The Girl in the Red Rubber Boots

Category: Thoughts About Life

  • Blogmas 2019 Day 12: Final Thoughts

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    by

    Emily Sara Smucker
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    Today is Christmas Eve. I’m sitting in Max Porter’s coffee shop, with my sister Amy, working on my book. I’m not sure what she’s working on, but our laptops match, only mine is pink and hers is purple. I ignore the Christmas music in the background, but maybe I shouldn’t. I am, after all, writing…

  • Sharing a Drink they call “Loneliness”

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    Emily Sara Smucker
    in

    A lady from my church was in the grocery store, buying ingredients to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving dinner. She couldn’t remember if pecan pie was made with light Karo or dark Karo syrup. So she approached another woman in the aisle. “Excuse me,” she said. “Do you happen to know if pecan pie…

  • The Engagement

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    Emily Sara Smucker
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    My brother Matt and his girlfriend Phoebe are both originally from Oregon, though they currently both live in Washington DC. But Phoebe’s grandpa was turning 100, and Matt needed a vacation, so they both came to Oregon for a week and a half. Hmmm. “Have you bought a ring yet?” I asked Matt. He winked…

  • Five Things I’ve been Loving this Fall

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    Emily Sara Smucker
    in

    1. Hot Grape Juice Every fall we snip the grapes from our grapevines and stick them in the steam juicer. Then we watch the juice run out the little rubber hose, filling jar after jar with grape juice concentrate for the winter. We used to make grape juice every Sunday evening, mixing the concentrate with…

  • The End of the Road

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    Emily Sara Smucker
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    There were eight of us: Four siblings, two spouses, and me, the lone granddaughter. All gathered at the bedside of Amos Yoder, a 102-year-old man who was bedridden following a stroke. We thought he was dying, and then he started to improve. We thought we should put him in a nursing home, and then he…

  • There’s No Map for This Journey

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    Emily Sara Smucker
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    You know that week between Christmas and New Years, when everyone is off work but all the Christmas parties are over, and you just kind-of sit around and feel disoriented and pig out on leftovers and forget what day of the week it is? That’s what this week in Minnesota has been like. Well, not…

  • Oh, Grandpa!

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    Emily Sara Smucker
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    Mom and I got to Minnesota on Sunday evening. We were picked up by my Uncle Rod and Aunt Rebecca, and taken to my Uncle Marcus and Aunt Anna’s house. Marcus is Mom’s brother, and Grandpa lives in his basement. Rebecca, Mom’s sister who lives in Chicago, is the next-closest, location wise, so she and…

  • Grandpa

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    Emily Sara Smucker
    in

    My grandfather had a stroke last Friday. And when a 102-year-old man has a stroke, you start making funeral plans. When Mom told me the news, it somehow didn’t seem urgent. He may be winding down, I thought. But surely, surely he won’t die for a few more months yet. I always kinda thought he’d…

  • Summer

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    Emily Sara Smucker
    in

    Maybe we deserve it after seven months of ceaseless rain, but Oregon summers are just about perfect. Long, sunny day after long, sunny day. Rarely getting hotter than 90 degrees, and pretty much no humidity. And we have a few bugs, but not massive amounts. I sleep with my window open and no screen. The…

  • Endings and Beginnings

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    Emily Sara Smucker
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    Well, there you have it. My year-long adventure is over, and I am back in Oregon. I anticipated having a few weeks to relax, get some writing done, and enjoy the Oregon summer before harvest starts. But life just bellows full steam ahead, doesn’t it? So many friends to catch up with. So many events…