Grief is hard

 Today we had the Schmidt family Christmas party. All the usual family was there! We had amazing food, fun games and our traditional white elephant gift exchange! We’ve been doing this for a few years and love the silliness of it. our first year I picked the bag with this really creepy monkey head that I swear was possessed and I was terrified that if we didn’t have it out on display it would end up cursing us or something. I was so relieved when I brought it to the next year and was able to unload it on the next person. 

A casual observer would think it was a sweet family gathering with people who obviously love each other! And while that’s all true, just below the surface was this ache and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. This is our Christmas without my father in law, Bob. I’ve spent much of the last two months focusing on the fact that Theo lost his Dad, Ann lost her husband, and the kids lost their Grandpa. But tonight it really hit me that I lost someone too! I know that sounds a bit silly, I mean of course I lost my father in law and I’m totally allowed to be sad. 

But today on the ride there I was thinking about how it was going to be hard for Theo & Ann. I thought “I hope we can feel him there with us at some point. Yes I believe that our loved ones visit us. (I mean Have you heard about my obsession with Theresa Caputo the Long Island Medium). Anyway we were did our white Elephant game and it came time for me to pick and lo and behold I get the creepy monkey head again! My father in law had been the one to get the monkey at last years white elephant exchange. We all got a good giggle out of it and went on with the game. But all I could think about the rest of the night was the giggle Bob would have gotten out of me getting the damn monkeys head again! 

It’s so silly that that stupid monkey has me sitting here with tears rolling down my face because I miss Bob. He was always so kind to me and welcomed me into his family so easily. He helped us with babysitting and fixing the brakes on the car. He showed up for soccer games, swim meets,  and plays. He didn’t need much fuss or carrying on… he was just happy when we could all get together! 

Revival of the Blog …2024

 Hey Look what i just found! It feels like i just opened a shoebox of my kids childhood memories!  So many of these memories are just so sweet. My last blog post was TEN years ago… which coincidently is when I finally got my first big girl job as a teacher! 

So now I find myself in November of 2024! So lets do a quick check in; 

• Current ages 
• Theo: 49 
• Cathie: 48
• Alexander Ryan: 23 
• Alexis Marie(Alex’s wife) 22
• Leah Nicole: 19
• Ethan John Robert :17
• Current jobs
• Theo: Lieutenant at Truro Township Fire Dept. Prevention Department 
• Cathie: Intervention Specialist for Behavior Focused classroom at Highland Park Elementary School
• Alex: Home Remodeling and construction for Browns 
• Alexis Office Coordinator for B & G construction 
• Leah Nicole: Server/busser Olive Garden 
• Ethan John Robert: Busser at Olive Garden 

Snap shot of Cathie & Theo

Cathie has taught in High School, Preschool, Online, and now Elementary I think I found my right fit. In 2020 the I fell down the basement steps at Binns and broke my back(ouch) also the same year we remolded the bathroom and basement stairs! Then after being in the house for Covid we decided we needed a bigger house and sold our place on Binns Blvd and move to Marsol in Grove City. It has been fun redecorating. Theo was promoted to a Lieutenant and the same station he’s been at for almost 22 years. He’s been on 40 hours for a few years which means we get to have him home every night! One of the reasons I wanted him on 40 hours was because of His  a heart condition. It’s called a Left Brundle Branch Block and while he was perfectly safe and completely able to do the job. I wanted him to be in a less stressful position and less demanding environment. This past spring he had a pacemaker put in. It seems to be helping a lot!  

Snap shot of Alex 

Alex graduated from high school in 2019 and found construction and demolition jobs for a remodeling company is something he loves to do. He’s in love with tools and machines and loves working inside outside, on a latter, laying on the floor all while listening to his favorite tunes. Alex got married! Ahhhh I know, my baby… met a beautiful girl and in August of 2023 they tied the knot. Her name is Alexis and she is sweet, calm, crafty,  and immensely  patient with her husband! They also bought a house, adopted a dog and 2 cats 

Snap shot of Leah

The move to the new house meant a new high school in Grove City. Central Crossing was a little scary at first. A lot of people, a huge school, and not doing it online was a lot of changes for our girl. But as usual she was able to find her way and ended up joining swim team, sang in Choir, Corale, & Show choir. She was performed in plays and musicals. She went on a 10 day school trip to Costa Rica, she took me to see Taylor Swift in the Eras tour (SWIFTIES FOR LIFE)! She finished out her high school journey in 2024. Now she is working on saving some money and figuring out what she wants to be when she grows. 

Snap shot of Ethan 

Ethan was also part of the new school transition and boy did he struggle! We tried to do online for awhile, but it was too easy to get distracted! So we went back to in person and we quickly discovered he was struggling with an anxiety disorder. We also had more testing and discovered not only does he struggle with writing, but he also has dyslexia and that was one of the reasons he struggled. At first struggled  with making friends because of his anxiety but his sister convinced him to join back stage theatre and he made a group of goofy guys that continue to hang around. But despite the involvement in theater he absolutely dreaded school This all created the perfect storm of missing school, not getting work done, and not earning enough credits so we made the decision to switch to working on his GED! It’s not how we planned for him to earn his high school education, but he’s already taken and passed his science exam and is taking prep classes for his rest. His happiness level has improved significantly! He’s working at his pace. Taking the exams one at a time and he has a part-time. He also has a sweet little girlfriend name Lilly that just as goofy as he is! 

Pets

In the last year of Gus’s life we found a little pit bull rescue group that had a sweet little girl whose birthday was the same day as mine so we decided she had to come home with us. We brought Millie home in March nd the next January we had to say goodbye. It broke our hearts to loose our Gus! He was almost 13 years old. 

Well Millie really struggled being an only puppy so for Valentine’s Day I brought home Jack a little brindle boy who we think is a Plott Hound. He is all things puppy even though he’s almost 3 years old. He’s completely obsessed with me, while Millie is Leah’s best friend forever.