Tag Archives: family

From Silver to Gold

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Earlier in the day I’d had trouble seeing the inside of a beautiful, unusually shaped ring that I’d recently found in a local schoolyard while detecting. Rather than being flat, it was almost tubular with the inside wall of the tube cut away so that it could rest on a finger. I mentioned to hubby that I thought there was something written or stamped inside but that I couldn’t tell exactly what it was. 

A few minutes later, as I stood in the shower, he popped into the bathroom to say that he’d managed to view the questionable mark with his tiny magnifying glass and that it was “925.” That’s the mark indicating that the metal is actually silver. 

“Silver!” My mind raced back to the time when Mom embarrassed my first husband. It hadn’t been intentional on her part but, in retrospect, I must admit that she tended toward the unusual in many ways. Time would prove that he didn’t handle “unusual” very well.  

Sadly, I don’t remember the exact set of circumstances, but I think that Mom was picking us up from the airport for some reason. We were riding the train system from point A to point B. As you’d expect, there were a few other people around. That failed to stop Mom’s somewhat strange, spontaneous sense of humor, however. 

Suddenly, she began looking right…then left…then right again. Her expression was one of both wide-eyed excitement and determination. Quickly standing, she crouched and moved conspicuously down the aisle — attracting a bit more attention. (She tended to be very dramatic when given the opportunity.) Once she reached her objective, she stopped and again looked around excitedly. Without saying a word, she slowly reached toward something that was on the floor. By this time, I was wondering, “Oh no! What-in-the-heck are you up to!” and, like me, he was watching every move. 

Moving quickly, she pulled a bright metal object to her breast then, after examining her “prize,” as though in triumph, she raised a shiny stainless steel spoon above her head and declared in a loud, clear voice, “SILLLVERRR!” 

Ah, yes, it was obvious that my husband had seen nothing that he considered to be funny. As a matter of fact, his five-o’clock-shadowed chin quivered though he didn’t even acknowledge that anything had happened. That should have spoken volumes to me but, at the time, I didn’t see it. This was likely the exact point in time at which husband #1 decided that he could never like…much less love the eccentric, outspoken woman who was my Mom. She had just forced him to experience one of those “I-want-to-crawl-in-a-hole” type moments. 

Mom’s been dead for almost thirty years so I relished the time spent standing in the shower being pelted with thoughts of her and the unusual woman she had been. It was that single memory which put the smile on my face as the hot water washed over me. Even today, I can’t help but smile when I think of that…and her many other idiosyncratic antics and behaviors. Thank you, Lord!

The Mystery of the Shyly Wagging Tail

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As she waddled toward me, I knew that something was very wrong. I’d just gotten home from a one-week trip to Maui and she greeted me with cool nose and an unusual shyly wagging tail. That spoke volumes as it traditionally pounds enthusiastically against the cabinets. Yup, she’d done something and it was my job to discover exactly what!

Suzi appeared to have gained weight (perhaps 5 lbs.) over a very short period of time. The man of the house swore that he’d only given her “the usual” food and supplements. So, knowing that she thinks that she is starving, literally, all the time, I suspected that she’d discovered an alternate food source!

My suspicions were confirmed when I took her outside to “do her business.” Upon seeing the specimen that she deposited, one of two things were made clear. Either Suzi had developed a plethora of unusually shaped parasites or she’d been eating birdseed from beneath the feeder! This had been done in spite of the little snap-together fence that we’ve had around it for a few months. She’d clearly grazed on seed for days!

It was obvious that Suz had valued volume over taste as the seeds were undamaged — leaving peanuts easy to identify! So, her size was less the result of weight gain and more the result of BLOATING! She was about to explode!

Wrong. She had already exploded…in my office area! It took me a while to discover the…shrapnel but even longer to repair the damage. Each of the no-less-than eight piles were brimming with seed!

Now, I knew that I couldn’t change the “quality” of my hubby’s “watching the girls” because retraining (at his age) is all but impossible. So, we now have a new, one-piece circular fence around the bird feeder area. Suzi will have to either dig…or fly in order to get to her recently discovered food source.

Gramma’s Drinking Thick Water! Will It Kill Her?

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We were visiting our “kids” (who aren’t really kids) and their kids (who really are) for Christmas. That’s always an experience in and of itself. And, I love every minute of it! For as long as I can remember, though, I’ve had kind of a target on my back…and front (so far as my son and his wife are concerned, that is). Some of the pleasure in their lives is found in teasing “Mom.” Yeah, they harass, throw verbal barbs, and generally make fun of my many idiosyncrasies.

These two lovable nut-bars seem to enjoy finding things about me that are strange (and there’s quite a selection, to be honest). There are plenty of areas in which I fall short (like memory when we play UNO, etc.). My senior citizenship has provided them with plenty of material most recently, and that was the case here.

As a Weight Watcher, I have to focus on drinking a minimum of six cups of water every day. Sadly, I’ve found that, if left to my own yearnings, I wouldn’t drink that much because I only drink when I’m thirsty. I’ve never awakened from a sound night’s sleep thinking about how great it would be to guzzle water cup after cup. So, I have to make a deliberate attempt to drink water. One 2-cup bottle gets me started in the morning. At least that’s my intent. Then, I usually fill my 32-ounce bottle with the rest of my requirement.

