Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

The proposal March 20, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:15 AM
Tags: , , , , , ,

HE ASKED.

She said, “Yes!”

And I’m going to be the mother-of-the-bride.

Monday evening, on the one-year anniversary of dating, Marc proposed to my eldest, Amber.

Marc and Amber, newly-engaged and celebrating at the St. Paul Grill. Marc ordered a steak, saying, "That is what a man does after he asks a woman to marry him."

Marc and Amber, newly-engaged and celebrating at the St. Paul Grill. Marc ordered a steak, saying, “That is what a man does after he asks a woman to marry him.”

I am excited and happy and thrilled, all those joyful words reserved for those occasions when you feel blessed beyond measure.

I am going to be a mother-in-law, welcoming a wonderful son-in-law into our family. Marc is all I could ever hope for in my daughter’s husband. He is a man of faith. He loves and cherishes my girl and makes her incredibly happy.

From the first photo I saw of the two of them together, I knew, just knew, they were totally head over heels in love. I could see it in their eyes, in their broad smiles, in the way they leaned into one another. I just knew.

Amber and Marc in Bakersfield, Ca., Marc's hometown.

Amber and Marc in Bakersfield, Ca., Marc’s hometown.

For months they long-distance dated, flying back and forth between LA and Minneapolis. The time between visits grew shorter until, finally, Marc relocated to St. Paul last October, shortening their dating miles to the drive between the Twin Cities.

I understood, with absolute certainty then, that this relationship would result in an eventual proposal of marriage.

The ring.

The ring. Beautiful.

The obvious question, then, is how did these two, a native Minnesotan and a native Californian, meet? Beth, a college friend (of Amber) who lives in California and who met Marc via another college friend, thought the two would be a good match. Text messages, Facebook exchanges and phone conversations preceded their first date in March of last year.

I became aware of Marc only after Amber, who had visited Beth in the fall of 2011, announced in March 2012 that she was flying to California. Again.

“Why would you want to go to California?” I inquired of her. “You were just there.”

“Well, there’s this boy…”

Now that boy will become my daughter’s husband.

I snapped this photo of Marc and Amber walking across the parking lot at Faribault High School after my son's graduation in early June. It's one of my favorite images of the couple.

I snapped this photo of Marc and Amber walking across the parking lot at Faribault High School after my son’s graduation in early June. It’s one of my favorite images of the couple just because, ya know, it’s so sweet. Now they are walking into their future together.

© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Photos courtesy of Amber and Marc

 

Twenty-five years ago this beautiful daughter came into my life November 16, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:15 AM
Tags: , , , , ,

Miranda, almost two, eating chocolate cake.

MY SECOND BORN of three, Miranda, turns 25 today.

What does a mother write about her girl that truly encompasses all her daughter has become as a young woman?

Miranda celebrates the Argentine World Cup soccer victory at Plaza de la Republica in Buenos Aires. The balloon is soccer legend Diego Maradona, at that time the coach of Argentina’s national team. She’s lived in Buenos Aires twice.

I will tell you that my dear daughter is kind and compassionate, adventuresome and fearless (except for spiders), a woman of faith, soft-spoken, yet there to speak for those whose voices need to be heard.

She works as a Spanish medical interpreter and has a heart for helping non-English speaking Hispanics in northeastern Wisconsin. It is an important job. Her ability to interpret under time and emotional pressures impresses me. She cares. Deeply.

Yet, it is that very profession which keeps my girl away from Minnesota. Because she is on call so often, including many nights, weekends and holidays, she is able to make the 5 ½-hour trip back home only several times a year. Likewise, those hours limit times my husband and I can visit our daughter.

Time with her is precious. Just like our daughter. Precious.

A photo of Miranda when she was back in Minnesota in June for her brother’s high school graduation.

Happy birthday, Miranda/Tib! We love you now and forever and miss you and if you were here, I would bake you a chocolate cake.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Happy birthday, Miranda! November 16, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:16 PM
Tags: , , , ,

Miranda, five days old

MY SECOND BORN turned 24 today.

Miranda lives 5 ½ hours away in eastern Wisconsin so I had to settle for texting a birthday wish to her this morning. Finally, around 4:30 p.m., she got back to me after a long work day that began at 4:30 a.m. She had to be at an area hospital by 6 a.m. to interpret for a Spanish-speaking patient undergoing surgery.

She didn’t have much time to chat; her friend Greg was arriving soon and they were going out for a birthday dinner. Miranda hadn’t eaten all day and she was hungry.

Afterward she was having friends over to celebrate. One of them, Gerardo, planned to bring the cake.

I don’t know if they ate any of the cake. But my husband, who just talked to our daughter, told me the cake was smashed in her face. Knowing several of the invited guests, I expect it was Julio’s idea. Miranda said she saw it coming.

Now I don’t think I’d much like a cake or pie or anything smashed in my face. But I’m not 24 either.

I had to think for a minute today about exactly how old my daughter was.

“Mom, you don’t know how old I am?” she asked, a strong tone of disbelief tingeing her question.

I had to do the math quick-like in my head. I didn’t tell her, but thought, “I can’t even remember how old I am sometimes.”

And sometimes I find it hard to believe that my two daughters are in their 20s, my son turning 18 in a few months. Where did the years go? Honestly.

No one smashed cake into Miranda's face when she was almost two; she managed this all on her own.

Miranda with her Little Mermaid birthday cake on her fifth birthday in 1992. That's a troll she's clutching and a homemade birthday hat with her nickname, Tib (after Tib in the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace). Everyone loved Miranda's curly hair.

 

A mother’s love on a daughter’s birthday February 10, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:47 AM
Tags: , , , , , ,

HOW CAN IT BE that I already have a daughter who’s 25? Where did the days, weeks, months, years go?

It seems like only yesterday when I welcomed my sweet baby girl and discovered the depth of love I held in my heart for this child of mine. Yesterday was February 10, 1986.

It really is true that, until you become a mother (fill in “father” here if you’re male), you cannot comprehend such love. There is much to be said for experiencing parenthood. I don’t think you can ever define the personal shift to parenting in words.

Thinking back on my first pregnancy and then my daughter’s birth, I remember, especially, how much my mother-in-law wanted a granddaughter. She had already been blessed with one granddaughter and then four grandsons in a row. Betty figured it was time for another girl.

She got her granddaughter and then another and another and another and another and another. If you’re counting, that’s six granddaughters in a row.

As for my husband and me, we honestly did not care whether we had a boy or a girl, as long as the baby was healthy. But, my gut instinct told me my unborn child was a girl. I was right, of course, as I was in guessing the gender of my other two children, although I didn’t have the boy figured out until my husband and I were en route to the hospital.

By the time my son was born, one day short of eight years after my eldest, my mother-in-law wanted a grandson. She got her wish, but never lived to see my baby boy. She died, at age 59, of a heart attack nearly four months before his birth.

Every year on the February birthdays of my oldest and my youngest, I think of their Grandma Helbling and how she got her wishes. I got mine too—three beautiful, healthy, wonderful children (the third was born in November 1987) who have given me love and joy beyond measure, and, yes, the occasional stress and maybe even some of my gray hair.

I love my trio with a mother’s love that cannot be defined in words, but can only be felt by the heart.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, oldest daughter of mine!

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling