Staci Shuck

One last post for Joe...

It's been a few weeks and things are starting to slowly get back to "normal?"  That's not completely correct,  but I think you get the idea.  Still lots of emotion around here and THEEEEE flag
IS (and WILL CONTINUE to fly) to fill the void, show pride and honor PSU and Joe and family.  We still and will always have PSU in our hearts!  We wear it on our cars....

See it in the Scrapbooking and Papercrafting Aisle at Grove's....
in our jewelry....
and it's on our candy wrappers, paper plates and yes, sometimes we eat blue and white pasta!!!!!  Obsessed?  Nah, proud, appreciative, thankful, devoted and very glad to have experienced this during the time Joe was here!  We attended the processional for Joe in our best blue and white out of respect for him, his family, our family and because it was the right thing to do.  We received word that the service was over and cars were beginning to move.  As we looked in that direction to confirm, Jeff noticed this very faint, but very awesome rainbow.  
It is faint, just above and to the right of the trees, but it IS there and we, already emotional, shed a few more tears!  A sign for sure that Heaven was Happy...Joe smiling down on us! (Insert tears here!) Then we saw the cars, those awesome blue buses carrying family members with Sue in the seat that Joe rode in for the last 60 years and Jay and family waving to us as they passed. We have NEVER experienced such quiet in this place.  The hum of the media helicopters, noise from flashing vehicle lights and the snaps of cameras were all that could be heard.  Such respect for a man and his family who have done so much.  Listen for yourself.

The day after this processional was a public memorial service at Bryce Jordan Center next to the stadium.  We did not attend but did watch it live on our local station.  It was amazing.  Such a tribute from sooooo many lives Joe had touched.  This video of Nike CEO, Phil Knight, who also spoke at the service, said what we all have been feeling. We visited Joe's Statue...
so quiet and yes, I cried...Jeff told me to "Buck UP"...that didnt' work at all!  We had our Peach Paterno ice cream....delicious, delicious, delicious...made at the Campus Creamery!
We paid our respects and left messages at the Sports Museum & just one more photo!

Yep!  We're Penn State, Nittany Lion, Joe Paterno, Paterno Family fans!  I will close with that and say that there will be more pictures from this day and days to come but...we'll be sharing some creativity too.  Monday Madness will be here this week too...just a little late!

This is CHANGE....I am working to EMBRACE it!  I may have to borrow some "FOCUS" to continue to move ahead! 

Thanks for allowing me to share!  Have an impact in all you do!

Staci

Hard to let go...

Much, much harder than I thought to "get away from & let go of" the story of the weekend.  The University and the town are very much a part of our daily lives.  Yes, we attend athletic events and functions on campus, including football games, but we also have surgery at Mt. Nittany Medical Center, go to Drs. appts, shop at Wegman's, eat at The Waffle Shop, make deliveries on and off campus, attend the Arts Festival, shop downtown, pick up out of town guests at the airport, visit lifelong friends and family and so on and so on.

Penn State (the University) IS State College (the town) and State College IS Penn State.  Some beg to differ and some try to change and there are some separations and differences but for the most part they are ONE!  Thousands share this same feeling.  One can't visit campus or town without feeling a touch of the Blue and White pride and seeing Joe Pa (in real life or photos) somewhere around town.  We've never taken that for granted and appreciate it even more now.

Today was to be a regular Monday for my Mom and Dad.  (They frequent State College more than we do...that is saying something too!)   A normal, Monday trip to Mt. Nittany, for check-ups with Drs. they've had for years, through many surgeries and health issues.  These Drs.  happen to be the same Drs. who cared for Joe.  (Kinda neat to know that you are no different than Joe and can have the same high level of care that he had at no extra charge!) Visits have been heartwrenching since Nov. when news of the scandal broke.  The staff showed concern in quiet conversation, all the while supporting Joe and his actions.  Today's visit, according to Mom and Dad, was far more than heartwrenching.  An entire hospital and staff, solemn, quiet, sad, grieving, mourning and sharing in disbelief, the loss of a person they have cared for, admired and loved for so long.  Definitely not something you would expect in a larger hospital that cares for thousands of patients daily in numerous ways.  I mentioned to mom and dad that they may want to plan an alternate route to the hospital just in case the normal route past Beaver Stadium and Joe's statue was blocked off.  They agreed, but I KNEW they would attempt the normal route anyway.  You just don't go to Mt. Nittany and NOT go past Beaver Stadium to check on Joe! (Change{of a 25 year habit}...is HARD!)  So, of course they went the normal route.... and OF COURSE, they stopped to pay respect to Joe and share in the widespread out pouring of love for him....and I am so glad they did!!!!!  My parents remind me alot of Joe and his family.  Strong morals and values, sound ethics, hard working, humble, sincere, honest, faithful, considerate, appreciative, quiet samaritans who do good because it's right & not to get attention, teachers, coaches, parents and leaders.  Thankful they are my mom and dad.
So many good family memories at this field and all over campus.  We've adapted to changes at the stadium and on campus over the years without much question.  This change makes things different though  and that word "change" keeps cropping up.  Although I am trying to "embrace" the change...this one is VERY difficult.  So glad my Mom and Dad introduced Penn State to our family at an early age and that we experienced the Joe Pa years on campus.  He has taught so much, to so many, in life and now even in death.  The IMPACT of his life will live forever...THAT is his LEGEND.  It will only be tarnished if we allow it to be.   HIS LEGEND is inspiring and THAT gives faith and hope to us.  He taught us even through his tragedy.  Presidents don't do that...or at least they haven't for a while! What a lesson of integrity, honor, humanity and loyalty. 

