This would have been Katie’s 38th Birthday. It seems so strange to me when I think about it because when I see her in my mind, she is forever six years old.
But I wanted to remember her, on this special day. For her birth was one of the most special days of my life.
So Happy Birthday, my little Angel. I miss you, and love you, and think of you always.
Katie's 37th Birthday from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.
It’s the end of the first week of November! Can you believe that? I feel like I have come full circle and here is why.
And that’s the story. I should be recovered enough for my birthday in a couple of weeks. One thing is for sure, chocolate cake with butter cream frosting will be a part of it!
This is from 1983! The Great Pumpkin was carved and everyone was laughing and having a good time!
Katie and the left and Mandy on the right!
So I was driving home after seeing Mandy, Matt and the kids. I was feeling tired and decided not to go shopping, but to just head home.
I was on rte 93, when I heard my cell phone ring. It was Jack and I answered it. But my earpiece was not hooked tightly and I was talking to him holding the phone, but decided to pull off the road to plug it all in.
Big mistake. Just as I did this a police car turned on their blue light and pulled right behind me.
I told Jack that I was being stopped and put the phone between the two seats. I opened my window, and I had two State Policemen on either side of my car. (I admit to feeling really intimidated. But I must say, in all of my years of driving I have never been stopped or even gotten a parking ticket).
I was asked why I pulled over, and I told them that my cell phone rang with my husband calling, and I wanted to answer to make sure he was okay, (Hubby is 78 years old!), but since I knew I needed to be hands free, I pulled over.
So, while one of the officers ran my license and registration, the other officer lectured me about cell phones in vehicles.
Quite honestly, I wanted to cry. Growing up, my dad worked as a summer police officer on Cape Cod. Every morning we listened to all the things that had gone on during his shift. I always felt that getting any sort of ticket or getting in any sort of trouble with the law, was just not how I wanted to live my life. I really have never wanted to let my Dad down.
Dad has been gone for a long time now, but the feeling of leading a good life, one to be proud of has not left me.
So, I was stopped, and lectured, but was not given a ticket or warning. I was so relieved. I really believe in our laws and I even thanked the officers, sincerely, for their concern.
Many things have been going on this week, things that are both marvelously good, and tremendously sad. There is nothing I can do about the sadness, but I can revel and enjoy the happy things. So here we go.
I never go into boxes of my Mom’s stuff and look around. My guest room closet is full of envelopes, pictures and old letters that are in a box. Well, not one, but a few. On Tuesday, I was in the guest room and I opened the closet door and saw one of the boxes. I took it down and sat on the chest, and opened the box and started to look through it. Trust me, I now have several months worth of TBT pictures.
Recently, I’ve been missing Katie and as I went on looking at the pictures I came across three marvelous ones! And here they are.
Recently, I have been thinking about how people treat each other. You know, there are a lot of people spewing hatred, not just at political candidates, but at each other.
I will be 58 in a few weeks. Do you know what I have learned in all of that time? To be nice. Gosh, what is wrong with people?
I see it day after day, people really going out of their way to be filled with hatred and to treat other people in a way, that they, themselves would not wish to be treated.
I am not saying that we all need to go around liking everyone around us. That’s unrealistic, as we all are different people. What I am saying is, be nice.
Do you have family members that you really aren’t crazy about? Okay, so these relatives may not be your favorite, but my Grandmother told me once, that there was no excuse for being rude, or vicious. Family is family. Be polite. Be nice!
Forget about what we see on the news, or reality TV. I have to tell you, I’ve stopped watching news. I’ve become a fan of BUZZR, which is a Classic Game Show network.
Why, you might ask? Because I am so sick of lies, politics, nastiness and people saying terrible things about each other.
I know some people will say that it’s just politics as usual. Well, I don’t think so. People have been commenting on their “friends” FB pages, saying terrible things, because they do not agree with their politics.
People, life is short. Be kind.
I’ve been amazed at the beauty around me this week. Our Autumn colors are at their peak, and it is simply breathtaking. As I was out snapping pictures I was thinking how much fun it would be if our trees were this color all of the time! Imagine living in a place with red, orange, yellow and coral leaves, all of the time!
Then I started to wonder if we’d start taking this spectacular beauty for granted? Somehow, waiting for the leaves to turn, seeing how vivid they are each year and then the annual leaf fall and clean-up is part of the fabric of life.
On to this weeks Friday Five.
So that is the week that was. Now I am onward and into another week! Have a good one, everyone!
This weeks TBT is a picture of my grandmother in her early teens, with her two sisters.
