The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!

clair.devers — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:21 +0000

This is an especially fun week around the Devers house, because both Halloween & Wurstfest (two of my favorites) take place. Personally, I am pretty big on traditions. I’m not sure why I care about it since we didn’t have very many when I was a kid, but the few we had really did it for me. Little things – like the fact that my Mom would always make a big spread of random unrelated snack food items on Superbowl Sunday. I didn’t even like football, but I loved the Superbowl. It was something I could always count on. I also enjoyed celebrating Christmas with my Dad on Christmas Eve and even though we didn’t do anything too extraordinary, I came to count on it and it made it all that more fun (for me – the person who NEEDS a plan).

We have many traditions in our household. For instance on the week of Halloween, the kids and I always take time after school one day to make a “scary” treat to enjoy the rest of the week. This week we make skull cupcakes. I had big fun with my little monsters. On the Wednesday (which is “Family Night” – another Devers tradition of making sure we do something together each week) before Halloween we always carve pumpkins. I really enjoy going back through my pictures of when the big kids were little and Emily thought it was sooo gross to scoop the pumpkin guts.

Attending opening night of Wurstfest is a grown up tradition for us. We decided it would be our one thing (well – there is also Vegas) that we will never take the kids to. And even though there is always fun stuff for kids to do, we thought that drunkfest could be just for us. We rarely drink (Especially MWD), but on this is one night that we cut loose and drink a ton of beer and eat a bunch of crap. No kids allowed. Overnight babysitter is a must. Michael calls it our “No Apologies” night. Which means if we see you and we make asses of ourselves – oh well. We always have a blast and we usually remember it (thanks to my camera). This year MWD’s brother, TJ and his wife, Elzora, are coming. I hope we don’t scare them off for good. But if we do – there are no apologies.

We have more traditions than I could even name. And I like it that way. My kids may even carry some of those on to their families, but even if they don’t I think it will create fun and secure environment for them. But, mostly it’s all for me. Remember – the world revolves around me.

: Cupcakes!

This year turned out well!

Emily & Daddy 2003

Wurstfest 2003

Gone but not forgotten (sensory overload)

clair.devers — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:26:49 +0000

I had a sensory overload moment this weekend. I have pretty heightened senses. Usually I can find a memory in a song (ask Carra). Michael and the kids call me rabbit ears, because I hear every little comment even when I’m in another room. It’s impossible not to overhear most conversations in a restaurant. My true super-power is my sense of smell. Each scent seems to take me to a person, place or thing.

This weekend, I bought a pair of boots. My first pair of actual cowgirl boots since I was a youngster. Like most things I pick for myself, the boots are plain. Nothing fancy, just some boots to call my own. As soon as I got in the car I pulled them from the bag and had my “Mary-Catherine” moment. I put the new leather to my nose and huffed at it like a teenager in a drain tunnel.

Immediately I was filled with memories. Memories that were my own, but completely forgotten. I have three paternal Grandfathers. One that I never knew (met once) and he means nothing really to me. My current one, Papa, that I consider my closest Grandfather figure. He has been constant in my life since my early teens and he loves me and really loves my Grandmother. He’s a good man that entered the picture with some serious resentment, because he had big shoes to fill. Those shoes were boots and they belonged to my Grandpa Bill. He was the head of our family and he died when I was about 8.

Grandpa Bill married my Grams when she already had 4 kids. He raised them as his own and added two more to the family. All six of those kids still love that man. Obviously he influenced them in ways that lasted for generations. Some kids in our family that were born after he died, speak of him as if they knew him. He grew up in Minnesota and he and Grandma moved the family to Sunday Canyon (outside Amarillo) after Grandma fell in love with the area on a visit in the early 70s. Grandpa built a house, with his own two hands that was amazing. Really it should have been part of his legacy, but it’s not in our family anymore.

Until this weekend, I didn’t have very many memories of Grandpa Bill that I trusted as real. No memories that I didn’t feel were placed there by stories family had told me. Now I do. While smelling the new leather boot, I had a sensory overload! It was like in the movies when your life flashes before your eyes in snapshots and moments. First it was a saddle. My Grandparents had horses. Actually they had their own stable. They also owned a place called Six Gun City outside Palo Duro Canyon. We all had chances to be part of the background of the simulated gunslinger town. There was everything from my cousins and I riding bareback horses around town to our parents participating in gunfights. Good times.

Most of those memories, I will keep to myself, but I have to admit it was great to remember the feel of his enormous hand enveloping my tiny fingers. He was a big man. We are talking more than size here. Grandpa Bill and I had a special bond. My Dad says Grandpa liked that I had such an attitude already at a young age. I don’t know what he means though. I don’t have an attitude. I do have some pretty cool boots, though.

Grandpa Bill

Grandpa Bill and Grandma (Circa Six Gun City)

Six Gun City Postcard

My Papa this year

No attitude from this angel. . .

My good smellin' boots

Currently listening: Ultimate Waylon Jennings By Waylon Jennings

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The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!

Gone but not forgotten (sensory overload)