Remember Whensday

I met this guy on Labor Day Weekend in 1991 when I went to the hardware store to buy a bolt for my lawnmower, and he was the guy who waited on me that day.

I have told this story before, about how I didn't even know his name when I left the store, so I called and asked what his name was, and if he was married, and gave him my phone number and told him if he was interested in going out to dinner to give me a call.

Our first date was a trip to Sweetwater Creek State Park, about three miles from my house, for a walk down to the old mill. Our wedding anniversary is Saturday, July 18. We will be married 17 years. What a guy!

Goodbye To A Dear Friend

There has been so much in the news these last few days about the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. While the loss of those two celebrities may be big news, the demise of my long time friend, The Big White Bowl, will have a huge impact on my daily life.


Mine is a loss only a cook will understand. The Big White Bowl has been a part of my life for a very long time. I can't remember exactly when it came into my life, but I think it was Christmas, 1972. My first husband had a charming way of giving me small electric appliances as gifts. And while I really liked that Kenmore Stand Mixer, it was The Big White Bowl that came with it that stole my heart.

The Big White Bowl was made of glass. It was the perfect size and shape for mixing just about anything. The Big White Bowl and I made a good team, and prepared countless meals for my family together over the years. There have been hundreds of meatloaves, pancakes, corn breads, biscuits, cakes, salads, and others too numerous to mention mixed in that bowl. Sadly, I could only find one picture of it in my vast photo collection.

The Big White Bowl moved many times, and has traveled all over the country with me . During the period of my life when I was divorced and moved 15 times in 5 years, The Big White Bowl helped comfort me and my children with many batches of Chocolate Chip Cookies. It was always lovingly wrapped and cushioned during each move, to protect it from harm. The Big White Bowl lived most of its life in Georgia, but has also lived in Florida, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and spent its last days at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

When I came home from work last night, FabGrandpa announced the death of The Big White Bowl. He stood there hanging his head in shame, while he told me that he broke The Big White Bowl while he was washing the dishes. While I cried over the tragic loss, FabGrandpa went on to say it was an accident, and that we would try to find another one to replace The Big White Bowl.

I'm sorry, FabGrandpa, we may find another bowl, but none could ever take the place of The Big White Bowl.

Happy Birthday, FabGrandpa!

My honey, my sweetie, my dear husband, FabGrandpa, is 60 years old today! I am married to an old man! Can you believe it? So here are some of my favorite pictures of him:

March 1949:

Still 1949:

March 13, 1950:

1968, His senior picture:



1992:


and today:

Happy Birthday, honey! I love you.

This Whole Thing Makes Me Sad

When FabGrandpa and I first got together, we lived together first. We had both been married twice before and while we knew we wanted to be together, we were scared to take that final plunge so soon. We did plan to get married but had not set a date yet.

Then, when he had been living with me for about six months, he and his daughter were in a bad auto accident. He had a broken hip, five broken ribs, two ruptured discs in his neck and a concussion. He was in the hospital for thirteen days, nine of it in intensive care.

The day before the doctors let him go home, he had a very serious talk with me. He was worried that I would not want him to come home to my house to recuperate. I thought it was odd of him to even ask, because I loved him and couldn't imagine him not coming home there. I told him he could, but that we needed to get married. The day that the wreck happened, the people at the hospital wouldn't allow me to go in to see him in the emergency room because I was not his wife!!! So, as soon as he was able to stand up without support, we got married. Our first rings were gold bands we bought at Wal-Mart.

He was not able to return to work for almost two years. One day while I was at work in Atlanta, the attorney called me and said he had a check for us from the other guy's insurance company. I went to pick it up. It was a large check, the largest one I have ever held in my hands! When I got home, I gave it to FabGrandpa, because it was his money and the check was made out to him.

The next day, when he picked me up from the park and ride lot, he gave me these wedding rings, and every penny of the rest of the check. To me, it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me. Even though we both considered the money to belong to us both, he made that elegant gesture of giving me everything he had. And that is what makes it so sad for me to know that I have lost one of those precious diamonds. It is worth the world to me.

Homecoming

Remember this? I thought I would never see or hear from them again. But, they came home yesterday. And it looks like they are happy to be here. I don't know what happened, I have not talked to her, yet. I may never know, and to honest, I don't think I want to know. I am just happy they are back. My heart is exploding with joy.

Kindness

Ok, I am going into sappy mode, so be warned, click out now if you can't take the oozing from the following post:

I am not generally a poetic person or one who gets into poetry much, but I came across this one and it spoke volumes to me:

Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
You must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

So, what does it say to you?

Trick Or Treat?

Us on our wedding day, July 18, 1992

FabGrandpa moved in with me on Halloween in 1991. We were carrying a dresser up the front steps to the house when these little children came running up, holding out their bags and yelling "Trick or Treat?". FabGrandpa asked them if they wanted a pair of socks!

Life with him has not always been that fun, but it has been more fun than not. Today is our wedding anniversary. We have made it through 16 years of marriage, which for us is record breaking. Each of us has been married twice before, with none of those previous ones lasting more than 7 years. We had four children between us, and had three teenage girls living with us when our marriage began. It is a wonder he survived all that teen angst and PMS.

Us in January, 2008

So, tonight we have reservations for dinner at the North Rim Lodge. After dinner we are going to drive up to Point Imperial to watch the sun set and the moon rise. What more could a girl want?

A Love Story

Thank you, my seester, for sending me this valentine. Although I do like to get valentine cards in the mail from my girlfriends and my sister, Jim and I don't "do" valentines, just as we don't "do" Christmas gifts and anniversary gifts for each other. We both feel the same way about that: we both want to be loved and cared for by the other every day. I would rather have a little surprise gift on any ordinary day, than on a mandated occasion. I want him to say "I love you" in the middle of the night, when we both just happen to wake up for a second, you know, when one of us has snored too loudly or something like that.

I love it when he fixes me a cup of coffee with just the right amount of chocolate Coffee Mate. I love it when he picks me up a scratch off lottery ticket when he is at the store. I love it that he will eat all my gluten free stuff without complaint, and that he gets it that I can't eat stuff like biscuits and donuts anymore. And he always thanks me for cooking dinner by saying "Thank you, my love." And when I ask him to do something for me, he says "Certainly, my love."

Yeah, it is a mushy thing, but how else can I tell you about the guy I love. And now, for those of you who don't know, here is how we met:

I was a divorced mom with three teenagers, going slowly out of my mind. I had bought myself a new lawnmower for my 39th birthday, but it was missing a bolt on one side of the handle from the day I brought it home from the store. A couple of months later I got so fed up with the handle that would not stay up, that I jumped in the car and went to the hardware store that my brother in law managed to buy a bolt to fix it.

When I walked into the store, my sister's husband was standing there talking to this guy. Alan looked at me and said, "Look what the cat dragged in." and the guy said, "Why are you talking about this nice lady like that?" to which Alan replied, "She is my wife's sister, so it's okay." and the guy said, "all the more reason to be kind to her." (ooooh, I liked that) Anyway, the guy waited on me and got the bolt for me and I went home to finish mowing the lawn. I did not even know his name.

So, when I got through with the yard, I called my brother in law at the store and asked if that guy was married. He said no. Then I asked what his name was, and Alan said "Jim." So, I told Alan to give Jim my phone number and tell him if he was interested in going out to dinner to give me a call. And he did. 16 years ago. On our first date we went to a state park to go for a walk. Hmmm, we did that yesterday, too.

And now, for your viewing pleasure: