Life as a Yowler

After our Labor Day campout last weekend, Bethany took the three oldest kids back with her to Ohio. Brandon had plans to drive down to Ohio to pick up his Granpa Walker(his mom’s dad) and drive him up to Michigan. Brandon has been wanting his grandpa to come see the business. Brandon’s grandpa had his own business back in the day and passed along a lot of his business knowledge to Brandon. Brandon is his mini. If you ever meet grandpa, all of your questions about Brandon will be explained. Brandon doesn’t look up to a lot of people, but his Grandpa Walker is probably number one on his list. He talks very highly of him. He admires and respects him. He also has a lot of his positive traits and even a couple of his quirks. To give you just one example of Brandon’s Grandpa’s personality I’ll let you in on a little story containing way TMI. One of the very first times I ever met him was around Christmas time. He says to me “Carla, I never had to get grandma any gifts. I just put a different ribbon on it every year and she couldn’t refuse.” I thought to myself “hmmm  he seems a little different than my Grandpa Gascho(a nice quiet, gentle, humble, Mennonite man).” Even with his boldness, he didn’t scare me away. I’ve come to really love and appreciate Grabdpa Walker. He has a heart of gold. His generosity(one of things he has passed to Brandon) is incredible. He is known for giving his grandkids, and now great grandkids, a couple hundred dollars to go get some ice cream. No joke. We tell him “grandpa, that’s way too much.” He says “no it’s not. Go big or go home.” According to Brandon, I am one of his favorites. He never has a negative thing to say about me. He loves watching me chase my kids. I think I remind him of Grandma Walker, who also had two boys and two girls and spent a lot of her time chasing kids. All that to say…..Brandon was thrilled to bring him up to Michigan. Unfortunately Grandma isn’t healthy enough to make the trip, so just Grabdpa came. Brandon then brought our kids back with him from Ohio. I  was able to have three days with just the baby. It was beautiful.

Brandon gave grandpa a shop tour and showed him around Huron County.  He took him to see our house, my parent’s house, and my parent’s cottage. My mom made him lunch. He was so impressed by her cooking and asked for the recipes about 12 times. I see where Brandon gets his persistence.

I did a lot of different projects while I only had one child. One of them was going through our things we have in storage in my parent’s shed. When we moved into our cabin, we downsized and had to put several things in storage. I pulled out a lot of my old dishes that I’ve missed. I found some classics like this sign.

Most of you know the story, but for those of you that don’t here you go…..back when  Brandon and I were newly married and had just moved from Ohio to Michigan, Brandon was the Art Van Furnture sales rep. On one of his drives to Art Van, a turkey(literally 3 weeks before thanksgiving) decided to jump off an overpass right as Brandon was driving under. The little sucker flew through the window and shattered the entire thing. The accident almost killed Brandon, and the bird splattered blood and feathers all over the car. It’s hilarious now, but wasn’t so much at the time. I was talking on the phone with Brandon at the time of the attack. I first panicked. I kept saying “are you ok? Are you ok?” He finally answered. He said “I just don’t know right now. There’s blood everywhere and there’s a turkey heart on my dick.” He is obviously fine and we remember the turkey attack every single time we drive down 23 and pass Clio Road.

One of my favorite things I found in storage was a box of old pictures. I forgot I had these, and so many memories came flooding back.

Here’s little Carla. I think I look a lot like Isla.

Isla gives me these same looks.

Here I am no longer an only child. My oldest brother, Trent, came along and stole my thunder. Good thing he’s cute!

My cousin Andrew and I are pretty close to the same age. I used to love when his family would come up to Michigan and stay at Grandpa and Grandma Gascho’s house. I have a lot of memories playing together. Here we are with Grandpa Gascho, remember the nice humble Mennonite man? I was only seven years old when he died, but I remember him well. I remember his gentle nature. I remember doing a couple things wrong and being too scared to tell Grabdma Gascho, so I whispered my sins to Grandpa and made him promise not to tell Grandma.

You can all let me know if I’m wrong, but I think this is Kimmie, Leann, Andrew, and me(the chubby little naked one standing up).

And here is a group of Gascho cousins getting a ride from Grandpa on the 3-wheeler.

Here I am with my cousin, Mindy, on my mom’s side of the family(the Hochstedler side). Thank you mom for this amazing hairstyle of mine. Speaking of amazing hairstyles……

Check out this amazing style of my mom’s.

Or how about this little number?  Truly amazing, mom! Also, you’re welcome! You might notice the couch in the background. It’s about 300 years old, and my dad still refuses to give it up. It’s still alive and well and at the cottage being held together by a bungee cord rope. No joke.

I remember traveling to Pennsylvania for my cousin Katrina’s graduation, and having a great time.

I remember building all kinds of block and farm animal creations at my Grandpa and Grandma Gascho’s house.

I remember my excitement when my dad built us our first tree house.

I remember picking raspberries all summer from our garden. They were my very favorite.

I remember my mom giving a copy of this horrendous photo to her mom(my grandma Hochstedler), and grandma displaying it in a picture frame for all to see as they entered her home. I remember wanting to murder my mom, then having my own kids and totally understanding.

I remember my first perm and hating the smell of the fumes. 🤣

I remember when my brother, Evan, came along. He was the perfect little baby for me. He wasn’t a sister, but he let me dress him up all the time.

This one takes me back to my Amish roots. My mom’s mom was raised Amish the very beginning of her life. Here Evan and I are dressed like a couple of Amish kids.

I grew up right across the road from my cousins Kim and Vicki. They are like sisters to me in a lot of ways. I have lots of memories and lots of history with them.

My cousin, Leann has been a huge blessing in my life as well. She was my maid of honor in my wedding.

These two friends have stuck by my side through most of my life. We have been through some good times and bad times. I have enjoyed raising kids together, and I have been devastated along with Emily as she has faced the hardest year of her life though child loss. It’s something I thought none of us would ever have to walk through and I can’t begin to imagine her pain. But through it all, I admire her so much. She has been a true example to me of Christ. She has handled herself in the best way possible and is clinging to the hope she has.

I feel so blessed to have such a rich heritage. I have so many memories. I am surrounded by family and friends who love and care for me. I have my own beautiful family. I have a husband who works hard and provides for us. I am blessed beyond measure!

And just for kicks I’ll leave you with this little gem. I was debating on posting it, but here goes nothing.