I love Lorena. She love’s me, too. It is really great to know both of those things. And it is fun to celebrate that on Valentine’s Day in our own quirky little ways. I kind of wonder whether every good, traditional marriage feels like they live their relationship in unique and quirky ways. If it is truly a good marriage, there is not much context for knowing whether that is true or not. At any rate, I am very thankful for my marriage and thankful that Lorena gives me a break on a lot of stuff. I cannot imagine any other woman would have been more suitable for me to marry. God has his hand in virtually everything and I am grateful for that.
This article was taken from the Eugene Register-Guard newspaper from Feb. 27, 1963. It is about Charlie Whetham, Kelly’s and Christian’s great-great-uncle and my Grandma Chapman’s brother. You might not have guessed I came from such a classy family, but wait until you read this article! He pleaded innocent and told the judge the doctor told him take whiskey baths for his rheumatism (he said “rumatiz”). We heard he was convicted, but I am not sure what was his punishment. The best part is that he was born and raised in Nebraska and did not go out to Oregon until much later. He fought in WWI. My great aunts always said that he got gassed during the war and was pretty loopy ever since, but Grandma C (Grandpa Milo’s mom), as we called her, said he was like that before he left for the war.
Even though Tío Lynn did not make it until we ate cake back at the apartment, Tío Lauro, Grandma Conchita, Lorena, and I all made it to Tacos Sinaloense for there normal incredible tacos. The weather cooperated magnificently with 75° weather on the most spectacular February 6 evening of my lifetime. Afterward, we made our way back to the apartment to have birthday mango cake and sing both Happy Birthday to You and Las Mañanitas.
Grandma Conchita turned 79 years old today and she is doing great. She came over to hang out with us today. A little later, Tíos Lauro and Lynn are coming over and we are heading out to Tacos Sinaloense for dinner!
Grandma Conchita came over last night and Tío Lynn grilled us up some steaks to celebrate the beginning of the purchase process for a new house in Virginia. The seller accepted our offer (we got the price down a little and they agreed to screen in the back porch) and we have paid the earnest money deposit and are in the process of getting the inspections done and getting the appraiser out to value the house. We found a house that is on the side of Richmond (not in Richmond, but outside) we want to live, but close to everything to which we want to be close.
We are very grateful that we were able to find the kind of house we wanted. It will be a perfect place for just the two of us to live on the bottom floor, but big enough that the kids can spread out and invite friends whenever they want. We are a short train ride up to where Kelly lives and a cheap flight to where Christian lives. The best part is that we will be close to the kids, but finding a house that works for us, does not have a ton of upkeep, and has lots of trees and potential garden space is worth gold. Hope there are no hiccups in the purchase. We do not anticipate any.
We have finalized our house search plans for Virginia. The best part is that Kelly is going to come down on the train from Washington DC to join us and look at houses. We have a rental car and a hotel and a plan to visit the top three or four on our list. Also on the plan is to just go have some good food and explore to the extent the weather allows.
We have been celebrating Lorena’s birthday for the last week or so and we only have about a week more to go! Here birthday was on a Tuesday and I had to work so all se really did on the actual day was to run down to Shake Shack to get a hamburger. We made up for it big time on Friday. Grandma Conchita and Tíos Lauro and Lynn came over and we went to our favorite taco place, Sonorense in the El Centrito neighborhood of San Pedro. Afterward, we all came back to the apartment to sing Las Mañanitas and eat mango cake from Pastelería Leti. I definitely did not adhere to my diet in any of this. Today, we ran down to the Chili’s at the mall where Lorena had chilaquiles and I had chicken fried chicken–a very nostalgic moment because that is one of the places we frequented when we were first married. Tomorrow, we are going to have our church meeting together, then probably have lunch with Lynn and Conchita. On Monday, we are going to watch the inauguration of President Trump and then head up to the hill to see the remodel progress on the house because, supposedly they will have hit a major milestone in the work on the first floor.
I am truly grateful to have spent more then thirty years with this beautiful woman. Each year just keeps getting better. We hope, God willing, that 2025 will be our final, big, cross-country move, close to the kids in a place that has easy access to a lot of infrastructure. We are looking forward to one more push to make that happen, but the good news is that we have done it so many times before that we do not get too stressed over all of the little things that go wrong because they WILL go wrong. Good thing we are just passing through in this life–it is great to have such a spectacular partner with him to take the journey.
This post is just a marker for the time Lorena and I decided not to build a house in Texas, but to move to Virginia so we can be closer to the kids and see them on weekends. More soon, God willing.
