There are more things that I love than things that I hate. I love remembering about Bob's and my courtship, brief as it was. Just thinking about the odds of our getting together again after a blind date 5 years before is mind-boggling. God had to have had a hand in it -- his mother and step-dad even lived across the street from me at one time; his friend who suggested that he call me while he was home on leave was someone I didn't know -- he worked in the post office and would see me come in to pick up my mail from my post office box. Just the fact that Bob did call me for that second blind date is a miracle as he didn't remember ever having the first blind date and didn't even know what I looked like.
Other things I love remembering are flashbacks of my sons' early years -- I can still see John's excitement when he'd see the leaves on trees blowing in the wind when I'd push him down the sidewalk in his "buggy." Or when he'd see the "bubble-lights" on a Christmas tree. And what a smart and cute little toddler he was. He could name all the parts of a car motor when he was only two years old (bet he can't do it now!) His dad taught him that. He was so grown up and always wanted to do what was right. One time when he was only 4 or 5, he was going to spend the night in his little tent under the big tree in our front yard. I had told him that he could come in anytime he wanted to but guess he didn't remember that or hear me tell him that. It came up a big storm during the night, so we got him and his tent in. He later told me that he knew it was going to storm because he had gotten scared in the night and prayed that it would storm so he'd have to get back in the house.
Have lots of fun memories of Scott too. He was little and fast and could get away from you before you knew it. If he heard the music from the ice cream truck, he'd run toward it as fast as he could go. He had a friend who was bullied by the other kids and he'd happily do the fighting back for him. He always (and still does) liked to do the more dangerous things that moms don't want their little ones doing - I hated it when Bob and the boys would go hunting, when he'd ride his Honda Mini-Trail motor bike when he was a 5th grader, playing football, gymnastics, diving and all the other things that were scary. He still hasn't forgiven me for calling the school when he was in either jr. hi or mid-hi to tell them that I didn't want them to play dodge ball in PE as I was afraid he'd get hit in the eye (he'd had a bad eye injury when he was two so we were always watchful after that). He is a very loving and attentive son and I look forward to his weekly phone calls.
I love my daughter-in-laws very much and feel blessed to have Mary and Vicky in the family. I hear my friends make remarks about problems with their son's wives and know that I am lucky that we love one another and are always happy to spend time together. They are both wise and loving mothers who have done a great job raising my grandchildren.
I love remembering growing up with my five brothers and sisters. We always had to work hard; I envied the kids who didn't have to do chores and had plenty of time to study and do their homework. Loys was the grown-up one (I've always wondered if she ever did anything wrong in her whole life!) Jack was my protector, Bud was my tormenter, Doris was my friend (most of the time) and Frank was my responsibility much of the time when he was small. I had lots of cats and dogs to play with, horses to ride, tractors and farm equipment to play on, trees to climb and housework to do (which I enjoyed). I can remember cleaning the whole house on Saturday mornings while listening to "Let's Pretend" and "Route 66" on the radio. The whole family would gather around in the evening to listen to "Inner Sanctum Mysteries," "Green Lantern," and other fascinating stories on the radio. I loved to read but we didn't have a lot of books and magazines or access to the library. Our grandparents had lots of farm magazines and the "Look" magazine in their window seat and I liked to rummage through it when we visited them on Sunday afternoons. They also had the first air conditioner I'd ever seen; my granddad made it himself with wood, screen, excelsior and a fan and installed it in a window. (I thought he was wonderful and that he probably looked a lot like God does.)
I'm thankful that I had good, hard-working, God-fearing parents. They made sure that we were honest, knew the value of hard work and saving money and were truthful. I miss them very much.
I love mornings; guess most would think it's boring, but I love time spent having breakfast and coffee with Bob, working the cross word puzzle, sitting on the patio in the mornings when it's cool, watching the beautiful robins in the back yard and just doing what I like to do for a couple of hours.
Sometimes I think I'm the luckiest person in the whole world!
