Two Noras: March 19, 1914 and March 19, 2021

Nora Bauer: Thursday, March 19, 1914

Was to Mass this morning. Went to singing class tonight and over to Hooley's to get a hat. 

Nora Spitznogle: Friday, March 19, 2021

We celebrated the one-year anniversary of Second Helpings' response to the pandemic. Aaron called  - his grandmother died...

Here's a blurb from the March 6, 1914 Logansport Pharos Reporter. It looks like Grandma Nora was an early buyer. Good for her for treating herself a new hat! 

Today was an exceptionally good day at work - we celebrated the anniversary of the first day we packaged meals for home delivery. The City named today Second Helpings Day!

I am gobsmacked by what the

Second Helpings

team has accomplished in the last year.

I hated the situation, but loved the challenge.

I remember running in to

Cash & Carry Paper Co.

when their doors opened that morning.

The owner

helped me sort out what we needed and stuffed the Second Helpings van with cases of containers and the volunteers were packing them within a hour. Labels were created and copied and we were off!

I became the self-proclaimed Sargent at Arms. I walked around the first weeks with a tape measure and painters tape marking off six-foot increments on the floor. The phrases “two yardsticks, people, two yardsticks apart,” and “pull your mask up, friend” flew out of my mouth so often I was annoying myself. I don’t think of myself as an intimidating person, but people seem to tug their masks up and scatter when they see me coming.

A year later we’re still rolling with the challenges as they come, thankfully they’re coming at a slower pace now...

I started going through the piles on the floor - I'd dumped out all drawers and bookcase shelves to put back what I wanted to keep. The rest still needs to be dealt with. 

Aaron called me to share the sad news that his dear Grandmother died this morning. Aaron and his grandmother were so close - my heart aches for him. We had a nice conversation full of Nancy memories. 

As I was hanging artwork, I was listening to Purdue's first game in the NCAA tournament - they were playing just a few miles away in downtown Indianapolis. The game was back-and-forth and I couldn't stand it any longer. I grabbed my foam finger and jogged the four blocks to the Red Key to watch the game. Purdue lost in overtime...such a bummer. I wound up having a nice conversation with my friends, Tammy and Gary - it's so weird to think that I hadn't had a real conversation with Tammy, one of my best friends, in a year. Damn pandemic! 

It was after 1:00 am when I got home...and the stacks of artwork and stuff were still there. Uggh.