Red, White and Blue - - it's a Wrap!

I prayed every day for our current President and my last prayer last night was: this is your call God and I'm going to bed.  I know you'll consider this man who has a good heart and a great love for this country and the people he will govern.  Amen!  I trusted!  It Happened and I accept it as an answer.  My prayer now is: Let's move forward!  Onward and upward!

I really wish a Republican would have won in 2008 so our current President wouldn't have been blamed for all the clean up of 8 years of the former President, perhaps the people could see what I saw, the huge mess this country was in.  Perhaps they would love this President more for all he has done to keep us moving FORWARD.  Four more years Mr. Obama, I'm a supporter for this country but it has to come from all of us and both Parties. 

Grandsons - Sunday, October 28, 2012

The hollowness of the house once the laughter and the noise are gone is a loneliness we feel when the boys leave the house after being here a few hours or a couple of days.  In the beginning they arrive running through the house, loving on us and telling us how happy they are to be here, then the messes they make, the pickiness of their food preferences when they are with us, the squabbles between them, the differences of opinion between me and Paw Paw about what is allowed and what isn’t reaches a peak and just about gets on my last nerve.

 Suddenly adaptation takes place; familiarity by nightfall; talking, hugging, playing, remembering back—we settle in before bedtime and it all feels right again.  Too soon they are leaving again; the goodbyes see you soon, call us, love you, and then we are back to the empty house.  A good memory was made these past 2 days, but now the dog, Paw Paw and I are missing two young boys.

Happy Birthday to our Logie Bear

Get up, get going - - today you are 10 years old. No time to sit still for time is running. 

I can't believe it.  Logan, Happy Birthday.  We called you this morning.  Pawpaw and I longed to see you as you got up with that smile that slowly spreads across your face like molasses slowly running over pancakes.  To see your smile is a gift to us. We asked you what you want from us for your birthday and you said $20, stating that's a lot of money you know.  I could imagine what you would do with that $20, perhaps buy some fishing gear, or candy, perhaps something with wheels on it.  Oh, we love you so much Logie Bear.  As I write this now I am smiling, thinking of you and how you have grown in 10 years. 

Time stands still for no one, but I can still see you standing, in your diaper, holding onto the television while you moved your little body to the music of Joe Polka.  You've always entertained us.  Memories are flashing through my head right now.  All good!  All wonderful!  I thank God we have you and your brother in our lives - - you've both been gifts to us each day.

Happy wonderful 10 years of life, and looking forward to many more blogs to write about you and your brother.

We love you!

Memaw and Pawpaw

August 3, 2012-Happy Birthday to Micah

Happy Birthday Micah - - you are a teenager now, how wonderful!  This is a milestone in your life and there is no way to go but up and forward.  I'm so proud of you Micah.  You've accomplished lots of milestones this year.

Thirteen is a special age.  It is the age of  an internal endless tugging at your heart and soul to develop your own values and thoughts, to be more of the person you will eventually become as an adult.  It is tough and beautiful --somewhat the way a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly.  I still remember wanting to form an independence from my parents when I became 13.  I cut off my long ponytail, fixed my hair in a ducktail, slapped on my Elvis Presley hat, and knew something amazing, overnight,  had occurred.  I pushed my parents patience.  I needed their guidance, but didn't think so.  I  knew it all, or so I thought! Remember, this is when you need the guidance of your parents to help you walk this new map of life so that you stay on the right track.  Now is your time to become a leader of your peers, but continue to hang onto your values.

Micah, you and Logan are mine and Pawpaw's heroes of all time. Someday I will be able more to put these thoughts into a conversation with you.  Right now is not the time.  Live happy!  Live large!  Live moral!  Be tough on yourself if you need to, but always be kind and gentle to yourself.   Grow, learn, and have fun for the years ahead will come faster and faster for you.  I wake up and it's a year later already, so make your years count for something, but be careful, yet serious about staying on the right track.  Live your life to the fullest.  Pawpaw and I love you so very much --
Happy 13 years of life.

Memaw and Pawpaw

Little Purses

Sitting with my female cousins at Ballard Street Grill I noticed they both had little purses instead of the big clunky purses.  I sat with my big clunky purse on the floor gathering germs and possibly getting picked up by a thief -- not that thieves would ever be at the little restaurant in Wylie, Texas, but one never knows what lurks in the big and little cities! 

