Tuesdays With Pappo: "French Fry Family"

 TUESDAYS WITH PAPPO

liz etheridge sekerke

Yesterday Pappo asked me, as he does most every week, whether I thought he and Mom did a decent job of raising us three kids and what I thought he should have done differently.

As we sat there in the Braums Ice Cream booth, I thought about his question.....about how I could provide an answer that would satisfy this need he has to know he didn’t fail as a Father.

I looked down and saw a square white napkin laying on the table. It reminded me of a slab of fresh concrete. I placed it in the middle of the table.....grabbed a few french fries and told him to pretend this was a concrete foundation for a house and these french fries were his family (enter a sweet giggle from him ). I explained this slab was the foundation he and Mom had built by pouring into us about a God who loves and cares deeply for us. And that if we just put our trust in God instead of ourselves and allowed Him to guide our lives and steps.....our foundation would never crack.

I reminded Dad that all three of his kids had built their own lives on this very foundation he and Mom had poured for us. Even though our lives all looked radically different....and we had all suffered damage from winds of hardships and storms of struggles in our lives, and yes, could have chosen to build our lives on a different foundation than the one he and Mom built for us....we didn't. Our foundation was sound.

I saw tears in his eyes as he looked at the napkin with the family of french fries before him. I hope and pray those tears were tears of realization that he had, indeed, not failed as a Dad.....as my Pappo.

Tuesdays With Pappo: Toilet Paper Origami

TUESDAYS WITH PAPPO

#tuesdayswithpappo                                                                                         8-29-2024

Every - Single - Week....while visiting my Pappo, he asks me the same question: "Softie, what new thing can I learn?"

If you've been reading Tuesdays With Pappo for any amount of time, you know Dad has a constant need to "learn" new things. It's built into him...it's in his DNA...he's always had a hankering to learn new things. He's tried most everything including the piano, the sewing machine, the mandolin, Youtube, repairing walkers, writing stories, knitting and yes, reluctantly...embroidering, And that's just in the last 12 months!

As we ate our burger and grilled cheese sandwiches this past week at a little hole-in-the-wall diner near his home, he once again asked me the weekly question:

"What new thing do you think I could learn to do?"

Truth is, he's searching for his "purpose" at the ripe old age of 96.  His body isn't able to move like it used to.....his pace is slower....there's a limp that didn't used to be there, and his mind.... well....his mind is still 26.

But this week, I arrived with the perfect answer to the weekly question:

Toilet-Paper-Origami

As I tried selling him on the idea that there was beauty in having fetching toilet paper folds on the role, he looked up from his burger with a scowl. "Just hear me out", I said. We emprovised by tearing off a long role of paper towels that were serving as napkins on our table and started folding. Before we knew it, we had a faux-toilet-paper-origami masterpiece made out of paper towels. Admittedly, he wasn't nearly as excited about it as I was, but it didn't matter! We showed it to everyone we met and they were WOWED and AMAZED....and I'm pretty sure I saw a small satisfied smile on his face.

SUCCESS......until next week!

Tuesdays With Pappo - Illegal Ties

 TUESDAYS WITH PAPPO

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As Pappo and I returned to his Independent Living Center from our regular Cotton Patch lunch a few weeks ago, he informed me they had outlawed wearing a tie where he lived.

After a quick shake-of-my-head in disbelief, I asked him "Why??". He "claimed" he didn't know why but he thought someone died from wearing a tie there or something. But he wasn't sure.

We talked a little longer on this bizarre-illegal-tie-wearing-law when it suddenly came to me how he could get around it. I told him I needed to measure his neck first and, after digging through my purse and puling out my trusty always-with-me tape measure, I turned around to see this: His hands wrapped tightly around his neck to keep me away.

Seriously, all I wanted to do was measure him for a clergy collar as a tie-substitute. I thought it was a brilliant idea and a real knee-slapper if he wore it to his non-Catholic church.

He disagreed.

Tuesdays With Pappo - "I Have An Addiction"

 TUESDAYS WITH PAPPO

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I received a voice message from my Pappo earlier this week asking me to call him as he had something very important to discuss with me. Now, please understand, with Pappo, that could be anything from “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” to “I’m really thinking I need to learn how to play the mandolin”.

So as I was heading home from HEB, I gave him a call back. Here’s how that conversation went:

PAPPO: ”Softie, I’ve discovered something. I have an addiction.”

LIZ: “An addiction? To what?”

PAPPO: “My walker”.

