Children · Daily Post · Family · Grandma · Home

“Places In The Heart”

Photo credit: www.Indb.com
Photo credit: http://www.Indb.com

Hello Fifty,

Sitting here at the kitchen table this A.m it’s cold, quiet and peaceful in the “Tin Can” an owl is outside hooting and I am at the table writing my thoughts down over a warm cup of coffee.

I sit here thinking about dropping Gabe off at school this morning, it’s becoming a daily thought. Every morning when dropping him off at school before he goes in, he turns around and blows me a kiss. Lately it’s been something I sit and wait for, even though the cars behind me are most likely in a rush? It’s our time, shortly it will be but another artifact that we tuck away in the chambers of our hearts.

The thing about the heart is it never gets full of all the places and moments we have been in. The more you open it up and stuff it with the Good things, when the bad things happen you always have a place to go.

Recently,I had to take a trip to the hospital. Lets not go into why, because it’s not my focus for the few people reading. However it does not down play that I was afraid. I laid their scared, cold, and worried that they wouldn’t get the problem under control or maybe they’re was more going on… After making a few phone calls and being to upset about the situation, I had to get a handle on myself and by doing so I go back to the phantoms of my yester years.

I closed my eyes

This particular memory reminds me of a warm blanket and it covers me and my fears.

The day was dark, foggy and rainy not the hard rain though more like a mist! I was not feeling well at all. A few days after my open heart surgery as a child, being a kid you don’t express your sickness the way you do when you’re an adult. This is why we have parents or what the definition is as a parent to me. My “step mom” Lin came up by herself for some reason and asked me how I was feeling? I didn’t say much but looking back from now to then, I didn’t have too. She pulled up a chair next to me and just sat there not saying a word. To be honest I couldn’t tell you how long she sat there either. When I did wake up she had put this giant red heart balloon with legs and a smiley face in place of where she sat.

Linda,

though the day outside remained dark, wet, and ugly it lit everything up including myself. So I took that day and shoved it inside one of my chambers and you will forever be sitting there with your umbrella catching all the rain and reminding me in every dark place there is a little bit of light.

Once upon a time, “Grams” took my older brother and I too our first movie. The movie title has always been the title of how I get through life and where you will usually find me in the raising of my own son and it’s “Places In The Heart”

 

 

Children · Family · love · memories

Saturday Sneak Peek

We spent a great deal of the evening at Lincon Park on Saturday it was the warmest its been in a few months.
We spent a great deal of the evening at Lincoln Park on Saturday it was the warmest its been in a few months.
We went to eat at I hop Gabe insisted I Hop is his favorite resteraunt be fore eating he said "Let Me Take A Selfie"
We went to eat at I hop Gabe insisted I Hop is his favorite resteraunt before eating he said “Let Me Take A Selfie”
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This is what I call “getting His Silly’s Out!!
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We camped out on the floor all night watching movies, that is our dog Murphy he don’t miss a thing we do!

 

Daily Post · love

I Want To Know What Love Is Not

Daily Post

Prompt: We each have many types of love relationships — parents, children, spouses, friends. And they’re not always with people; you may love an animal, or a place. Is there a single idea or definition that runs through all the varieties of “love”?

Love is not always ready for love because you are

Love is not holding people hostage with money, secrets, lies, or pity

Love is not hitting someone or abusing them with words, such as stupid, ignorant, ugly, fat and looser

Love is not destroying someone elses happiness because you’re not

Love is not bragging to everybody what you have when they don’t, if your relationship or marriage is good people know it you do not need to post it up in neon flashing lights

Love does not hinder someones potential

Love is not living someone elses life for them, no can be just as healthy as yes

Love is not writing people off because there not living as you wish

Love is not for a certain class of people

love is not a word and it’s not for the weak!

 

 

 

 

Children

No Bashing

Mommy Question: Lately Gabe has learned about fires in school and was given a book called the sprinkleman. We have read it a few times before bed, afterwards he has been asking me questions, which is alright because lets face it! They do happen so we have to  talk about them and a plan.

So here is my question to You: How have you discussed this with your children? Do you have a plan? Do you talk about fires? Do you go into detail with your children? My son is five and he is asking about his toys, the pets, mommy, daddy, and why we don’t have sprinklers in our house. I don’t want to change the subject but also don’t want him to worry about the things I should be worried about…

I also like to stay truthful and not gloss things over too much because I belive we need to be prepared for the What ifs?  and I can’t tell him it’s never going to happen.

 

Family · Grandma · love · memories

Million Dollar Night Gown

As a young girl my grandma helped my dad out a lot on the weekends. When my dad had to work. On Friday’s she would come to get me and my brother.

My grandma was a bit more laid back then my father with getting our way. We’d   go shopping for clothes, toys, and out to eat. You know the things most grandmas do?

She always enjoyed having us stay over.

The second you walked into her house it was like walking into a different world. She would greet us with a smile and hug. My childhood troubles would be lifted like a book-bag loaded with seven or eight books at her door. She would ask questions about our lives. What our you working on in school? Do you like your teacher? hows your dad been? I would answer her questions but tell her more about the bullies in my life. She’d  quietly waited til I was done talking and tell me she was sorry to hear those things and that she loved me and to her I was special.

All the way up into my late twenties we continued to have a healthy relationship. I would still go over and stay all night. We continued shopping, going out to eat, and taking long drives, especially in the fall to see all the leaves changing colors.

In Illinois we have lots of trees one on top of the other so our falls here are stunning it’s worth the while. Sometimes we would just stay in. Those times were my favorites because we would talk for hours about her past with my grandpa, my future, shed tell me stories about her siblings, and all the places  she traveled with her friends George and Dorothy.

During those times around her house my “Grams a Million” would always wear her night-gown. She dressed up to the nines when she went out. The clothes she wore she liked but some of them not so comfortable so if she was home she always had her night-gown on.

The gown was slick and light. They were not attractive at all. She had a million of them in a million different colors. They had a peasant low-cut neck, if you didn’t tie it with the dull drab strings, you could see some of her pale chest. The sleeves were short and airy, they had bolts of red, blue, and purple all over that looked liked streaks of lighting.

The backdrop of the gowns were black which made her blue eyes, pale skin, and short dark hair standout. The gown stopped below her knees. she was short and you could see her skinny white legs. She was always barefoot when she was home. Which I loved. To me it said she wasn’t in a hurry. You could take off your shoes and stay awhile.

Many late evenings when we were lounging around watching the Golden Girls in her night gowns. I sat and watched her rocking in her orange chair. knowing that one day this time would no longer be… Maybe that was odd but its the truth. We have to embrace that our loved ones will not be with us on earth forever.

I am so thankful and blessed for the twenty-eight years we had together.

Shortly after her passing I was able to go over to her house by myself. I walked through the house slowly touching and going over everything she had worked hard for all her. Like I was in a museum of old artifacts listening to her explain all the details of each piece. I thought it would bother me seeing it all packed and piled high.

At the end of my journey picking through things wondering if I should take this or that… With a deep sigh, I walked into her room, opened her drawer full of night-gowns, Anyone  would do. She wore them all. I grabbed her old photo albums, laid across her bed, admiring her younger years, and pretending she was there with me.

When I left that day I took her one night-gown with me because it was my Million Dollar Treasure.

Family · Grandma · Home

Cleaning

Every now and again I deep clean parts of my house and it’s always the kitchen, because it is where I spend most of my time. No, not always cooking and eating!

Steve and I sit at the table in the morning on our days off catching up with one another about the week, we color and often go over Gabes letters and numbers and when my friends come by its usually where we sit in catch up.

When my grandma was living and even in my parents house til this day, like I said before the table has never “caught anything but good food and conversation” this has been an ongoing memory of mine.

One conversation my mind goes back to is a vacation I came back from  visiting a childhood friend in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail about the vacation right now.

When I got back home I went straight over to “grams” house afterwards and she loved to travel as well, so she fixed us a cup of coffee and sat them down at her kitchen table and told me to tell her all about my trip.

