Remember Whensday

 

This is Emily, Spencer's Mommy,  on Christmas Day, 1983. Who do you think he looks like? 

 

And, because I couldn't decide which photo to use, you get two! Poor old Santa! Me and Becca in 1990, trying our best to be good. 

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Remember Whensday: The Christmas Food Box

My post today has no photograph to jog my memory. Way back years ago when I was a divorced mother of three young children, trying very hard on a very tight budget to make ends meet, I was the recipient of a food box from a community organization at Christmas. I was happy to get it, but one of the things I have always remembered from that experience was how many cans of hominy were in it.

I did appreciate getting the food, but I remember thinking "I wonder how many people really eat that stuff?" and wondering why, if you don't eat something yourself, would you put it in the donation box for others.  Do people think that just because we are unable to provide for ourselves for a minute that our taste buds or nutritional needs are going to change? Back then, it was just a matter of tastes. If I were the recipient of a food box now, though, it would be a matter of whether or not I would be able to eat the foods that I received.

I am not alone in this line of thinking. Dee Valdez, who was diagnosed with Celiac Disease 17 years ago, remembers talking to a mother with a sick 7 year old who had Celiac. The mother said she had to choose between feeding her whole family or just feeding her sick daughter the very expensive gluten free food she could find. That distraught mother said, referring to her Celiac daughter, "She's just going to have to live with diarrhea."

"There is a great need to develop a systematic approach to establishing Gluten Free Food Banks across the nation." says Valdez.  She is making that happen in Loveland, Colorado, where there was a dedication and ribbon cutting for the new gluten free section of the existing House of Neighborly Service Food Bank (HNS) on Tuesday, December 15, 2009. This location will serve as the test site for the new program Valdez is designing to be implemented in communities across the country. What a wonderful thing for the 1 in 133 of us who can not eat gluten!

I was also happy to read that Pamela's Products, a dedicated gluten-free company, is a supporter of this effort, and is donating their Baking & Pancake Mix and their cookies to HNS. I discovered Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix early on in my gluten free life--it is now one of the staples of life in the Fab household.

While the costs of gluten free products has come down, and there is a much wider selection of them, they are still more expensive than regular normal foods. For example, you can pick up a loaf of regular white wheat bread for under $2.00 at any grocery store. The last gluten free bread I bought cost me about $7.50 for a 12 ounce loaf. Fabgrandpa and I can afford it, but with so many people losing their jobs, many people who must eat a gluten free diet are finding their budgets stretched to the limits, and facing the choice of whether to eat foods that are toxic to them. Ever since I started eating gluten free, whenever I donate items to a food drive, I always donate gluten free--pasta, bread mix, baking mix, cookies, cereal.  Because, what is the point of giving something I wouldn't eat myself?

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Remember Whensday

Something I saw this week made me think about this furniture. I bought it in (I think) 1978, as a Valentine gift for myself.  The set came with a sofa, two chairs, a coffee table, two end tables, and two lamps. All made out of heavy pine boards, and all had matching brown plaid cushions. It was not very pretty, and not really very comfortable, but it was cheap and sturdy. I think I paid about $300 for the whole shebang!

I figured that with three kids, who were about 6, 4, and 3 years old, that it would be indestructible.  I was right. That furniture went through a lot of spend the night parties, a lot of "Friday night everyone sleep in the living room so we can wake up and watch cartoons in the morning" and lots of teenager pizza parties. 

This photo was taken in 1984, the day I moved into the last house I owned. We had that furniture until 1993, when I finally bought a new set.  We took the pieces apart, and had a bonfire in the back yard.

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Remember Whensday

When my daughter, Becca, was in kindergarten, she refused to wear a dress unless she could wear that pin. It was a simple gold leaf, I think I got it from Avon. Even though it was way too "grown up" for a five year old, it was a necessary addition to her wardrobe whenever she was required to wear a dress. I still have that pin, and every time I see it, I think about this picture.  Happy Birthday, Becca! 

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Remember Whensday

 

 (Michael and FabGrandma: love at first sight: 1996)

Thirteen years ago, on October 13, my first grandchild was born. I drove a thousand miles from Atlanta, Georgia, to San Antonio, Texas to hold him in my arms for the first time. He was so tiny, so perfect, so beautiful. He was the one who made me the FabGrandma. 

