3 am, the full or almost full moon lit up my room shining off of the snow!

What a precious gift the clearing of the sky was. We had spent 2 whole days under the dark and ominous cloudy blizzard conditions. There was no hint of sunshine for those 2 days. That is so rare for our area. Even when it rains the clouds are usually way up in the sky. These clouds were all around us and above us. When the moon came out, it woke me up. The clouds had risen. I looked out my back door and the clouds were traveling away on the horizon like a train there was a white train looking line of clouds, which had brought me, my presents of snowflakes and were waving goodbye. Bye, snow clouds.
It is a sunny, snowy day. Beautiful!
I love that 3 inches of unsalted snow and ice can cripple the city. The stopping of the traffic and the cancelling of services and the enjoyment of the family with oneanother, is a mercy and a grace. Thank you God, for snow!

Snow showers, just a sign of the showers

I had to go to work, but it was a beautiful snowfall. The flocks of birds were travelling from everywhere North and we live right near Route 85. People travel in their cars, down south and the birds seemed to stop at my job as like a aviarical 7-11 for them. They were taking a potty break at my job on my lunch hour. I was delighted and spent, at least 15-20 minutes watching their charting their course for the robin family's trip to Disney. It was just adorable. 30 or 40 robins collecting worms and doing their business and charting their course. After they left, the snow came down and 3 inches stopped the city.
They do not believe in snowplows down here. So everyone is obliged to stay indoors and usually the snow is melted by now. Not this time. Hooray an overnight snowfall. We get a 2 day enjoyment of the snow. It is like a taste of home for the moment! Snow is like a familiar friend that came to visit me. If it wasn't so cold I would sleep in the snow and just enjoy the friendship.
I came home from work and there was no snowman. My children are too old to think about it on their own. It is snowing again tonight and I am elated.

Yesterday, I saw a rainbow.

What a pretty sight. Everything went haywire on the getting ready for school routine. That is not out of the ordinary for us, these days. The boys have figured out that if they put one thing out of place or can't find one thing or another, they will get personal attention. Yesterday, it was Ethan's coat. Where is your coat? I was going to flip. I didn't though! We just missed the bus and took them to school by car. Not without much waiting outside and when we went outside to wait for Ben, who had taken Elyse to work; the sky was dotted with flocks heading south. We made up little stories about where they could be going and who was the pastor of each flock and other things that we talk about when we see birds. When we finally got in the car, the anger had ceased, in me. I looked up; there was a beautiful rainbow perfectly placed right in the way of my vision after the boys got out of the car to go to school. Like God said calm down. They will get it, after a while. Those boys would have no attention at all if they didn't force it by these tantrums of dischevelment. I learned yesterday to appreciate the chaos and the gift of the "schooldays" season that we are in with these boys. The rainbow was a gift and then later in the day the snow came. We are now celebrating Christmas again, with the first snowfall of our year 2010. Looks like 3 or 4 inches. It stops everything! I love NC.

I remember the sun that was bright the day that we took this picture.

1970?
We went to Grandma's house and I remember that she happened to have her "instamatic" camera. She looked around to find her little flash to put it on the "instamatic". My face said, I love you, Grandma. That is how I felt that day. Rejoicing in the beauty of a precious baby brother and proud to stand next to Mommy to take the picture of us and him. We were going to take the picture in the house, but Grandma's garden was so blooming that she suggested that we take the picture outside. Grandma was very specific on who stood where, so that everyone would be seen in this picture, even Abby's face was to be clear in the picture. She had a little flash to take the picture inside, but she chose to take it outside near her precious rosebush. I was so tempted to touch the rosebush, but we were forbidden from touching anything at Grandma's house, everything was so beautiful. I love you Grandma, I thought. To me she was a touch from heaven on the earth. I loved her with everything inside me. My one favorite comfort was a hug from Grandma and an hour on her organ would also be a close second.
I miss her enormously. God has been good enough to bless me with a little version of her in my Elyse. Emily is more like a mixture of me and mommy and Ev is Jackie-Jo-Amy. You never really lose anyone or anything. God is just lending us His love through the love of one another.
I loved that little fellow in mommy's arms and we spent alot of time at Rochdale together, while Mom was playing tennis. That picture may have been one of the first days we went to Rochdale. It was the end of having babies for mom and the beginning of a tennis future. Who could've known that tennis would have taken us all over the city?

Kick-fights?

Christie Family Reunion '08

1970?
Who remembers kickfights? Who can kick the other one out of the bed and not get in trouble? What muckrakers we were? I have to remind myself, when my own muckrakers are getting too silly for words.
Ju and I had a wonderful way of staying up talking and giggling about every little thing in the world. All night, or until Dad got home, whichever came first(Dad worked nights). Once a month, I would cry about everybody who had left us. Priests, who had come and gone, Grandma Gertie, dying, Karla going to Japan? I just would cry about anything. Most times she would try to comfort me, but she cried more than I did when I would start listing the things to cry about. Then she would go to sleep and let me cry by myself. Little people have feelings too, I know.
Christina used to cry, when her mommy would go to work and we would pray for God to keep mommy safe, till she came home. Something to hang your tears on, is family. God holds every tear, I know. Now that I am past cycles and the emotional upheaval that they bring, I can see that they had a purpose of tying us together in common affections and reality.
These days, I am crying for Haiti. What a sad tragedy. My tears cannot change the sadness, but the sadness binds us together as the creations of God on earth. Merciful God, send comfort to our brethren in Haiti.

God is Love

That Overtime knocked me out!

I slept for about 2 whole days and now, I finally feel somewhat normal. My head is usually on the pillow at 7pm and I am out. I slept most of the day on Sat and Sunday and today, I actually got through a couple of loads of laundry and some dishes. The children had 4 days off and as the icing on the cake they had a 2 hour delay, because of the deluge of rain that we had last night.
They have a saying down here: "Lord willing and the creek don't rise", which essentially means, "barring any providential hinderances". I got a chance to see the "creek rise" first hand. Streets were cut off and some houses were spared by a hair from real flooding. Thank God to be in a house on higher ground. God is so good to show us what these southern sayings mean. We have a farm across the big street from ours that has been red and dry for the years that we have lived here and then one big rain I say that it really was a marshy area. Now it looks like a rice pattie in Japan. It is quite a difference from the drought of 2 years ago. We are very grateful for the rain and the beauty. The children are appreciating the different sensitivity that the school system has for the affects of the elements of nature. God still has some say as to whether or not school has a 2 hour delay. They just love it. Especially Evvy has time to fawn over herself and get ready. It is cute to see my baby girl become a woman.
I am not going to push my new found energy and I am not going to stay up past my bedtime. So... good night.

When I heard this song, at church, I wanted to make a music box for mommy and send it to her to keep stuff in...

Isn't God good?

Time Flies is the book to get!

That Bill Cosby can get me to laugh, when nobody else can. He has some humor about this generation that is unmatched. The vandal of time and gravity that take over are not funny in experience. Midlife is a time when you are wise enough to see what you could've done with your brain and body as they were and haven't the energy to pursue those goals anymore. It can be sad, but not with Bill Cosby commentating on the time crunch. I took a peek inside the book at Amazon.com, on my break and nearly spit up, trying to keep from laughing in the ears of a customer on the phone. (I wasn't on a call, but it came back in my mind when I was on a call and I had to mute the phone to laugh.)
The application of learning in the real world is one of the subjects. How we come out of school with alot of uncategoried vocabulary and sense that hasn't been applied in the real world. Our bodies and minds are sharp, but inexperienced. Then, we grow...old? Grandma Ruth used to just say, Youth is wasted on the young. I tell you as soon as I get 20 bucks I am going to the bookstore to buy it. LOL. I don't buy anything. I may get it for my next birthday from some unassuming happy child or other. But nevertheless, it is on my wish list, for sure. A million laughs to you today, whereever you may find them. Start with Bill Cosby.


An African American Blessing, spawned by Bill Cosby's book:

May the flies of time be shewed away by laughing...

A Beautiful Gray Day followed the other.