In the middle of the conversation I started crying because it was so hard leaving the company of a good friend and the scenery was just as peaceful and beautiful as the talks my friend and I shared during the visit. Grabbing my hand and comforting me as she always did she said “sweetheart”  ” a Vacation would not be a vacation if we didn’t have to come home” and she was right, it never would have been what it was to me if I had lived there.

My “grams” gave me wisdom, comfort, she also gave me my dad who is lots more like her than he cares to admit. He too can tell you the truth as well but silence the pistol and you can hear the conversation that is going on inside the conversation. All this came to me today when cleaning and finding a gift from Qvc she gave me years ago that we didn’t need then but we could sure use now.

Eight years almost on the twenty-eighth you been gone “grams” and your still here with me, you knew what you were doing all those years and because of all those evening and morning talks at your table I just close my eyes and their you are and once again you silence the pistol of being gone.

Children · Family · Home · love

More free writing

WIN_20140411_085825Today was a good day little man and I slept in a bit, actually a lot oops! We didn’t make it to preschool but we had a nice talk about his picture, he and his dad made the night before last. He told me they were fishing with sunshine and blue skies the picture was pretty detailed for a four-year old. My husband helped him a bit,but you can tell the picture was made by him for the most part.

Then we tackled getting cleaned up, dressed and ready for the day. We fed the animals as in the bird, dog and cat the kitty is an outdoor cat who choose all of us for some reason?  after this we turned on a Dailey carton he loves to watch but he decided to bring his color crayons and book over to me to show me a maze except he had to ask me what they were called? We went over how to do them. He made sure there wasn’t a single maze left undone after he had caught on!

We didn’t go outside today together and I can’t tell you why? These days were into our cycle which is a three wheel contraption that sits real low to the ground, yesterday I had my fill of up, down, around, get over here, stay out of their day but still loved watching him have a hay day! We should have went outside it was so pretty. A bit of a warm breeze was coming in through the window, the sun was shining high there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I love days like these and hate all kinds of storms especially the kind in life that throw you for a loop and it takes you a bit to put your feet back on the ground.

When my son was born I was still going through a ton of grief. It took a toll on me but our relationship from the start was interrupted. When they pulled him out it took him about three minutes for him to cry, his dad looked terrified my arms were stretched out, tied down with a huge blanket blocking my view it took only a minute for all those emotions to start flooding in. When he did cry my numbness had already taken over its amazing what the mind and body do for you in the deepest darkest moments of your life. They briefly showed him to me then carried him off to make sure everything was okay with him. Which never bothered me in the least. When you lose not one baby but two you get real used to not being able to hold them it had already been my way of life.

When they finally got me all clean, stitched up and to my room they asked me if I would like them to go get my baby. I remember looking up at the nurse and saying what? She came over to my bed with complete understanding and said again with a smile do you want me to go get him so you can hold him. He is so beautiful congratulations. Yes please bring him to me. When he came in she said would you like to try to feed him which was a bit hard for us to get down so we just skipped that part this time around.

The next evening took another turn when I was burping him he starting turning blue the nurse came down looked at him told me they had to take him down to the neonatal unit when they came back about a half hour later to tell me his oxygen was going down into the thirties, it would rise back up but still was very dangerous so until he could learn to maintain he would have to stay with them. They ran test and determined that he would eventually grow out of this phase he will have to learn to maintain his oxygen on his own but needed to be observed this took four weeks when he came home it was everything but happy.

You see I never got the memo that after you lose a baby in my case babies, when you have another one it is a simple reminder of the high cost you could possibly pay and it takes a toll on a woman. So for two or three years I have walked on eggshells in the beginning it was his bottles he would gag a bit too much for my comfort, then it was his tantrums he would get so mad his lips would turn blue oh how I held my breath too, then he started eating solids and every bite he took was similar to me standing on a cliff, he started climbing up the monkey bars I said that’s it I can’t take it! I still took care of him like a mother should but with caution, my guard up and a bit of apprehensive of the future.

He felt this as well. I know he did because when I brought him home he would just cry it wasn’t  your normal cry like he was un happy either just basically more or less I really don’t like you cry. As tense as I was during those times, I cannot blame him.