LIZ: “How do you have an addiction to your walker, Pappo?”

PAPPO: “I use it too much. But thats not what I want to ask you. I want to know where I can get a treadmill?”

LIZ: (Cleaning off the steering wheel where coffee just spit out her nose) Pappo, I think that’s a bad idea.

Between my sister and I, we convinced him he HAS a treadmill....it was the long, long Highway-to-Houston-Hallway just outside his independent living apartment door he might want to try walking instead.

PAPPO: “Oh....that’s a good idea!”

Our Molly - 2007 - 2024

Thank You, Molly, for bringing such JOY into our lives for so many years.

Thank You for putting up with us....for encouraging us....for forgiving us when we didn't feed you on time.

Thank You for crawling into our laps when we were sad....

Thank You for trusting us to keep you safe and to provide entertainment for you when you were bored.

And when we didn't deserve to be loved because we left you too long or rubbed your nose in things you couldn't help, you loved us anyway. Unconditionally.

I learned a lot from you, Molly. Thank You for allowing us to be YOUR parents. We will always love you.

Chapter 64

 

Today......Marks the Beginning of Chapter 64 in the Life of Liz.

I love getting older. Sounds crazy I know, but I wouldn’t reverse the clock for all the money in the world. If anything, I would increase the clock speed as I move forward into the future.

And there's just something about being another year older that causes you to reflect back on Chapters 63 or 44 or 27 or look ahead to Chapters 65 or 72 or 86 in your life, right? 

To look at where you’ve been......and to where you’re going. 

To the Shipwrecks in your life....and to the Rescues. 

To the Griefs.....and to the Restorations.

When you look back on spent chapters in your life, you are able to see with clarity....20-20 vision....the pouring out of Grace you received through those very Rescues and Restorations by the One who numbered your days when He created you. You remember the sufferings, yes.....but you also see the ripples from your endurance muscles increasing because of those Chapters of Suffering.

"Suffering Produces Endurance.....” 

Romans 5:3

I am finding with each passing year, the things I used to hold tightly to my chest....you know, those things of “this” world that distract me and I thought were important and necessary....are anything but. They are just noisy “things”. And they kept me looking “back” more than looking “forward”. Forward past the final chapter in the Book Of Liz to a new book:

A book titled, “Eternity”.

Can't wait to read Chapter 64!!

Tuesdays With Pappo - Victory Medal

 Tuesdays With Pappo

https://youtu.be/AYm2JC7Mxvc?si=wk0xkWfFChnlF7KQ

Back on January 10, 1946, this handsome young man joined the US Army in Johnson County, Texas. He is now 96 years old.....and one of less than 1% of the US population still alive who served in WWII.

His son-in-law, Wayne Sekerke, felt it was about time he received the medal he was long overdue in receiving. It is called the Victory Medal.

After months of working with government red tape, Wayne and the Johnson County VA Representative, James, were finally successful in securing this medal for Pappo.

Last Thursday and a mere 78 years after stepping foot into the Johnson County Courthouse in Cleburne, Texas with draft papers in his hand, he returned there for a surprise presentation of this WWII Victory Medal.

We hope you enjoy watching our family's very own G.I. Joe celebrating and receiving this long overdue Victory Medal.

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The Silent Next Generation

A few weeks ago, we hopped on the first plane of the day to Phoenix, Arizona to attend our granddaughter Bella’s college graduation.  Her college years flew by for me and I was caught off-guard at how quickly they were ending.  I don’t know about Bella, but Lele wasn’t ready.

Rewind three years.  She had used every spare week of her junior and senior high school year visiting universities around the country trying to find that one university that was the “perfect” fit for her.  She could have gone most anywhere....her GPA allowed it.  

And she chose GCU - Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

I won’t lie; I had never heard of it.  But turns out, it’s the largest Christian university in the country.  As she prepared to move 1000 miles away from home for the first time and barely know anyone there, I found myself proud and nervous as she loaded her Jeep, waved goodbye and drove to Phoenix.  

Her Lele cried that day....a new chapter was beginning.

Back to the present.  She had, indeed, found “her people” at GCU and she lived a full life volunteering with the homeless shelter, making good grades, finding good friends to explore life with and trusting God through it all in her 3 years at GCU.  She became a mighty warrior for God and her love for Him spilled out of her everywhere she went.  

Her Lele cried that day....happy tears.

