An Honor

Today I went to the grave side service of George and what turned out to be his wife Jeanne. George passed away on Nov 4th. Jeanne passed away nearly two years ago, very near the day of their 58th anniversary.



Anyway, it was a pleasure knowing and learning from him. I know that he loved his wife very much and is now with her as well as their son. For as much pain as these things give me, I am drawn to have my closure. The scripture is peaceful and lets us know that our beloved is now at peace. It is amazing how I see people keep their composure (I can't) at an Honor Guard when Taps is played and the Rifle salute is made. What an honor to be present for those who had given so much of their life and talent and for those who were killed in doing so.



This was certainly a small gathering. Before hand, I met his nephew and maybe a distant relative so we recalled some of Georges favorite things. At the service, was G's home nurse who helped take care of J when she had Alzheimer's then cared some for G, doing laundry and miscellaneous stuff. It was nice to know that G did appreciate me, as I did him. I will always remember him and cherish our time.

Obituary follows:

George H. Seidlein
Major George H. Seidlein Mason A loving father and grandfather was born December 8, 1919, in San Francisco, CA; died November 4, 2008, at the age of 88. George was a highly decorated Pilot with the U.S. Air Force for 22 years and was a veteran of WWII and the Korean War. He was employed with National Transportation Safety Board for 20 years. George was preceded in death by Jeanne Seidlein, his beloved wife of 58 years, and son Geoffrey Seidlein. Surviving are his grandchildren, Anne Seidlein and Patrick Seidlein, and sister Doris Peckovich. Services will be announced at a later date. The family is being served by the Gorsline-Runciman Funeral Homes, Mason.

E and little things

E is a lot like M in the appreciation of little things and an imagination for how to enjoy them. E does this very funny and cute thing while reading books, she will see a cute and cuddly and small animal and pretend to pick it out of the book and hold it in her hand to pet and caress. M certainly enjoys this as do I. It is really fun to see what a vivid imagination E has. I just can't even begin to explain what level of understanding and comprehension she has...

M related a story this evening about how she was able to capture E's attention to the moon rising outside our back door. M had E take note of the rising moon and shortly there after, M made an exaggerated movement to, like E with tinny book animals, grab the moon out of the sky and swallowed it up. E immediately stated that the moon was not for eating but that it was meant to be in the sky!! Yay, I am so happy that she loves the moon as I do!

E is also starting to show some affection toward MHM. She is sharing banklets, replacing toys (previously ripped from his hands) with other toys and generally being concerned with his well being. She is also very caring and concerned for when MHM cries and comes to give a nice gentle hug. As a matter of fact, she is doing that for us all when we may not quite feel as we would like to. She is still of course young but she is really enjoying MHM's company and companionship while playing. Now with MHM just days away from all out walking and running, I am sure their relationship will take yet another turn, one that I hope is good for all involved.

What a great time with these two spectacular kids.

Mile stones and markers

Well, it has been a busy two plus weeks with elections of presidents (Obama over McCain), passing of friends, visits from family and notably MHM taking some very courageous first steps.

The elections were for me marked with the passing of G. He had been I am sure, depressed since his son had passed in April as well as suffering from congenital heart failure. I had the day off from work (to encourage voting for the approved union candidate) so after I had dropped the kiddies off at school I went to vote shortly there after. Early in the day as it was, I had several stops to make, and one was Dobie, to see G. When I arrived, I was met by one of the nurse aides who shook my hand. I knew immediately what had happened. I walked to G's room where I found his nurse cleaning out his belongings. I held my composure for all but a few moments and talked with her for a time. I asked how he went, peacefully! We both remarked how we would miss him, and I remarked how he most likely didn't really want to stay around if his dear Republican party got trounced as was the case. It was a grand day, fitting for a day to check out. I will miss you G!

The rest of the day I busied myself enough to half way forget about G as I didn't want to tell M until I saw her myself. We had made earlier plans to go eat sans kids so we decided on Old Chicago for a beer and some trivia. It was nice and quite odd not having to take care of E and MHM.

The rest of the week went quickly in anticipation of Aunt E, Uncle E, cousins E and S. They were in town for the MSU / Purdue football game. With little detail, it was a really nice w.e. for all I think. There were of course crafts, good food from M, fires in the fire place and even the first snow which made both E and MHM Ooooo and Ahhh!

MHM's 11 month bday was Sunday, and he all but took off walking. He is really close. He spent quite some time just practicing standing and pushing his little car. He is just exploding daily with new excitement, wonder amazement at what the world so far has to offer him. What a cutie!

Halloween 08

Halloween 08 was Fantastic!!! It started out warm and stayed that way past Trick or Treat. We got GPa to come over to hand out our candy so we all could go out with Aunt L, K and GMa.


M had been coaching E on T o T etiquette for a few days and she had it down cold. Polite and concise.


6pm was here, so we suited up and headed out to the neighbors. MHM was decked out in a lion costume, absolutely cute as a lion. E was dressed as a butterfly (or barfly, as was understood by many), equally as cute and full of go go go! C and A our neighbors across the street were decked in their festive roles. C as always was a witch from the north, inviting you to have dinner with her. Boiled worms (which E chose) or something else. E did a good job understanding the idea was to pretend the candy was one of the diner choices. We then headed toward aunt L's house where we would meet up with the rest. Quite a way off, E recognized K as a little bumble bee and shrieked with joy. Yes, K was absolutely a doll in her costume. We did about 8 or 10 houses with them before K was more or less ready to call it a night. GMa stayed with them as cousin H was to arrive soon, so that left just the four of us for the duration. As we made our way house after house, E was mostly polite though preoccupied.

"Thank you! Daddy, can we go top the next house??" Those words would come out while her hand was still in the candy dish.

MHM was taking it all in, he was watching E and checking out all of the cool costumes, maybe choosing his for next year?

I had a great idea of mulled wine in my coffee cup, so I had something to enjoy during this outing. The weather as stated was perfect, and for what is is worth, we even saw quite a few bats flying about. I find it interesting that in the back of my mind thought we would be home in plenty of time to hand out candy to "bigger kids" but after visiting with neighbors and just plain enjoying the evening, the bit more than 1/2 mile loop of our block took nearly the whole two hours.

Politely, GPa said that he saw some very nice kids and enjoyed his evenings assignment. He stayed around a bit to see what E got in her bag of goodies. As he was out the door, I tossed him two mini Snickers bars as payment. Small change for the priceless function he provided so we could together enjoy a wonderful Halloween 2008!!

Yay!!!!