Slice of Life: An 80th Birthday Celebration

It's an event of note. Just a few short weeks ago, I was in Texas to celebrate my sister's 80th birthday with her. When I visited in February of 2025, I committed to being there for this significant birthday in 2026, even though I usually don't visit Texas after April or before November. My eleven years in Houston taught me that the livable months in Texas are November through April. However, I was willing to make a rare exception to be there in May for this major birthday. 

I enjoyed going through my sister's photo albums and collecting pictures to share at the party while also quizzing her about significant events in her life. She has the razor sharp memory of our father which she passed on to her son, Michael. Kara, my niece in Texas, also has this delightful gift. As we viewed collected pictures of her eight decades, Kay shared the stories behind the events. It was a wonderful way to celebrate this dear sister and her eight decades on earth. 

                   

Martha Kay was part of the first wave of baby boomers, born in 1946, post WWII.  She joined big sister, Velma Ann on May 16, 1946. She was born at St. Mary's hospital in McAlester, Oklahoma. At the time, they lived at McNally Flat with my mother's parents, Bud and Ella Duff.  

Kay stars in the classic "bath in a dishpan" photo 

(mine was taken in the kitchen sink). 

Kay with her big sister, Velma Ann 

 

 Her first name, Martha, comes from our paternal grandmother. In the first decade of Kay's life, two more baby boomer siblings, Karl Ellis and Ramona Ella (that's me), joined the family. Known in the family as Martha Kay, she made a conscious decision to go by "Kay" when she entered fourth grade in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

 

(Martha) Kay and little brother, Karl Ellis 

 

Nearing the end of Kay's first decade: 

 my arrival completes our family of three girls and a boy! 

Birthday Fun 

What's a party without balloons and flowers?

Daughter, Katie (in blue floral), & her husband, Wesley

 Kay, the birthday girl

Son, Michael, and his wife, Becca

 

The gals who traveled: 

Sister-in-law, Kathy, from Oklahoma,

niece, Kara, from Texas,

& sister, Ramona, from North Carolina.

 

An 80th birthday deserves two cakes:

 Daughter Katie made the chocolate cake

and granddaughter Rachelle made the carrot cake.

Both were delicious! 

 Granddaugher Anabelle chats with Nana. 

 

The grands claim prime real estate with Nana, 

leaving the rest of us sitting at the kids' table! 

 

Girls in purple:

Granddaughter Rachelle, Kay, and daughter-in-law Becca 

Our 11 days together went by far too quickly.

I always request one final pic with my sis!

 

Happy 80th birthday, Kay! 

Lucky me to share our sisterhood for my seven decades. 

Slice of Life: A Walk in the Park

After driving by Tanger Center Bicentennial Park many times, I finally stopped yesterday. My visit to Chico's had taken longer than expected, so I missed my afternoon exercise class. However, the park beckoned and I answered. Even though it was two in the afternoon and prime time for sun exposure, most of the park was shaded. I had a wonderful stroll through this garden oasis as you'll see from the pictures I'm sharing. Although I've lived here for almost three years, it was my first visit. I look forward to future walks in these gorgeous gardens.

  

 

Cathedral of green

refreshes heavy hearts

comforts weary souls 

- Ramona Behnke 

Slice of Life: The Three Rees

We used to meet in person, but then I moved clear across the country (WA to NC), so now we meet via a three way FaceTime call. We meet for a variety of reasons: birthdays, after one of us returns from a trip, to talk about good books, but mostly just to chat, see each other's faces and stay up-to-date with each other's lives.

Who exactly are the Three Rees? Three gals of a certain vintage who used to work together. When the third one retired, we formed the "Three Retirees" so we would stay connected. We used to take walks together, attend events together, and lunch together. Now we chat on the phone together. We gathered in Seattle last summer. We had to cancel a planned gathering in North Carolina this spring. We hope to gather in Utah sometime soon. I go there several times a year to visit the grands (and my son and daughter-in-law). 

We generally share a FaceTime call every couple of weeks or so, but currently we're meeting weekly to discuss each new episode of "Call the Midwives." We all have PBS Passport, so why do we ration out the episodes to one a week? When you've waited a year for another season of a favorite show, it's fun to slow down and savor each episode. 

This tradition of discussing a show hearkens back to lunchtime at Islander Middle School. Our entire table of sixth grade teachers loved discussing each week's new episode of Downton Abbey. Sometimes we would wait until Tuesday if someone had missed it on Sunday night, but by Tuesday it was time to discuss and dissect.  