Yesterday was his thirteenth birthday. He is now living in Maryland with his Air Force Dad, my son. But I have to tell ya, that little guy has been to more places than I have, and I go a lot!  Besides San Antonio, he has lived in Guam, and England. He has been to Stone Henge, Loch Ness, the Leaning Tower of Piza, the Eiffel Tower. He has camped on the shore of Wales, and near the beach in Tusany. He has caught grunion on the beach at Imperial Beach, California, and crappie in a lake in north Georgia. 

 

 (Michael fishing in north Georgia with his Dad and FabGrandpa: 2003)

That boy really gets around. Here is another photo of him that I love:

 

(Michael on the pier at Imperial Beach, California, with the catch of the day: 2004)

Hope you had a very happy birthday, Fab Grandson Michael!

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Remember Whensday

Me on the left, Donna on the right in 1995

I met my friend Donna, in 1964 or 65, when we were in the 8th grade. I was the new kid, having moved from Austell to Douglasville, Georgia, after school had started for the year. We were inseparable in our early teens, spending almost every weekend at her house.  We helped each other through our first marriages, having our children, and through the divorces that followed. 

We visited as often as we could over the years, but it never seemed like often enough. The photo above was taken in May of 1995, when we drove to San Antonio, Texas together to take a bassinette to my son and his wife for their firstborn child. We decided that since we were close enough, we would just drive down to Mexico for one day before returning to Atlanta.  

Donna bought a longhorn steer skull, with a horn span of what seemed like six feet. If it had been one more inch, we would have had to have driven all the way with the rear windows rolled down so they could stick out.  A few years later, when I hit the road for my life as a gypsy, I lost track of her. We haven't seen each other in almost 10 years, maybe more. But, I found her on Facebook this week!  I hope we can get together when I go home to Douglasville over the winter. 

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Remember Whensday

That's Becky, my step-daughter, in the middle.

When FabGrandpa and I got married, we had three teenaged girls between us. My two daughters, and his daughter, Becky.  Since he had custody of Becky, she lived with us, too.  I have to admit, it was not all rosy and fun--Becky and I clashed a lot as we learned how to live together as a family.  Now, though, we get along just fine. 

I remember one very trying weekend, a couple of years after we were married, that I had baked a ham, and then all hell broke loose in the household before we could eat dinner. It involved taking one of my children to the hospital emergency room.  While I was away taking care of business, Becky cleaned up the kitchen and threw the ham away. When I got home, I was very stressed due the happenings of the weekend, and all I could think about was having a ham sandwich. I had held myself together pretty well, up until I found out that Becky had thrown the ham away--the whole thing.  That is when I started crying and couldn't stop.  

All these years later, it sounds pretty silly, but at the time it was tragic for me. We laugh about it now, but that day was awful.   I have not ever cooked a ham since then that I haven't thought about the one that was tossed in the trash.

Becky is here to visit us this week. We are going to see the sights--Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, and Antelope Canyon. We'll go out to eat, do some shopping, and just hang out together. I doubt I'll be baking a ham, though! 

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Remember Whensday

This is a picture of me, around Thanksgiving, 1971 at my home in Neunkirken, Germany with a vase our neighbors gave me for Christmas. My first husband was in the Army, and I had gone over to Germany to live with him and await the birth of our first child. My son was born in Wuerzburg on November 14, 1971. Shortly after his birth, we found out that my husband was going to get an early release from the Army. So, we opened our Christmas presents early, then immediately packed them up for shipping home. I flew out of Frankfurt, on my way to Atlanta, the day before Christmas Eve. My son was one day short of being six weeks old.

After my husband dropped me off at the airport in Frankfurt, there was a flight delay that lasted about six hours. The delay caused me to miss my connecting flight from JFK in New York, so I sat in the airport in New York for another 12 hours, waiting for a standby flight. I finally got on a flight to Atlanta because my son was the youngest baby waiting, and I was running out of supplies of formula for him. I was so happy to finally arrive in Atlanta at Hartsfield Airport, way beyond exhausted. And when my mother picked me up? The first words out of her mouth were "Be careful with the baby."

