Monday, February 27, 2012

COMMENTS ON FRIENDSHIP

Dear Dee,

You've written another enjoyable blog entry. Why should you think yourself a fool for writing this? You made me reflect upon my BFF (since 1st grade). And I wondered why she was my BFF and how we became friends. Well, I know why we became friends. Marlene (Margo) reached out her hand in friendship at recess when I was the new kid. My family had moved to a "new" neighborhood and I was starting at a new school and didn't know anyone. It was a frightening world for a 6 yr old. There I was alone on the playground at recess and Margo came up to me and introduced herself. She was my rescuer! She made me feel more secure and less alone. I loved her for that. We've been friends ever since. We live miles apart. She's in Il and we haven't seen each other in perhaps 15 years but we keep in touch almost daily. In fact, just today I received a lovely sterling silver necklace called "Embrace". It has one angel wing on the chain and the card with the necklace reads "We are each angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another" She bought one for herself as well. We've been each others cheerleader and comforter over the years. We have history.

Dee, don't ever stop writing from your heart. I love your blog entries. And even tho you and I didn't grow up together, we grew up during the same time period and I can relate to your cherished childhood memories. Thank you for being you and thank you for sharing your thoughts. Again I say, don't ever stop writing from your heart.

Love
K

Friday, February 24, 2012

FRIENDSHIPS

Friendships are formed in many different ways.
Some start in grade school, and if your lucky enough it goes on  through high school and beyond. Or maybe it was developed in high school, with your college roommate or through your fraternity.

But today I want to blog a little about children's friendships.  How do children click with one another and have it turn into a lasting friendship?

 One way would be because of the day by day connection by living next door to kids their own age. Or they lived on a street (block) where all the kids got together as soon as the weather turned nice and played dodge ball,  hide n seek, or rode bikes together. In the fall the same group of kids would go to bon fires, football games, roller skating and in summer to the swimming pool. Girls did not play sports back then but we danced, went skating, swam, etc.

I went to Catholic grade school, for 8 years. Everyone had to  attend daily Mass. We had to sing during the Mass in Latin. Back in the fifties the Mass was said in Latin and most of the songs were sung in Latin. Father O'Hara said the Mass of the Dead every morning and we had to sing the matching songs. I still remember some of the words -Requiem,eeeeeeEterNaaaaa.
 Oh, yes and we girls wore babushka's covering our heads for Mass. (scarves)
  We had Divine Providence nuns, and they were strict -if you did something wrong or if the patrol boy told on you, because you didn't listen to them, they did not think twice of smacking your knuckles with a ruler (ouch & double ouch). If they caught us talking or sending notes to another kid, we had after school detention. Even if our parents were having a birthday party for us (like mine were). The one year I did something, (who knows what), but I had after school detention for punishment. Even though I told the nun it was my birthday and I was having a party, she didn't care, I still had to stay. It wasn't until my mother came walking in and asking me if I had told the nun about my party. When I said yes, I told her, my mom looked at the nun and said "why would you keep her if you knew this?".  I don't know what the nun said but I left with my mom -

Nuns never lacked from giving punishments. I think they had meetings to think up really hard punishments for us.:-)
We had to sit up straight with our hands folded in front of us.  They had so many rules that I can't remember half of them.

Being together 8 hours a day in the same room, (not counting when we sang for Mass or holidays) it was easy for friendships to develop and allies to form. We didn't just have one friend, but a whole classroom full of friends. We stuck up for one another and never snitched on each other.
When we graduated from eighth grade and started high school - it was like being let out of prison, there was so much freedom in high school, at least for us sheltered Catholic school kids. But the nuns had taught us well and we had us a good solid foundation that we continued to build on. Not that the public school kids did not have that, but lets just say they did not have the same strictness in grade school.

Some friendships lasted during high school - while others drifted apart because of attending different schools. Academic Course  kids would not be in the same classes as those taking the Commercial Course.
But for the most part we still stayed friends, called each other on the phone, had pajama parties and went to dances together. I made other good friends, two of them I traveled with to Pittsburgh everyday for a year while attending Cosmetology School.

