He's Stolen my heart!

There is a new baby in the family. I have him on my computer. I pray for him. He's adorable and he's a blessing, just for me. 23 yrs ago today, I thought that I could never love again. God has sent and sent and sent new babies for me to love and I am remembering this morning, amidst my grief of loss, the goodness of God to send my precious nephew Stoney. I am grateful amidst my tears.

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

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?

2 Days to 2010

1979-2009---Boy oh Boy do I remember this season in my Highschool years as being the busiest time. Our math teacher had a packet that we got on day one with the work that we had to complete over Christmas holiday and if there were any snow days in between. For some reason I was too stupid to start it until the week before New Years when it was due.
Between Christmas and New Years was our preparation for Sports Night. Have buspass will travel was the motto. We borrowed all kinds of gyms and auditoriums to practice our Sportnight regalia. We were psyched every year to try to beat out the other classes in their themes and in sports. We did too. Risking life and limb was nothing if we could win for Sportsnight. I was on the B train one day and the snow was 6 feet and the Brooklyn Bridge was swaying and the train couldn't get across. I must have been about the only person on that train. For Sportsnight practice? Yep. We went all out. October they had my 30 year HS anniversary and I missed it. No more risking life and limb for getting to an occasion for me. What did it get me? What's a trophy. My trophies sit beside me in Church and I get the sweetest butterfly kisses from them; so now live trophies out rank snowbanks to Brooklyn anyday.

This picture was 10 years ago, nearly to the day!

We know it was 10 years ago because, Ethan was Dad's 60th birthday present and Ethan was the tiny infant in the picture. That is how we tell time in the photos. Who was that baby, Ethan? Then that was Grandpa's birthday season. I missed that Evvy face because I was on the other side of her hugging Papa. What a great big "KoolAid" smile she gave him! She said, here I am Gramps, I am a new woman, I am a big sister now. Look what I brought you me and my new new baby brother. I was so concentrating on Dad that day that I couldn't see how glad she was to be in a new position and to show that off. Now that she is 13 there is so much womanliness to her that I never see quite that level of gleam in her eyes anymore. That makes me a little sad, that I couldn't just sit there and look into her eyes and catch that enthusiasm.



Psalm of the day**********************************Psalm 119:17-24~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gimel~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me. My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times. You rebuke the proud--------the cursed, who stray from Your commandments. Remove from me reproach and contempt, For I have kept Your testimonies. Princes also sit and speak against me, but Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.




The day of the Chocolate kiss escapade that is what Grandma and I were doing. Going through old slides and looking at the expressions. Right before the phone rang with the fearsome news that Dad was looking for his "woebegone" Kiss; Grandma put a photo in that little slide viewer and put it to my eyes. In that little viewer was a glimpse of Joanne and Amy at 2 and 3 years old, at the park and just looking out into nowhere, with that same look that Ev has in this photo. I started crying immediately and Gram didn't know what to do. Why are you crying? she asked me. I never did see that look in their faces. I really didn't see how beautiful they were. As we were crying and eating crackers and cheese the phone rang and the rest is history. Jo bailed me out of that one big time.
Now Evvy, is the woman to watch. She is such a drama queen with antics that are so uninhibited. She went to camp and did a skit for the other children with some real SNL type comedy. She said Enoch doesn't like when I act out, he gets embarrassed at me. He thinks he is going to have to beat somebody up for her antics. It keeps him ever watchful. They have grown from the original Thing one and thing two from the cat in the hat characters into a couple of really neat children.
I still miss Emily:(. She's at camp this week.

Somebody asked me how we got started singing Love in Need!

We had a little visitor to our house, who told me that he didn't know how we got started singing, the 2 Stevie Wonder songs that have come to mark us as a family. I can just imagine 100 years from now a whole country of people getting together who came from Bodden blood singing Love in Need.
Well anyway, I got to tell him the story of our Christmas star Denise. We loved her so very much and she asked us to sing at her wedding and introduced us to some new songs by Stevie Wonder to change some of the songs that we were always singing, ie, Doggone Right and ABC by the Jackson 5. We digested the Album whole and memorized every hum and ding of the song together, until we could sing it in unison. The day of her wedding, however, we were scheduled to play a tournament. We thought we had enough time to go to Crotona and then to the wedding but we hit traffic and had to go to the wedding in our tennis stuff. We sang anyway. We had a very interesting time meeting Denises friends and new family. We sang Love in Need and Njikelela, or whatever it is called. We still sing that song everywhere we go, when we get together. Denise passed away and we miss her, but when we get together, we still sing her songs. They mean alot to us.
Denise taught us about Dionne Warwick and The Wiz and alot of the music that we like was developed by her.