TeamReedBlog.2020

I've placed myself on an austerity plan for the next 30 days (starting yesterday) so if you see me, please don't offer me a drink, a dessert or an opportunity to buy something fun.  If I could lock myself in a room to deprive myself, I would, and that's what it will take for me to survive this month. Because I'm weak, weak, weak. If I was a gambler, I would definitely not bet on me keeping to the restrictions. But I'm going to try. First, the cash part of my austerity plan: My beloved Mustang has run into a bit of maintenance issues that have made my mechanic happy and my checkbook sad. It's 20 years old, so I should give it up. But I'm not ready. The convertible top is the biggest issue to-date. To the disbelief of the guy who's going to replace it, the frame is bent, a condition apparently unheard of in the Mustang line. All I know is the top won't go down all the way. That means I can't possibly see Nathan and Elayna until it's fixed. So I...

When I was young, my grandmother used to take me with her when she visited my Aunt Shirley, Uncle Larry and cousin Lori after they moved to Columbus, Ind. from our hometown about 90 minutes westward. Aunt Shirley, my mother's sister, married Uncle Larry, my father's brother. They met when they were about five years old and married 12 years later. They built a successful business together and retired together, returning near their hometown for their golden years. I don't remember many occasions where one wasn't without the other. Her recent death ended that. Seventy-five years of knowing each other, 63 years of marriage, a lifetime of dry jokes, euchre nights, bowling and collecting all sort of glass and cast iron cookware. There are great photos of Shirley wearing an "I Dream of Jeanie" like dress for a Homecoming float, and Larry suited up for a brother's wedding. They were super cool. Uncle Larry is the strong, silent type unless he has a story to tell,...