She still tells us she loves us….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This story is partly about 2 sisters , partly about their mom ,  partly about a family who always has “each other’s back”, and partly about friendship….

I’ll start with the 2 sisters …Nancy and Marylou… Then, the rest just sort of meshes in after that.

I actually met Nancy and Mary Lou at the same time.

It was 1999. I was about to begin my first term on the Board of Directors for Girls Scouts of Ulster County.  At the time I didn’t even have girls old enough to be in Girl Scouts nor was I ever a girl scout. But, I was asked to be on their board… So I agreed to do it.

Right before I was officially a board member, I was asked to attend the Girl Scout Annual Dinner held in a party room of a local hotel. The director of the local unit had asked me to attend to meet all the other board members and be part of the awards ceremony. It helped me learn more about the organization.

So, I attend this dinner alone. I was a bit nervous and uncomfortable as it was unfamiliar to me.

I sat at the round table that the director had suggested I sit at. Immediately to my right were these 2 women. At the time we were the only 3 seated at this table. It was still quiet in the room and so we all introduced ourselves.

Turns out these 2 women at the table were sisters. Mary Lou and Nancy..

I also need to add, at the time of this dinner, I was pregnant for my second child. Also, Steve and I were a month  from closing on our  first new home.

As I chatted with these 2 women, I shared my excitement of the new baby about to arrive and the new house we were about to purchase.

Small world…. Turns out one of the sisters was about to become my neighbor in the new house that Steve and I were about to buy.

She informed me she will be 2 houses away… “NO WAY !!!!!” I said.

So, I made 2 new friends. Sisters…. Nancy (my soon to be neighbor) and Mary Lou.

From our conversation at the table that evening, I learned:

Nancy has 2 daughters and was married to a firefighter… actually, he was the Fire Chief for our city. Which was so cool. Living 2 doors from the “CHIEF” (Rick) was really awesome…

Marylou has 3 daughters, and is married to an awesome guy named Mike. Mary Lou is an attorney.

I have no idea WHY those 2 were at the Girl Scout dinner that night. Were they a past girl scout? Were they a past board member? Was one of more of their daughters’ a girl scout? I don’t even know..

Anyway, I moved into the new neighborhood. 2 doors from Nancy.. In early August of 1999.

I quickly started being neighborly with Nancy.

2 weeks later, I gave birth to our little Julia.  Sweet Julia was our second born.

Nancy came by with a baby gift.

I quickly learned that Nancy and her husband, Rick / Chief, often hosted family dinner parties on Sundays.

A few Sundays a month, the street would start lining up with cars. .Car after car after car. Family getting out walking up the front side walk to their door like they were walking the red carpet…  People kept showing up.. Single file entering the front door… No joke.

And of course, that’s when I would see Mary Lou. She would always see me and yell from Nancy’s front yard.. ” HI, MRS HACK !” as she and her family got out of their car walking up to Nancy and Rick’s front door. They must have always chipped in towards dinner, because it always looked like they had a bowl, pan, or crockpot in hand each time.

Also, by being Nancy’s neighbor…

I witnessed the very first day that Nancy’s first born got on the school bus for kindergarten. The bus pulled up to their house and I saw that look on Nancy’s face.. Putting her first born on the bus…It was heart warming that I got to witness a moment that all moms can relate to. Always a tear shed on that day.

Month by month , year by year…. My family (The Hack family) grew larger… , … 2 years after Julia was born, ..Bradley came along… then 3 years later William came along. After each child was born, Nancy always stopped by with a baby gift.

Month by month, year by year, …. We waived as we were getting in and out of our cars during our busy lives. We always stopped in Nancy’s front yard area to talk with her and her family as my own family  took that ever so familiar walk to the nearby park on summer nights.