I do love the grays and blues on the wrapping paper of my day when I am off to work and you cannot tell whether it is morning or night. It gives me an excitement of anticipation, to be off and out before the sun has had a chance to rise and there are clouds thick and dark to cover it.
I didn't see one of the miniature horses galloping or posing, as they usually do. They must be somewhat fearful of the clouds. The bunch of them, ordinarily have had a couple of morning races with one another, but not yesterday. They were hiding from the rain.
It got chilly and rainy. The temperatures had dipped from 70 to 40 in that one day span and this morning it is back to the January chill of 33. Not to plant anything yet, I guess. I thought it was early planting season. Just a tease, was the weather.
My honey is struggling with this long season of being out of work. He does get some freelance jobs, every once in a while and he has a night custodial job. But it is getting to him that his talents and education feel like they are going to seed.
I am grateful that he is getting to know the children after these many years of being out so much with work and ministry that we didn't see him very much.
All of the children are following him foot to foot. Sometimes that makes me feel unneccessary in the mix. Ethan does show a little writers bent. But everyone strives to be the most superb artist and make their father go ahhh!
He doesn't give out ahhhs at artwork hardly ever. I have to tell him, you can't tell the little ones every single minute detail that they missed. Oh well, I am not the artist and haven't the artists eye and the whole house is quick to remind me of such.
That doesn't go there mother. Your artists eye would have told you that if you had one. I didn't go to "Cooper Union" and I didn't sit at the feet of my husband in art classes. I have no desire to start picking up the paint brushes at this age. I prefer, as my father did the painting of the landscape with the linotype. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I let them decorate my world with color and shapes, the lot of them and I decorate theirs with words, if they would stop to read what I tell them. Go figure~

I thought it was Spring, yesterday!

ESW

Wow! 69 degrees, warm and beautiful. The sky was beautiful and the cows were gathered in a huddle at their usual coffee clatch, when I was on my way home from work. They seem to have alot to talk about when it is warm outside. When it is cold or rainy, they seem to scatter throughout the entire grassy glenn. Yesterday, I wanted to listen in on their gossip, I kept heading home, though.
The clouds were waltzing across the sky leisurely. They obviously had been busy, lately; were not on assignment and were enjoying the vacation day that they had. I felt like I was on vacation when I looked at them for the second 15 minute break that I lassoed myself outdoors to see the sights. I had almost missed it for my introverted habit. It is so interesting how the cold, hibernation habit can make you miss the one day of Springlike weather that could delight us. I didn't miss it. I looked at the weather on my computer. 69 degrees? I am going out to the courtyard.
The courtyard is so beautiful with pansies that defy the weather patterns. The snow killed my pansies long ago and my peach tree is touch and go. I brought it inside, but that one snowfall seems to have been all that it could handle. I certainly hope not. I did love it so. It is looking very dead. Not at my courtyard at work. It is ever blooming and delighting my heart and my pen with sights and thoughts. I see the flowers and the birds, the ants and the beauty as though I am a part of them. Everyday, I try to write to my Ezra about the sights of my courtyard. I use AA Milne as a guide in this. The story of him is that he was an alcoholic and wrote to Christopher Robin about his life through his Winnie the Pooh. My favorite of his is "Now We are Six". I am a bit melancholy that I have been writing about being six, all these years and now that my baby boy is six, I am still not finished writing about being six.
They get so old after six. They get so lost in reality after six. I will keep finding a six year old to love and write to, even after this year of my last boy being six. We spent 5 or six minutes talking about the beauty and wonder of his birth, last night. I love that gleam in his eyes when this big boy thinks about being born and 5 tiny pounds of delight to our family. When will I stop being the shortest in the family, he said. I don't know. I hope it will be a while that you will still be little. It is so hard to watch them grow away.

January is nearly over and I still don't have my resolution list down.

Easter 2004
Em's graduation 2009
Easter Sunday 2005
I didn't do the marathon last year. I didn't lose weight last year. Why don't I just start there. I did learn part of the Hoe down show down dance and enjoy that with my children. That was an accomplishment, if you know that dance. The girls took 1 month going slow to learn it and I am half learned after 6 months.
It is part of our family fun activities. They get a kick out of mommy messing up those kinds of things. I tease them, by messing up the names of things and watching them defend their pastimes, like calling pokemon, pokyman or facebook, face books. They are always correcting me on the things that are their enjoyments. We are looking forward to the end of the semester.
Enoch will get a whole group of new teachers, this semester and start on some new journeys. Evvy is continuing her social development. Friends are everything. Ethan is a safety patrolman and They are trying to get me to sign the papers for Ez to be put in some advanced classes. Something is always brewing in the house, these days and I have to try to keep up. Em is sorting herself out as to what to pursue, she is betwixt and between and Elyse is helping out by working. Family life is just that, family life.