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Remember Whensday

This week's rememberance is not from long ago--it is a memory made just yesterday. My cousin Susan and her husband came to visit me. It was the first time we met, I think, but she says she remembers me and my family coming to Detroit when I was seven, and going to the Detroit Zoo with her family. I don't remember much about that trip, and certainly don't remember Susan or the zoo. I wish I did, because she told me a funny story about my Mom and Dad wearing straw hats that looked like Chinese coolie hats. That would be a funny site to me, for sure.

Before they got here, I was worried that we wouldn't have anything to talk about, or that it would be awkard, since we are both, ahem, in our late 50's. But, I have to say, it was like I had known her all my life, and had just seen her a week or so ago. We talked all afternoon! We have a lot in common, and enjoy a lot of the same things. I was showing her my quilting project, and she showed me her rug hooking project, which was gorgeous! And as you can see from the photo above, we have the same idea of F-U-N! I think we could have been close like sisters if we had grown up together.

And because I want to remember yesterday for a very long time, I am sharing two pictures instead of one. I hope we can get together again soon!

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Remember Whensday

In the summer of 1985, I had major surgery and was out of work on sick leave for 10 and a half weeks. While I was recuperating, I went on a short trip to visit my brother and his family. I lived west of Atlanta, and he lived in south Georgia, out in the country.

I had a wonderful visit with them, just hanging around the house, doing nothing special at all, but it was one of my favorite trips I ever took. One day while we were there, we visited Okeefeenoke Swamp, and took a boat ride along the murky water, with alligators swimming by. That is my sister-in-law, Jean on the left, my daughter Becca in the back, and me on the right, sitting in Jean's kitchen.

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Remember Whensday

Back in 1992, when FabGrandpa and I were newly married, we decided to take a weekend trip to the mountains of Tennessee. We reserved a cabin in Sevierville, left the three teenaged girls at home, and took off for some much needed R&R.

We got to the cabin, unloaded the car, then took a drive over to Cherokee, North Carolina. On the way back it started snowing. We pulled over on a scenic overlook and watched the snow falling for a while.

When we got in bed that night, and looked up, we discovered that there were mirrors on the ceiling over the bed. I don't think we have laughed so long and hard as we did that night. Every time we looked up, there we were! It was far from romantic, but it was just what we needed that night.

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Remember Whensday

The last year that we owned our house, a pair of flickers chose a dead tree near the deck to build a nest and raise their young. We got a "bird's eye view" of it all. The couple began by coming to the tree for several days in a row to check it out. Next, they pecked an almost perfectly round hole into the tree.

They flew in and out of the hole for several days, bringing nesting material with them. One day when I was home in the middle of the day, I saw a starling go in the hole while the flickers were away. The male flicker came home to find the intruder. As I watched, I heard a lot of squawking and saw black feathers flying out of the hole. The starling managed to escape, and he never tried that again!

Soon, there were baby bird noises coming out of the hole in the tree. I borrowed a 35 mm camera with an extended lens and a tripod, and sat out on the deck for hours, waiting for a good shot. I was rewarded with several photos of the flickers feeding their babies. All too soon, the babies grew and fledged, and it was over. What an awesome summer that was!

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!

Remember Whensday

In July of 1985, my kids and I went to Stone Mountain for the day. We picnicked on the lawn in front of the carving, went swimming and stayed for the laser show. It was the second time we went there. The first time was when my son, Seth, was about three years old. He was so scared that the giant rock was going to roll over on us that he couldn't eat his lunch!

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Remember Whensday

This photo is not the best ever made, but it is of me and my daughter, Becca in April 1989. She was the only girl in Girl Scout Troop 147 who wanted to go backpacking. I found a council sponsored two day trip hiking the Appalachian Trail near Cleveland, Georgia. We went to two evening training sessions, where they taught the basic things we needed to know about hiking, and gave us a list of what to bring.

I was a little apprehensive about it because I was not the most athletic person even way back then. But, I hiked for two days, carried my own pack and part of tent, and even climbed down a root ladder about 80 feet! Our guide got us lost, and we wandered around for a couple of hours in mountain laurel that was taller than me. We finally got to the place we were supposed to be to meet our ride back home. I was really proud of myself, but alas, this is the only picture that survived.

