Happy Birthday Nathan and Old Memories

My little grandson Dante at a year old.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

 Hello Sunday,

 Actually Nathan's birthday was yesterday but I had some problems with my sugar yesterday and so I didn't get a chance to blog. I did sleep a lot yesterday and now at 3:00 in the morning I am awake.

 I am having problems with this blogger format. I had Jonathan come and help me get it semi back to how I had it. I am not going to revert back to the old because it is only good until August 24th and it will be back to the new one permantely so I might as well get use to it now. I don't know what happened to my spell checker either so it is late and I will just make do with it as it is this late and work more on it tomorrow and see if I can figure out why I am having such a hard time adapting to this new format. I usually don't have this much trouble and usually enjoy learning different things but maybe I am just getting to old for this old dog to learn new tricks.

 Speaking of dogs, this is how I awoke this morning.. (Saturday morning.)

 My little Foxy came to spend the day with me. Jonathan opened my door and let me know that my Foxy girl was here.

 During the time that I was awake she was snuggled with me. I awoke around 1:30 am and couldn't find her. 

 Jonathan said that Karyn had came and picked her up. I guess I wasn't much fun for her today with me sleeping so much. 

 I have my new insulin pump and I have to call on Monday because Jonathan said that all of my insulin leaked out and so I have not had the correct dosage because it is different than what I was taking before I got this pump. 

 We think that I might be accidently hitting a button or that I might lay on it wrong and activating the insulin which could be very dangerous. 

 I don't see how I could be activating it unless Jonathan has installed it wrong so we are suppose to be going back on Tuesday so he and I both need a refresher course. It is suppose to make my life easier but right now it is just confusing. 

 

 I don't think that Nathan had a really good birthday. They gave him the day off and he was suppose to hang out with a buddy today but his jaw was swollen and he had a ice pack that he was holding up to his face. He works a double today so he will have to call and see if he can get in to see his dentist on Monday. I will be glad for him to be able to get all of his teeth out but right now unless he has to have a few pulled, they will not do them all at once because of the  pandemic and limited office hours and unless it is a abscess  and needs antibiotics it is considered elective surgery. 

 He is totally aggravated and I understand why he is. It wasn't that long ago that I was going thru my own pain and aggravation with my dentist only pulling one or two at a time. It wasn't the dentist it was my insurance at the time. Thankfully I don't have to deal with that anymore and will be glad when it is all over for Nathan.

  I have been thinking a lot about a time in my life that was eons ago but seems like yesterday. It's funny how time is. It can really fly by or it can crawl by. I guess it depends on the circumstances.

 It started with me reading a opinion piece and it reminded me of growing up in a small town and how I ended up there.  One of my very best friends Mary Linda

 and Vicki and I were the 3 Girlateers lol.  We had so much fun together and I was thinking about how we met and all the fun we had and yes of course the fights! All a part of friendship that has sustained 45 years and longer for Vicki and I. I would spend summers with my cousin and Vicki lived next door to aunt and uncle.

 When I was 13 or so our home was destroyed by a tornado. My daddy and brother was working in Dallas helping to build DFW airport. Their portion of the job had just ended and we had gone to visit my sister and her husband a couple of hours away so my dad and brother could go and talk to my brother in law's foreman about a construction job.

 I was watching tv when they had a special announcement break in and I ran to tell my mom and sister who was in the kitchen getting ready to cook dinner that a tornado hit our trailer park and it was bad. 

 I remember mama was peeling potatoes and she wiped her hands on her apron and said "Oh that has to be a mistake. Either get in here and help peel potatoes or go back in yonder."

 Being 13 I went in yonder... (Not a word we hear everyday lol.)

When the announcement came on again I yelled for mama and my sister and while I was trying to tell them in a kid fashion... Hey see I was right...  the impact of what we were watching finally hit me.

 I can still see my mother's face as her world crashed around that tv set and my sister being the voice of reason because when mama started crying so did I. 

 I was crying because my mama was crying. But I was old enough to know that this was bad.

 My mother met daddy and James at the door and said that we had to leave that a tornado had hit our trailer park and that it looked like nothing was left.

 I was able to talk mama and daddy in letting me go back with them. It was bad. There was nothing left of our mobile home. But my brothers mobile home was still standing. It was so strange how a tornado will take one place and leave the next place still intact. 

 While our place was gone I shudder to think of what would have happened if we had been home that weekend. A lot of our friends lost their homes as well but I don't remember if anyone was hurt. I know that the woman across from us, her trailer was still there but the one on the corner was gone. 

 Back in the early 70's mobile homes were classy. There was no saying that I had ever heard until years later Trailer Park Trash. I hated that term then and I hate it now. 

 Our mobile home was beautiful. It was my mother's first brand new home. She and my daddy toured the sales and my mother had the choice of everything. My daddy often said that when she asked him his opinion he said to her. "Mama this is all for you. You get what you want." and she did.

 She chose the Monterrey Spanish style. I cringe now at the shag avocado green carpet and how it had to be vacuumed all the time and raked. UGH I hated that chore I think most of all but I did like the avocado green appliances. I even liked the tile in kitchen and bathrooms as well as everything being brand spanking new.

 I remember talking to mama years later about  why didn't they use the insurance money and buy something else.

 Mama said that back then they didn't require people to have insurance. "But you could get it couldn't you?" I asked her and she said that like everyone they made their share of mistakes and since my daddy was making such wonderful money they lived in the minute and didn't plan ahead.

 I of course realize now that I didn't know so much about my parents during this time. My world revolved around the Osmond's, all the new music and dance moves  along with my friends and having my very own bedroom and bath that I was oblivious to so much. Along with the good I certainly remember the bad. It wasn't until I was a mother that my past growing up years became significant. I wonder why when I think of that time of my life the bad things seem to just jump out of my memories first? 

 There was one special thing that my daddy had made or had made and that was my cedar chest. Sadly I don't know if my daddy made it or had it made but I remember how much I treasured it. It was my hope chest. 

 Growing up my mom use to buy Breeze laundry detergent and she mainly bought that huge box but later on as she helped me collect things for my hope chest she would buy the other sizes so we could get the items tucked inside.

 Inside the small boxes were wash cloths, the medium were hand towels and the large were bath towels.

 There were also the dishes and silver ware, cups and glasses. You name it they were promoting their detergent and I think that mama had as much fun helping me collect as I was.

 We also had books upon books of S&H green stamps. 

There was also another set of stamps and I cannot remember them now but I think that they were Gold Stamps. I will ask my sister Sharon because she will remember.  They are Gold Bond stamps.... I came across it as I was searching links for stamps. OH the Memories... OH the WISHES... We would spend hours filling our books lol.

 Anyway my cedar chest survived the tornado and the contents inside my hope chest is what we started over with. Mama kept the chest for years afterwards. I had married and moved to Indiana and couldn't take it with me. I don't know what ever happened to it. 

 Well it is now 8:30 in the morning and enough of my rambling. I totally skipped over my original reason I went down on this trip of memory lane. Maybe I will add it next time. Never know about me..

 I would love to hear your memories... I would really enjoy the trip... Until next time... BB