Sadly, some maladies of old age have recently struck! One attack of diverticulitis was plenty! I’ve read (and heard from my doctor) that the best way to fight the reoccurrence of diverticulitis symptoms, is to increase fiber intake. So, fiber has now become my friend! (Yeah, right!) But, it seems that the fiber in the food I eat isn’t enough! I’ve been forced to start supplementing it with the powdery white stuff that stirs into liquids without adding either taste or grit. Sounds delicious, huh?

When I first get up in the mornings, I add about one and a half teaspoons of the white stuff to a bottle of water and give it a shake. Naturally my son was aware of all this preparation so when Jesse (grandson #2) reached for my first bottle of the day in hopes of snagging a sip or two, his dad said, “Jess, you don’t really want any of that. Gramma is drinking thick water.”

At that point, I filled in with a bit of explanation. At least it was enough to wipe the confused expression off of Jesse’s face. Just the thought of “thick water” truly is sort of disgusting I must admit but, in the end, instead of killing me, it’s my hope to both lengthen and enhance the quality of my life. We won’t discuss the “jet propulsion” which the increased fiber inevitably provides for THAT is always quite embarrassing.

Indictment Covered in Dust

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I don’t know how you are but I hate to clean house! Years ago I told my hubby that he and I could clean the house together on one day of the weekend and we wouldn’t need to pay someone else to do it. His time must have been far more important to him than money for, from that day on, we’ve paid a lovely lady to clean the main part of our home a couple of times a month. There are certain rooms, however, that (for one reason or another) we close off when she comes. Why pay to have the seldom-used rooms cleaned? I’d take care of those when it became necessary. On THIS DAY, it was critical!

The panic had set in! My son and his family were comin’ for Thanksgiving and I had to get serious about dusting the super sentimental entertainment center in what once had been “Mom’s Room.” Talk about motivation to clean!! I was under the gun! Company (even family) has always forced me to really get the house in shape. Picture this. My normally neatly spiked white hair looked more like a horribly abused toothbrush. Comfort was my uniform of the day so my very informal sleepwear was perfect. Struggling to finish my first of many tasks for the day, my nose had begun to drip profusely. Why? Dust has been one of my highest allergens for as long as I can remember. Anyway, there I was…plopped on laminate flooring that reminded me that my tail bone had once been broken. I was pooped! Many trips up and down a little ladder takes its tole.

I’ve placed the piece of mostly oak so that I can see it from my desk and filled it with memories and parts of my past in the form of many of my favorite things. You know all about momentous, souvenirs, some of Mom’s more interesting collections, etc.. You likely have similar items in your own home. And I bet your collection gets dusted infrequently, too.

I’d spent a couple of hours removing treasures from every shelf and caressing each lovingly with a damp cloth. After all, this accumulation of mementos was almost as meaningful as the entertainment center itself! My son and I had chosen the very heavy piece when he was a teenager. Then we proceeded to have a blast applying Tung oil to it. We’d invested much more than money. I value this one piece of furniture more than any other in our home because of the quality time that he and I spent working on it together.

As I was almost finished, my left hand encountered a couple of spiral notebooks standing up next to an old Bible in one of the three bottom sections. I’d had them for so long that I’d forgotten they were there. They measured 9 1/2 x 6 inches so they couldn’t have been used for school work. Funny how time often erases so much…but the bluish-green one seemed to fit comfortably in my hand. So, I opened it to a random page in the middle and began to read the vaguely familiar handwriting. Before I was finished, tears traced down my cheeks as I recognized something that I’d written many years ago.

Being truly honest – At this point, I’m actually wondering where that woman who wrote poetry is for she is seldom if ever seen these days. Perhaps she is more the person I SHOULD be…rather than the person I am. That thought may explain some of the tears. Either way, there I sat on the hard floor, in my scruffy sleepwear, with my spiked hair askew, and surrounded by dust still floating about in a room full of memories. There I sat – stunned by the fact that I sort of felt indicted by the simple act of dusting? Ive changed in so many ways! I do know one thing about me that hasn’t changed, however! My thoughts and feelings about Christmas have never wavered. It IS all about Jesus Christ…God’s gift to us…and still, in my mind, Christmas is best represented by the cross.

I heard myself asking God, “Why did I find this now? I don’t have the time to finish reading this. I still have so much to do to get ready!” And yet I couldn’t seem to put it down. What am I supposed to do with it? It’s old…like me…but it’s spoken to my heart even after all these years. Maybe I’m supposed to share it with others. So, that’s what I’m going to do here.

What interest is there in a Christmas poem written maybe thirty years ago? Probably none. None the less, here it is. Rather than putting it in print, however, I’ll read it to you. Please understand that poetry is often a surprise to those who write it. And, it’s always open to interpretation. I was given the “picture” and simply tried to use my own language to express what I saw. My words don’t do the story justice – but perhaps someone out there will benefit from hearing them.   THIS IS CHRISTMAS

“Merry Christmas to all! And to all…a good night!”