Month by month, year by year….My husband and our young boys would grab a glove and ball and would plant themselves directly in front of Nancy and Ricks house to play catch, Rick / Chief could never resist. Out he would come without a glove. He did the barehanded game of catch with the boys. Always carrying on humorous conversation with my husband. Always amazed at the energy that our kids had. These games of catch went beyond the streetlights turning on for the evening. Even in the dark, that street in front of Nancy and Rick’s was the Hack playground.

Month by month, year by year,… I saw the Sunday dinner parties from afar. I saw Nancy’s  daughters growing into beautiful young women.

As for Mary Lou…..

I continued seeing her show up at her sisters house.. Always yelling to me “HELLO, MRS. Haaaaack” …. Always extending the “aaaaaa” in … Haaaack…

She started sending me and my family the most amazing handmade Christmas cards. She is a very crafty person.

She also invited me to her house for a few parties.

I also watched her 3 gorgeous girls grow into women. Smart and independent women.

The thing that is/was the most common about Nancy and Mary Lou is that….

They both adore their Mom…Mrs. Priest.

Mrs. Priest was always at Nancy’s Sunday parties down the street and she was always the center of their world.. Always.

Then, came Facebook.

Of course, we all 3 became facebook friends..

This is what I learned about these 2 sisters after becoming  Facebook friends with them:

Nancy….. I learned that she had ups and downs in life. She sometimes was sad, but always had her family to pull her through.

I learned that Nancy loves country music.

Of course, Disney… She loves to go to Disney World with her family. I am pretty sure I knew that BEFORE we were Facebook friends.. But, I learned a deeper understanding of her love for Disney by the photos she shared.

Mary Lou …. I learned that Mary Lou and I have a common love for coffee. Especially Starbucks and Hudson Coffee Traders (a well known coffee house in our town).

A side story, Mary Lou and I have been known to pull up to the Starbucks drive thru at the same exact time.. And we have ended up “Paying it forward” to each other on those occasions.

I pulled up to order Starbucks, saw Mary Lou in my rearview mirror.. and told the cashier I’ll pay for the woman’s order behind me….

At the red light just outside of Starbucks, I would then hear a yell from a car window behind me ..”THANK YOU, MRS. HAAAAACK”… always stressing the “aaaaaaa”….

I love her… You have no idea …… I really do..

I love them both !

Basically, to sum it up for both of them… It’s all about FAMILY.. These girls love, love , love their family.

That family has been through A LOT together. Life has not been easy.

And I know, and have witnessed first hand, that they are always  there for each other…

In more ways than I will EVER know.

Here is Nancy and Mary Lou’s backstory of their younger years…

Nancy and Mary Lou come from a family of 7.

5 girls, 2 boys.

Their family, the Priest family, grew up in a small hamlet town, Rosendale, that is situated about 8 miles outside of Kingston, NY…

Now, here is their current situation……

Currently, Mary Lou and Nancy and the rest of their siblings …… All out of LOVE.. are working together to help care for their mom in her elder years.

Here is Nancy’s explanation of what their family’s current situation is …regarding their mom…

My mom is 80 years old.

She is at a nearby nursing home….

She has Alzheimer’s.

It’s hard, but we take turns everyday and help her have lunch and dinner.

She still tells us every time we are there that she loves us.

At first…Their very awesome sister, Jamie, took care of their mom, Mrs. Priest, as the disease was progressing.

But, as it happens with many families who share in helping a parent with this awful disease, Mrs. Priest eventually needed to be moved to a nursing home.

So, this is now the priority for Nancy, Marylou, Jamie, and the rest of their amazing family.

Can you imagine ?.. Mrs Priest’s children make up a schedule and each of their family members take a turn going to be with her during 2 of her meals  per day.. Think about how busy peoples lives are to begin with .. This family makes sure their mother/grandmother is the priority. They just do it .. No questions asked … I’m sure it’s exhausting , but they do it .

The patience and the unconditional love that this family shows for their mom says a lot about their character(s). I am so proud of each and every one of them.

