How about those Chiefs, indeed!

One of my Chiefs shirts. Photo by Leslie Eikleberry

How about those Chiefs!!!

My Chiefs are headed back to the Super Bowl! It's not an unfamiliar occurrence in recent years, but that hasn't always been the case.

Whether you love them or hate them, the Chiefs have had a long history with the NFL's championship game. They played in Super Bowl I on January 15 1967, and were defeated by Vince Lombardi's Packers.

Their second appearance in the title game was Super Bowl IV, ironically in New Orleans. In that game, the Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings on January 11, 1970.

I remember that game and where I was. I sat in the middle of our living room floor a safe distance from the console television and watched the entire game. (As some of you are old enough to remember, we couldn't sit too close to the TV or it would ruin our eyes, or so we kids were told.)

I was enthralled seeing all of my favorite players: Len Dawson at quarterback (I still have an autographed photo from him that I got shortly after the game), Mike Garrett at running back, Otis Taylor and Frank Pitts at wide receiver, and Fred Arbanas at tight end. On the defensive side, I cheered for Curley Culp, Buck Buchanan, Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, Emmitt Thomas, and Johnny Robinson.

When the Chiefs won, I was so happy that I couldn't stop crying for several minutes. Many pent-up wishes and much emotion escaped through my eyes that day.

Over the next few years, I got to meet some of my favorite Chiefs in person as they formed basketball teams and traveled around the region playing town teams in the off-season. I recall attending one game in Salina's Memorial Hall. We also attended a game played in Lincoln, Kansas. Of course, after the games, the Chiefs players hung around and signed autographs, some of which I still have today.

My family and I also attended a number of Chiefs games, first in old Municipal Stadium and then in Arrowhead. 

I was fascinated with the parking situation around Municipal Stadium. We always parked in someone's front yard. I don't remember how much we paid the homeowner, but he always made sure our car and the others in his yard were safe. Later on, I learned that many people in the Municipal Stadium area rented out parking spaces in their yards during Chiefs home games as a way to make some extra money.

After that Super Bowl win in New Orleans, however, the Chiefs hit a tough patch. And yes, during that time I did occasionally refer to the Chiefs as the "Chefs." It would be a long, sometimes painful, fifty years before the Chiefs reached the Super Bowl again. On February 2, 2020, the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.

I was as ecstatic for that win over the 49ers as I was for the win over the Vikings. (And no, I did not sit in the middle of the living room floor!) As it turned out, it was the last Chiefs Super Bowl win I would watch with both my parents.

But unlike the season after their Super Bowl IV win, the Chiefs returned to the Super Bowl the next year. Sadly, they were defeated by Tom Brady led Tampa Bay on February 7, 2021.

After that, the Chiefs skipped a year. (And I'm sure Cincinnati's loss to the Rams that year was somehow the Chiefs' fault, since Bengals players and fans like to cast blame on the Chiefs every chance they get.)

The Chiefs returned to the Super Bowl the following year, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in SBLVII. Then last year, the Chiefs again defeated the 49ers in SBLVIII. (And they did so in the Raiders home stadium!)

This coming February 9, the Chiefs will once again face the Eagles, this time in New Orleans in Super Bowl LIX or Super Bowl "Licks" if you're Gronk!

How do I think they will do? The Chiefs certainly have history and recent SB mojo on their side, winning three of four Super Bowls in five years. And they have learned this year to gut it out and win when it looked like they were going to lose. They also have won a Super Bowl in New Orleans. Additionally, the Chiefs have a number of great players on both sides of the ball, but so do the Eagles. Both teams also have talented coaching staffs.

A key to a Chiefs win will be stopping Eagles RB Saquon Barkley, who, frankly, has been a lot of fun to watch this year. I wish I had drafted him for one of my fantasy teams! 

Another key will be protecting Mahomes and not having ill-timed penalties from certain offensive linemen. And while they're at it, the O-line needs to open up some holes for Pacheco and Hunt! Finally, all the Chiefs need to stay healthy!

From their standpoint, the Eagles also will be playing to avenge their SBLVII defeat by the Chiefs.

It should be a great game! I can't wait!

Wishing you something better

There has been a tremendous amount of loss this year...on a number of levels. 

Now, I know that loss is a part of life and I am not the only one who has lost loved ones. Daily, people lose loved ones. But never before in my life have I experienced so much loss by so many people I know in one year. 

