Aryn Henning Nichols

Pat Heying, 88 years old, was born and raised in the Ossian area. She married Paul Heying at Ossian Desales Church in 1955. Local farm ladies cooked the bridal meal and Rose Heying (Paul’s Mother) was in charge. The festivities started at 8 am with pictures, a bridal party breakfast, wedding at 10 am, and the meal served after. They had a dance with Johnny & the Tune Crackers at the Desales School gymnasium. Pat and Paul lived in Ossian their whole lives and raised a large family. The last few years she spent taking care of and visiting Alan at the Ossian Senior Hospice. She is now a resident at the Ossian Care Center and enjoys visiting with the staff and other residents, as well as family and friends.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

A friend visiting my parents told me the that “these years would be the best years of my life” when I was complaining about school, homework, lessons, & I was just tired of it.

What is the worst advice you have ever been given? 

When doctors in Iowa City told me I should give up my baby, Alan, who was born with Downs Syndrome, or put him in a home right away. Paul and I raised Alan, and he was the most loving son and brother ever – he watched out for his siblings, and they watched over him. He lived to be 65 years old and was only here at the hospice for a short time. 

What did you want to be when you grew up? 

I always wanted to be an airline stewardess, at that time it would have been a financial hardship on my parents, so I got a job. At 18, I worked as a bookkeeper and answered the CB radio for the REA – known now as Allamakee Clayton Electric Corporation. I had to give up that job in 1955 when I was going to marry Paul. You could not be employed there if you were married. 

What was your profession? 

I worked as a CNA for eight years at the Care Center & for Frana Beer Distributing for 20 years as a bookkeeper. And raised seven children.

If you were stranded on a desert island what are 3 things you would want with you? 

Water, fruit, and bread.

Try to describe yourself in one word: Faithful

If you could eat anything every day for the rest of your life – what would it be? Assorted fruit 

Name one thing you could never live without: My family 

What is an unusual compliment you received but really appreciated? 

There was a new resident here and not many talked with her, so I made a point of visiting every day. One day, a couple weeks later, her family came in and was looking for Pat Heying. I introduced myself and they told me how appreciative they were that I took the time to visit with their mother. It really made my day. A little effort goes a long way.

What simple pleasures of life do you enjoy? 

I used to enjoy dancing, gardening, and raising my children. Now I enjoy visiting with my family, friends, and other visitors. I attend rosary daily and mass, and my sister visits weekly for lunch. 

What is your best advice? Be honest, appreciate the people you meet, and be kind. 

The ability to make my own choices is honestly something I’ve never lived without. I mean, of course as a younger kid there were decisions that my parents or other adults made for me, but to be able to live the lucky, choice-filled life that I have become accustomed to is something I’m really grateful for. 

However, I associate choices with decisions, and oftentimes, deciding is super hard. Throughout your whole life, you have to make completely different decisions about different situations with different levels of importance. 

For example, I remember one time, when I was maybe seven years old, my grandma took me along to Walmart. Being the American Girl Doll obsessed kid that I was, I went straight to the doll aisle and spent a good amount of time perusing the shelves, eventually finding these two mini, Walmart baskets, each filled with a different type of (fake) food. Of course, I did that completely torn, trying-to-decide-how-I-can-live-with-only-one-or-another face that all children do, but after a while, I figured out I actually had to decide on just one. I remember this story because I spent so long debating which one was the better option (sorry grandma), but eventually, I decided, and we got my mini basket of food and left. It was put to good use, by the way (thanks grandma). The point of all this is to show how what seems like a simple decision can feel really hard in the moment.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to make more and more decisions about all sorts of things. Some recent ones are what activities I want to do for school, what I want to request for my birthday, and how can I get rid of some of my clothes and junk I’ve collected over the years? In the coming years, I’ll have to decide my choice of career, even begin to set up my life and figure out who I’m going to be, and the people I want to be there with me.

There also are certain things I will choose to prioritize this school year. Sports is a big one, as we start school sports in seventh grade and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to participate in them. I’m doing cross-country this fall, basketball in the winter, and track in the spring. So, I’ll be busy, but I’m going to do my best. I’m also going to prioritize my relationships with my friends and family. This is really important to me, as some of my friends and I are doing different activities and have different school schedules, so we can’t hang out as much as we can during the summer. Friends are super important as you go through school and just in general and I am so lucky to have them, and grateful to have been able to make more friends throughout my life. My parents are also (along with being my family) some of my best friends and I’m so fortunate to have that kind of relationship with them. In order to prioritize these things, I’ll need to really just let go of thoughts or people that don’t benefit me or that hold me back and move on.

Rounding out that list of rules or goals is the often said “last but not least” final priority: to have fun. Not just this year, but whenever I can. There’s almost always a bright side that you can find, always a way to move on, to forgive and forget. I think I got this way of thinking from my mom and I’m glad I did. It’s not really something you inherit, but being able to be positive is the key to having fun. So, the next hard decision I’ll face, or problem I have, I’ll find a bright side, a solution, and move on to the next fun chapter.

We created Future Focused, a new Inspire(d) column written by pre-teens and teens, to help give the next generation an opportunity to share their voices. This issue, we have a lovely piece by our daughter, Roxie, all about making choices (and how difficult that can sometimes be).  Agreed! You can read all the Future Focused pieces published so far at iloveinspired.com/category/future-focused. Here’s to Listening to the Next Generation! – Aryn

The very first Inspire(d) Magazine rolled off the presses on October 4, 2007, so we celebrate our birthday every fall! Want to celebrate with us? Make a few of these Confetti Poppers at home, and pop off some shredded paper in a mess of the best kind!

Supplies:

Confetti Poppers templates: Blue and Orange or Pink and Purple
Toilet paper tubes
Scissors
Balloons
Packing tape
Shredded paper
Not pictured (whoops): glue stick
Optional: Washi tape for decoration

Print out your templates (we recommend making all four colors – blue/orange and pink/purple!) Cut the Yay color blocks out of the backgrounds.

If you have different colored balloons (like I did), decide which colors you want to go with each tube cover.

Pick up your first balloon, and tie off the end (don’t put any air in it or anything).

Then, cut off the rounded tip of the balloon.

So it will have a hole at the top like this.

Next, pull it over one end of the toilet paper roll. It will fit tightly.

Take your packing tape and tape the balloon all the way around the tube to keep it secure when it’s time to pop the paper out.

Once that’s done, line up your first tube cover (I combined blue and green for this one) and tape one end to the toilet paper roll (overtop the secured balloon).

Roll the paper around the tube, holding it tight. Grab a glue stick (sorry I forgot to include this in the supplies photo) and glue the other side of the paper to completely fasten it to the tube (now a confetti popper!). Hold that side in place until the glue fully sticks.

You can decorate the top of the confetti popper with washi tape or another decorative way if you’d like.

Roll the washi tape down into the tube to make the top looked finished off (mine could certainly look neater though!).

Take your shedder paper bits and cut them up a bit more (they don’t fly out of the tube at their normal size).

Grab your finished confetti poppers and put the freshly cut up shredded paper into the tubes. Fill about half way.

Once you’re ready for your celebration, pull the balloon end down and release! Wooo! Paper bits everywhere! Party mode activated!