I remember the beautiful baby shower for Amy's birth...

Aunt Gloria had done more than bake a cake for that baby. I guess we were a little jealous that there was a party for somebody else, other than us. There was a huge pink cloth sign that the ladies signed with good wishes. Mommy kept that in her closet next to other things that she would beat us with, when we were naughty. We would go into the closet and use it as a dress up cloth and get beaten to smitherenes. We didn't realize it was sacred. The ladies made such a big deal of Amy's birth. I guess that was when mom felt accepted in the other side of the family and named Amy, after grandma. (just maybe, conjecture, mind you) What a dear girl Amy was and we harrassed her something aweful.
Mommy kept asking us to take her to the potty and tie her shoes and we were old enough to do those things but not without a smack and a pinch to the baby, first. Amy thought everything was hers. That is mine, she would say, all the time. Mine, mine, mine. Grandma Monica would say to Amy, your day will soon come. Hasn't it come? My fulbright sister! Out shining all of the others, in spite of us.
I like that the ladies cared enough to give a shower for the 5th baby. All of the Rosarians were there and blessing mommy and we children remembered with fondness. A mommy definitely needs that at that point. It feels like a bon-voyage, at that point. Well, if I am going to die, this is the way to go, is the spirit. I know Aunt Glo knew that.
Mom was still young and naive about those things, but she was taking it all in stride, just the same.

It was beautiful, how God looked over all of David's older brothers.

He sent Samuel to go and annoint a king to Jesse's house. All of the boys lined up, at their father's bidding. One was missing and they didn't even count him as not there. God could never have meant for that little fellow to amount to anything, they thought. Samuel, himself couldn't imagine that none of these fine boys could have been God's choice for the successor to Saul.
There was a little one. There was a forgotten one who was out in the field singing to God, when the other boys were putting on a show for Samuel. That was the one that God chose to change the world...to kill Goliath...to implement the fear of God into the people and to be the one through whom He would send Messiah. Forgotten, by the family, but the one who changes the world.
Maybe Jo-Amy...I forget you guys name(LOL)...Maybe that is you.
Love you!

Where's Noni's Baby?

Whose birthday is tomorrow? Noni, Noni, Noni. I remember the raspy voice of baby Amy. What a beautiful baby and what alot of energy, my Amy had. "I love you Aphabits...Where'er I go-o-o..."
Amy would show off anywhere. Sing, Amy. I love you Aphabits. We would clap at everything she did. She would never grow to be one of the big ones, that was reserved. Sometimes we would have meetings in Grandma Ruth's bathroom to talk about what the old people were discussing. I would translate what they said into little people talk. Pssp, they are sending Lorraine away...Oh really...
What are they talking about, Jayne? What are they yelling about, Jayne? This is what they said. We have to try to fix it. We had meetings that were for everybody and sometimes we had meetings that were just for the "big girls".
In school, the girls would always exclude me from their meetings, because my mommy hadn't told me the secret yet. I got my tactics given right back to me. I had excluded and I was excluded. Now I am younger than Amy? No! Amy is still not allowed in the big girl's meeting.

I just love how Amy was a loving haunt to Mommy. I think Mommy must have needed that. I used to kiss mommy, I remember the age that, I got too old to run in and kiss my mommy before bed. Amy never got that old. I bet she still calls mommy before bed to give her a kiss. That is a beautiful love. Nobody can be Amy. I love you Amy and I hope that you have a wonderful day, tomorrow.

Today is the "Cumulative" Final!

What does cumulative mean? It means that you will be responsible for all of the content of the class from the first day. Uh, oh! 3 am my handsome other man in the house darkened my door to my bleary eyes. In silence we knew...Today is the day! I stood next to him in the doorway at open house when the teacher rattled a bunch of does and don'ts and the only thing I came away with was cumulative. Uh, oh! Today is the day! Is he ready? Is he alert? Is he fed? That is my business, these days. He went through 10,000 years of human history with his teacher in one semester and all I can say is. Uh, oh! Today is the cumulative final. All of the histories of my discussions on finals with Dad flood my mind and every point that I passed and failed sit on my shoulders. Thanks Dad. He seems to walk beside me and calm me down from my rantings where I would imitate him. No! don't yell at him, tell him that you love him either way, pass or fail, win or lose. I hear you, Dad, I say. I wish I could hug him one more time, but he's implanted so much of himself in me that there is nothing left to hug. Cumulative!

