Gracie Owns Me * GROWING OLD WITH GRACIE * living life without her

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Eighteen Years

(A Repost from a couple years ago)

Fourth of July Memories:

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Hot summer night. Six kids in a Ford Falcon, one between Mom and Dad in the front seat and five in the back - going to Cumberland, then sitting on the car hood watching fireworks. After that, Queen City for ice cream cones.

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Taking my kids to the White Oaks parking lot and meeting friends there. Watching innocent faces light up as they watched the magic in the sky. Then... Dairy Queen for ice cream.

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4th of July Picnics at my house with plenty of hamburgers, hotdogs, kids playing, adults laughing, and Mom asking, 'Can you get me more potato salad?'

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Standing in Mom's hospital room with tears streaming down my face and thinking back to the laughter inside that Ford Falcon from years earlier, while waiting for her to take her last breath... watching her slip slowly away from this world to the next... The sound of fireworks echoing beyond the hospital window.

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It's been eighteen years since her passing. But a July 4th does not come and go without me thinking of her, and missing her.

FIREWORKS GONE WRONG

What a time we had last night!

Friends invited us to their home for a private firework display. We go there every year and they are very safety cautious. With that being said, let me just say that fireworks can be dangerous, even under the safest of conditions.

We all gathered for a perfect evening, on blankets and chairs watching the beautiful display of color against the dark sky.... God Bless America playing in the background.

Thank God for the 'change in proceedure' this year and the prayer that was said at the beginning of the evening. I believe God was there... watching over our little ones... watching over us, as a Firework Display went wrong and crates of fireworks began going off and shooting in all directions. It was like a scene out of a movie as we all started running away as fast as we could.

Thank you God, for keeping us safe.

Nobody was hurt. Lessons were learned. God covered us with His protection.

Afterwards, the kids settled down and played on the dark grassy hillside as the adults tried to settle themselves down and determine what went wrong.

I don't know if I will ever care to see another firework display after last night! Ugh!

I hope everyone has a very happy and SAFE FOURTH!

God Bless!

The following video is not of our experience... but it is very similar to what we experienced last night.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

ROCK 'N ROLL, BABY!

First of all, let me start with an update from a previous post:

Yes, I did finally dye my hair

and

Yea, I'm back on sugar too. I have no willpower. And speaking of willpower... Gary Puckett comes to mind. "Lady Willpower, it's now or never... la-la-la-la"

AND NOW> Let me take you back to a time when Tiger Beat Magazine was the reason that I lived. I had just reached a milestone in my life. I was thirteen. A teenager, finally. A teenager with one thing to look forward to, and that was to see who was the centerfold of Tiger Beat for the month. My walls and ceiling were covered with posters of Mark Lindsay, Mickey Dolenz, Paul McCartney, Sajid Khan, Davy Jones, Bobby Sherman and more.

Every night when I talked to God I pleaded, "Please God, let me marry Mark Lindsay someday" Then I would kiss the glossy poster above my bed goodnight. I could tell Mark loved me too.... The smile never left his face.

My mom knew how much I loved him. She would make sure I got all the latest records and magazines that had anything to do with him. She even wrote him a letter once asking for an autograph for me and HE NEVER WROTE BACK! I guess the feelings were not mutual after all...
So I had to give up on him and marry another.

I did name my daughter after him... LINDSEY...
Even though I was sooooo over him and his silly, white, skin tight leotards.

But then I got older and I started thinking about the good old days and I did an online search to see what he was up to. That's when I ran into The Happy Together Tour and saw that he would be performing with several other Oldies but Goodies. Gary Puckett, Three Dog Night, The Turtles, Gary Lewis.

I found a venue just 5 hours away, ordered some really great tickets, and the rest...

Is history!