Hallmark Hall of Fame-Lost Valentine

Well, I am just crying my eyes out on the old front porch...I just watched the Lost Valentine with Betty White. It was a tear jerker anyway...it is what Hallmark does, even the classic ads make me cry.  But the story hit so close to my heart. My mother who would have been 90 (only a year older than Betty is) a few days ago lost her husband in Italy during WWII. He was injured and could not get medical care and died of his injuries. My twin sisters were born while he was gone and although he knew of their birth never saw them. I guess I am trying to say this movie made me think of what my mother must have gone through when she got her telegram and had to deal with her loss...

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is your birthday, Mom...you would have been 90. I will be 60 in a few months. I have outlived you by 12 years, you were only 48, I was almost 16 when you died. I hardly knew you. So many questions we could answer for each other if we could have one more conversation. I think I know what love is between a mother and her children. Somehow in the short time you spent with us, your 8 children, you gave us a family to value. We all still spend every Christmas together. We still care even though we live all over the U. S. I have ten incredible grandchildren and I have been given time to enjoy them. That was my dream, my wish, as a girl. I just wanted to see my girls grow up. Now getting to know my grandchildren is so sweet. I still miss you. I loved you so. Losing you was so hard. Happy Birthday to my dear Mother. Thanks for the songs you sang, for the cakes you baked, for the love you gave...you were never truly gone from me, you have lived on in my heart these many years.

Where have I been???

I have been so busy...but that is no excuse for not writing on my porch. I hope I get back to it. I have just, with my other half (really, somehow, I am half of a whole) painted my bedroom, changed up the decor and painted my dinette. Done some cleaning, tried to throw some stuff out, organized a couple of drawers. I do not like to do housework. I was so glad that I worked for those 21 years just so I had an excuse not to keep up the house. The hardest part of this retirement adventure is that I have no excuse for not doing things I never wanted to do...like cleaning and organizing. I could live in a one room house with no storage. My dream house has always been a converted old barn...who knew? Another thing about those working years of mine, it forced me to be social, now nothing pushes me to be social. I think I better work at  socializing...I could hibernate in my one room barn with good books, camera, some paint and canvas, my laptop, flannel pjs, an occasional movie...