Sarah Matilda, was the eldest. She is sitting in the bottom left of the picture. I adored my Aunt Tilly! Tilly is my cousin Janet’s grandmother. She was so much fun to be around. She played the piano. Not classical, although I am sure she could, but her favorite was ragtime! And boy could she play! I rode my bike over to her apartment pretty often and we would have tea and eat cookies, and if I was very lucky she would go down to the common area and play the piano. Aunt Tilly was a dreamer and she always had time to listen to my dreams!
The middle sister was Marionette Capelle. (Top left) We, (all the cousins) really didn’t know her much. I can count the times I met her on one hand. She married into a wealthy family, and after that sort of forgot her family back in Boston.
My grandmother, Mary Francis, (bottom right, blond hair) was an amazing woman. She worked tirelessly for many different charities and yet she always had time to listen to me as I was growing up. It was sitting with her on her sofa, wrapped in her arms, watching Lawrence Welk, that I recall feeling my safest.
I do have one funny story to share with you. After I married, and moved away, I came back home for a visit. I was sitting over tea with Grandma and I was doing my usual, non-stop talking, and I looked to see Grandma smiling broadly. “What?” I asked, unsure of what I said that was making her so happy.
“Well since you moved out, it is just so terribly quiet! I love listening to you and hearing about your adventures!”
So here they are. Three sisters in the early 1900’s. Born of the same parents, and yet incredibly different people. My grandmother passed away 32 years ago this December. I miss her so much. It’s kind of nice to recall her on TBT, so I can share her and my Aunt Tilly with all of you!
1. What would you say is your strongest sense?
My strongest sense? Mmmm. Lets see. I think it is my ability to truly care about people. I may not always show it to people directly, but the depth of my caring for those I love is so deep. When they hurt, I hurt, when they are happy, my heart soars. So I guess in a way, my greatest sense is the ability to “see” people in their truest form. More intuitive.
2. Do you believe in the idea of a ‘sixth sense’? Why or why not?
Oh I definitely do. And in some ways I think I have it. I have, at times, had very strong feelings I couldn’t explain, but made perfect sense to me.
3. When do you most feel like a slave to time? Explain.
Not too many times now. I really do try to keep my life low stress, and not cutting time short.
4. Have you ever worked in a restaurant? How would you rate the experience? If you could own a restaurant what kind would it be?
I never really worked in a restaurant, although my first husband did, when we were first married. He was and still is an amazing cook! Anyway, if I could do one type of restaurant I would love to do a full, high tea restaurant. Oh what fun that would be!
5. Ever traced your family tree? Share something interesting you learned there.
I was raised in a very patriotic household. Several cousins served in the military and many gave their lives during World War II.
One who served, was the son of my grandfather’s brother Herbert, Private First Class Ernest Prussman, 13th Infantry Regiment. PFC Prussman took over his squad on 8 September 1944 during the advance on Les Coates in Brittany, and disarmed several Germans, including a machine gun crew. Shot by a German rifleman, his dying act was to unleash a hand grenade that killed the man who shot him. His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously.
PFC Prussman was buried at the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-James, Basse-Normandie, France.
A street at Fort Benning, Georgia was also named after him. As was a a square in Boston at the corner of Faniuel and Goodenough Streets.
6. What did your childhood bedroom look like?
It was a pretty small room. I had two windows over the back door to our house. I remember I could hear the milk and bread man when he delivered our food before dawn. The windows had a storm outer window and I would sit on the side of my bed and play Barbie Dolls in the opened inner window with my sister, Melodie and cousin, Janet. My twin bed was made of metal piping that had been painted pink. And my sheets were white, and smooth as cream against my skin, and in the summer when the screens were in the windows I could almost always smell the sea.
7. Anyone who knows me knows I love…
My husband says eggplant, which is very true. My sister says, chocolate, which is also true. And I say my children and grandchildren, which are the most important parts of my life.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
It’s been crazy around me lately. Besides Hubby’s falling, my grandnephew Luke, broke his leg in two places, my sisters cat died, and my credit card company took a payment out of my bank account TWICE, which left me with a zero balance! When I called to get things straightened out, they wouldn’t speak to me because they said Hubby was the account holder. After an hour of phone calls, with them and with our bank, the problem was resolved, but it made me very upset.
Our weather is now very, very cold, and we need to get the air conditioners in from the windows and start getting the house ready for the long cold winter!
Meanwhile, I also climbed into the crawl space above our bedroom and the master bath to lay the insulation back down and I discovered that I am not as flexible as I was as a 25 year old, and that I tend to break. By the next day I was in agony and I suspect I moved those darn bone spurs around in my neck.
On the bright side, I got my drivers license renewed and did not need to wear my glasses to pass the eye test!