Pete Stuff
Jean K. Mellang: 1919-2012
My grandma, Jean Mellang, passed away this last Sunday at age 92. This was what I wrote to say at her service today ( though I didn’t use notes so what I actually said was probably kinda different.
Grandma, I love you and will miss you very much.
It’s funny the things you remember….
I’ve got a long commute to work every day and I’ve spend the last few days thinking about grandma and beating myself up that I can’t come up with some poignant story or memory to talk about…
The only things I seem to come up with are a lot of little silly stuff..
I remember going to her house on hickory hills and her giving me a soda… Used to drive mom NUTS but I loved it..
I remember baking cookies…
I remember her slipping me those chalky mints from the club.
I remember her reading me the good Samaritan, Daniel and the lions den, and Joseph and the coat of many colors..
I remember that zipper pocket in her furry winter muff.
I remember her writing me letters full of strange clippings about apple and Steve jobs that she’d found in the paper.
I remember her asking how Kevin is doing.
I remember her asking me every time I called what I did at work, only to respond that she didn’t really understand what I was talking about but it sounded very interesting..
I remember her last letter to me in November where she described to me what she’d had for dinner and advising me to stick to one dog – two might be too many.. 🙂
I remember her telling me I was gods perfect loving reflection and that she loved me very much… She said that a lot over the years..
But as I thought about this stuff I came to realize that this WAS the important stuff..
The relationship between mother and daughter when it came to parenting styles ( manifested by a soda in my hand before I was out of the car ) must have driven them nuts but I came to realize had a very important side effect – it meant that is was always clear the I was cared for, safe, and loved no matter what… Despite everything that might have been happening around me at the time I was largely aware because I had both of them loving me in their own ways.
Those bible stories and words about perfection and gods love didn’t make much sense to me at the time but they seemed nice… But as I grew up and started question myself and the outside world started telling what was right and wrong it became very important… It meant that I really never questioned whether I was who I was meant to be. I exactly the person I was supposed to be and that was enough…
And, most importantly, those apple clippings about stuff I already knew, questions about work and Kevin, and advice about how many dogs to have? Its because of those I knew that she was thinking about me, interested in my life, and loved me…
So really it’s those little things that seem inconsequential at the time that add up to meaning so much..
And for those, and for her, I’ll always be grateful. And she’ll always be with me.
Thanks Steve
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. – Apple Inc.
An update from the lost
Its been AGES and AGES since i’ve posted anything to my blog – and i don’t even really have much to say this time. Just been stupid busy with a bunch of things as usual. True to form (for me at least) work occupies a larger than normal percentage of my time – never been very good at that whole work life balance thing. Just like it was at Apple, I can’t really talk publicly about whats going on with me in this gig either..
Have managed to get some play time in outside of work though which has been nice – the holidays were VERY nice – got to spend some good quality time with one side of the family and got to rest up some too as well. We spent Christmas in Sacramento with my mom, step dad, sis, bro-in law, step sis, step bro-in-law, and the bro-in-law’s dad… Those days were a lot of eating, talking, opening presents, movie watching (in the new kick-ass granite bay media room) and a trip to see Avitar (which i LOVED).
New Years was super fun too – the whole family (minus the step sis and bro-in law since they had to go back to PDX :(:( ) came out for new years eve dinner.. After dinner the rents had to beat it back to Granite bay for a party of their own and Katie, nick and I went off to a party for the new year and then out to blackbird for drinks after that. Really fun night (though did result in a SUPER fun hangover the next day – but thats OK).
New Years day we went to Matt and Brian’s for BB’s new years birthday with Katie and Nick which was also great.. As usual Matt cooked up a storm and we got to hang out and play with the Aud-ster. Later in the day was a blur – think dinner and rented a movie or something.
That weekend Katie and Nick had to head back home (booo) and we just hung out. Went to see “A Single Man” which we both LOVED… Very well done both from a production / artistic perspective as well as from a plot perspective… Loved it..
Last week was mostly work and pulling together a video for Alex’s 40th Birthday party. Scott and I decided to pull together a slideshow and a video for the party last saturday night with clips from a bunch of his friends. Turned out to be super fun to edit it all together – video wound up being a little long and I don’t like the audio mix much.. but still fun. The actual party was Saturday night which was super fun to.. Pictures all through dinner and video at the end.. We got a private room at Luce in the Intercontinental… Overall very fun…
This week is all work and this weekend we’re going up to Napa with some friends to escape.
So I guess that was longer than i thought.. boring to most i’m sure but figured i was overdue… no promises on the next post (since i always seem to break them).. but i’ll try! 🙂
Weekend update
Just a quick update for a Sunday as I hide in the bedroom from the painters… One of the many projects we have going on is having the upstairs painted… They’re almost done and its going to look HOT but in the mean time our place looks like construction site AGAIN (i’m getting good at living in shrapnel)… All of our stuff is heaped in the center of every room with big plastic tarps over them. I’ll post pictures when its done though (once its put back together of course)
Aside from that not much to report sadly. Work is going pretty well though I’ve got TONS that i need to be doing it and, sadly, there is only 24 hours in every day and Kevin informs me I have to spend at least a couple of those hours sleeping and eating. Ah well.
And one more thing – just for fun… A friend of mine from college sent some REALLY OLD pictures he found of a ski trip to breck… SCARY but its me and some really shiny purple Oakleys… SCARY…
thats it for now… off to a party… more later