Even with all of the overtime that they are offering at work.

I carved out a minute to go to the dentist. Why did I do that? How many years have I made excuses like this or that to miss it. All the children and Ben had gone, I have very good insurance and I went. 2 hours of the chisel. They were great! I had the best time. Relative decadent care being taken of my body and I didn't have to lift a finger. 1 quadrant down and 3 to go!
Anesthesia, for a cleaning? You better believe it. The hygenist had to take out the Brillo for my teeth LOL and they feel super. I think I will do that again. It was worth the anxiety. Even my baby tooth got whiter. "What do you know?"

A Mary Poppins sky?

I probably do spend more attention looking at the wrapping of the day, than the day itself. My days are so full of people, children, Husband, needs. I take a little time to unwrap the day, in the morning and my children know that I do. Yesterday's sliver moon reminded me of the inside circle of a perfectly tied bow, with the colors of bluegray that matched the paper, so perfectly that all you could see was the light of the reflection on the shimmer of the paper. It was beautiful.
Mom, come upstairs and see the Mary Poppins sky. Uh oh, they caught it from me. I went and sure enough my Evvy was talking about the view from her window, in the morning. Because it is cold and clear, every house has the perfect swirls coming from the chimneys and then the sunrise was in the distance. We stood there for a minute admiring the sight and then, rushed off. The blessing of sight and imagination allows us this breathtaking comfort of seeing London from our back, upstairs window. The Wonder of It All...

Did God give my "Praise Dance" to Paula Abdul?

Not this morning! He is worthy of the glory and Fred Hammond translates the scriptures into my language so much that all I can do is praise Him in the dance. Mom, are you gonna dance before the Lord this morning? Did He wake you up this morning? Sometimes, I try to act like the sidity people, but it doesn't work. I end up embarrassing myself, even when I am being restrained.
I love what King David says to his wife, when she rebuked him for dancing before the Lord. (2 Samuel 6:13) He was used to glorifying God with no one watching, in the fields. He said, so to speak, that is my "sidity praise", you ain't seen what I do when I am really praising God, for what He has done in my life! I love that about King David. He said when my mother and my father forsake me then the Lord will lift me up. I don't care who you are, I dance before the Lord, because He has been good to me.

Other people may forget where God has brought me from, but don't let me forget that God has lifted me up from a horrible pit and set my feet upon a rock? Amen?
Don't give my praise dance away dear Lord, let me keep it and praise you in the dance! (Even if, in private...)shhhh! don't tell anybody.

It is Monday

The sun has not yet risen and I am preparing for the day, at hand. When we first came down here, I was, nearly, religious about the regimens of my day. I wanted the children to enjoy a nicely made table and all the fixn's in the morning before they went to school.
The beauty of the morning sky, outside my kitchen sliding doors reminded me that God sets such a beautiful table of the sky for us, most mornings and evenings in the sunrises and sunsets. I tried to find a tablecloth for the children with colors that matched my beautiful sky.
Now, that I am working and alot of overtime this week, it has disintegrated into a relative free for all. Everybody eats something. I don't know where that old table cloth went to. I can't find a clean spoon most mornings. People are getting yelled at for not doing the dishes. The normal routine. We still enjoy the beauty of the God's tablecloth on the sky, every morning and it is comforting to know that although our intentions for the years past and the years to come changes and is affected by the vicissitudes, God never changes.
Everyday is a beautifully wrapped present from him. The gray days are wrapped in the gray paper. The sunny days have all of the colors of the rainbow on them. All of the presents under His tree are for me. Each day's gift has something new in store. I am determined to open this new day with relish and throw the paper all over the floor like a child. That is why I blog. It is the paper from my present that I am tossing on the floor.
Happy Monday!

I knew all that volleyball practice would come in handy...

