Remember

I grew up on a quiet street, Cemetery Road.   To me, Memorial Day meant that school had come to an end for the year and the beginning of a summer that would last forever was about to ensue.

I'm on the far right

Memorial Day meant heavy traffic on our back road and a cemetery thick with visitors, paying their respect to lost loved ones.  Flowers.  Guns.  Ceremony.  Lush green trees and the beginning of idle days.

Mom, my sister Angie, and me kneeling in the back.

Nothing to do but play baseball with the neighbors, climb trees, and picnick and swimming at Swaugars Dam at New Germany State Park.   A heart bursting with happiness.   No worries. 

My sister Rita, my cousin Gail...  and that's me on the right...

Memorial Day still stirs these fond memories for me…. But now, as an adult, I see the core of what we celebrate and I have the utmost admiration in my heart for our brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to make our country a better place. 

one thing was for sure... I loved my pets!  Gizmo and me.

Yogi and me

Jinxi and me

I hope everyone is having a peaceful Memorial Day today…  

Taking The Wheel

I wish I would have taken a picture of my first car.  But back then, I didn't have a camera.  I guess that wasn't as important to me as having my own car.  

I was sixteen, and I remember approaching my dad with my request, "Dad my friend Greg has has a car for sale, only $50.  What do you think?"  

I loved my Dad.  He didn't say much, but he was always there for me.  And I never felt quite the protection and love with anyone as I did when he was near. 

 I was working at the time, a babysitting job from 3-11 just five houses up the road... Cemetary Road, that is.  At 11 PM Dad would 'just happen' to be walking our German Shepard  and would escort me home, knowing how terrified I was to walk through the dimly lit street and past the tombstones that sometimes cried out to me 'run! run!'.   Dad didn't say much... but I could feel the love.  From one heart to another.  

He went with me to check out the car... and gave me the okay to buy it.  I didn't make much back then, but I could surely afford a $50 car with my babysitting money.  

It looked something like this.

Only mine was white.

I'll never forget the independence that I felt as I got behind the wheel of my very own car.  I still dream about it, and in my dream I'm picking up my friends for school and we're laughing and talking about where we can go after school to get pizza and then we go to check in with friends down the road.  

I miss that old car.  But more than the car, I miss my Dad... and in my memory holds a crystal clear day at the Hoffman Ballfield where he sat in the passenger seat teaching me to parallel park.  He had the patience of a saint, and a sixpack of beer in the fridge to help endure.

He was only 52 when he died.  I'm thankful for the role he played in my life and I'm for some reason thinking about him today....  

That's me in the beautiful, brilliant, purple,
 puffy sleeved, groovy and wonderful blouse. There
must've been a sale on those glasses.

Best Friend

Darn it.  I forgot to take pictures.


Anyway...  yesterday I had dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in a good 25 years.  She was my best friend in grade school/junior high/and part of high school.   It's amazing how years pass and people change and yet memories of days gone by are so vivid.


We evolve from who we've been to who we are now... and the people who were once in our lives played a big part in developing our character...  whether we know it or not.


Thank you friend.  For hot summer nights sleeping on your front porch in sleeping bags, talking about boys, and eating bags full of candy.


Thank you friend.  For loaning me your clothes, including me on family outings, and teaching me how to 'get a guy'. LOL.


Thank you friend.  For making me laugh till I cried, sticking by me at camp when I didn't make friends as easily as you did, and sharing in my terror at the huge spiders that clung to the side of our tents at night.


Thank you friend.  For the many sleepovers, homemade chocolate cake made by your mom, and for always meeting me halfway when we'd go to each other's house.


Thank you friend.  For sharing you're 'today' with you're bestie from the 'past'.  It was great.