Several classmates have died. A number of friends and relatives have lost spouses. Others have lost parents. In one instance, a good friend from college lost her significant other, who died in his sleep earlier in the year. Last week, I was notified that my friend, herself, had died, also in her sleep. She was only a year older than me.

If you are a regular reader of my blog (thank you!), you know that I lost my Mom and her brother earlier this year. Those two losses were enough to send me into an emotional tailspin. While the spontaneous tears still come on occasion, I am doing better, and frankly, am tired of crying. For me, that is a good sign that I am beginning to heal emotionally.

While I am somewhat stunned by all of the loss within my small part of humanity, I refuse to let it overwhelm me. Yes, the losses do have an affect on my life, but they will not define my life nor how I move forward into the future. 

A good friend recently reminded me of how I want to move forward. "I know how weird/hopeless it can feel when we can’t see the next thing. But I firmly believe that there is a next/new thing coming and it will be better than we could have imagined," she told me.

She is correct! Her reminder gives me hope that all of the chaotic darkness of 2024 will lift and there will be something better in my life in the future. Even something better for all of us! I eagerly await it!

So this Christmas, hug your loved ones tightly and tell them you love them. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and something better for the new year!

So long, Harvey

I went to a visitation today for the father of some longtime friends. 

Harvey's oldest daughter and I have been friends for nearly six decades, and I've known his other three daughters for almost as long. 

I didn't know their Daddy very well when we were growing up, but I was blessed to get to know him as an adult while I worked at the senior center. Most weekdays, Harvey would come in for lunch, and if I could, I would join him for a meal.

We visited about happenings in town and, of course, he caught me up on what his beloved daughters were up to. He was tremendously proud of the girls and their families. On occasion, when the out-of-town girls were home for a visit, Harvey would bring them in to the senior center for lunch and a visit with me. It was always good to see them. 

Despite the solemnity and sadness of the occasion, it was good to see them again today. 

Harvey was a good, hard-working man with a wonderful sense of humor. He usually teased me about something when he saw me. When he ate lunch with a certain humor-loving group of seniors, Harvey could hold his own and give back as good as he got. There were a few times I was nearly in tears from laughing so hard at their banter.

Sometimes, during special occasions, we would give away prizes to seniors during lunch. During one Earth Day celebration, Harvey won one of the specially made desserts. He so didn't want his photo taken, but, because I had asked him, he acquiesced, and posed with his prize and a smile on his face.

When my Mom died earlier this year, I immediately felt the aloneness of adult orphanhood. I'm still dealing with that, but it is getting a bit better. 

After visiting with the girls and a couple of their spouses, I learned that the girls and I are not the only ones who have suffered loss this year. It has been a helluva year for many of us. 

I came away from our visit with a bit of a different perspective about what has happened to us this year.

While we have lost loved ones and are transitioning to being the seniors in society, those of us who remain continue to move forward one step at a time. But we do so together with love, grace, and compassion. 

Remembering Christmases past

I've been thinking a lot about Christmas this year, partly because it will be my first year without both of my parents. I've also, however, been thinking about how much the Christmas season has changed over the years.

When I was a little one, the Christmas season was full of awe and wonder. The lights. The decorations. The music. It all created a wonderous time filled with joy. In Sunday school, we sang songs about the birth of Jesus. In school, we sang about Santa and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. It seemed perfectly logical to have both, and both blended together to create one joyous, eagerly anticipated season.

The season was filled with a series of much anticipated events, starting with receiving the Sears Christmas catalog. Each year, I looked through the catalog multiple times, in awe of all the fun toys and Christmas gifts to be had. 

Once the Sears Christmas catalog was out, it was time to think about and then write my letter to Santa with what I would like for Christmas. 

When I was growing up, my folks didn't have a lot of money. I didn't realize until I was an adult that we weren't wealthy because they always made sure that the holidays and birthdays were special.

Many of my gifts were books, and I would spend hours in my room reading. 

I also, however, got a number of gifts that challenged my mind and sparked my creativity. Games such as Milton Bradley's Feeley Meeley in which players had to identify and retrieve from a covered box items shown on game cards. We had to determine the correct items by how they felt in our hands. The person who correctly retrieved the most items won. Today, I doubt that I would stick my hand in a hole in the side of a box to retrieve anything, but it was a great deal of fun then.

