All posts filed under: Family

Happy Days 

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Welcome to the last week of my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 5 Post 3  I remember having chicken pox when I was 10 yrs old and hating that mom had to give me an oatmeal bath because I was so self conscious of my girly parts growing in.  I remember running out to the yard in the afternoon heat with a glass of ice water for daddy as he cut the grass in his weekend trousers and garden gloves.  I remember how my sister pinched my nostrils closed causing me to lose my breath & abruptly wake many a Saturday morning so I’d play Barbies or Strawberry Shortcake with her. I remember before bed time we’d all snuggle under plaid wool blankets in the family room watching ABC’s Happy Days  on Tuesday nights. Now and then scenes from my childhood flash through my mind, and they make me chuckle with teary gratitude.     

Playing Grown Up

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Little girl playing dress up at teatime.  Photo ℅ Jennifer Little of Sugar Photography When Husband and I were looking for a home to buy four and a half years ago, we found a wonderful old craftsman, lovingly restored and updated with plenty of space and a large yard  in our coveted neighborhood, a suburb just a few stops from the city.  While walking through the upstairs sunroom connecting two of the bedrooms, Husband said to me, “So, your mom will stay in that bedroom,” pointing to the door, “and then can hang out and read in this nice space,” gesturing to the sofa against the windows, “while the kids play,” motioning to the floor, “since they”ll probably share this other room,” pointing to the second adjacent bedroom. At the time of that conversation, we had a clear idea of what we wanted our future to be, and were planning to live in a way that would welcome and accommodate that vision.  At the time, we were not expecting children, nor was my newly widowed mother even slightly …

Couldn’t Love Them More

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Our little godsons. Truly God sent. Aug ’13.  Please do not reuse. With your little face and those sweet sweet hands … I couldn’t love you more When you squeal and shout though I know not what about … I couldn’t love you more When I look into your eyes and I know you see me … I couldn’t love you more Even if you push away because you aren’t a hugger … I couldn’t love you more When you make an effort to love your brother … I couldn’t love you more As your chest rises and falls while you sleep … I couldn’t love you more Hiding under the blanket without a peep … I couldn’t love you more Not knowing how to write a poem Nor how a stanza goes Attempting to express my love When everyone already knows You are both so precious and still so small My love will likely grow Being your auntie is the world to me I just wanted to tell you so.

My Daddy’s Girl

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Due to a complete overhaul of our closets, I have been going through every piece of clothing, paper, box, and folder to see what can stay and what needs to go.  Inside one of my dusty boxes that has been sitting in the corner for months untouched, I found a few scrappy looking notebooks.   I have been writing in journals for years, but not meticulously so.  Mismatched notebooks, packing lists mixed in with curriculum ideas, and wedding notes tossed in with recipes, I write down anything and everything, and will often use bits and pieces of each notebook for streams of thought.  There are certain notebooks and journals that I have ripped up, shredded and tossed out because there was nothing much to them.  I will do that with the ones that hold no significance and mark nothing of importance to me.  Looking at the most conspicuous of today’s bunch, I flipped through a very random tiny notebook already knowing it was going to the shred pile, but suddenly, I saw it…..  the notes …