After that encounter with the little purses, I noticed more and more women carrying them--everywhere.  Must be something wonderful and liberating about the little purse that is about 10 inches long and 8 inches deep with lots, and lots of little pockets and areas to tuck away things.  The purse hangs over your shoulder and neck so if a thief wants to get your purse they have to fight for it, dragging your neck with them.  Okay, I'll try a "little purse", so I bought one. 

I took a look at this little purse and wondered how I would get all my make up, my billfold and my other essentials in this small storage. The short answer is - - You don't!  I put my license in one slot and my AAA card in the other, then it was time to put money and make up in the purse, along with all my other necessary items such as breath mints, gum, coupons, notebook,mirror, kleenex...  Oh well, I don't have to have all these things with me, so I stick one tube of lipstick in my purse, one tissue, and a dollar in the purse.  In addition there are two pockets on the outside of the purse where keys and a cell phone may be stored.

Off I go feeling smart, looking smart, feeling so much lighter.  As I am sitting at a redlight, I look in the mirror on the sunvisor and notice I forgot to put my mascara on. This makes me look tired.  I didn't  have room in my purse for makeup.  I make a mental note to carry an extra bag in the future for my makeup..  When I get to the gas station I realize I have one dollar and forgot my credit card holder. A thimble of gas can't be bought with a $1 any longer--like in my youthful days.  Okay, another mental note made to carry an extra bag next time.  As I turn around to go home and get my credit card I am starting to wonder what the heck this little purse thing is all about.

This time, I'm smarter when I arrive back at the house.  I load up my book bag with my Kindle, my makeup, my billfold and all the other things I NEED to carry with me daily so I can have the advantage of carrying the "little purse".   Now I feel better.  Camera, check!  Billfold, check!  Makeup bag, check!  Coupons, check!  Gum, check!  Breath mints, check! Bottle of water, check! Might as well throw in some baby wipes and a magazine or two.  Okay, feeling secure, I leave the house and head out. 

When I get to my destination, I step out of the van with my little purse all snug around my neck and shoulder, and my 18 pound bag in my other hand and off I go feeling secure I have everything I need now. However, here is the problem, where do I put the 18 pound bag with all my essential things in it?  I'm back to square one.  When I arrive home in the evening after being exhausted from carrying an extra bag, I unload my little purse and throw it in a drawer. I reach for my clunky bag with a sparkle in my eye and load it all up again with everything from my book bag.  I'm happy again.  Next!  Perhaps a purse on wheels!

Bringing Mama Home

I put off calling the funeral home about mom's ashes. I wanted to remember her at her home working in her garden; enjoying cooking and doing the many things she loved. I wish I were 1/2 the woman she was. She was a wonderful mother, caregiver, grandmother, great grandmother, wife, sister, friend and her sense of humor got us all through the difficult times of our lives.

Finally, I called the funeral home yesterday and asked if mom's ashes were ready to be picked up. I was told they were ready, so today I sucked it up and got ready to go. I felt such a heaviness on me as though picking up the ashes meant she was gone for good; however, I know she is just in another place and I'll see her again someday. Not a fantasy but a fact I'm certain of. I whispered to the voice on the other end of the phone connection that I would come tomorrow to pick up the ashes.

Tomorrow came! I couldn't get started. Finally I called and told Marilyn at the funeral home I would be there before she left for lunch at 12:30 p.m. I arrived at noon. I paid the extra money on the obituary because I was rather wordy with the obituary (could have written a book about her). I was handed the death certificates, and then mom's ashes. I held them close to my chest. I had been tearful in my memories all the way to the funeral home, but now I stood there with the finality of it. I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. My precious mom was in this urn. On the way home, I talked to my mom, I played a Tony Bennett CD for me and her, and I knew she was smiling at me and wishing we could twirl around the room one more time. Once upon a Time was one of the songs on the CD and it reminded me of mom and dad and their young love. It brought some type of peace knowing they were both frolicking in Heaven enjoying whatever Heaven has in store for us.