 It was inevitable that most of us would drift apart with marriage. children or moving away. I was fortunate that I worked as a hairdresser. Because of that  I was able to see some of my friends when they would come in for an appointment.
Thanks to the social network, Face Book I was found 3 dear friends from grade school. Three of us went to the same high school, but one went to an all girls school Academy.
It has been at least 48 years since we have last seen each other. They all look just like they did in high school, at least to me. It was so great to spend the afternoon with them! After hugging each other we sat down and started to talk and it was as if we had just talked yesterday. What a comfortable feeling and we felt comfortable to talk about whatever subject that came up. Like our one friend said - you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
From that one afternoon lunch we hope to meet every other month for lunch.


On another note:
I loved reading Nancy Drew as a young girl and another series where the heroine was a nurse. Well that nurse and the work she did sounded so wonderful. I wanted to be a nurse and live the exciting life that I read about in the books. A private duty nurse like that - ah, so romantic, a nurse on a ship or in the military service - all these things at my finger tips - so I thought! So I took the Academic course, because I would need to take Latin and Algebra  to have my dreams come true. - - - - - - -
Now - lets stop here for a minute while I tell you------ - - - -- I was not a math person- oh, no! Numbers did not like me at all, even though I tried to get them to.  I could hardly talk English and I thought I was going to conquer Latin, what was I thinkin? But not one teacher or nun  advised me to take the Commercial course, where I know now that I would of thrived.  So there I was, all excited about my classes, I felt  that way for about 2 months and then started to get scared - I hated these classes, if I did not understand something not one teacher ever took the time to stay and explain it to me. If I didn't understand one thing and they went on to the next -then I was really lost. When I talked to the teachers- they said to have one of the students in the class show me. I did ask - my next door neighbor took her time and showed me and I understood, but then the next new chapter started &; I would get lost again - - - my dream of being a nurse was crumbling fast and - - - -- - - - -
If I didn't want to flunk out of school I had to drop Algebra and Latin. I had no choice but to do that.  That dropped me down to the General Course where you were taught a little bit of this and a little bit of that but not enough of everything. I tried to get into the Commercial Course but they said no. I didn't think to tell my parents that and maybe if I did they could of talked to the guidance counselor and worked it out. 
 Now I was at fault also, I liked to have a good time and after my dreams fell through I sort of gave up. General Course was a joke as far as I was concerned. I had a few courses I liked - yep - gym, health, Home-EC, typing, English where we were allowed to read the Readers Digest and then we would have a test on vocabulary words.
I learned more out of high school then I did while going, How you want to know?
I learned all the bones and muscles in the body while going to school, I had to learn formula's for bleach and tint, I had to be creative, I had to pay attention to detail. I had to know how many inches to cut off of some one's head and I read. I read everything I was interested in. I passed first time exam while others failed. I had to learn fractions, especially the 16teenth's. I had to learn how to make boxes before I could work in the office. I learned how to type up different documents - and so very much more, plus my husband taught me how to use the computer. I fudged my way through two jobs saying I could do something I had no knowledge of - but I did it - one job I stayed at for 5 years and one for 13 years.

I'm so glad my sons followed in my husbands footsteps instead of mine. In fact when they read this, if they read this they will probably never let me live this down and give me h double ll.
As this will be part of writing  MY LIFE STORY, I'm already wondering what my great grandchildren will think when they read this.



This is the Mianzo family - my dad's side. Looking straight on, I am on the right side, 1st teenager sitting down.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Comments from Whats in a Name

I love your latest blog. I was named after a song my mother must have loved..."I'll take you home again, Kathleen"

I've often wondered whatever happened to the names Susan, Patricia, Debra that were so popular when we were growing up. Thank God tho that some traditions do pass away and we weren't named Bertha or Gertrude. My husband's oldest granddaughter just had a baby girl and she named her Taviana. Good grief! I named my daughter Jennifer Lyn...my great grandmother was Jenny. I didn't want just a plain Jenny so went with Jennifer. My grandmother was still pleased when I explained I was naming my daughter after her mother but just the more formal version and we would call her Jenny.

By all means tell your sons why you named them what you did.

Hugs
K


Thanks K,  I thank you for leaving your feedback and hope I will hear from others on their opinion of their name.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

WHATS IN A NAME?

 What's in a name? Not long ago - I finally realized that I love my name, Dolores Rose. Not so long ago - I realized that my mother named me after her, Rose Dolores. She put her middle name as my first and her first name as my middle.

