I have a lot of work to do this weekend, including a lot of work on this blog. I am going to spend some time working on organizing my family tree files so I can dig out some information to share with everyone. Until then, stay safe and check back on Monday for some new, information packed blog entries.

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My brother, Cap, has finally popped the question to his long time girlfriend and the mother of his two children. All we can say at this point is congratulations to Kelly and about time Cap. Kelly has been a part of our family since we moved to Kentucky in 2001. This will make it as official in the eyes of the law as it is in our hearts. We can’t wait to officially make her a Prust. And remember, once you go Prust, you never go back.

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Every Wednesday we feature a new piece of writing from one of the members of our family. If you would like to see your creative works featured here, send me an email.

I Woke This Morning with a Headache

In my cubicle, hidden behind tan and green
hospital curtains, I have given a new life
to a pencil cup. Who said a pencil cup

had to be just for pencils? Mine holds
the paperclips I remove from my charts
as I enter them into my Hewlett Packard

computer. The end of the month looms,
dictating the speed I need to work at. I
drop a paperclip in my black pencil cup

watching as it hits the rim and bounces
off, landing on my tan speckled table top.
The ping it makes is so small, so subtle

none of the nurses are aware of my work
as they offer soda to the patients recovering
from their colonoscopies. That same ping

echoes inside my brain, weighed down by
the Tylenol just barely easing the ache. I am
envious of the fast speeds which sloths move

through the forests so many miles away.
Today is not a day to move slowly through
a jumble of Tylenol, encumbered by

the extra weight of the Kleenex in my pocket.
I have to enter my charts, the deadline is racing
towards me but I can only crawl my way to meet it.

Rose Marye Prust

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Today was Grandpa McConnell’s surgery to get the tumor that was in his stomach. Good news to report on this front. They only had to remove 50 percent of his stomach as the tumor was smaller than first anticipated. Even better, his lung function was good enough that they were able to remove him from the vent while he was still in PACU. The doctors are reporting that he will have to spend two nights in ICU and then he will move to the regular floor.

This just might be the sign we all need that things are going to be better for awhile after all the tragedy we have had to suffer over the last year. Happy early Valentine’s day all. Hope you have a safe and romantic holiday.

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Due to me losing track of time, the first ever writing Wednesday is being written two hours after midnight. While it is technically Thursday I still want my new tradition to start.

This first piece of writing we are featuring was written by a Cowley family member who lived in the 18th century. For those who don’t recall, the Cowley’s are Grandma Prust’s maternal family line. The author of this poem was Dinah Silverman, though she married into the family and was not related by blood her words are still moving and show what a spiritual woman she was in her life.

ETERNITY, tremendous sound

To guilty souls a dreadful wound

But O if Christ and heaven be mine

How sweet the accents how divine

Be this my chief my only care

My high pursuit my ardent prayer.

An interest in the Saviours blood

My pardon sealed and peace with God

But should my brightest hopes be vain

The rising doubt how sharp its pain

My fears O gracious God remove

Speak me an object of thy love.

Dinah Silverwood       August 1, 1799

This poem was passed down through the generations from Lora Maude Cowley, the woman who wrote the Cowley Family History back in the 1970s. Though it has not been updated since it is full of great information about the family, which you will all see soon, I hope.

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I have been looking through the posts and have realized that my posts on the Prust side of the family are light in comparison to the information I have posted on the McConnells.

The reason for this is simple, we have always been closer to my mother’s side of the family than my father’s. My memories of the McConnells run deep but I don’t have nearly as many memories of the Prust clan. I do however have some research that I can share.

I will spend the next few weeks fixing this. I have an old family history done by a Cowley relative (Grandma Prust’s side of the family) and will dig out some of the information from there to share with everyone. This will start tomorrow with a special treat for the first ever Writing Wednesday. I hope you all will enjoy learning about the paternal side of my family, as you have enjoyed learning about the maternal side of the family.

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Mandi has made it home from the hospital with her new bundle of joy and updated everyone with her status as to how they are doing. I stole her Facebook post to re-post here (hope you don’t mind, Cuz) so everyone who isn’t on Facebook can hear the news:

“Me and Damian Ares Purcell are home from the hospital now We’re both doing well and are glad to be home with just our little family of 3. For anyone who wanted to know he was born 2/3/2012 @ 9:30p He weighed 7lbs 7oz and was 20.5 inches long. I am SO HAPPY. I love our little miracle. *Big Smile*”

I am so happy for you and Dan. From the pictures he is a handsome little boy. I know you will make a good Mom and keep us all updated with pictures. Congratulations Mandi and Dan and welcome Damian, you are loved by your whole family.

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Welcome Dan and Mandi’s new son into the family. As of right now I have no information beyond this: he was born February 3, 2012 and from the pictures I have seen on Facebook both Mommy and baby are healthy. Dad looks happy as can be. I stole a picture from Facebook to share with you all. When I have more information, I will post it.

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I want to thank you all for bearing with me over the last three months. I have had a rough time as everyone knows. Dealing with the loss of a beloved cousin has hit the entire family hard and catapulted me into a prolonged period of depression and mourning. I now know what it means to feel a loss so deeply that it affects every moment of your life. I also understand why in the old days it was customary to entire a year long period of mourning after the death of a loved one.

But, the world continues to turn and eventually, though the sorrow does not lesson, you come to deal with it and start to rebuild your life and find your way back to what was important to you before it began. I feel myself coming to terms with the sorrow, I don’t believe I will ever accept it but I must live with the reality of it as it is. With that thought in mind, my life is starting to come back to me.

Here, I have reaffirmed my commitment to writing and studying my family history. In my schoolwork I have reasserted my commitment to my dream of getting my Bachelor’s Degree, a dream which will finally be realized on May 1st. At work, I am looking at a change in my career path that is promising to be invigorating at challenging. Things are looking up. This weekend, I will pour through the family tree files I have collected and reassemble stories to share with everyone. Before this month is over I will find a way to release here the first of many copies of the information I have gathered thus far.

There are exciting times ahead. Mandi is due to welcome her first child, a boy, here any day now. Fingers are crossed for her that it is sooner rather than later for her sake. Her Facebook posts lately speak of the urgency a mother feels at the end of their pregnancy to meet the little person who has been kicking them for the last nine months. She and Dan will make fantastic parents and I wish them a beautiful delivery and of course demand pictures immediately upon the arrival of the little one.

In just a few weeks, Julie will find 0ut if her new bundle is going to be a little boy or a little girl. Let us all cross our fingers and hope she gets the little girl she is wanting. Good thoughts go out to her.

Grandpa McConnell has a surgery date set for February 13th to take care of the stomach cancer. I will be here in Texas, a nervous wreck all day waiting for word of his surgery, hoping for success.

Aunt Paula will be finding out on February 7th (hopefully) if her scare is cancer or benign tumors. My fingers are crossed and hoping for the best. Grandma was about her age when she lost her breasts to cancer. But as we all know, Grandma beat the cancer for so many years and proved how strong she was surviving.

What other news is there on the family front that should be shared with everyone else? Feel free to leave a comment and update us all on the status of your branch of our family tree.

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I am introducing a new segment to Rose Marye Writes. We have a lot of fantastic writers in our family. Each Wednesday I will pay homage to them by featuring their writing here on Rose Marye Writes. At first it will be just my poems and writings that fill this space, but as time goes and the rest of you feel comfortable sharing your talent with the family I urge you to send me an email with what you would like to post here. I will submit it. Come back next Wednesday for the first of many Writing Wednesdays.

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