Today we still bump heads mostly because were at that age, he helps himself to the fridge and I yell you need to ask instead of oh god don’t eat that! He ate a bag of skittles on his own the other day and plays at the park as free as a lark and although life has been very dark he pointed out in his drawing look mama look at the blue skies Yes babe your so right. Thank you for pointing that out to me.

 

Uncategorized

Hello There

The other day I had to take my little boy to the doctor to find out he just had a  cold. With him having asthma though it is better to be safe then sorry. The highlight of the trip was when we first walked in to the office a little black headed girl ran up grabbed both of his hands they swung each other around just like they haven’t seen each other in years which I suppose is the case since this was their first meeting.

I got to talking a bit with the girl’s mother, and realized why the little gal was so friendly. I informed her that my son really knows no stranger and usually we don’t  get the same response, as in most often the children we run into are stand offish. She agreed and told me she ran into the same problems as well.We also were not picking on those types of personalities basically reassuring each other about our children. It was a nice little encounter while it lasted

Later on that day when arriving to work, I was informed that I had to run an appointment. So away we went. We check in and the lady behind the desk gives us a stack of papers to fill out, we sit down and get straight to it. Plus I had to match up all her medications making sure they were still the same it was a bit time-consuming. After I got done we turned them in. When walking back I realized over yonder someone I have known for a long time. She was talking to someone at the moment so I didn’t interrupt.

We got called back before she had ended her discussion so nothing was said. The appointment didn’t take long at all and when returning to the waiting room the gal was still there and seems that she looked directly at me she recognized me. I often run in to her since we live on the same side of town and always wondered if it wasn’t me who said anything first what would happen? Which is not like me but I wanted to test it out so when walking right by her she actually dug her head more into her phone, never saying a darn thing. Which my sources prepared me for, but you know my faith always rises to an occasion.

This was a bit of a stab to the olé cardio I know there are worse things in life but what’s the big harry deal? Even if you don’t care for someone you can at least nod acknowledge their existence wouldn’t you agree? Maybe she felt like she didn’t want to get into a conversation with me which has never really happens to begin with…

Maybe this is just my ramblings of my insecurities maybe when this happens to me I think of my childhood and years ago and how cruel people were to me, even my friends and some adults maybe I start thinking of how I am not worthy of a simple hello or maybe its just time to write all these feelings out for once in my life get them out and be forever grateful that those days are over. To be thankful time has put a bit of rougher skin on me but too rough. To realize that I wouldn’t be the person today without those sour times and wouldn’t be sitting here writing about a simple hello, and what a bit of a difference it could make in someone life.

Maybe it wasn’t right of me not to say hello as well but can you see my point as in why I didn’t?

I know that it’s a bit of a dream. I can’t help but wonder how this world would be if we greeted everyone with a smile grabbed them by the hand and let them know how nice it is to see them….

Uncategorized

Blog Ramblings

ImageSo this whole blogging world is new to me. Actually it never occurred to me that people blogged the way they do as in my definition of a blog was people who write and post pictures about their family vacations, children, life as husband and wife and nothing more. One night when I found word press by typing in blogging signing up and surfing you could imagine my surprise when I seen topics from abuse, weight, sexual identity, work, every day life and so on. The majority of my time has been spent on here reading and getting to know some people .Actually a few people I could really call up and ask them is their anyway we could be friends. I even look forward to their next post about their lives or thoughts on a particular subject. I would mention them but think it may be early in the game for this. This has been unexpected and I feel like it is right up my alley as far as being myself and sharing parts of my life. Something that I have always wanted to do. I am a bit overwhelmed because it takes me forever to write one thing and even in writing this my son has the fridge open he is asking me a million questions and I am hunting and pecking these keys and feel as though it is a slow going process. Listen I love to write and talk about things just as much as the next person but feel as though this has not been easy because its hard for me just to sit here and type something on a whim! Sometimes when writing my stories about my past it takes me days because it doesn’t come out of my mind as fast. So this being said this is my first blog where I am just typing what comes to mind. Since reading more and more on here, I know when posting this even if it don’t make since it will be okay and I appreciate this and love that basically its no holds bar around these part.