While growing up in the fifties I remember asking my mom why she named me Dolores. I told her so many times how I hated that name. Kids, what did I know?  I know now that I have a beautiful old fashion name.
I wish I realized that while my mother was still here on earth, so I could tell her that, but, duh, sometimes it takes a while, in my case - years.

Today I would tell her how much I love my name and what an honor to be named after her. What's in a name? If your lucky enough to be named after someone that's family or someone you love - then it's heritage being passed on.

In grade school there was one other girl named Dolores. I remember the two of us always trying to think up a "tough "(cool would be the name today) nickname we could use. She liked being called Dee Dee and I like the singular "Dee" . It caught on with all of our school chums and has stuck with me ever since, I don't know about Dee Dee, I haven't seen her in years.

The funny thing about this is that my mom and dad spelled my name Dolores and I am called Dee, my neighbor is called Dolly and her name is spelled Delores!  Today my close family calls me Dolores, my friends and some relatives call me Dee. I like being called Dolores Rose, as in one name, but I do love my nickname Dee, it's so quick and easy to write.

The one thing I do not like about my name is the meaning. I mean, why would they come up with that, tell me? " The seven sorrows of Dolores", hate it. But I have also read other meanings for the name Dolores and I do like them.

On my dad's side of the family, they named their children after their parents, sisters and brothers. Even today, those children have named their children after their grandparents, uncles or aunts. I now realize how wonderful that is. It didn't happen that way on my mother's side. I love my grandmothers name "Adeline" and my one aunt's name "Angeline".  No one has carried on those names or the uncles names.  Funny how two Italian families can be so different in traditions.

I can't say to much because I didn't name my children after family, I did name our first son after his dad and his middle name after my dad . Then our second son, I just loved the name, same with our third and fourth.  Would I change it if I had to do it all over again?  I don't know, if they would still turn out as wonderful as they are, then maybe, Their middle names all have meanings tho, after a dear friend, a favorite uncle, after two grandfathers, so there is meaning but I'm not sure if they are aware of that or not.

With six granddaughters and one grandson, I was the lucky one to have my name chosen as a middle name for one of my twin granddaughters,  I don't know if it would still have been chosen if there were no twins, according to my one son I got the impression that it would not of been, And our little grandson's first and middle name was named after the mom's side because he has our last name, Though my son did want the first name as an Italian name and it just so happened to be the name of a great uncle on the other side. My oldest granddaughters's middle name is after my mom and that is quite a honor. I am honored also that my name was chosen, because for the rest of my granddaughters life she will know she was named after me and hopefully that will make her remember me.

I can understand why people name their children after family, what I can't understand is why people name their children Apple, Dakota and so forth - I guess they have their reasons and hopefully they have a good family middle name.

I would love to know who you were named after, so please leave a comment and let me know.

Thank you for visiting my blog, come back again.

Monday, February 6, 2012

THIS IS THE DAWNING OF ACQUARIUS

What a beautiful Monday, the sun is shining brightly on this February morn.  I love February, don't you? I do because I am February's daughter, my grandmother was born in February, my parents were married and my third son and youngest granddaughter were also born this month.
 And of course it's Valentine's Day -  a loving month and the birthstone is awesome - so is the sign "Aquarius -(the water buffalo)."  This is The Dawning of  Aquarius " was a great song back in the seventies and also a musical. Tom & Nancy bought us tickets for the play that was so enjoyable.
 I could not get the song out of my head for days.

A lot of you know that I share my birth date with my mother-in-law. She turned 92 but acts like 52. We have always shared our days together but sometimes we have had individual days. For instance when she turned 90 we celebrated her birthday, the same when I turned 60. Not to many people share the same birthdays. so it's sort of unique. One good thing no one can forget the other's birthday! We usually share the same cake also which is fine by both of us. This year though there were two cakes, that's a lot of cake! Most of it went, thank goodness for little ones.

So here I am at 69, no turning back the pages of time, I will keep going forward as long as God will let me and feel blessed in doing so.
  Some people will think, boy is she old, but I realize that I am blessed to be 69. My goal is to live long enough to see at least one of my grandchildren married. As my dad would always say "God willing and the creek don't rise" I will.
I was 33 when my dad turned 66. It did not seem so young to me at that time. But I realized as the years past just how young that age is.  My dad passed at the  young age of 66.
 He had just turned 66 on March 19 and passed away on April 11th. No time to enjoy his age or the start of his retirement.  My sons missed out on sharing their life with him, he would of loved that and he missed out of sharing his life with them. My mom was a young widow at age 55 and never remarried.

