Jaclyn/Jackie

 "Whooo are youuuu?”

 said the caterpillar.

Jaclyn was my name at birth

Jaclyn will be my name at death.

But in the in between years, 

I’ve had two names Jaclyn and Jackie.

“Would you prefer to be called Jackie or Jaclyn?”

asked one of my new friends.

“it doesn’t matter—- the names are the same,

I answer to both”

But they aren’t quite the same.

Different persona, different name

Jaclyn is pensive, a poet, a scholar,

sitting on the edge of a party, 

watching, observing

Jackie is the life of the party, 

a dancer, impulsive, 

hyperactive, friendly

it was the rare man who saw and 

accepted both sides of me.

He would ask Jackie on a date,

but was surprised when Jaclyn appeared at the door.

 I’m the flitting  butterfly

but I’m also the contemplative caterpillar 

sitting quietly on my pilllow, observing.

like Alice's caterpillar,

lost in deep thoughts:

“Whhoooo are youuuuuu?”

Roman's Baptism

Romans 15: 13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

We went to Kansas City last weekend for Roman's Baptism and the celebration of his first anniversary of being adopted and a United States citizen. I volunteered to make a jello mold of the United States. I had blue jello, but thought I'd buy the rest of the fixings in KC. But, we got snowed in on Saturday, so I only had the blue jello.
Unfortunately, trying to unmold it, Florida seceded, then Maine---Texas got messed up and the whole Union fell apart! Rachel tried to do her Lincoln-best and put it all together again. Then, we headed up north to Platte Woods Methodist Church.

Clockwise from right: Brett, Davis, Rachel, Libby, Eli Warren, Larry, Tawny, Eli, Sophia, Pete, Roman

We met the Warrens and all of the Lewises including Larry at the church. We took up 4 pews with neighbors, too.

Roman and Jason, Leah and Eli, Libby and Rachel; March 1, 2009

Roman was so handsome with his new outfit!
Very uncharacteristically, Roman was subdued during the baptism until. . .
it was time for the water!
After the baptism, he was off to "Sunday School" followed by church do-nuts. Then, we all headed to the Platte County YMCA for a party! Isn't he handsome?
My jello mold was quite the conversation piece---Todd and Jason both thought it looked great until they found out it was supposed to be a jello mold---they thought I'd carved it!

Roman was in his glory between his two grandfathers!
Rebecca had a delicious buffet set up for friends, family and neighbors.
After lunch the kids could go to the play area at the Y and run some energy off. Here's Roman with his cousin Davis.
Roman Daniel Lewis, we are so proud of all of your accomplishments this year---your baptism was the perfect way to celebrate your first anniversary!

Daniel 6: 26-27 ". . . For he is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his communion has no end. He delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth; for he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions."

My Birth day

On my "Long Ago and Faraway" blog, I showed a Christmas card sent to my dad with my foot prints (made in the hospital). I speculated that my mother took the Christmas card to the hospital in early November. Well, here's proof:

First, who saves their "To-do List" for having a baby! To explain "Call Ed" is to find out how to spell my name---notice she practiced it. But then, it says "Glasses, Xmas card 3rd drawer in desk, Baby Book"

Here are the foot prints in the baby book---compare them to the Christmas card on Nov. 6, 2008 post on http://longmorgan.blogspot.com/

Here's "Ed's" daughter Jaclyn Maiers---not really friends, but always described to me as "the grocer's daughter."

Here's the announcement and the write-up in the baby book. I might add that I was 19 inches long (just a little bigger than Viviana---the tiny daughter of Cristina and Joe who live next door to our daughter Rebecca).

Christine and Evan's Wedding

Christine and Evan's wedding was last night at the Renaissance Hotel downtown. It was a little complicated finding the entrance, the right rooms because it is an old hotel linked with at least another building that has been renovated to form a large complex. Click here for more information. The wedding was held in one room on the 20th floor with the reception in another building (it was all connected via an under the street passageway) It was all very elegant. Sue and John out-did themselves. Steve said it was the most beautiful wedding he'd ever been to. The vocalists were the best I've ever heard. There was a bit of humor as they were leaving the ceremony---"At Last" was played in honor of 43 year-old Evan's long bachelorhood.

It was also an inter-faith wedding with a rabbi and a pastor. The rabbi told several funny stories about meeting the bride and groom. Christine originally contacted the rabbi about an inter-faith ceremony. The rabbi looked at her name. He had a member of his congregation with that last name, but was thoroughly confused as to why a nice Jewish girl would have the name "Christine". When Christine and Evan went to meet with the rabbi, he looked at Christine and Evan and continued to think she was Jewish with an odd name. I think he was pretty stunned to find out SHE wasn't Jewish.

The rabbi and pastor educated the guests with the significance of each part of the ceremony. The "program" also had notes with cultural and family history background. Both sets of parent stood in the Chuppah during the entire ceremony. Later, I talked with some of Evan's relatives. They said that it was optional to have the parents stand with the couple during the ceremony. They also thought the ceremony was a longer than they were used to. We laughed because we didn't think it was very long at all especially with the incorporation of both traditions (about 45 minutes)

I'm giving up on trying to match text with photos---it is more complicated than it should be. Most of you know the people pictured anyway and can figure out the significance of the photos. Bridesmaids included Paula's daughter Katie and Johnnie's 7 month pregnant wife. Johnnie and David were groomsmen with Shelley's son Michael the Junior Groomsman. Michael, John's brother, was also there from California with his wife. Brother Tom was home in Hawaii. He is newly widowed (within 3 days of his own father's death) with a 9 year-old son.

We didn't go to the rehearsal dinner, but Steve reported that it was very interesting---it was held at the A-B Brewery where they got their own personal tour! Needless to say, the A-B products were available at the rehearsal dinner and at the reception. The appetizers and food at the reception were all delicious. In lieu of guest favors a donation was made to Stray Rescue---what a great idea.

To Christine and Evan, we want to wish the very best!

Short Long

My family name was “Long” which I NEVER liked. First, I was always small for my age, so the name just didn’t fit. Here's a photo with my cousins Steve and Bob. Steve was 3 weeks younger and Bob was 6 weeks older, but as anyone can see I was the "runt" of the family.

I was teased a lot about my size and name---somehow the teasing was OK once I made friends with the tallest girl in our class---Donna Short. Our teacher always shook her head and called us “the Long and Short of the matter.” We loved telling people our names and asking them to guess who was who. I was very sad when we moved away from each other---she went to Ferguson and we went to Bellefontaine Neighbors---not because we were such great friends but because we were a team---together we could tolerate the teasing that we had to endure.

I feared that someday I would acquire the nickname "Shorty" Long. My legs were so short that my dad had to bolt wooden blocks on my bicycle pedals. That was embarassing, but not as embarassing as when he had to put blocks on the gas and brake pedals when I first started driving!