Our friend, Jill McDonald, sent us a couple of pictures that must have been taken around 1998 or 1999. Both of Jill and Lyle’s sons were very good with our kids, always paying attention to them when they were little. This is Mark, reading to both Kelly and Christian.
It really was kind of an amazing time because this was just about the time that Kelly learned how to really read on her own, but before she could read well enough to entertain Christian (which she did a ton, once she got the hang of it). We read and read and read a lot and they never got tired of it. It was nice to have these guys who were gentle and kind to the kids, talking to them seriously and answering endless questions (mostly from Christian) and showing them toys and just making it fun and interesting for them–something that did not always happen. We are grateful for those times.
Here is how I go shopping with Lorena. We go to HEB, she walks me to the coffee shop, buys me a coffee and a doughnut, sits me down, and then calls me when she gets through the cash register. Then when we get home she tells me what a great help I am and how much better it is if I go with her. I am glad to be so value added in this way. I wish I could say I did all the heavy-lifting, but that would be a lie.
We had one of the nicest Christmas/New Year holiday this year. It was quiet, but gave a chance for truly quality time with Kelly and Christian over Christmas in Washington, D.C. and with Grandma Conchita and Tío Lynn for the New Year in San Pedro. This picture is from pre-Christmas dinner at Pastis in D.C. We hope to be able to celebrate next year here in Mexico if the kids can come down. God willing, we hope to celebrate Thanksgiving in Texas next year.
Most know I am a native son from Oregon. I truly love Oregon. We currently live in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, but will move back to Texas, God willing, when our house there is built–probably toward the end of 2025. It is becoming increasingly evident that I will never again live in Oregon although I will always call it my home. The kids are on the east coast and Lorena’s family is in Mexico and Texas. While it remains, in my estimation, the most beautiful state in the nation, the politics of the state have made it almost unlivable. The schools are some of the worst in the nation, there are huge crime and drug problems, and Christian morality is actively mocked in law and culture. Still, I would love to be there. Our first relative arrived there in 1846 along the Applegate Trail. The latest any of the others arrived was in the last couple of decades of the 19th century.
We are grateful to Texas and Nuevo Leon with their beautiful cultures and acceptance of outsiders, but I will always be an outsider in those places even though their moral senses are more aligned with my own.
A good number of years ago–I am estimating about eight or nine years, our little family went to Denny’s in Arizona with our wonderful friends, Al and Michele Rizo and their family to have dinner. We had done that quite a few times over the years, but that might have been one of the last times before we lost Al to cancer. We miss him a lot. Michele found a picture of the event that she sent to Lorena a couple of days ago. I thought it was way to good to not put up here. Kelly is her usual magnificent self and Christian lent me the chain necklace his Grandpa Lauro had given him long enough for this picture.
Lorena’s OXO egg timer broke shortly before we moved to Mexico. It was not just any egg timer, but one that pokes a small hole in the egg and has an adjustable timer that seems to never miss. Lorena religiously makes a breakfast every morning that consists of a piece of 60 calorie Dave’s Killer Bread toast, an egg cooked so that the yoke is still a little bit liquid to spread on the toast, the homemade applesauce that Grandma Sarah taught her to make with 2½ teaspoons of chia and 2 teaspoons of cocoa nibs, and a cup of coffee. It just does not work together as it should unless the egg is cooked perfectly. We could not find one of these egg timers in Mexico, so she was VERY happy that Christian found her one for a Christmas present. He is, by far, her favorite son.
Lorena and I are spending the whole day traveling today. We had an absolutely incredible time with Christian and Kelly in Washington DC. I am reading the book that Kelly gave me title The Right. The Hundred Year War for American Conservatism by Matthew Continetti. I like it so far, and will report back when I’m done. The headset Christian gave me cuts out 99% of the airport noise. Amazing.
We took a picture of our family together for Christmas for the second year in a row in Washington, D.C. This year it was in Kelly’s apartment in front of her Christmas tree. We are having a truly amazing time–so grateful to God for all he has done for us and for those thing from which we have been saved.
We have been having a great time with Kelly here in Washington, D.C. We met two of her best friends who were both just amazing people and have had a low-key, restful time. It got even better last night when Christian arrives. Kelly made reservations for Pastis for lunch–a place everyone but me has been. Tonight we are going to just hang out as we get ready for our Christmas celebration tomorrow morning (early because we fly home to Mexico early Christmas morning.
Kelly just signed up for another 18 months at her apartment in Washington, D.C. I often reserve a workspace where I can get out of the apartment and sit in a nice environment to get some work done. All this is within walking distance of lots of restaurants, a couple of nice grocery stores, coffee shops, a book store, and just a block away from the Metro train station that can take you anywhere in the area including the airport. We are glad she decided not to switch apartments to another area.