As you follow me on my blog - if you do follow you will see there is no rhyme or reason to what I write about. Some write about gardening, clothes so on and so forth, but me - well I write a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Sometimes I know what I want to write about but sometimes I sit here and have no clue but then it just comes and I start typing.

Thanks for visitng me today, come back again.

.

Friday, February 3, 2012

MY CARD


Hello All,
If you look closely at my card and you will see that the lettering is not perfect. The lines are not straight.The letters are sort of jumbled. I think it's a fun looking card but also tells a lot about my writing.
My writing is not perfect, the grammar, the commas and periods leave a lot to be desired.
A lot of people might think - what the heck - she can't write worth a hill of beans
. Her sentences are to long, her comma's are in the wrong place and no semi-colons -(they scare me :-) and so on and so forth.
I by no means am a perfectionist, but I do love to write about everything, nothing and nonsense.
I'm not expecting to be published unless I publish my own work, but I don't mind sharing my writing. Sometimes I even have interesting things to write about and sometimes it's all nonsense but one thing it is - it's writing.
The card also helps me to write - after all it says I am a writer and a blogger, so I have to live up to that. Check me out once in awhile, you might be surprised or you might say "I shaved my legs for this?" (country song)

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Hello Mr. Sunshine

The last couple of days have been full of sunshine and warmth for this part of Pennsylvania. The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom , the little green shoots of daffodils are peeking out of the ground. Buds are on a lot of plants that shouldn't be. And did you notice the birds chirping? Very unusual and way to soon for all of this to take place.
 If the groundhog is right and we  get  6 more weeks of winter it better stay like this or else we won't have beautiful flowers  to look at.  I am  worried that our summer will be extremely hot - hotter than ever. Scary thought.

I am preparing to write my life story. It's not like I have exciting things to write about, but it will be a way to keep my memory alive for my grandchildren and their children. They will know a little about my life.

 Children today probably do not know what a manual typewriter looks like. Can't even imagine having carbon paper to make duplicate copies. Or how about when the wrong key is hit and then you have to backspace to correct it or even use the dreaded white out to white out the mistake, wait for it to dry before typing over it. Yikes, the thought makes me so thankful for computers today!
 I bet they would not  comprehend how we left the house with out a cell phone because they did not exist back in those days. I got my first cell phone back in 1995. It wasn't even mine but my son's. I don't know how I came about ending  up as mine. In 1995 they were big and awkward and you could only use them in the car. You had to use the car battery through the cigarette lighter for it to have power. What would they think if they could only make phone calls from a pay phone. Kids today probably don't  know about those little booths that we went into to make a phone call. I remember when it cost a dime to make a call, I have no idea what it might cost today. I know they have an outside phone at Sheet's. I have seen men using it
That's the only reason I know that they have it outside.  I remember being a teenager and the fad was for as many kids as possible to cram into the phone booth. Oh, that was so fun to see all these crazy guys in the booth with someone on top of some one's back or maybe sitting on some one's shoulders. They had many awkward positions.

And "back" then we were not driven to school nor did we have a bus to drive us. We walked back and forth 4 times. Once to get there, then walk home for lunch (no cafeteria), walk back to school and at the end of the day walk home. Not to many heavy kids back than with all of that walking. We did not have electronic games, all of our games were played outside, read inside, played cards went sled riding, skating or weekly dances. That does not include Brownies or Girl Scouts.

And in between all of that I can tell them about my dog Skippy. He was all white and followed me to school everyday. I loved that dog so much. One day when I came home my parents were sitting at the table and I asked where my dog Skippy was and they said they had to have him put to sleep because he was sick. They did not even let me say goodbye or hug him - every time I think of that my heart hurts -

Yes I have a lot to write about but I have to get all my P's and Q's in order before I start.

Yes, I may not be the perfect writer, but I am a writer and I also blog. I really enjoy doing it - I just do not have the time to do it as much as I want to.

Dee's shared items

SO MANY THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR

This time of year makes me think of all of those things I have to be thankful for - - - -
my husband
my children
my grandchildren
my health
my freedom
always thankful for friends made