchief for Keith to wipe his greasy hands upon during a lengthy prayer.   Uncle Jim later told us, “I always carry it.  You wouldn’t believe what it’s wiped up.”

My brilliant niece Sarah and Keith’s best friend Kurt attended us.    I was in Houston this weekend to celebrate the 65th birthday of my sister Judy (Sarah’s mom).  Sarah surprised me with an anniversary gift to share with Keith.  Pay attention to our faces in the picture below…….

Yes, we were younger, thinner , a lot smarter and had disposable income.  Note the antique elephant on top of our cake, a gift from Keith’s mom because we met at the Republican phone bank and spent the following evening together at the George R. Brown Convention Center, waiting for #41 to make his triumphant entrance.   See our faces?

See them again!  “Becky & Keith,” “11/18/89  20 yrs!” and line art of our faces as scanned from the cake-cutting picture.  Sarah and Judy custom-ordered these M&M’s in our wedding colors – shades of pink and wine, heavy on the mauve – which David always described as “a color not occurring in nature.”  We served M&M’s in big bowls at our reception.

We fantasized about all kinds of honeymoons, but ended up in Galveston because I had a Gold C coupon for the Hotel Galvez – most certainly an indicator of behaviors to come.

Keith totally stunned me when he asked me to marry him.  In fact, I responded, “Are you crazy?”   Now he lives with five woman so if he wasn’t crazy then, he’s got to be now.

Lots has changed in 20 years, but not everything.  I still like mauve.  And elephants.   I love Keith more than ever.  And when the evenings get stressful and there’s just too much to try to jam in,  I try to remember those big bowls of M&M’s at our reception and think:  Let those harsh words just melt in my mouth.  Because I’ve got the one I love to hold my hand.

Happy Anniversary, Keith!  Are you surprised?!   Or just crazy?!  I opened only one of the three bags of custom-printed M&M’s to take the picture, and nibbled only two of those I photographed.  So there will be plenty to sample when we get home tonight!