Our local paper caught Jeff early this morning while seeking public response to Joe's death.  I'll remind you this is LOCAL news, close to home and Joe.  His response is synomous with thousandsof others all over Pennsylvania.  The National Media has not published these responses though and we find that very sad.  To be "used" (as a person, university, town, community and state) by the media is a disgrace. To publish misleading, misguided, false information and accusations for the purpose of gaining readers and increasing cash flow at the expense of such an outstanding person and family is ridiculous and shameful.   But that is a political discussion that I won't get into in this post.

For now, we'll make our regular visits to State and campus and appreciate the fact that we have experienced and shared in something great.  Something that has molded us and made us better people.  Something that will hopefully help us work for the greater good and impact others lives.

I'll have more to share later and hope to move forward with a few of those video's and projects I had planned to share this past weekend.  Thank you for allowing me to post these thoughts.

Hugs to you all!

Staci

 

 

6 days late!

Well...here goes!  I've always thought about setting up an official blog but only until this year was I actually motivated to begin.  So what motivated me????  Project 365!  Sound familiar to any of you scrappers out there?  Details of the project and be found here and it's the brain child of Becky Higgins!  I began hearing about this in December and was motivated enough to check it out!  So I finally decided yes, this will help me scrapbook the year much better and will also maybe help tell stories about the everyday things in my life!  Well....long store short... January 1st was the day the kit went on sale and...I was way to busy preparing pork, hotdogs, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut to pay much attention to the speed at which these kits disappeared!  That's when it hit me...I can create my own Project 365 by blogging the photos and journaling.  Yes, it will be a bit different and may not be in kit form but it will get done and it will document my year!  So off we go!  I'll begin here with the photo's from the first 6 days since I'm already a bit behind documenting and then hope to keep up with this daily!  Hope someone enjoys it besides me!!!

Day one, January 1, 2009  What else do you do on New Year's Day!  To be sure you have nothing but health, wealth and happiness...you celebrate with pork, hot dogs, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut!  A traditional holiday dinner for our family that everyone enjoys!  We also know that it's ALL better as leftovers!  This meal was traditionally prepared by my grandmother, Nan Henry, and upon her passing, I volunteered to take over.  She VOWED that the ONLY sauerkraut that one should EVER use was Silver Floss and it MUST be the Silverfloss in the glass jars, not the cans and not the plastic bags!  My mom and I both support her and continue with the GLASS JAR TRADITION!
Day 2, January 2, 2009:
Ah yes, another tradition of the New Year...watching Penn State Football at a bowl game!  This is more like a Morning After photo...to express our dedication to the team AFTER their loss to USC in the Rose Bowl.  They did lose but did also have some major accomplishments...most points scored against USC all season and others.  Despite the loss...we still bleed blue and white and are steadfast in our Nittany Lion Pride!!!!!  Go Joe Pa!

Day 3:  January 3, 2009
Finally the amaryllis is blooming.  These are also a holiday tradition for me.  I've done it annually since I married, and the kids participated when they were little, but now I am really the only one who continues it.  Mom always got my brother and I an amaryllis each Christmas to care for during the holiday.  We did manage one year to have it bloom in time for Christmas but...it hasn't happened since then.  So today, I commemorate yet another tradition...the amaryllis.
January 4, 2009:

Ahhhhh...still leftovers!  Mashed potatoes turned into potato cakes!  Anyone else enjoy these tasty morsels!  This is pretty much the only time of year we have them and oh they are soooooo good and a great way to use up extra mashed taters!  Of course, I now make extra potatoes so that I can do the potato cakes!!!  Little egg, onion, parsley and season on a hot cast iron skillet...ooozing with butter...and you're good to go.  Enjoy!

January 5, 2009:  First day back to school!  So hard to return after a nice vacation!  Even harder to return knowing that I haven't gotten everything done that I had planned to get done over break!  Oh well...why should things be different this Christmas.  Today was a strange day at school as everyone readjusted to being back and trying to get into the swing of things.  My mind whirled with all the things I needed  to do and then wandered off to a project I had finished using Tattered Angels glimmer mist.  This is my new favoriet thing to play with...I taught a class at the store using it and have become addicted.  This little book is available on my etsy website.  Really fun stuff to play with...just be sure you have alot of baby wipes on hand!

Today, January 6, 2009:  An early dismissal from school and what a wonderful thing!  I didn't care much at all about driving home in the ice, sleet and freezing rain but was instead focusing on getting home, taking an Excedrin Migraine and going to bed!!!  So it was for 2 1/2 hours when I awoke a new person!  Thank goodness for this stuff!