2003

JANUARY 2003 Since the BLACK BOWLS were returned to me on Mom’s Birthday, I had to come up with some special date to deliver them back to her. January 17 was the 10^th anniversary date of Daddy moving to Heaven. Daddy would have been very much involved with this BLACK BOWLS Saga if he were here, so we thought about how he would had fun in strategizing the return of the bowls. Since Mom was not successful in getting into my home to leave the bowls on my dining room table while I was on vacation, I thought I would set her table up instead. I scanned in some picture of Daddy in various stages of his life and printed them out onto iron on transfers. I created beautiful placemats with pictures of Daddy all over them. We arranged for my niece to set up my Mom’s table on January 17 with the special placemats, pictures of Daddy scattered on the table, with (of course) BLACK BOWLS, black napkins, black plastic utensils, black cups and black streamers hung from her dining room light while Mom was at the beauty shop. My sister added a vase of flowers to the middle of the table. Naturally, we wanted to capture this Kodak moment on video, so my sister set up the video camera outside into the dining room window. My sister watched for Mom to stop at the mailbox at the end of the cul-de-sac and ran over to Mom’s house to start the video camera. She hid behind the fence until Mom shut the garage door. Then she ran like crazy to home to wait for the predicted phone call from Mom. Meanwhile, Mom moseyed around in the kitchen and when she walked into the dining room, she stopped dead in her tracks. It took her a little while to soak it all in with Daddy’s pictures staring her in the face. She calls my sister to accuse her of letting someone in to place those BLACK BOWLS into her home. My sister carefully chooses her words carefully to deny this accusation. After my sister and her daughter popped back over to Mom’s house, Mom ran to the front to see if her neighbor was watching, thinking she was the designated culprit. I understand my Mom put the thumbscrews to my niece and got her to spill the beans. View the picture of Mom with her new dining room setting.