Another creativity sparking gift was Spirograph, which used a variety of hoops and disks, as well as multiple colored pens to create a plethora of geometric designs. The hoops and disks had teeth, which enabled them to work like gears, albeit on a flat surface. How the designs turned out depended on which pens and disks were used with which hoops. Another variable was where the pen was inserted into the disk as the disk was twirled around the hoop. I spent hours creating geometric designs and no two of my designs were the same.

One year, either my uncle or my grandparents got me a small reel to reel tape recorder. My friend, Laurie, and I spent hours recording a mixture of commentary and songs, many of which we made up as we went along. To this day, Laurie will remind me of a rewrite we did of the words to the theme song for Here Come the Brides, a late 1960s TV show that included my heartthrob, Bobby Sherman! 

Of course, there also were crayons and coloring books and other crafty type gifts that sparked creativity as well. To this day, I enjoy coloring and once this blog post is done, I think I will dig out my Christmas coloring book and gel pens and color a page or two. 

As I got older, but before I was old enough to be hired for a job, I used to do extra chores around the house to make money so I could buy my family Christmas presents. One year, Mom told me she would pay me five cents for every piece I ironed. Unfortunately, she didn't anticipate my ingenuity and drive. I ironed everything I could think of, including tablecloths that weren't being used and my Dad's shorts!

Another eagerly anticipated Christmastime event was baking and decorating Christmas-themed sugar cookies, or cutout cookies as we called them then. We had a variety of Christmas cookie cutters, including a star, a Santa, a Christmas tree, a snowman, a stocking, and a present. The cookies were decorated with a variety of colors of frosting and sprinkles.

Then there was the decorating of the Christmas tree. At the time, Dad insisted that we purchase a real tree. Back then, we had to wait a day or two for the tree to get rehydrated before we could decorate it. The wait seemed like an eternity. The house sure smelled good, though! Additionally, for a number of years, my grandparents had a tinsel tree with a rotating multi-colored light. When I was little, I spent a great deal of time in awe of the twinkling tree.

There also were the school and church Christmas programs and the class Christmas parties, filled with music, goodies, and the Christmas spirit.

I also eagerly anticipated riding around town with my parents to look at Christmas lights and decorations. Now keep in mind that this was before parks were decorated with drive-through light shows and an over abundance of inflatable decorations were created. A highlight of the excursion was stopping at a house that each year showed cartoons on its large front window. Cars could pull up and tune their radios to a special frequency to hear the audio from the cartoons. People were respectful and didn't stay too long so that others also would have the opportunity to watch the show.

And then there was the Christmas music! It was on the radio and in the stores from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  These were songs by Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Brenda Lee, Burl Ives, Perry Como, Dean Martin, etc. We also played Christmas music at home. I would have played it for a longer period of time than we did, but I suppose it wouldn't have seemed as special then.

Because of family obligations and conflicting schedules, we had four gifting sessions. Christmas Eve was spent with my Dad's parents and brother, as well as my Great Aunt and Uncle. Christmas morning was for Mom, Dad, and I. Then we headed to Lincoln County to "have Christmas" with Mom's side of the family. Somehow, Santa managed to leave presents at all four locations!

As I have gotten older, some traditions have lost their luster or are no longer a part of my world.

I rarely bake cookies any more. Now that I no longer have a gallbladder, I suspect most Christmas cookies will be forbidden. And I'd rather eat no Christmas sweets than try the low-fat versions. They just wouldn't be the same. Sorry, but I am a Christmas sweets snob!

While I still try to listen to some of the Christmas music listed above, I prefer classical Christmas music. 

Jorgie guarding the presents while we wait for
Mom and Dad to get up.  This was several years
ago. © Leslie Eikleberry 2024

Our Christmas tree has changed to an artificial one that has remained in the box for the past several years, at my Dad's request, out of fear that our dog might damage it. Now that Jorgie is gone, I doubt I will put the tree up. It just seems like too much of a hassle. I did, however, hang the Santa on the front door and may even put the wreath on the porch!

Up until they died, I drove my folks around town to look at Christmas lights, but the fun wasn't in seeing the decorations. It was in being together at Christmastime. I don't plan to look at lights this year.

