Memories

It seems as if people have better memories of their childhood than I do. That is kind of sad. So I'm going to write about a few that I do remember.

Toothless

When I was a wee one, I remember a neighbor of ours, an elderly woman I suppose, would come over for coffee and cookies and visit with my mom. I found her utterly fascinating because she had no teeth. Her mouth went up and down in a squishing-like movement and her lips stuck out as she chewed. When she talked, I could see her gums and her tongue would slip in and out of her mouth.

May Day

When May Day came in Kansas in the forties during WWII, it was a wonderful day. I made little baskets out of anything available and put little wild violets in it for flowers. Mom would make or buy little candies to put in the basket. I would sneak up to the door and put the basket down and knock. Then I would run like crazey for the nearest bush or tree to hide. It was fun to see the people look all around for the May Day basket deliverer.

Wet Pants

At the age that I was just being potty trained, I played a lot with my little neighbor friend, who also happened to be named Judy. I would get so far from home that I didn't always make it to the bathroom. I would take off my wet underware and hide them in a bush. Mom would start missing my underwear and go out and find them in the yard.

The Dog

We had a fairly big dog, big to me anyway. One day he got out the front door when I opened it and he ran out into the street. The son of our friends ran over him and he died.

Donuts

When my dad got home from the war, it was wonderful. I was about 3 years-old then. He would take my brother and me on a ride in the car. We always wanted to do the "donut." That was a fast trip around the end of a dirt road that ended in a circle. We would go round and round.

The Cow in Delphos

We lived on the edge of town in Delphos, KS when I was about 4. We had a milk cow. My mom was afraid of most big animals and that included our cow. One day the cow got out of its pen by the shed. I marched right out there and got her back in the pen, climbed up on the fence and fastened the gate.

Other Delphos Memories

Our neighbor had a horse and sleigh. He used to take all the neighbors for a ride in the snow.

Since Dad was working at the lumber yard, he had access to a round watering tank and would get one for the summer so that we had our own little swimming pool. The neighbor boy was always dunking my head under. One time I was sure I was going to die because he held me under for so long, I came up gasping for air.

We had a Boston Terrier female dog called Toby. Toby had puppies. One day we came home and couldn't find them. They had wandered into the closet and a couple of them crawled into a pair of boots and couldn't get out. They suffocated.

Stan fell down the long stairs that we had and got a concussion. That is why he is the way he is today!

King City

Grandma Stanley had a little pond in her back yard with gold fish in it. A few years ago we visited her house and the people who lived there wondered about the concrete edging in the back yard. We were able to tell them that it was the outside edge of a fish pond.

Grandma had a dog named Skipper. He was tall and white with curly hair. (not a poodle)

After she moved to the big old house, she had a little playhouse with dolls and doll dishes in it. I used to play there with Mary McCammon.

Grandma belonged to a group of older women called the "hoolie ladies." I'm sure that's probably not the way you spell it. They did all kinds of community projects and they had lunch at someone's house each month. Grandma would take me with her when I was there. I locked myself in the second floor rest room one time and someone had to get a ladder to recue me out of the window. Every one called grandma, "Stan."

When she was almost 65, she found she didn't have enough Soc. Sec. credits to get any retirement money. So she got a job in St. Joseph, MO at the YWCA as a cook to pick up the work credits. Not sure how long she worked, but she has a small apartment there and I used to go stay with her.

She and grandpa Stanley went to Minnesota fishing all the time. After he died, Grandma took my family fishing up there to Little Pelican Lake. Grandma put the worms on the hooks and I pulled in sunfish almost faster than she could bait the hooks. I saw a snake one time and I scared its baby snakes so much that they ran into their mother's mouth. I guess they are supposed to do that.

I think that she taught me to love to garden. She had beautiful roses and other flowers at every home that she had. She also had a vegetable garden and canned many of the vegetables.

Enough memories for today.