Black Bowls Saga by Joan Cook 2003 Continued FEBRUARY 2003 Here it is! The next chapter of the BLACK BOWLS as they were delivered back into my hands once more! I was at work going over some details in another area of the office and when I walked back to my office, there sitting on my desk was a purple gift bag with a note saying “A Gift for You” along with a gift wrapped box inside. The size of the gift was definitely the size of a box to contain BLACK BOWLS! No doubt about it! As I am unwrapping the box, I had remembered that Shawn, the gal who is a processor and works the front desk, had just walked back to the area I had just left. MMMMMMMMMM! As I was locating a knife to open the box, Shawn asked what I had there. I looked at her with an evil eye and said, “You put this on my desk, didn’t you?” She stuttered and said, “This package showed up on my desk and I just delivered it to your desk.” Shawn swore she knew nothing about it and I told her, “Just wait until I talk to my mother!” I had thought perhaps my mom had contacted my boss (a friend of mine as well) and worked some deal with him to have the BLACK BOWLS delivered to me. Naturally, I stormed into his office accusing him and he swore he had nothing to do with them. He was the pastor of my church at one time and I hung that over his head that he had better not be lying to me. HA! I waited a couple of days before I called Mom to tell her that the BLACK BOWLS have been delivered. She exclaimed, “THAT IS WONDERFUL!” Finally, after she got my sister, Peggy on the phone, we laughed over how the story unfolded. Mom emailed Ida, a friend of hers that lives in the Denver area to ask for her help. Mom sent the bowls to Ida and Ida was going to drive out to my house on Monday, Feb 17 and leave the package on my front porch. Then when Mom found out that my husband, Rod was not scheduled to fly out as expected and they went to plan B. Ida called my office, and Shawn answered her call. Ida recruited Shawn to help her. Tuesday, Feb 18, Ida drops by the office and leaves the bag with Shawn at the front desk and then Shawn drops it off on my desk. See email from Ida to my Mom: I delivered the bowls to Joan's office about 2:15. She was in the office so I had to make a quick get away, lest she come out to speak with the receptionist and catch me red handed. I called this morning to let her know I would be dropping them off and didn't want Joan to know who did it. You may be getting a message soon. The receptionist just quickly hid the package under her desk, so I don't know when she will present them to her. – Ida Whoever is expecting the return of the BLACK BOWLS, they strategize on how and who will return the BLACK BOWLS. A week before, out of the blue, my neighbor had suggested that we come over for dinner on the Valentine’s eve. Since it was Valentine, we had assumed that mom contacted her and sent her the BLACK BOWLS. We figured they would serve us dinner in those bowls. The plans did not go thru on Valentine’s Day and she asked to reschedule the following weekend. We accused her of having the BLACK BOWLS in her possession at this point and she laughed when she said she did not have the BLACK BOWLS. Since I now have the BLACK BOWLS in my possession, I believe her! So beware! If you are a friend of my mom or to me, you will be watched carefully and accused of having possession of BLACK BOWLS! But have fun with it anyway! MARCH 2003 We have had many offers from friends and families that would love to help deliver those BLACK BOWLS back to either Mom or myself. Not to mention ALL the creative and crazy ideas they have come up with to deliver those BLACK BOWLS. I knew that Mom's good friend, Nadine would love to come up with a strategy to surprise Mom with the BLACK BOWLS. I contacted Nadine by phone (Nadine does not own a computer or email. Mom needs to work on her!) and when I asked for her help, she said "SURE!" I sent Nadine the box with the BLACK BOWLS with St Patrick stickers and a Green plastic hat to have a little fun in. Another friend, Margaret, announced to Mom in the church hallway the Sunday before St Patrick's Day, that she had a present with her name on it. After Mom located the gift, she just knew the box was the right size for BLACK BOWLS. Margaret urged Mom to open the package immediately. Mom accused Margaret of being the BLACK BOWL deliverer after confirmation of the box contents and Margaret denied all wrong doings. Poor Margaret! Grant, the pastor that delivered them to Mom in August, told Mom “Between God and Me, It’s not me!” Naturally Mom accused everyone in sight and everyone denied it, including Nadine. Nadine told Mom, "Why would I think to do a thing like that?" Mom told my sister, Peggy that she didn't think Nadine delivered the BLACK BOWLS as Nadine usually spills the beans easily. Mom called me up and asked "WHO DID IT?" I laughed and asked if she had any ideas who had done it? She relayed the story to me and after much giggling, I finally revealed the name of my faithful deliverer to her. Mom was completely surprised to learn it was Nadine. Mom called Nadine after she hung up with me and again Nadine said. "Why would I think to do a thing like that?" She kept evading question until Mom told her that she knew that she was the one. When Mom told her that I had disclosed her name, Nadine laughed and admitted to be the one behind the delivery of the BLACK BOWLS. Nadine, you would make a great spy for the U.S. Good Job! APRIL 2003 Mom managed to surprise me again with the delivery of the BLACK BOWLS! I have just flown back from surprising Mom at her home this last week, wishing I had the BLACK BOWLS in hand to give to her when I landed on her doorstep. I packed a small bag to avoid having any room for those BLACK BOWLS to mystically be stowed inside. The day after we flew home, Rod and I were involved with a community Easter Egg Hunt that our church was sponsoring. After filling and tying ribbons for over 150 balloons, we were busy helping clean up after the egg hunt in the community park. A friend from my church came over to me with 3 people saying they were looking for me. One lady steps up to me and asks, “Are you Joan?”. When I acknowledged, she tells me that she has something for me and hands me this gift bag. I instantly knew the BLACK BOWLS had to be in the bag and I looked back at the deliverer trying to determine who she was I had no idea who she was or whom she was connected to. I finally blurted out,” WHO ARE YOU?” My deliverer was named Kim and she attends the same church as my mom. Kim had asked my mom if she could play a part in the delivery of the BLACK BOWL since she was flying into town to visit her sister 250 miles away. While my sister kept me busy on the computer last week, they informed Rod of their plans and asked him for the location of the Easter Egg Hunt. Rod’s job was to make sure I was kept busy cleaning up to make sure Kim made her delivery. It turns out that Kim has been dying to play a part in delivering the BLACK BOWLS ever since Mom’s pastor had returned the BLACK BOWLS back to Mom in front of the whole church last September. I tried to convince Kim to take them back to my Mom, like Mom did with my friend, Barb, but she stayed loyal to Mom. After posing for pictures with the BLACK BOWLS, Kim had completed her mission and was off to see her sister. Isn’t amazing to watch our friends go the extra mile (or is it extra miles?) to play a part in this BLACK BOWLS saga?

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