Screaming From the Lion's Den

 I heard that phrase in a song a few days ago and I felt it so aptly described my situation and feelings right now. 

Screaming From the Lion's Den

I am in the darkest pit of my life right now.  Nothing I have ever experienced has even come close to this. Three huge losses in just 46 days! 

 At times I feel as if my heart is just going to break into 1000 little pieces. At times I feel physically sick.  At times I feel suffocated by the weight of this grief and unable to catch my breath.  

BUT

From this darkest pit, I raise my voice to heaven knowing that God has taken me there, but will not abandon me there.  He alone is holding my heart together in his hands.

He alone will slowly stitch it back together

I am "screaming from the lion's den" but JOY will come in the morning.   

Happy New Year

How many times do you hear this phrase?  

I lost both of my parents in the past few weeks so happy is not something that I am really feeling a whole lot of right now. 

In a way, today has been harder for me than Christmas was because 2025 is a year they will never see. It is one realization that life keeps moving along and we have to find a way to make a new life without them.  

Every time I see their names on anything I feel like sobbing, but seeing their names followed by the birthdate-death date indicator is like a cold slap in the face.  I stare at it and think to myself, "there is no way I am really actually seeing this."

Paul F. Olson March 20, 1935 - November 23, 2024

Mary E Olson September 14, 1940 - December 16, 2024

The shock is unreal.  

As I said to my sister, our parents were our anchor.  When my dad died, we still had half our anchor. Now, we are anchorless - flailing in the water.  

This has been the hardest thing I've ever gone through and I am grateful for my faith and family.  Without them I'd be lost. 

The Worst Day

 On Saturday November 23, I woke up to the news that my dad had passed away in his early morning sleep and my whole world changed in that one moment. 

My dad, Paul F. Olson, was born on March 20, 1935 in Iron Mountain, Michigan.  He was the oldest of three boys. 

He loved his guitar

My dad's father was an alcoholic and, while my dad kept in touch with his "old man", he was not a part of their daily family life.  After graduating from high school, my dad moved to Milwaukee and worked, sending money home to his mom to help support his two younger brothers.  At the same time he attended and graduated from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.  He joined the army, met my mom at a little cafe she worked at, and was deployed to Korea.

After getting back from Korea, my parents married on August 18, 1962.

August 18, 1962

According to my mom, she could not understand how such a handsome man would want anything to do with her.  She had some self-esteem issues.   

My sister and I were born only 15 months apart. We had the best childhood growing up in the 1970's in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  He worked at Rockwell as a system's analyst from 1966 until he retired in 1992.  Even though he officially retired in 1992, he continued to work at Rockwell, paid hourly through a temp agency called Manpower, whenever they needed him until about 2000.

In 1972 they purchased this state-of-the-art Rolite camper (a beauty in those days - haha) and every summer we were off on an adventure across the United States and Canada.  This is why I have been in 43 of the 50 states.  As we got older, my parents continued to travel without us and had been in all 50 states.  They also enjoyed cruises to the Panama Canal and the Norwegian Fjords.

When I was about 10, I became a HUGE daddy's girl.  I took advantage of every opportunity I had to spend time with him - which is how I got into football.  Every Sunday in fall I would plop myself on the floor in the living room and watch the Packers game.  I asked him a million questions in an effort to get any understanding out of what I was watching.  I'm sure it drove him crazy, but he patiently answered every question. 

As my sister and I grew through our teenage years and into adulthood, we knew that there was no problem my dad could not help us fix.  He protected and took care of us and we always felt so secure knowing he was there for us. 

50th Wedding Anniversary in 2012

Over the past year his health declined rapidly and we knew this day was coming way sooner than any of us wanted it to (I mean - you don't ever want it to!!!).  

So while my dad is rejoicing in the presence of God, we are left here - heartbroken.  💔💔💔 But not without hope that we will one day see him again.  

HHN Houses 3 and 4

 Continuing with the Halloween Horror Night 2024 house countdown...

House #4

MONSTERS: ETERNAL BLOODLINE

This house was at the back of the park right next to Goblins, Having these two houses next to each other was a very welcome change this year as in year's past the walk to exit these back two houses was LONG - and you had to make that walk twice.  Having these houses together shaved off about a half hour of time. 

Picture Credit wdwwnt.com

I liked the story behind this house.  As soon as you enter, you see a woman kneeling by a grave promising to exact revenge on the one's responsible for her father's death.  As you walk through the house, you encounter her challenging the various monsters as she searches for an amulet.  This house definitely had a creepy vibe for me - in a good way.   

Picture Credit wdwwnt.com

photo credit: https://halloweenhorrornights.fandom.com/

photo credit: x.com

Walkthrough credit: Attractions Magazine

House #3

Major Sweets

I loved the idea of this house.  You arrive to chaperone a field trip and meet Major Sweets and Miss Sweet (sometimes - she wasn't always there).  Everything seems great at first but then Major Sweets decides to test a special formula on the school children. Things turn ugly quickly and the students turn into psycho killers.  

Walkthrough credit: Attractions Magazine

HHN Houses 5 and 6

 House #6

A QUIET PLACE

We all know the movie - don't you dare make a sound or the sightless alien monsters who use some form of advanced echolocation to locate their prey, will snatch you up and presumably eat you.

I found this house to be very middle of the road for me - thus the #6 ranking.  The house had very little appeal for me beyond the clattering noise made by the aliens (which gives me the feeling that I should find the nearest hiding place and BE QUIET), and some pretty cool and massive animatronic aliens in the final room.

Image from NBC Universal

Walkthrough credit: Attractions Magazine

House # 5

Insidious: The Further

I am an insidious amateur and have only seen the first movie.  Fortunately you don't have to be well-versed in the Insidious movies to enjoy the house.  One of my favorite things about the house is the giant read door you have to walk-through at the beginning of the house while a woman's voice repeats, "now go outside, let my voice be your guide, keep a steady stride, into the further we go."  Step beyond the door and you enter the further. The more you walk, the deeper you go. 

Many tagged this the scariest house of 2024 but, while the walk-through had its moments of thrills (I mean who wouldn't be at least a little scared of that old woman), I never had the feeling of entrapment, disorientation, or claustrophobia that others have written about.  

Walk-through from Attractions Magazine

Hurricane Milton

 We've had a few unexpected days off here thanks to a hurricane crossing the state.  We did have school Tuesday thank goodness, as most schools in our area did not (one less day to make up).  We had off yesterday, today, and will not have school tomorrow either.  A lot of people are without power, including my parents in Flagler Beach.  We are fortunate that our power lines are underground - most likely because of being on the same grid as Sea World - so we were not in jeopardy of losing power. 

During the day yesterday we had some rain bands on and off - some heavy - but not really any wind.  The worst of the storm, I've been told, was between 4-6 am.  I slept all night long.  This morning, Zack and I took a walk around our complex to see the damage.

A lot of debris and some trees down, but not as bad as it could have been.  I have been trying to find an accurate recording of maximum wind speeds, but the best I could find was from the Orlando Airport (about 10 miles away) which had a recorded wind gust of  almost 80 mph around 5:00 am.  

We made it through another hurricane.  Honestly, this is the first hurricane we did not evacuate for. When the kids were little they would be pretty scared at the thought of hurricanes and the chance of a tornado so we/I would take them away. The past few years my parents would want to leave so Zack and I (and Ollie) would pack-up and go with them to share the driving.  This time, I don't think my dad would have done very well leaving his home.  Of course, if it was a life and death situation for them I would have taken them out of there, but they live on the ocean side and this hurricane came in on the gulf side so there was no imminent danger to them.  I'm just praying their power is restored soon.  You would think in a retirement community the power lines would be buried.