On her graduation day as I sat in the stands with 6,999 (no exaggeration!) other family members, my mind couldn't help but think of all I had been seeing on the nightly news for weeks.  Palestinian riots at American universities, keffiyeh (muslim scarfs) covered faces, demands, tents, destruction, spray painting, chaos and canceled graduations at some of the most prestigious and expensive universities around this country.  

But none of that was happening at GCU.  Instead, I saw smiles, prayers being prayed, caps with life scriptures painted on them being worn on the heads of new graduates and listened as they sung Amazing Grace before a single diploma was handed out.  It was like two different worlds.

And her Lele cried that day too.....relieved tears she picked the right world.

So often we, as Christians, feel we are losing the battle.  We see our next generation spewing hate, having no conscience, no accountability and it feels as though everything is upside down.  Bad is now good, right is now wrong, girls are now boys and men want to have babies.  They celebrate abortion as if they won the lottery and curse those who defend life.  It often times, to me, feels hopeless and too far gone to fix. 

SPOILER ALERT!!  It’s not!!  There is a silent next generation that is bigger than what we see on the news.  They have morals, they have dreams, they have values....and they know God didn’t make a mistake when molding their gender in the womb and they know that every life....every - single - life.....born and unborn...is precious and created by God. 

I call them the Silent Next Generation....they are REAL and I have been a witness that they exist.   Don’t lose hope simply because they aren't screaming and you don’t see them on the nightly news; simply trust that God is lifting up a new Next Generation and it is going to be the BEST yet!

Thank and Trust God!

Tuesdays With Pappo - Powerful Kisses

 Tuesdays With Pappo

May 16, 2024

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One of the many things my Pappo is known for at his Independent Living Apartment is handing out kisses on the heads of all the women.

I've watched him go from table to table at lunch time kissing each woman on the head and telling them how pretty they are. They look up at him and smile....which then initiates a never-before-heard "giggle" out of him. It's such an endearing sound that pops out of him that it gives me a chuckle each time I hear it.

This week, we were headed out of his apartment to go to lunch when a woman I've not met before came down the hallway. As she got to his door, she looked him in the eye, leaned her head down and pointed to the top of her head. He giggled....she giggled....then he leaned down and kissed her on the head.

I simply can't make this stuff up.

She then went on her way to her apartment....happy.

These moments.....watching my Dad and his friends depending on each other for friendship, affirmation......and yes, giggles, does his youngest daughter's heart good.

As I headed the 1-1/2 hour trip home remembering my time with him, I also found myself wanting a kiss on the head from Pappo.....and I couldn't help but giggle.

Mothers Day 2024

 A 12th Mothers Day has passed......since you passed, Mom.

Hardly seems possible....because, truth be told....I have felt the warmth of you with me each day of those 12 years. I may not be able to physically hold your hand today, Mom, but I have something even greater: I have a piece of you living inside of me.

Your smile, your voice, your wisdom.....they are all still wildly alive within my soul. So you see, Mom, you didn't die....you've never been more alive than you are right now!!

And this daughter.....well, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Mother's Day to the Greatest Mom To Ever Live

Tuesdays With Pappo - If Hands Could Talk

 Tuesdays With Pappo

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May 2, 2024

Perhaps one of the most wonderful of all gifts from God is the human hand.

My Pappo’s hands are an absolute marvel...27 bones, over 30 muscles and that magical left hand has an artery that runs straight-up into his HEART!

These days, it’s Pappo’s hands that help him walk. They push the walker that gives him freedom. They hold the Dallas Morning Newspaper each morning that keeps his mind sharp as a tack . They are learning to thread the needle and sew his initials with his only granddaughter.....and they are teaching those around him how to be Grateful and Thankful in all things. These 96-year old hands God handed him so many years ago have stood the test of time.

Oh.....If hands could only talk......the stories they could tell!

Tuesdays With Pappo - These Hands

 Tuesdays With Pappo

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April 18, 2024

These hands.....they've seen a lot of life..

They caressed my blubbery skin as an infant....they spanked me quite often as a pre-teen....they frantically grabbed the steering wheel while teaching me to drive as a teenager....they handed my hand over in marriage as an adult....and they placed themselves on the casket of our Mom as his way of saying "Goodbye" to his wife.

These hands.....the hands this week that, when I asked him where he got the Dallas Cowboy eye glass holder on his end table, he looked me in the eye and, knowing I was desperately not a Dallas Cowboy fan (because of Jerry Jones), promptly started ripping the Cowboy logo off.

Now that's TRUE LOVE, folks!