Thanksgiving and Family

All my life we have celebrated Thanksgiving by getting together with family. I am 50 years old and we still have the get togethers. We have the traditional things to eat. We have the turkey, stuffing, candied yams, sweet pototoe pie, pumpkin pie, and alot more. We always end up eating way to much, but have very happy times visiting with each other, talking, and rememebering all the great times we had when we was growing up. I would not give up these times for anything in the world. It is also a time for me to think about what I am thankful for and what I have. I also think about other people and what they don't have, but I also think that they have alot to be thankful for too. I just hope that other people think about what they are thankful for too, and that things could be alot worse for them.

Storybook Land

I remember living in Arlington, VA when I was in the 5th and 6th grade. Mom and Dad took us for an outing one day to a place called Storybook Land. It had places set up for the storybook stories that we heard most of our life. There was the old lady who lived in a shoe, the man that lived in the crooked house, and so many more. They had picnic tables if you wanted to have a picnic, and a playground. We enjoyed it so much when we was growing up. I actually think we went to it a couple of times. I had looked it up recently on the internet and found that it has closed down. It is to bad. I think children would have enjoyed it even today.

Living in Izmir, Turkey

Living in Izmir Turkey was a real experience for me. I was about 12 years old when we left to go there. It was exciting to ride in the big planes. We even got to see a movie, and for a 12 year at that time was very exciting. After the long flights we finally got to Izmir. We was suppose to be met by our sponser, but they were not there yet. Some how we had gotten to Izmir earlier than we was suppose to. Some people that we met on the plane was already meeting their sponser. They told us we could just ride with them into town. We all packed into the one car. It wasn't a small car, but it was still tight with nine of us, the driver and the sponser all packed in. That made 11 of us, not to mention all the luggage. Everyone was either sitting on someone or under someone...all squashed together. We did make it to our destination though. We was taken to where my Dad had to sign in and found our sponser. He took us to a hotel where we had to live for about two weeks. Our apartment wouldn't be ready for at least two weeks is why we had to stay that amount of time. At least it was summer and Mom didn't have to worry about getting us into school yet. During those two weeks we learned where most everything was. We went to the park and went swimming, and went to the movies alot. We found the thrift store where we bought stacks of comic books really cheap, read them, then traded them for another stack. We did alot of reading during that time. We didn't watch tv hardly at all, and was hardly ever at home. There was always something to do while we was there. We lived in Izmir for 2 years before we came back to the States. Those were some really good times.

My Granny

My earliest recollections of my Granny was when I was about 9 or 10 years old. We drove up to her house and she came outside to greet us, like she did everytime after that, with a big smile on her face. She would always give us a hug and usually a kiss on the cheek. She would cook us a big dinner, and we would sit around and talk to her until bedtime. Right before bedtime whe would make our sleeping arrangements. Since she had only one bedroom, and not bathroom, she would have to tell each of where to sleep. She usually gave my Mom and Dad her room, and my little sister Kim slept with them. My brother Brian usually slept on the floor in her room in his sleeping bag. Granny always wanted Lisa to sleep in the same bed she slept in. They would sleep in the bed that was my Uncle Bruce's, that was on one end of the living room. Uncle Bruce went and slept somewhere else when we was there. My cousin Cheryl slept on the couch and I slept on a pallet on the floor next to the couch. I remember the first morning I woke up I heard Granny suffling along the floor in the living room. I looked up and saw her in her house coat and slippers. She went over to the woodstove, and put more wood in in. It was nice and warm and cozy in there. I could smell coffee, bacon and biscuits cooking in the kitchen. Everytime we would go visit she would always cook alot of food. That morning I remember I needed to go to the bathroom, but I didn't want to go to the outhouse by myself. About then my cousin Cheryl woke up and said she had to go to the bathroom and asked me if I wanted to go with her. I did, so we went on out and did our business. I never did like that old outhouse. It was small, dark and smelly. It was sacry to me too. After we got back into the house we would go sit at the table in the kitchen until breakfast was ready. She had coffee, grits, biscuits, red eye gravy, bacon and sausage. The biscuits she always made by scratch. She had a big wooden bowl that she mixed the biscuit dough in by hand. I always loved to watch her work in the kitchen. I wouldn't take anything for all the memories of my Granny. I miss her, and I loved her so much. I know that one day I will see her in Heaven.

