Let me just preface this post with this unfortunate fact: I failed swimming lessons when I was a grade school child. Dropped out before the session was even close to being complete. The configuration of my body parts didn’t lend itself to really being much of a swimmer. 😜 But I was able to float (on my back) and potentially avoid drowning. In my mind that was close enough to success. Mission accomplished. Sort of. The failure stayed with me and put a dent in my level of confidence around water.
Category Family stories
You might laugh, you might cry.
Small things
Starting at about age 30 or perhaps a year or two sooner, I began to dream about retirement. You may relate. Just looking forward to the day when the alarm clocks stop loudly interfering with our blissful sleep. Forcing us to put on happy faces and head off to work. Day after day after day. Cruel behavior, those pesky alarm clocks. Continue reading “Small things”
The littlest firecracker
There’s this boy who occupies a big part of my heart. Â His story is pretty miraculous, being born around 25 weeks gestation and weighing in at a tiny 1 pound 10 ounces. Continue reading “The littlest firecracker”
Odd treasures & remarkable gadgetry
I’ll start this post with the “remarkable gadgetry” section of the title.
We moved into this house and found these toilet paper holders. Â
These qualify as remarkable because you simply slide the toilet paper roll onto the rod. Â No need to dislodge a spring loaded, annoying toilet paper holder rod, reload a new roll, and then struggle to push that spring loaded bar back over before the new roll flies off. Â Quick, easy, and eliminates the need for ugly loud verbiage leaving your lips. Â Possibly in the middle of the night when you’re trying to just sleep through a trip to the bathroom. Continue reading “Odd treasures & remarkable gadgetry”
Capturing Time
If you’re old enough you should remember the day when taking a photograph involved quite the procedure. My mom had what I think was a Kodak Brownie camera (? maybe) that she was ecstatic about. The process was slow. Film to buy at a store and then load into the camera. Then you had to remember to advance the film after taking the picture or risk double exposures. And the blinding flash that was so easy to forget to use, and of course when you really needed it you’d learn the bulb was burned out. Yes, little bitty light bulbs. Yes, we had to replace them. Yes, in a CAMERA, children of today!!! Then you had to use up all the film before having the pictures processed. Which always resulted in random shots of nothingness. Often we had more random nothings than good pictures.
Back in those days in order to even look at the picture you just took it required printing them, which was a 10 day-2 week process. You waited all that time, sifted through 12 to 24 to 36 to 48 prints for possibly that ONE picture you really wanted to see. And often, every stinking one of them was icky and unusable. Useful only for gag gifts or the like.
One autumn evening
There’s something about a sunset. I’ve heard there’s also something about a sunrise, too, but I’m far more likely to experience sunsets than sunrises.
Every 24 hours the sun signs off for the day. Some days it’s just a quick goodnight with no kiss of beauty. Other times God paints a sunset so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes. That’s a fact. Sometimes a sunset can take me away to one particular evening in 1970. Kind of odd that one particular sunset has been etched permanently in my memory. But it is. Continue reading “One autumn evening”
Benton and Bunny
My folks had three teenage daughters when they discovered they were expecting a baby. Â Pretty sure my dad, Benton, at age 47 just knew his son was finally on the way. Â One last chance to carry on the family name. Â Oh the gloom that must have been thick in that hospital nursery the first time he glanced down and thought “No son. Â Not now. Â Not ever.” Â In fact many many years later I came across the bundle of greeting cards that my parents received after I was born. Â Some of them had all the happy exuberance of sympathy cards. Apparently the whole world, or at least all of Ottawa County Kansas, was sad for them. Â “Well, you must be disappointed you didn’t get your boy.” Â Stuff like that. Just dripping with happiness and encouragement. Continue reading “Benton and Bunny”
Nostalgia. A side effect of cleaning
Now that I’m sort of semi-retired, my leisurely breakfasts often include thinking about cleaning.  And occasionally, my thoughts become actions.  Some of  my closets are now phenomenally clean and organized.  Some are not.  Yet. Continue reading “Nostalgia. A side effect of cleaning”
Simply B 
