Saturday, May 16, 2009

I find it so interesting that we have...


so many examples of loving sisters in our family that it is too many to count. Grandma Hanst didn't have a sister and I feel sorry for her. But Grandma and Auntie, "Ruthy and the girls", Mom and her sisters:}, Grandma Monica and Aunt Glo are just a few.
I went over to Grandma Ruth's house, when my girls were little and the telephone rang. Grandma said, stand right there! The tone of her voice meant don't even move another muscle, don't pick it up and don't walk away from it. She let it ring and then it stopped and then it rang again. It is Aunt Iva, she said, pick it up. I picked it up and sure enough it was Aunt Iva and I was now privy to their wonderful love language of sisterhood. They had a special ring and Grandma wanted Aunt Iva to know that Jayne and the girls were visiting her and she knew that I would never call Aunt Iva myself, so she commanded me to pick up the phone and speak to Aunt Iva, thus updating her on my life. That is sister love. I was so insulted by the commanding tone and the forced servitude of those days that I really couldn't understand the lessons. Ben, on the otherhand, understood everything Grandma Ruth was saying and often interpreted her "savage" ways to me.
Once we were with Uncle Charles and Ben was singing Grandma Ruth's praises, over and over in his way. And Uncle interpreted that relationship for me. He helped me to see that she was a nonverbal teacher and that what she wanted us to learn was the care of this man was important. Her Grandson in law was very special to her. She served him and talked his language and got dressed up when he came over and I was totally blind to the sweetness of their relationship. Learning to prize and be comforted in the relationships we have, even with the pricklys is sometimes difficult. Not so hard with sisters, but the other people...
I wonder if you remember some special sisterly surprise lessons that you learned from the old ladies that we knew?
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1 comment:

Joanne Bodden said...

I will think about it but I do remember listening with rapt attention to you & Ju's exploits into the Fontebonne world of the privileged.Do you remember that? I think the more sisters you have the luckier you are for sure. I was with Grandma Ruth when she was dying and she called out for Iva allot and when she was calm she wanted me to name everybody. The names meant something real and comforting to her.

May 16, 2009 at 9:15 PM

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Title- The Studious One!

Title- The Studious One!
artwork by Elyse

Of biscuits and syrup

Of biscuits and syrup
tasty treats

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday!
a day at the Raptor Center.

Widdle Emmie in outer space school

Emmie jumped on the bus and off it flew out into the atmosphere. There was a set of clouds with turbulence right above the house and it took a few minutes for my Emmie to buckle her seatbelt. They hit the bump hard and it knocked my Emmie out of her seat and she bumped her head. The video camera came on and the monitor looked through and stated, Ms. Emmie, where are you? You are not in your seat. Where are you? I am alright I fell because I hadn’t buckled correctly. Well jump up Emmie we have a long way to go and you have to be buckled there is entirely too much turbulence in the stratosphere for you to unbuckle now. As soon as we are through this weather system there will be straight sailing but right now you must buckle. Emmie scrambled into the seat with intensity and purpose now. She watched every cloud pass her window and her nose was pressed to the window trying to see the top of the house as it drifted slowly out of sight. Soon they were not only out of sight of the house, the sun came out brightly and just as quickly they were putting on the atmospherical breathing apparatus and the outerspherical lights. The ABA and the OL. These precautions were to make them appear to be satellites to the radar as they were out in the ionosphere. Emmie knew all about this now. She had gone to the orientation and had a good breakfast and it took them 20 minutes for her to get out past the atmospherical pull and to feel the zero gravity. It would be 15 minutes before the gravity simulators would take effect, a glitch in the system which was being worked on. Until then, they enjoyed the couple of minutes of floatation, while being connected to the seats by belt. The first thing they saw everyday was the strataflotsam. The items which had been dumped into the atmosphere by earlier generations. What would their generation do about this ecological waste area that remained floating above their heads? This was a question for the generations. For now it was the area that they had to guide through on the way to school.

Midnight at the OASIS

Midnight at the OASIS
Sunset in Huntersville

My little Emmie

ran to the bus on the first day of the last year of school. 2 buns on the side of her head. She kissed me and ran at dawn to the bus. She was starting the adventure of a lifetime. I would never see that little girl again, she was going to woman school!

My Father and I 1989

My Father and I 1989

to the tune of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

A VISIT TO PAPA











Are you going to Mary Immaculate?

Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



Remember me to the one who lived there,



He once was a true love of mine,



Tell him to buy me an acre of land,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



Between the muddy Hudson in Jamaica Bay,



Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,

Tell him to sow in it seeds of pure cream,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



And build Ice cream mountains and buildings of whipped cream,

Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,



Tell him to reap them with sickles of M&M’s,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



And chew bubble gum and eat till we’re done,



Then, He’ll be a true love of mine.



Tell him to run it off down the motor parkway,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



After your done 50 pushups



and jog down the West Side Highway,



Then he’ll be a true love of mine…

(Don’t wait for me today dad, The kids are sick again, My tummy’s bulging again, My heart is aching again, And now there’s no love there…)





He once was, a true love of mine….So, Girls, I do beg you don't miss your Daddy,Apricots, Chocolate cherries and Pie,You have one short chance to see him on this side, Go visit him and let your light shine.