The Three Rees at the Botanical Garden from seven springs ago: 

 "Old friends are the ones you keep forever in your heart. Every moment together is a cherished memory."

Something came up and we had to reschedule our planned gathering for today to discuss the latest episode of "Call the Midwives". Fingers crossed that we can still remember it when we FaceTime on Friday!

Poetry Friday (on Sunday): I dipped my toe in VerseLove last week

As we finished our month of writing slices every day, many of my slicer friends gave encouragement for writing poems each day in April through the Verse Love prompts at Ethical ELA. Sarah Donovan, founding collaborator of Ethical ELA and Verselove, offered the first invitation for Poetry Month: "our lives are landscapes."

I responded to her invitation with this poem: 

 

Inside me is a classroom,
where sixth graders fill my dreams
with crazy, chaotic shenanigans.
The daily frenzy continues.

Inside me is an island,
I walk with friends through
spring blossoms, summer blackberries,
fall splendor, and winter’s quiet comfort.

Inside me is a lake,
a wooden bridge, honking geese,
diamond sparkles, gentle breezes,
my solo walks are never lonely.

 

We'll see what the rest of the month brings. I'm hoping to write at least weekly for VerseLove and post it on my blog for Poetry Friday. 

 Matt Forrest Esenwine is our post for Poetry Friday at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme. 

Spiritual Journey Thursday: Service

Ruth Hersey is hosting on this Maundy Thursday and asked us to write about service. Check out Ruth's post where you can find links to the reflections of other spiritual travelers. Feel free to join us with your own thoughts. We are an open and welcoming group who post on the first Thursday of the month.

 

In honor of National Poetry Month, I'm sharing a favorite poem, "Everyday Grace" by Stella Nesanovich from the Poetry Foundation website. Please stop now, click on the link, and read her poem.

I chose to write an acrostic using the poet's words, "holy ground." You'll recognize ideas from the poem in my Holy Ground acrostic as I wrote about our theme of service. My gratitude to the poet, Stella Nesanovich, for inspiration for today's poem.

 

Holy Ground 

 

He set the example by washing the feet

Of His disciples. Sometimes you 

Lift a friend through prayer, sometimes

You offer the quiet heart that listens.

  

Gentle expressions of caring concern 

Reveal the hope that stitches

Our precarious world together. Simple actions can 

Unleash goodness in a world so in 

Need of solace. Offer a smile, listen, reach out.

Decide now to extend grace everyday. 

                               - Ramona Behnke 

SOL 31/31: Bookending my Fifteenth Year with Poems

I started working on this fibonacci poem for Day 31 three days ago. It wasn't until this morning that I noticed that I had kicked off this month of writing with a free verse poem, "A Cheer for Day One." And poems became my favorite style of slicing as you can see by this breakdown of the 11 poems (sorted by format) created during this month.

1 free verse poem

1 tricube (for day 3, of course)

3 haiku

1 limerick (for St. Patrick's Day) 

1 cento (thanks Kim for the inspiration)

3 fibonacci (thanks Natalie for reminding me of this form)

1 book spine poem

And with no further ado, I bring you my final poem (a fibonacci*) for this month of slicing.

Our 

month

concludes.

Story threads 

weave a tapestry

connecting our community.  

*fibonacci poem -  6 line, 20 syllable poem. It follows the Fibonacci sequence for syllables in each line. The six lines have a syllable count of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 respectively.

See you on Tuesdays! 

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this challenge and providing the space and support for us year after year. And thanks to this magnificent community for sharing stories with me and encouraging my writing life.

 

SOL 30/31: Book Spine Poem

A fellow blogger (sorry, I can't remember who) shared a book spine poem yesterday and I realized that I hadn't used this form for a slice this month. Some years I use it several times.

The books all came from my library book basket. Limiting the number of books you use is key to a quick book spine poem and sometimes the stars seem to align with just the right titles as they did for me this morning. 

Dear writer,

Enchantment

for a girl becoming. 

 

Goldenrod

guests on earth,

the forest of a thousand eyes.

 

Keep moving, 

trust,

gather grateful.  

 

This is my fifteenth year participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge, writing every day during the month of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this challenge and providing the space and support for us year after year. And thanks to this magnificent community for sharing stories with me and encouraging my writing life.