Mom! Pass me the roll of bath tissue. What? do you mean all the way upstairs?
I tossed that roll right up to her in the loft area. Not a second look. Wow, Mom that came right to me. All that volleyball practice has come in handy at just the right minute. I am not competing, for sure, but there is a time and a season for everything. This is the season for making sure there is bath tissue in all 3 baths and not for standing on lines in the house, waiting to go...LOL.
We can hardly believe ourselves in this mansion that we are blessed with. In other days, had I thrown the roll that hard, the ceiling would have fallen down.LOL.
It is Sunday so, I am saving steps. That is an excuse for not running up the stairs to give it to her.
In the movie National Velvet, the mother gives a peptalk to her daughter and tells her, be sure that if you are going to be number one and compete with all of your strength you have to let it satisfy you throughout your whole life. There is a time for being number one and time for being a "has been" and moving over and letting the other people have their day. As I lunge into this new Lords Day, I am remembering my hayday and admiring the hay of the future at the same time. Have a good day!

Last Monday!

We were ready for the new year and the new school year and everybody was up and adam, early. Enoch, of course, had waited until the last minute, to study for tests and projects which were due. We were with him on these struggles into maturity. I rose early to escort him through the morning preps, not a usual thing. He is the first one to leave the house and sometimes misses breakfast. Not today, I said to myself. He will not blame the passing or failing today's test on not having had a good breakfast.
I made a big pot of cream of wheat which he nearly ate the whole thing and an omelet of 2 eggs and cheese. Thanks mom, he said as he ran out the door into the freezing new year. He was nutrified and he was headed to school and I felt like it had been a successful morning.
I go to work at 8:30 and at 7 we got a call from the school. Enoch is complaining of chest pains? Oh no! What now? Everyone else was prepared by the tremendous helpers that are on duty when Mom and Dad are frazzled. Frazzled, was not the word? I said, take me to work first and then pick up Enoch. No, we will go to the school together was the answer of my level headed husband. Okay.
The nurse was very kind. She had checked him from head to toe and said that there may be a muscular pain in his chest. He had sat silently in the nurses office and didn't tell them he had chest pains. When they heard that it was chest pains they said, why didn't you tell us. They called us immediately. I was impressed with their care for my boy.
He was not crying or out of sorts in any way, just a small complaint. This tall slim, distinguished young man is rarely out of sorts, just a delicate lad. I think it was gas. He did have a bruise on his chest from a wrestling session with the little guys and of course there was "the test". Well, his dad took him to the doctor and the one thing we learned is that he is not 6 feet yet, but 5'10" and 136 pounds. Wow! What I wouldn't do to be 136 pounds? and 5'10"?
He's better now.

3 Kings Day!

I do wish I could do a series with my children about the 3 Kings and what I have seen in Scripture. Some things they will have to search out for themselves. Great men who followed the elements and the light of the stars to reach the King Eternal, born in Bethlehem. We celebrate that today, by taking down the Christmas ornaments and putting them away. It may take us more than one day to do it, since there is overtime at work.
I am enjoying the overtime, but it keeps me from my children and the stories that I must tell them. 6 is the best age to impress the reality of what Christ has done for our souls. The plethora of scripture to support His mighty acts on our behalf and the season of gifts truly softens the hearts to receive Him.

So many times...

I would go to my mommy's house and we would take out our spiritual magnifying glasses to decifer some old correspondence from Fr. Tom. We had such fun trying to figure out the references to scripture and the meaning that he had for us in these. It was just a gem of delights in our interactions.
One day Ezra was laying on the ground while we were doing this and there was classical music on. He kicked the radio and it changed to family radio. We laughed and laughed that he was sick of the classical music and wanted some Christian music. the good old days.

A decade into the new millenium?

The first decade that I remember was the 60's. I remember vividly the horror of the loss of President Kennedy. I remember where I was in the livingroom at 113 when that happened. I remember the silence and the change in my parents when these civil rights events hit them so hard.
I remember the 1970's and the gaslines and sometimes singing with dad as we sat on the lines to get gas.
I remember the 80's and Lady Dianna. All of us who married in that decade were impressed by the beauty and the glory of that royal wedding and the royal couple's aid for us to recoup some of the beauty of having royalty to mimic.
I remember the 90's and the fun that we had at Grandma Ruth's 80th birthday party. Ju called me after and said that Elyse had stepped on her foot, which we argue about to this day, in fun.
The Turn of the millenium is a blurr of difficult memories starting with 9/11 and then it seems like you blink your eyes and here we are starting the second decade of the millenium. How do you make resolutions for such a time? Where do you start to change and grow here for the next 10 years?
2 of my children are grown and still helping at home. Elyse is working as a nanny. Emily is helping out at home. 2 are teens and 2 are still in grammar school. We have so much to be grateful for.