I am curious to see what future Christmas seasons hold for me. I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me because my immediate family is gone. I know there is something out there for me. I just need to work through the grief of losing my folks and my Jorgie before I can figure out what it is. 

In the meantime, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Hug your loved ones tight and eat a Christmas cookie and piece of fudge for me! (Those calories don't count!)

I am thankful

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I have been reflecting on why I am thankful.

Now given the events of the past couple of years, I'm sure some of you are wondering what sorts of drugs the doctors have me on. Afterall, both my parents, my uncle, and my best buddy (dog) all died within the past two years. Additionally, I am still recovering from two major surgeries in October: removal of a large blood clot from my lungs and removal of my gallbladder.

Despite all of that, I remain thankful.

I am thankful that I still tear up when thinking of my departed family members. There was/is a great deal of love between us and I am holding on to it as tenaciously as I can. So what if I cry, even ugly cry, at the oddest or even most inopportune moments. It means that I care and that while my family members are gone, the love remains. 

Don't want to see me ugly cry? Then don't look because it is going to happen.

I am thankful for my good friends and family members who have continued to check on me through it all and help when needed. Despite sometimes feeling lost and lonely because my core family has departed, I have found a new sort of family, one partly of blood relatives and partly of those I have chosen to be in my family. I love you one and all!

I am thankful for the Apple Watch I purchased a few months ago so I would have a way to call should I have an emergency. (I think a life-threatening giant blood clot counts, don't you?) I used the watch to call for an ambulance when I had passed out on the hallway floor and was so weak and winded that I couldn't even crawl to the table by my chair where my cell phone was. An hour or so later, the ER doctor told me that if I hadn't come in when I did, I would have died.

I am thankful for the EMTs who broke into my house to get me and whisk me off to the hospital, where a few hours later, medical personnel were removing the blood clot. Thank you, fellas, for only busting out the locks and not totally destroying my front door! And thank you for securing the door until I could return home and replace the locks.

I also am thankful for the EMTs who came to my house a week later to take me back to the hospital, this time to have my gallbladder removed. There was no breaking in this time. Despite it being about 4:30 in the morning, I shut and locked the door and waited for them on Mom's glider out front.

I am thankful that while I was sitting on the glider, I got to see the neighborhood fox scurrying across the yard. I said hello to him, which caused him to pause. He seemed somewhat befuddled that a human was sitting outside at 4:30 in the morning and talking to him. He then went on his way, probably hunting food before returning to the safety of his den.

I am thankful for the medical personnel at Salina Regional Health Center who saved my life and helped me begin to recover from two surgeries in as many weeks.

I am thankful, despite its exorbitant price, for Eliquis, the blood thinner I now take to help dissolve the tiny bits of blood clot that were not able to be removed and to help keep new blood clots from forming. I don't ever want to feel again like I did that morning that the EMTs had to break into my house.

I am thankful for the people God has put into my life to help me navigate through selling my childhood home and getting Mom's estate settled. What a daunting task, especially with everything else going on.

I am thankful that I am able to find foods that I like that will not cause me digestive problems in my new gallbladderless world. Nearly all the foods I used to love are now out as I attempt to embrace a new, lower-fat diet. At first, I was devastated that I would no longer get to eat pepperoni pizza, tacos, cheeseburgers, all the stuff I shouldn't have been eating anyway. But you know what? I haven't had pizza in more than a month and I don't miss it a bit! And on the plus side, the new, lower-fat diet will help me to lose weight and will overall be more healthy for me.

I am thankful, of course, for a roof over my head and warm clothes to wear, and a car to get me around town.

I am thankful for those of you who bother to read my blog posts. While I write for me and to keep writing, I do appreciate hearing from those of you who read my digital chicken scratches!

Most importantly, I am thankful that with all the crap that is going on in the world, the good Lord is taking time to look after me.

What are you thankful for this holiday season?

Is there really a new normal?

Since early 2023, I have been working to establish a new normal for my life. I've come to the conclusion, however, that establishing a new normal isn't a real concept. 

When I first moved back to my hometown in 2003, my folks insisted that I move in with them. Then, as time passed, it became apparent that I needed to continue living with my aging parents to help out. That was our "normal" for nearly 20 years until my Dad died in early 2023.