This story continues…. with me asking Nancy and Mary Lou a few questions I would like for them to answer.

These are the 2 questions that I decided to ask Nancy and Mary Lou (via Facebook inbox)..

Question 1: (To lighten it up a little) Please share a “fun fact” about yourself.

Question 2: Please share a strong memory you have that involves your mom during your years of growing up at home with her.

Here is Nancy’s answer to my two questions…..

Question #1… Fun fact:: …At a concert , I was asked on stage by the country music star, Keith Urban, to sing along side of him…  I feel like I  “bombed”, but he was so sweet and gave me many hugs. Also at that same concert..the opening act was Jake Owen and the drummer from his band threw his drum stick and I caught it and he came down and signed it for me afterward.

Question #2….Memory with mom:……..We did not have a lot of extra money growing up, so my mom always thought of ways to entertain us when we were young that did not “break the bank” so to speak. She was big on picnics. In the back of our house in Rosendale there were a lot of woods. And about a 5 to 10 minute walk through the woods you would come to the train tracks. (I believe the rail trail runs along there now) So on nice days she would pack us a picnic lunch and we would set out about 11:30 a.m. to make the noon train that still ran through Rosendale in those days. Near the tracks were foundations of where houses must have stood at one time and that is where we would set up our picnic and set on the old foundations (which I thought was totally cool) When the ground would start rumbling close to noon my mother would hold our hands and take us closer to the tracks and when we saw it rumbling towards us, we would give the motion of blowing a train horn to the conductor and if we were lucky (and we were often) the conductor would blown his horn and give us a wave. To me it was magical and I long for those innocent fun relaxing days with my mom.

Now.. Here is Mary Lou’s answers to my 2 questions…..

Here ya go!

#1. Fun Fact::
24 years ago, when I was 7 months pregnant, I had to testify at a grand jury proceeding that involved, what was reported to be, members of the mob! It was August and being months pregnant I had to go to White Plains on a hot summer day. There was no parking at the Federal Court House so I had to park in a sketchy parking garage a few blocks away. Having seen many movies and television shows, I was sure that my life would end in that parking garage. It was kind of a silly thought looking back, as I really had nothing damaging to say about anyone and just needed to give some background information about a contract. I had to work with the FBI during their investigation.

In the end the suspects were not indicted and I’m still here to tell the story. I hadn’t thought about this in many, many years, until one of my daughters made a comment about FBI agents one day and wondered about their personalities.

I immediately replied that they are just regular people and that the ones I worked with were really nice. She was like “What????” I then told her this story. I think I just became more interesting to my daughter that day! LOL.

#2. Memory::
There are so, so many memories; it’s hard to pick just one! I guess I’ll just have to go with books! My mom was always reading and when we were young she read to us. There are seven kids in our family and there were always a few extra friends and a cat and a dog running around the house. Amidst all the chaos, my mom would be reading a book. A friend recently told me she thinks that had to be Mom’s escape vehicle! Reading was so
important to her and she raised a family of avid readers. I remember that she would take whoever wanted to go to the library one night each week. I always went. I think my mom’s name was on every the checkout card inside every book in the Rosendale library. I remember we would play a game, where I would try to find a book that she had not borrowed from the library. I would take book after book off of the library shelves, but her name was in each and every one of them. When a new book came into the library they would call my mom and let her know that she should come to the library because they were saving it for her. I love reading and so do all of my children. When I go to Barnes and Noble, I usually run into at least one of my siblings.

Those are such great memories you both shared. It’s so important to hold on to those memories…

I adore this family and I am so glad I got to learn more about them.

I love that their mom still remembers to tell them that she loves them !!

Love can never lose against any disease !!!  Love conquers all.

Marylou had an additional comment she wanted to make…

 Make sure that when you write the blog entry..that you include a note that we have made you an honorary Priest sister, because you fit right in!

I would love to be an honorary Priest sister !!! I hereby accept that new title !!