BFD and I have 13 grandchildren and they are all pretty wonderful. (I have outside confirmation on this, lest you think I am baised!) The oldest is nearly twenty-six now, married though not yet a mother; but that could change at any time. The youngest is almost four. There are nine girls and four boys and they're all intelligent and loving. I can hardly stay up late enough to do justice to all of them tonight, or even one of them if I had forever. &...
Not too long ago BFD and I stopped by to see our Number Two Son who was anticipating some minor surgery in the near future (he has since had the surgery, and he's fine). His wife was at work but it was a school holiday so their boy, Jacob, was at home with dad. The first word that comes to mind when I think of Jacob is "thoughtful". That seems a strange word even to me because Jacob is also athletic, intelligent, and affectionate. He loves school and "he...
I was a terrible Army wife. I started out that way and I never got any better. One of the worst things about it was that my in-laws made sure I knew it, too. And feeling guilty about it on top of everything else made it even worse. I can't remember when I actually came face-to-face with the frequent separations that are a fact of Army life. All I remember is that I hated it and I never got over it. It always followed the same pattern...
I've been trying to avoid too much post-election palaver about who shoulda and what they coulda. I am depressed enough already. After the fact, everyone is an expert on what happened. One phrase comes to my mind over and over: Train Wreck. And while I was having that phrase pop through my vacuous mind, two separate stories about trains piqued my interest: 1. In Gabon, a West African country, the unloading of a new, huge, American-made locomotive didn...
Recently I have been hearing some good advice from various sources; TV, the internet, friends, family, sermons, and even kids. (Sometimes their ideas are so profound). Now I am still in favor of the Ten Commandments but life seems very complex lately and we need a little more help. I've included a few hints of my own that I'm convinced that are workable also. I'm not giving the reasons for these little guideposts...mayb...
LOOK UP Been thinking...uh oh, not again! Some people go on the blog site and make tough -- rebel without a cause, grumpy to the very end, etc, etc. Then later when the blogster folks are kind or helpful to them, they show their soft insides. I like that. In many ways we're all the same! Like me, and a lot of my friends, and even Dr. Ruth (the Israeli Sniper sex therapist): nothing is more important or better than the li...
HERE IT COMES Went to the doc (neurologist) in Denver on Monday. Now it's Thursday (late at night). In some ways I wish I had not gone. Oh, why did I? I got a packet of information about Parkinson's Disease and, foolishly, I read it. And had one of "those" questions answered. You know the ones...where did I come from? Why am I here? And, as Harrison Ford in "Blade Runner" says, "How long have I got?" Well, I figure I...
Our son Jimmy and his family had just moved in with us and we were all adjusting. Not a bad thing, just an adjustment. One hot July evening, Max, our ten-year-old grandson, came upstairs to talk. We sat at the end of the bed. I thanked Max for his help in getting the family moved in and his assistance to me (I have Parkinson's and he is a great, selfless server) and his unhesitating cooperation in the everyday functioning of the household. I told hi...
My daughter tells me that Mothers' Day is her least favorite of all the holidays. She feels inadequate for some reason...apparently she expected her children to be like her - quiet and obedient - but they're just the opposite, that is, hyper-active and rebellious. We have thirteen grandchildren in all, including my daughter's five mentioned above, and they are all gorgeous, intelligent, charming, talented...and a good percentage of them are hyper-active and rebe...
LAZY Twice in my life I have had the same very strange conversation: the person I was talking to had kinder words to say about a murderer in prison than about a woman we knew who was a lousy housekeeper: She used words like "lazy" and "dirty" dripping with revulsion and self-righteousness, accompanied by that scornful "look" describing our friend the slattern, while she pitied the murderer: "there could have been extenuating circumstances...you never know." Well. Maybe I jus...
I found out that BFD was going to the Gulf while watching AFN, the military TV station in Europe. It was 1990; we were stationed in Stuttgart, Germany with the US Army. We had already heard about Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait from the news in August; now it was November. Earlier that year we had seen our oldest son, HBW, off to Argentina to be a missionary for two years. Our second-oldest boy was the one who took care of the family while HBW and BFD were away. I did resent the surprise...
Been thinking a lot about marriage lately. Of course with me it has to be the positive side of things, so naturally I'm only going to say the good stuff. I do think about negative things, though. Like, why do marriages fail? We could make a list. At the top of mine would be things like drinking alcohol, which is such a gamble anyway, and the odds are not on you. Alcohol makes you behave in such a stupid way, and then prevents you from changing for the better. My mother-in-law drank a lot; sh...
For My Family I've been on edge for several months now- if not years-partly because my oldest son has been away in the desert again for the third time. ( Now he's home and I hope he won't have to go anymore.) And partly because I've also got several other precious kids- and grandkids- who have their own lives and challenges. When my husband retired from the military, I had hoped to put all this waiting and worrying behind me but no-here comes Matt to ...
I was crying my eyes out. It was late summer of 1966. I had gone so far as to actually arrive at the ASU campus in Tempe, Arizona but was so filled with anxiety and fear that I could not go in. My cousin Ruthie, who had driven me there, was obviously ticked off at me, but after we sat there in the car for some time, and I sobbed uncontrollably, she drove us quietly away. We had something to eat at a restaurant (Sambo's? Denny's?) and went home. I had graduated from Rincon High ...