Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
I feel the need to reflect on this year, as it has been very busy for us. After spending our first 4 years in Oklahoma, settling in and taking care of Carlene’s mother, Yae, we had not ventured out too far for a long time. This last year has been anything but that. It’s been an adjustment to miss Yae and let the grieving process do its thing. We set up a beautiful memorial wall that puts Carlene’s parents together again and celebrates a special love that created an amazing woman who is the love of my life. We were blessed to have her living with us for over two decades. We both miss her and cherish our years together as a close family.
It started getting busy this year when we ventured out to Arizona in April for a baby shower for our soon-to-arrive great-granddaughter, Ayllah. That came with a follow-up trip to see her and hold her in October. A two-day drive in each direction, but certainly a must-do for this glorious occasion.
Between these two long drives, there were another two days (in each direction) to Pennsylvania for some long-delayed Studebaker time. In retrospect, this period of time seemed to flow together with no time in between to regroup.
I tried to keep up with the activities by writing about everything, but I think some important stories were overlooked in my 2025 diary, which I call “Been There Done That”. Now that the Thanksgiving visit is behind us and a planned December visit to the Boyd Suite has been cancelled, all we have to do now is prepare for Christmas (I hope my sarcasm was not overlooked in that statement).
At least, in all the busy activities of the past few months, I managed to get my Christmas shopping for my favorite soul mate done already—just a few more to wrap. Carlene loves to shop for everyone else, and I certainly appreciate that, as she does a far better job than I do while making me feel as though I’m participating by asking for my input before finalizing the order. She’s the BEST.
We are both dead tired from all this activity, but we are not complaining, as it has been fun for us as well, we just don’t have the stamina that we did thirty years ago. We will be dragging the Christmas totes out of the attic soon and will get it done.
We’ve been shopping locally for more Christmas decorations as we like to add to it each year. That could be a problem for people our age, but we didn’t bring all of our Christmas stuff from California when we moved. There are also a few Christmas boxes that somehow disappeared during the move. That gives us more room for new stuff, plus the fact that our Oklahoma home is 3 times the size of our tiny house in California.
I used to be so grinchy when it came to Christmas, but living with someone who loves it so much is wearing me down. That’s one of the things that makes Carlene such a wonderful life partner. She refuses to become a Debbie Downer when I fall short of where I should be. Her positivity far outweighs my grumpy–old–man-isms, so she always wins the turmoil. When I was at my lowest point in my life, I prayed vigorously for someone to love. Someone that can love me back even with my shortcomings. That’s what I like most about God; He knows what I need better than I do, and His answers to prayers are far better than my imagination.