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Remember Whensday

In 1986 I went to Atlantic City, New Jersey with two of my girlfriends. For $199, we got round trip airfare from Atlanta to Philadelphia, roundtrip bus fare from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, one night hotel room, $10 in coins to play in the casino, three meals, and a heck of a good time.

We played the slots, ate at the buffet, saw Nipsey Russell in "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum", and listened to a band that was so bad I can't remember the name of it.

I won a $250 jackpot, and quarters poured out of the slot machine. It was very exciting! Do you know how heavy $1000 quarters are?? I was the only one of the three of us to come home with money.

We left the Atlanta airport early on Saturday morning, and returned late on Sunday night. My dumb butt ex-husband (we were still married at the time) forgot to pick us up at the airport. When I called home to find out where he was, he wasn't there, so I had to call my sister in the middle of the night and have my brother-in-law come pick us up. They weren't happy with that. We had to ride the MARTA train from the airport out to Hightower Station at 2:00 a.m. Not fun.

Even with the bad ending, I still had some of the most fun I ever had with those two girls.

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Remember Wednesday

This was taken in June of 1978, in Panama City Beach, Florida, on the only vacation my first husband and I ever took together.

My kids were so young, and innocent, and sweet then. They loved the ocean, because as one of my daughters said at the time "This water plays with you, Mama!." They played on the beach all day, running and jumping in the water. We took them to Sea World, I think was the name of it. My son was afraid of the parrots, and after much coaxing, very timidly allowed two of them to rest on his shoulders for a picture.

This was also long before the days when mothers were warned about putting their childrens names on their clothing, so my youngest had a hooded sweatshirt with "EMMY" on the back of it. She kept asking me how everyone knew her name. And if this were a better picture, you would be able to see that my oldest daughter, on the left, has a black eye--she got out of the car and walked into the motel room, right into the corner of the dresser on the first day of the trip.

I miss those days, when my children were so carefree, and cute. Now they are all grown up, going on vacations of their own, with their spouses, children, and boyfriends. But would I go back to that time? Not on your life!

My best memory of that vacation though, is this: We arrived in town late in the afternoon. We were starving, and wanted seafood for dinner, so we found a restaurant just down the beach from our motel. We were all dressed in shorts and flip-flops. After we were seated, I looked around the room, and there were people dressed in formal attire, and a bottle of champagne chilling on their table. When THEY saw us, there was a heavy visible sigh from both of them.

We ordered our food, and all three of my children sat patiently at table, waiting for their meal, not uttering a word. When the food arrived, they put their napkins on their laps, and ate their meals, with very polite family conversation going around the table as usual. They were good as gold sitting there in their booster seats in that fancy restaurant.

When our check arrived, the man in the tuxedo at the table across the room walked over and said, "When you walked in, I just knew my meal was going to be ruined. But your children are the most well behaved I have ever seen" and he paid our bill for us. Little did he know that I threatened their lives out in the parking lot before we went inside, and they knew I meant it. I think it was the proudest moment of my motherhood.

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Remember Wednesday

Sally from the MisAdventures of Karl & Sally has started a new Meme, called Remember Wednesday. The idea behind this is to post an old photo, and write your memories of it. I have lots of old photos, so I am in!



This is a photo of me in 1962 or 1963. I was 10 or 11 years old. Notice the tightly curled hair. Every school year I could remember, my mother sat me down the night before picture day, and rolled my hair with rags. Yes. Rags. She would tear strips of cloth, tie them around sections of my wet hair, roll them up, then tie again. I looked really silly with them all tied on my head. And being the only girl (well, I did have a sister, but she was 8 years younger than me) with four brothers, I had to survive a LOT of teasing.

Those rags with their knots were hard to sleep on. The torture continued in the morning, when Mama took all the rags out and brushed out my hair into the "DO" you see above. She sprayed it liberally with White Rain aerosol hairspray until I thought my lungs would bust, then sent me off to school. There was a lot of giggling and finger pointing going on from my classmates, because picture day was the only day I came to school with my hair "fixed".

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