LIVING LIFE

Spring activities are under way. The softball. soccer, and baseball practices are done, and now the games are in full swing, no pun intended. :-)
 Nature is stirring, the ground  is starting to warm and soften from rising temperatures. Everything is slowly waking up from being dormant through the winter.
When nature starts to wake it takes it's time, first little green shoots appear out of the ground, then tiny buds appear on the daffodils and crocuses, and without notice, the blazing colors of cherry blossoms, and apple blossoms are coloring our world.
Daffodils, crocuses, the azalea's. The new blades of grass so green. Oh, the  beautiful bounty God has blessed us with!  
  We're waking up also. No, we haven't slept all through the winter, but we definitely were not as active as we were in the spring. Lets face it, indoor activities are almost nil and not as much fun as the outside ones. There are exceptions of course, and those are for the people who like to ski, ice skate, or sled ride. They are the happy campers, unless the snow days are few and far between.
 The die hard golfers check the weather for days they can still get out to golf, the bikers keep biking til they have to concede that they no longer can. Hardly anything stops the walker or runner. Neither rain, snow, sleet or hail will keep these souls inside. It's a passion sport they are committed to.
 Those at loss are the  master gardeners, they have had to close everything up and put away their gardening tools for the year. Some gardeners are not going to stop doing what they love, they are going to start seedlings inside. Gardeners receive their flower and vegetable catalogs in February sometime. The pages by now are worn from being looked at often, shrubs circled in pencil, pages are dog eared, plans of where the trees will be planted are written in the margins of the magazine. How do I know this? From my in-laws and my son's catalogs. They circle items like I circle garage sales and I circle a lot.

  Have you cut your grass yet? Ours has been cut three times already.
My mother-in-law has lettuce up, and onions and radishes planted. My son, Doug has spent the day moving blueberry, raspberry and strawberry plants, plus he is getting the ground ready to plant the garden. All my sons love to plant a garden, they are good farmers. My husband's love is music, so we go to farms and buy  our summer bounty.
 Plans for vacations are already made, except if you are procrastinators like we have been this year. Alas. we waited to long! The places and weeks everyone can go are gobbled up by people who were more organized. So far it looks like we are going to the poor man's beach,  they still have openings. It really does not matter as long as most of us are together having
  I truly cannot believe this is my sixty-ninth year of spring. I am thankful to see it, to enjoy it, to feel the warmth of the sun and the soft breezes on my skin.
 Sixty-nine is nothing to sneeze at, it makes me realize how time has slipped by without realizing it.  The days are more precious and I try to take one day at a time and make the most out of it. There is still so much I want to accomplish, I realize now that time is valuable.
  When young and raising a family, the awareness of nature's beauty is sometimes overlooked by all of the chores crammed into the day. Taking for granted a child's hug or kiss, saying later instead of taking the time now, because later you might forget. One day you too will realize that time has passed without you knowing it. It happens - time keeps marching on and does not stop for no one. 
  I had lunch with 4 girls that that were good friends when I went to grade school and high school . As we sat there talking and laughing, I was thinking back to when we were kids, thinking that none of us ever dreamed that in our late sixties we would be blessed to get together again to share our lives of today, and our memories of past days.  To still be the friends we once were. We are those young kids once again, giggles coming easy as we talk about the nuns, our first boyfriend, going to each others houses and what we remembered about each other. They have not changed much at all, still the same cute, loveable girls. It was as if we talked yesterday instead of so many years ago. 
    Over time many things have changed, but some things remain the same in our memories.

YOUR OPINION PLEASE

I did it again, Will I ever learn to keep my thoughts to myself? When ever I think about something for to long of a time,I usually screw up. It builds up inside of me like a crescendo and  I have to say something. My husband is not like me - he is a laid back kinda guy that never wants to make waves. Nothing wrong with that if that is the way you built. I so wish I was like that, but alas I am not.

Do you tell your kids how you feel when something is bothering you or do you keep your mouth shut and keep it all inside you? If you have been keeping it in, and it is really bothersome, are you still able to hold it in or do you let it all out?  Sure you might feel better after venting, but was it the right thing to do? AND was it worth it?
If you do send it or say it, do you regret it even though you know what you have said is true?  Do your kids turn against you? Do or have they stopped talking to you? If so, how do you handle that?

 Do you stop being a parent whenever your child has matured into
adult hood and they are a parent themselves? Or do you try to tell them how you feel? Especially if you feel it is not the way it should be done?

Truthfully- parents out there- what do you do?
Are you afraid your kids won't talk to you? Are you afraid their spouse will be upset? If so do you just keep your mouth shut and go on as if everything is okay when in reality in certain areas it is not?

It's to late for me, I already jumped into the fire, I just wish I could word things better and I wish I were not so impulsive. But then I would rather tell them my feelings instead of someone else - -  -

Opinions please

MY FIRST JOB

MY FIRST JOB

My first job was babysitting for my parents. I was only around ten or eleven years old and afraid of my own shadow. Heck, I was scared to walk upstairs by myself, even when my parents were at home. What were they thinking having me babysit? I was way too young to babysit my two year old brother.  My parents should have hired a babysitter for both of us, but, for some odd reason they thought I was old enough.  True, my little brother was upstairs sleeping in his crib, but I was downstairs all alone.  If he woke up I was to take a bottle of milk upstairs to him. Yeah, right. I would like to think I would, but my gut tells me it would be a hard thing to do.  Thank goodness I do not remember ever having to do that.

The house was awfully quiet with no one home. But, old houses make noises, groans, and creaks.  It’s like the house had its own language.  It would be really quiet, then without warning I would hear a creak or groan. Every time the old house would make a noise, I jumped a mile not knowing if the house was making the noise, or if someone was trying to get in. You can believe I had all the lights turned on downstairs and both porch lights turned on.  I somehow felt a tiny bit safer with them on, and I don’t know why.

I grew up in the late nineteen forty’s and fifty’s. In those years the radio and the television turned off at eleven o’clock at night. The television hummed and showed a test tube pattern if you left it on. The radio was silent. Sometimes I would leave the television on just to hear the humming, because every noise I heard scared me, it seemed so loud in my ears. I remember pacing back and forth, from the kitchen to the living room, from the living room back into the kitchen. Constantly, I would do this, because I was terrified someone would break into the kitchen if I stayed in the living room, and if I was in the kitchen, I thought someone would break into the living room. Both doors had glass window panes in them.  The blinds were closed, so I could not see out the window. I think that added to my fear, not knowing what, or if anyone was right out the door.

My dad always came home first, when he would walk in the door I felt like a load of bricks fell off my shoulders. I would give him a hug and go straight up to bed by myself. It took awhile for me to calm down but I felt safe.

This experience has affected me to this day. I am much better, but still feel very uncomfortable when I am home alone.  My cell phone never leaves my side and my bedroom door is locked along with everything else I can lock.  It’s a good feeling to know that our neighbors look out for each other and that is a great feeling to have.

SMELLS LIKE SUNDAY

SMELLED LIKE SUNDAY !

GOOD MORNING

YESTERDAY AFTER CHURCH AND BREAKFAST WE CAME HOME BECAUSE THE KIDS WERE COMING FOR DINNER, I CAN'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME WE HAD THEM FOR SUNDAY DINNER!! IT USE TO BE WEEKLY, THEN TWICE A MONTH, THEN ONCE A MONTH, AND THEN WE STOPPED ALL TOGETHER.

OUR HOUSE IS SMALL, BUT NOT AS SMALL AS MY MOM'S WAS, ALL SHE HAD WAS A KITCHEN AND LIVING ROOM. Granted the kitchen was large which made it work when company or family came. THE HOLIDAYS WERE PACKED WITH RELATIVES AND EVERYONE MANAGED TO FIND A PLACE TO SIT SOMEWHERE. They sat in the living room or on the steps on at the card table my parents set up for the kids. THOSE MEMORIES CANNOT BE ERASED. DO YOU HAVE MEMORIES LIKE THAT?

ANYHOW, I had a pot roast in the oven.  Along with that I was making FRIED CHICKEN. BRIAN SAID IT SMELLED LIKE A HOLIDAY, AND I SAID IT SMELLED LIKE SUNDAY. IT WAS A GOOD FEELING. THE ONLY THING MISSING WAS THE POLKA'S THAT PLAYED EVERY SUNDAY WHEN I LIVED AT HOME.

Now we put them on occasionally because it is hard for us to tune in the radio station that they play polka's on.

DO SMELLS BRING MEMORIES BACK TO YOU?

THE SMELL OF FRESH TAR ON A ROAD REMINDS ME OF MY GRANDMOTHER'S IN FORBES ROAD. NO PAVED ROADS THERE, JUST TAR AND CINDERS,

WHENEVER I SEE SPRING WATER, I AM REMINDED OF THE MANY TIMES I HAD TO WALK TO THE SPRING IN FORBES ROAD WITH A BUCKET TO FILL WITH THE DELICIOUS COOL WATER.

WHEN I SEE A COFFEE CAKE IN A BAKERY STORE I IMMEDIATELY THINK OF RON'S MOM. WHEN I WAS DATING RON HE WOULD TAKE ME OVER HIS PARENTS SOME SATURDAYS. THERE WAS ALWAYS HOMEMADE BREAD AND FRESHLY BAKED COFFEE CAKE.

SEEING A CROCHET DOLLIE REMINDS ME OF MY GRANDMOTHER IN FORBES ROAD WHO DID  BEAUTIFUL work,  WHEN I SEE MORNING GLORIES I AM REMINDED OF MY GRANDMOTHER IN SWISSVALE WHO HAD A NATURAL GREEN THUMB. She had them climbing on vines up her porch, I loved them.

WHEN I SEE A FIRETRUCK OR FIREMAN, I THINK OF MY DAD WHO WAS PRESIDENT OF THE NUMBER 1 FIRE COMPANY IN GLASSPORT.

WHEN I SEE A DECK OF CARDS I THINK OF MY MOM, she LOVED TO PLAY POKER.

WHEN I SEE HOT ROLL MIX IN THE GROCERY STORE I ALSO THINK OF HER because she would make delicious rolls with butter melted on top. .

MY DAD LOVED EGG CUSTARD PIE AND BOSTON CREAM CAKE, MY MOM MADE THESE A LOT FOR HIM, I HARDLY EVER SEE THEM ANYMORE.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU THOUGHT OF A ITEM THAT BROUGHT BACK MEMORIES? OR A SMELL THAT TOOK YOU BACK TO THE MEMORIES IN OUR MIND?

CAN YOU REMEMBER YOUR PARENTS "SONG"?,   "ALWAYS" WAS MY PARENTS, AND "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE" for RON'S PARENTS.

WONDER IF YOU HAD TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT YOUR SPOUSE. TO DECIDE TO HAVE HOSPICE FOR THEM. WHAT DECISION WOULD YOU MAKE? KNOWING THERE WILL BE NO LIFE SAVING MEASURES. Would you consider HOSPICE?  OR WOULD YOU "GO FOR IT" AND LET THEM TRY EVERYTHING TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE?

THE QUALITY OF LIFE WOULD NOT BE GREAT,T BUT IT WOULD NOT BE ANY WORSE THEN IT WAS BEFORE.

WHO ARE WE TO MAKE SUCH A DECISION WHENEVER THE PERSON HAS THEIR FULL MIND ABOUT THEM AND ARE NOT IN EXCRUCIATING PAIN?

 

THE BASIC FEELING FOR EVERYONE IS TO SURVIVE , WOULD YOU WANT SOME ONE ELSE TO DECIDE YOUR FATE?, I THINK NOT, I THINK YOU WOULD WANT A SAY IN THE DECISION,

THOUGH THERE ARE SOME THAT SAY THEY ARE TIRED AND READY TO GO "HOME". THEY THEN HAD MADE THEIR OWN DECISION AND ARE COMFORTABLE WITH IT.

WE HAVE TO LET GOD DECIDE, FOR WE ARE NOT "GOD" BUT WE CAN PRAY FOR THE RIGHT DECISION TO BE MADE,

WHO EVER CALLED IT----- "THE GOLDEN YEARS" ?   THE GOLDEN YEARS ARE WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG, WHENEVER YOU ARE RAISING YOUR FAMILY, WHENEVER YOU HAVE GOOD HEALTH ------------ THOSE ARE THE GOLDEN YEARS IN MY OPINION,