I looked at the death certificate. The cause of death, Myocardial Infarction. I brought mom's ashes inside the house, hugging the urn to my chest. I stepped onto the front porch with the urn in my arms. Chick was busy working on the shrubs and didn't hear me arrive. I said, "Chick, mom says hello!" He said, "Hello mom." As a family we will place her ashes and dad's in the ground and remember them as they once were. For now I am honored to have my mom's ashes with me.

The trouble with dentures

February 28, 2012-Tuesday

I thought about going to Wylie for breakfast this morning. I could hear Chick rummaging around in the living room, the bathroom and mumbling as he rummaged. In a few minutes the door to the bedroom popped open. I figured he wanted me up to go to breakfast. It was 6:45 a.m. I looked at the clock by the bed. Chick said, “Are you playing a trick on me?” I said, “What is the matter with you?” He claimed to have lost his bottom denture during the night. I said, “Why would I do something like that Chick?” He said, he woke up and his bottom denture was missing. He had taken his chair apart, the couch, looked through the trash, in the toilet, in the dog’s crate, through his medication bag, on the side table in the floor, sink, cups that were in the sink, and notta! I got up and went through his routine with questions: “Did you take them out during the night? Did you check the trash? Did you swallow them? Did you throw up in the toilet?” Each question met with a NO. I started the search.

I turned the recliner over and searched the bottom, the floor, the trash, the toilet, the dirty dishes, the dog crate, the medication bag, the refrigerator, the couch. No luck with my search either. I started the questions again. We started thinking of the cost and where could we get a new denture made for him, fast. We discussed what could have become of the teeth. Did he go outside with the dog and perhaps sneeze them out? What a big mystery!

I started the search again. I looked in the dog crate because Marlee has been guilty of picking up the teeth and playing with them when he’s left them lying on the side table by his chair. Lesson learned I hoped! I picked up the cushions on the couch again. I picked up 20 dog bones Marlee had hidden, and there next to the dog bones were his teeth, upside down blending in with all of Marlee’s hidden treasures. I looked them over, they were fine. I think she licked the food out of the crevices in the teeth. I handed them to Chick. He was glad to get them, dog germs and all. Second time the dog has made off with his dentures. I would have liked to have had a picture of that dog with Chick’s teeth in her mouth, smiling! Now it was too late for breakfast! Seventy Four years old this month, what will the rest of the year bring?

Mama said there would be days like this!

I put off calling the funeral home about mom's ashes. I wanted to remember her at her home working in her garden; enjoying cooking and doing the many things she loved. I wish I were 1/2 the woman she was. She was a wonderful mother, caregiver, grandmother, great grandmother, wife, sister, friend and her sense of humor got us all through the difficult times of our lives.

Finally, I called the funeral home yesterday and asked if mom's ashes were ready to be picked up. I was told they were ready, so today I sucked it up and got ready to go. I felt such a heaviness on me as though picking up the ashes meant she was gone for good; however, I know she is just in another place and I'll see her again someday. Not a fantasy but a fact I'm certain of. I whispered to the voice on the other end of the phone connection that I would come tomorrow to pick up the ashes.

Tomorrow came! I couldn't get started. Finally I called and told Marilyn at the funeral home I would be there before she left for lunch at 12:30 p.m. I arrived at noon. I paid the extra money on the obituary because I was rather wordy with the obituary (could have written a book about her). I was handed the death certificates, and then mom's ashes. I held them close to my chest. I had been tearful in my memories all the way to the funeral home, but now I stood there with the finality of it. I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. My precious mom was in this urn. On the way home, I talked to my mom, I played a Tony Bennett CD for me and her, and I knew she was smiling at me and wishing we could twirl around the room one more time. Once upon a Time was one of the songs on the CD and it reminded me of mom and dad and their young love. It brought some type of peace knowing they were both frolicking in Heaven enjoying whatever Heaven has in store for us.

I looked at the death certificate. The cause of death, Myocardial Infarction. I brought mom's ashes inside the house, hugging the urn to my chest. I stepped onto the front porch with the urn in my arms. Chick was busy working on the shrubs and didn't hear me arrive. I said, "Chick, mom says hello!" He said, "Hello mom." As a family we will place her ashes and dad's in the ground and remember them as they once were. For now I am honored to have my mom's ashes with me.