At that point, I officially became the primary caregiver for my Mom, who had Parkinson's and the dementia that goes with it. Mom and I navigated a new life without Dad. All went fairly well until the fall of 2023, when our Shih Tzu developed irreversible kidney issues and had to be put down. 

Losing Jorgie like that was a gut punch that still prompts tears at times. Jorgie's kisses and snuggles had helped me work through my grief for losing Dad. Mom, through no fault of her own, was little help as her dementia had taken away her ability to empathize.

Nonetheless, we continued on until Mom died in August of this year. For the first time in my life, all of my immediate family members were gone and I was alone. 

I began to rely on my first cousins and my chosen family of close friends and neighbors as I once again tried to establish a new normal. 

A month after Mom died, my Uncle died. While I knew my cousins would still be there for me, I also knew that they now had even more on their plates.

Then, in October, my body rebelled and I was hospitalized twice in two consecutive weeks for two different health issues. In the first, I arrived at the hospital via ambulance mid morning and by 4 p.m. a surgeon was removing a giant blood clot from my lungs.

Shameless promotion: after passing out three times, I found myself on the hallway floor and unable to get up. I used my Apple watch to call the ambulance that first time. I had gotten the Apple watch after I shut the landline off in case I had an emergency and was not near my cell phone. It did its job well. If you have a smart watch synced to your cell phone, learn how to use it to call for help. It may save your life!

Nearly a week after I first went to the hospital, I rode an ambulance back to the hospital after a sharp pain in my lower chest/upper abdomen would not go away. 

I had been told the previous week that there were still some small pieces of the blood clot in my veins that were going to be treated with medication. I was concerned that the pain I was feeling was related to the blood clot pieces still in my system. The doctor had told me that if I had any issues, I needed to get back to the hospital quickly, so I called an ambulance a second time. 

As it turned out, the pain was caused by a bad gallbladder that needed to be removed. That surgery came a day after I arrived at the hospital the second time. 

Since then, I have been recovering from the two surgeries while working on issues related to Mom's estate. 

I've also been thinking about the concept of establishing a new normal. 

I've decided that establishing a new normal isn't real. It seems clear, as I have outlined the past couple of years above, that instead of establishing and living a new normal, we just continue to evolve, reacting and adapting to whatever life throws at us. 

And what if we don't? I suppose that either we die or go insane. 

As for me, it is a comfort to view the rest of my life in through this lens.

I choose to keep evolving. How about you?

And it was back to the hospital for me

Two trips in two consecutive weeks is enough!

Apparently my body had too much fun at the hospital last week and decided it wanted to visit again.

On Tuesday, I observed the Taco Tuesday ritual Mom and I had partaken in weekly for the last year of her life. A bit after eating, I started feeling unwell. I decided it was bad tacos. But when the pain in my stomach continued more than twelve hours after I ate, I became concerned that the pain was connected to the giant blood clot that was removed from my lungs last week. 

I called for an ambulance and took another ride to Salina Regional Health Center with Salina Fire's finest about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

I spent a good part of Wednesday in an ER room, partially waiting for a room to open up in the hospital. While there, I had blood tests and more CT scans. It was determined that there was a large stone blocking the duct in my gallbladder and that the gallbladder needed to go. 

So early on Thursday morning, I was in pre-surgery waiting for a very kind and upbeat Dr. Gray to remove the offending and somewhat useless organ from my body.

The procedure went well and I was sent back to my room on 5 Surgical West. 

Once again, the good folks at Salina Regional did a great job taking care of me. I especially appreciated the efforts of Lynnette and Miranda who went above and beyond to calm my fears and helped me through what turned into an emotional time for me.

Have you ever had to have someone wipe your butt because you were not able to? It was embarrassing and the last straw in what has been a tough couple of years for me. I lost it. Lynnette and Miranda got me through it with kind, upbeat attitudes.

I also appreciated the folks who showed up more often than I would have liked to draw blood. I have an aversion to being poked with needles that goes back to my youth. All of the Salina Regional folks who poked my arms were kind and understanding when I told my story about the blood draw long ago. They did their best to put me at ease and apologized each time I winced when they poked. 

Then there were the friends who picked up my mail and gave me a ride home, and the family and friends who knew I was in the hospital again and offered prayers and support from afar. 

Thank you all!

Aside from healing from the surgery, my immediate goal is to not need to go to the hospital for a third consecutive week. Please pray that I achieve that goal.