My Daddy

My Daddy past away on May 31, 2004. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about him. He always liked to make people laugh, and was always talking to people. he didn't know a stranger. Sometimes when we would go somewhere we would find Dad talking to someone and when he was finished talking, and we would go on our way, we would ask him who the person was. He would say he didn't know, he just started talking to the person. Everyone loved my dad. My sister and I was talking about him today and about how he acted when we had a birthday dinner for one of the family members. Everytime the birthday person would sit and open gifts and cards Dad would always be standing close by...waiting...and when the person would open a card that had some money in it, Dad would snatch it away really quick and put it in his pocket, then grin like anything. He always gave the money back though. That was something he always did on birthdays. I remember lots of times he would be acting really silly and make us laugh. He also had his serious side to. I remember him telling me when I was in high school that I was going to finsh high school if I had to stay in until I was 52 years old. I use to think I would be 52 when I actually finished high school. Dad wanted us to be able to take care of ourselves and not be dependent on other people, but I got married and depended on my husband to take care of me. I think Dad was really proud of me when I went to collage when I was in my 40's and got an associates degree in advertising and graphic design. He was a printer and I always felt like I was kinda doing the same trade in the graphic design career. Alot of times when I was in collage and I needed some help with projects I would ask my Dad about what I was doing and he usually could help me with it in some way. There are really so many different memories of my Dad. As I remember stories about him I will be posting them on my blog here. I really miss my Dad alot and I loved him so very much.

The Fall

When I was about 5 years old, we lived in Germany. Dad was in the Air Force and that is where he was stationed. Mom, my little sister Lisa, and I went to visit friends one day. Our friends lived in a house that was up on a hill. I believe the garage was kind of underneath the house. I remember the hill with a lot of very green grass growing on it. The grass ended at a wall by the road. There was a sidewalk at the bottom of the wall. I remember the wall being very high. Mom told me later that it was about 15 feet high...well my friends and I was outside playing in the yard, and we decided to go and sit on the wall. I remember looking over my legs as they was hanging over the side. I saw my socks and shoes, but I remember thinking "how did my sock come off, but my shoe is still on?" The next thing I remember is I am laying face down on the sidewalk, blood everywhere and I was crying. My mom said that the lady we was visiting ran down the 100 steps to get to the sidewalk, picked me up and carried my back up the steps, then down to the garage to where the car was and they took me to the hospital. Miraclulously I did not have anything broken, or any cuts. My nose was swollen and bleeding, but that was about it. That happened about 40 years ago...I can remember that day. Another thing I remember about when I was laying on that sidewalk, was an older couple walked by and just looked at me as they kept on walking. I guess they didn't think that I needed any help at all. I am thankful to God that I didn't get hurt any worse that I did. That was just something that I guess I will always remember. I wonder if that is why I am so scared of heights now.

As I remember it

Growing up I did alot of traveling. My dad was in the Air Force, so we got to visit and live in so many different places. Since we was always in a different area we didn't get to see our relatives as much as we would have liked. Sometimes we would visit my Granny and when I was real young (up to about 18 months I think) we would visit my other grand parents. The reason it was up to about 18 months was that was about the time my grandmother died. She was my Mom's mother. My mom's dad died when I was about 7 years old I think. I don't remember to much about them, but I do kinda remember them. My Grandfather on my Dad's side died a very long time ago. I never got to meet him. I remember my grandmother very well. We called her "Granny". I have several stories I will tell about her later. Their were aunts, uncles, and cousins that we would visit when we came back "home". I always think about those days as "the good ole days". When I get a chance I will be writing little short stories about different times of my life and what was told to me about different family members.