Friends

Over the years I have had a lot of really good friends. I don't make friends easily but when I do, they stick forever. I recently lost a friend, Roberta or "Bert.". She and I went to UNL together and were P.E. majors. She wasn't the most beautiful girl in the world for sure, but she was my friend. We have kept in contact for many years and have seen each other only a couple of times when she came back to Lincoln for a visit with family. We had a late night date at the Villiage Inn with another school friend about 10 years ago. It was about 9 p.m. when we met that night and talked until midnight. Both she and our other friend lost their husbands a few years ago. I'm fortunate to still have mine. But that is another story.

Bert and I have written to each other a lot and emailed since that was invented. Her kids are daughter, Jean and son, JJ. I went to Roberta's wedding back in 1963. She had met a boy, Frank Nickerson, who was stationed at the Lincoln Airbase. He was being transferred back east and they got married before he left. She stayed in Lincoln until May, 64, to finish her last semester of school before joining him. They have moved around and settled in San Bernadino Valley California.

Bert found out she had lung cancer and had treatment for it. She was a smoker. She called me in Oct, 2006 and we talked for two hours. She said she was doing ok. Her sister had spent a couple of weeks with her and JJ was taking her for treatments. She had cats to keep her company. I always thought I would go spend some time with her. It never happened. It should have happened. It wasn't long before her emails were bouncing back to me. I tried to call her, no answer. Stupid me, I didn't know Jean nor JJ's phone numbers or addresses. Recently I called her nephew in Lincoln. Roberta had passed away on Jan 12, 2007. She had gotten bad quickly and was eventually in a nursing home at the last.

I miss her, my friend.

My Friend Evelyn

When we moved to Waverly in 1974 and Verl was teaching at the high school, we met Evelyn Harris who was the art teacher. We found we had several things in common, the first being that her husband's name was Verl. That is an unusual name and so to find someone with the same name was kinda fun. We also found out that they were members of our church. They actually had children our age. Through the years we stayed friends and we took them to Utah to the temple one time. Evelyn painted a lot of pictures and made a lot of pottery. I have a couple of her paintings in my house. Her husband died two years ago and they had lived in a retirement center. She has macular degeneration and so is 95% blind now. If she tries real hard and has a good light, she can make out words written with a big black marker. She has about 10 pictures hung in her little assisted living apartment. This week, she is showing two of her pictures at a art gallery for people who are over 55. She is going with me to take the pictures to the gallery today. She is on oxygen most of the time so will be taking her tank of O2 with her. She is 88 and her mind is really sharp. I get a little put out with the people who take care of her as they treat her as if she were senile. Just because you are old and a little forgetful, goodness I'm 65 and forget a lot of things, it doesn't mean you are senile. She has numerous health problems and her medical staff doesn't listen to her. She has become like a mother to me and I spend sometime with her each week.

Anyway, what I want to tell you is that her family almost ignores her unless she goes to the hospital. Her two sons, especially one of them, never call her or come to see her unless there is some other reason to be in town. She has two granddaughters in town and she very seldom hears from them, unless she calls them. She has several great grand children and was invited to one of their weddings this summer. Her son and daughter-in-law were here for the wedding and didn't even come to visit her at her apartment. She is so sad about this, but tries not to think about it and let it bother her too much. But I know it does, especially when no one is around. I'm hoping that that doesn't happen to me although sometimes I think if I didn't call or email my family, I wouldn't hear from them that much.

August 27, 2008

Well, this is my first post. I don't have much to tell but will try to think of something. I'm not sure why I am doing a blog. I can't seem to even write in my journal. Is it because I have such a boring, not eventful life? I guess I should be happy about that, the fact that I don't have any pressing problems. Or is life about more than problems. It should be I guess. I just don't think I do much of anything that would be of any interest to anyone else.

I did hear a funny story last night. A male friend of mine said that he and his wife slept in the same bed but each had their own top sheet because they always were pulling the single sheet away from each other. So anyway, they each now have their own top sheet. But the other morning they woke up and had the other person's sheet on them. They have no idea how that happened. Funny.

There will be an eclipse of the moon this week. But it is at 3:00 am and so I'll probably miss it. Also this week, the planet Mars is to be the closest to the earth that it has been in a few thousand years. I saw it last night. It looked like a big star in the South. Sometime this week it will be right next to the full moon. Maybe I'll stay up to see it. The next time that this happens we will all be dead and gone.