First it was me and my mommy!

look at that cute blister on her thumb?

As I look at it, every year my mommy went to the storks house and brought me home a present of a playmate. The first playmate she brought me was Ju. We were a dynamic duo, for that 18 months that it was just the 2 of us. I do remember very early being resourseful with our limitations. We played very hard and we did alot of what we wanted to do. Mommy was tired and sick with Jackie toward the end and we got into loads of messes. ie. the orange juice incident. Ju was a social butterfly. She was born with showbusiness on her mind. Dad would say, "Ju, do the twist"; she couldn't even stand up and she could do the twist. She had little memory for the words of the song. I harped on her incessantly about that.
Mom and Dad were very aware of the differences between us. Ju, was friendly and outgoing and quite a show off in her own way. Not, that I am jealous. LOL Of course, I was jealous and it wasn't long before I used all of my big sister powers to manipulate Ju as often as I could.
I was certainly none of those things. I could read and I could sing, but I had no intention of befriending outside people. When I lived with Aunt Jessie, she reminded me of that part of myself, when we were little. Aunt Jessie said that Julia was so special. Everybody always said, That Julia is so outgoing and friendly. I don't remember you. I know. I said, Ju, you are so fake, you make everybody think that you love them. I do love them, she said.
The light downstairs in the hallway was our limitation that kept us from going downstairs and getting into trouble. We couldn't turn on the light. I remember the day that we decided to try standing on eachother's backs to reach the light to go downstairs for something. Shhhhh! if Mommy hears us, we will be in big trouble. There was nothing in the house that was out of our reach when we learned to turn on the light. That was when Ms. Newsome came to help us out. I didn't like Ms. Newsome. Ju liked everybody!
During the blackout, I said Ju, bet you can't stick your head in the chair like this. She was shorter than I, so her head went into the chair at the narrowest part. She got it into the chair and couldn't get it out. We started screaming and it was dark and mommy and daddy were out. We were being watched by Ms. Newsome. Ms Newsome got some soap and some vaseline and got Ju's head out of the chair. I remember being so amazed that Ms. Newsome could use soap to get Ju's head out of the chair. We were quiet after that.

One New Years I came to Queens and

Grandma Ruth and Elijah











Grandma Ruth was playing the memory game with Muffy. I could not believe the change in this woman from the grandchildren to the great-grands. She and Muff were giggling and playing. Grandma Ruth enjoyed them to the utmost. She kept saying Muffy you are too smart for me. Elyse you are so smart showing me your math facts. Nettie you are such a sweet and smart girl and so on and so on. I said, where was that woman when I was growing up. She knew that I was surprised at her change with the little children.
They can be in the room, when I am talking to you. Pete and repeat, she would say, if there were something that she didn't want the children to hear.
It was a delight to see her grow old and become a really adorable great-grandmother to our children. She and I giggled that there had been many days that I would never darken her doorsteps because of her...(you know what). Meanness?
I bet Mom is just as sweet with her greats now. What a splendor to see 2010 and have generations following you, I bet?

When Ethan was born and she was on her way "home to glory". The smile on her face was amazing. Aunt Gail said that is the biggest smile I have seen on her in a long time. I thought I wouldn't live through that birth and the season that followed with sicknesses and death. Grandma kept saying how do you stand that all of these children look like Rosalee? How do you see that Grandma? She always looked underneath things. Things were never just on the surface with her.
Ben was talking with Uncle Charles one day and reminiscing of his fondness for Grandma Ruth. I was rolling my eyes still at his remembrances, even though I missed her. I didn't miss her lima beans. I had never tasted them, like he did. Uncle said, Ruth was trying to show the girls in her nonverbal way what it meant to take care of a man. I said Thank you Uncle for translating Grandma's sometimes crass endeavors to mold her grandchildren. When I think about it, that was what all of that cantankerosity was about?
I was a very mean second grader. Mrs. Peterson stood in front of the class, for religion and said to us. "Think of the meanest person you know?" She said if you keep practicing you are going to be just like that person. You have to pray and stop practicing being so mean. In those days, I used to kick the boys in the shins to make them chase me. I was really convicted and said, I am going to try to be nice and not as mean anymore. I will never forget that challenge. Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.





Who remembers the New Years Tourneys at Rykers Island?