Age is Beauty!

One of my favorite people turns 80 on Wednesday. John William Schmale! This past weekend my family traveled to grandma and grandpa's house. As long as I can remember we have made the 14 hour drive annually. We argue some, sleep a lot and read books on the long drive. Mom has always read to dad as he drove all that way and fussed at him when his eyelids got heavy. He never would share the driver's seat.

Fortunately this weekend WE FLEW! I can only remember one other time in my whole childhood that the 5 of us flew together. It sure was easier to fly into St Louis, rent a car and drive only an hour and a half down to small (or should I say TINY ) Fredericktown, MO.

The occasion was magnificent! Surprising Grandpa with our arrival was our lofty plan. While he wasn't surprised (Grandma (who's got the flu) asked him to clean the basement bathroom "in case anyone came for his party and had to stay at their house"), Gramps was still excited to see us.

Incidentally, celebrating 80 years is a BIG deal in the Schmale family. Grandma and Grandpa hosted 70 guests in the quaint house that my dad and his little brother grew up in. With an open bar, a huge cake and catered appetizers my geriatric friends were satisfied.

I was greeted by dozens of strangers who remembered me from my childhood. The following are just a few of memories made.

My grandpa (front right) is the oldest of 10 kids. His siblings seldom see one another or talk each other for that matter. I was so excited that 4 of them made it to the party (front left is a spouse). Can you believe it? These are all SCHMALES!

Two of the Schmale brothers. These are my great uncles - Charlie and Bob. Boy did they tell me stories - tryin to rag on their big brother on his 80th birthday.

From left: Sister Rachel, Granny (mom's stepmother), Papa (mom's dad) - both also live in tiny Fredericktown, and way cool 16-year old brother Ben. Apparently Rachel didn't care that Granny had something real important to tell her.

The lovely Mark and Julie Schmale (dad and mom), back in their hometown 31 years later.

Rachel and Papa - I just thought this photo was too good not to post.

All in all - TERRIFIC WEEKEND! I sure do love family - especially the old ones. AND...I've promised to work on planning the first ever Schmale family reunion for Grandpa and his siblings summer '09. We'll see how that goes.

~js

Scouts Honor.

I told the girls at our outstanding chick reunion that I would be better about updating the blog at this "new stage in my life."

Because of our distance, time difference, full-time jobs, smashing social schedules and straight up new lives it is tough for us "catch up" as regularly as we would like. So here is my New Years resolution (only it's not really a new years resolution because, I actually hate those.): I, Jessica Schmale, do solemnly swear to update the blog more regularly than has been done in the past. (Note: this is a "cake" resolution. Incidentally the bar hasn't been set very high).

Unfortunately for you, reader, this may mean that you have a decision to make. Do you really want to be in the head of Jessica Schmale? It is a scary place sometimes - often hard to discern, sort through and understand. While I wish I could promise that in writing it may be easier to interpret, I make no promises. Often my brain runs faster than my spoken words...one can only imagine what this does to the written words. Are you up for it?

So this is it! My pledge. My promise. My resolution (I've buckled). Get ‘em, 2008!
~js

An update.

A couple weeks ago I began a blog about our Chick reunion. Unfortunately, I'm not really good at completion. The blog would have started like this:

We did it! WE did it! And by "we" I mean 6 we's!

It would have had a couple of photos and given a few details our our time together. Since this post is long overdue and since our individual chick bloggers have already reported on the matter, I will simply link you to their websites. Please choose Brooke, Claire or Sarah for update on our LOVELY rendezvous. While it was short and sweet, it was a blast to spend time together. As all three of them said (I believe) it feels like no time has passed at all.

Charles in Charge

Of our days and our lives.
(everybody now)
Charles in Charge
Of our wrongs and our rights.

The chicks hit up another stop on the round o' weddings. This time it took us to the Woodlands to see Wes and Teri get hitched. There was one aspect of this wedding, though, that will set it apart from all other matrimonies in the future. No, we didn't get to meet Scott Baio, but we did get to hang out with one really cool guy named Charles.

Roitsch, that is.

Jess, Claire and Sarah enjoyed the Whitney wedding to the hilt because of this guy.
We laughed, cried and snorted our way through the most fun reception ever!!
He entertained us, fed us ("Ladies, dessert!"), and gladly served as our personal paparazzi man.

Thanks Charles!
Since we are "besties" now, lets do it again, k?

So giddy I could pee my pants

The Six Chicks

We have come a long way.
Braces and long hair and A&M have become distant memories.


We have traveled to many places.
Learned many lessons.
Probably grown up a little bit. But only a little.


We've walked through a lot together.
One wedding is just the tip of the iceberg, really.
I mean, puhleese.

And after all this,

We will soon be re-united.
December 28-29.
My new favorites dates. (It used to be April 25)

May the countdown begin....