The Norman Muilenburg School of Gardening

As spring approaches and crocus and daffodils poke their heads up, I can't help but think of Norm with his gardening hat on. (As an aside, had Norm and I not had children, I doubt that we would have had a house or a yard. )

He did yard work reluctantly, never planting anything new, basically just beating down what was already here. Once, he ripped out a juniper that was in a line of other junipers, not caring that now there was just a big hole where there should have been something.

I never trusted him to prune when I wasn't home.

Our neighbor of many years, Virginia Steenson, was a gardener and when the kids were here playing ball, she didn't care for their balls coming into her yard crushing her tender plants. She planted Arbor Vitae on both her front yard borders. After she passed away, her daughter and son-in-law moved in. One day when I was working and Norm was off, I came home to find the BOTTOM 2 feet of Arbor Vitae branches sawed off. " Norm, what have you done? Those aren't ours," I said. He answered, " I just got carried away." He said the same thing to Paul, the son-in-law when questioned about the event. I think he took all his frustrations out on the yard.

FYI

Norm has always wanted to be an anatomical donor. I found out today that because of his cancer only his corneas could be transplanted. He would not be eligible to be a tissue or organ donor. Two people, however, could each get one of his corneas and have their sight restored.

Our Anniversary Photo

Norm, in spite of having cancer and being on hospice, still looks better than me. He always did and he always will.

Marge & Norm (Andy too)

 

 

Areas of Expertise

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I think that everyone has areas of expertise. I always said that Norm's areas were pharmacy and sports- baseball in particular. My areas were everything else! Not really - I have HUGE blank areas- especially regarding music, many practical things like cars and house construction and maintenance, gardening, crafts, shopping, fashion, makeup etc., etc. etc.. I always count on friends who have knowledge in these and other areas to bail me out. I do not need to reinvent the wheel myself. The wheel is there - I just need to ask the person turning it for help.

The other part of this is the " You can't beat a man at his job". In other words it always made more sense to Norm and me to hire something done by a pro rather than for us to kill ourselves (and each other- remember, painting the room), buying tools we may never need again, for a job that would take Norm all weekend but a pro 1-2 hours. The same reason you would ask Norm a drug question rather than your plumber.

41st Anniversary

How can I possibly describe 41 years of BLISS! Actually Sunday is our anniversary but since it's Super Bowl day, we wanted our own special day. Under normal circumstances we would be at the beach to celebrate but we just had a toast with a bottle of Cabernet that I've been saving for a special occasion and this is it. We wanted to thank everyone for all their prayers and good wishes. We appreciate every one. Andy had a break from school and was able to visit Tues. evening. He did all the little jobs I save for him( being the handiest in the family- which we credit to Elmer(Norm's dad) - we know for sure it didn't come from my side!!!) and Pete ,Tracy and the girls will be up this evening for dinner. 41 years is a time for reflection - in every relationship there is good, bad and indifferent - but I felt it was always -US- we were a unit- certainly agreeing on the major issues of the day and philosophy. Our problems were more mundane- the car- how to LOAD the DISHWASHER- how to get from A to B. Our solution was a absolute division of labor. We each had our areas of expertise ... more on this later.

The Mystery of It All

When Norm and I had children and were looking for another voice to echo moral principles we visited several churches. One of them was the Unitarian church in both St. Paul and Portland. When confronted with the probing questions of the day, the Unitarian response was " It's the mystery of it all". I loved that phrase and have used it my whole life to explain the unexplainable. ... So I think that I have answered my question of yesterday of " Where are all the blog comments?" " It's the mystery of it all!"

If any one would like to send us a comment, please use our email- nomarmuilenburg@frontier.com