Family Friday #13: And Snap! – the Job’s a Game
Jim and I loved to play games. We both came from game playing families (although I have since learned that 2 of my siblings don’t like games), and on many long cold seasons in Illinois we spent together playing games. One of our first dates was to play Rook with the Wrobbel’s! We have played…
The File Cabinet
So this weekend I continued to pack and purge in preparation for the move from Downey at the beginning of March. I purged at least 25 board games, which was tough for this game playing mom. I got rid of mugs, dishes, books and other “treasures”, but the toughest thing I have gotten rid of…
Family Friday #2 More at the Start
I went to Biola in 1977 after I graduated from Edison High School. It was not my first choice AT ALL! A bit full of myself because of my high academic record and standing in the class I really wanted to go to UCLA and study languages. Biola didn’t have a Spanish or linguistics major…
I remember you!
Today is a dear friend’s birthday though she may have trouble remembering it. She has dementia. This intelligent, eloquent and gifted person who loved to learn and study can no longer even speak in a way that makes sense. All diseases are bad but the loss of memory is the death of relationship and the…
Walking Backward
“History doesn’t repeat itself but sometimes it rhymes.” – Mark Twain Sometimes I feel nostalgic. I look at old photos. I watch reruns & classic movies for the umpteenth time. I collect treasures and leave it out to remind me of people and places I once knew, I revisit places in my mind or in…
Moments for a lifetime
Dear Kelsey, I didn’t think I would be writing this farewell again so soon, but life happens differently than we expect and God has called you away from Fullerton Free Staff. In one sense, I could say the same things as I did 4 years ago all over again and it would still apply (see…
Resurrection Buns
It is interesting how each of us have different memories which turn into traditions or anti- traditions. I grew up the oldest and hated Easter egg hunts because I always had to hunt in a separate room from my siblings. On the flip side, I love many of the traditions of Easter and was once…
Goodbye to Earl Gray
So the Toyota is done. After 230000 miles, many trips and oil changes, moves and soccer tournaments, it can no longer pass smog. It has served our family well. I prayed that it would get Clayton through college and it did! I will miss it but I am so glad to not have to worry…
I cannot remember your laugh!
Dear Jim, I never thought it would happen, but 8 years after you went to heaven I cannot remember what your laugh sounds like. I cannot remember other things about you but nothing bothers me as much as not remembering the sound of your joyful silliness – one of my favorite things about you. I…
This is Us is Us!
Grief is part of the landscape of life. It made itself at home long ago and yet I realized its presence in a profound way when my life partner left earth. It is always there and I ignore it in the same way that I function with a low grade headache or keep eating popcorn…