Legacy and a bit of sugar free candy too!

He was in the first flight that broke the sound barrier. He also mapped out how to bomb those "commies" in Russia.
She had 6 babies on an enormous farm up north. They had to walk through FEET of snow to milk the cows in the barn.
He was part of a jazz band and he had to prop up his cello on the running board of the car by holding it outside the window in the freezing cold - in upstate New York.
She grew up cooking stuffed cabbages with her grandmother - and made potato dumplings (and she gifted me with the family recipe...now one of OUR family favorite recipes).
He worked in Georgia for YEARS and YEARS. Then delivered "meals on wheels" for 18 more years. but he doesn't remember it. his wife alone has the memories now. he is quiet and confused looking but has a wonderful smile even though (as his wife says kindly)"he is a bit foggy God love him..."
Today is our Senior Center Fall Festival Party.
There is sugar free candy!
There is "Abbot and Costello meet the Mummy" in black and white on DVD.
There are corny jokes printed out to laugh about.
There are wonderful stories and full lives and gentle hands that are often cold and a bit shakey - but full of love. My 11 and 7 year old are helping to decorate and greet and share the love.

We are a partying bunch!
I wouldn't miss it for the world.


linking up at "Just Write" over at EO

Swimming home

Just write - the fifth

Piled into the car... we all drove around looking for home. a new home. a new to us home. not one to buy (I wish!)....just perhaps a new one to rent.
Exhausted from treading water, we do this every six months or so. dream different dreams. dreams where we aren't scraping to get by. dreams where my entire months paycheck does NOT go only to rent and utilities. then it's gone. till next month when i have it again for 1/2 a day.
so we drove. and scanned the newspapers. and searched for "for rent" signs like a treasure hunt. visualizing each place as ours...playing every scenario over in our heads...and outloud...perhaps a second job...maybe more room to run? but...when would we run if we're always working? :( Maybe it's time to get an RV? we can jam into small places!....but where would we park it? Lot rent is almost as much as our small home we live in now...
Do we move further away from work?...only to pay in gasoline what we were paying in rent?
All good questions.
All with no good answers.
After an entire day of looking we returned..
home.
Thankful that we have a home to return to.
Thankful that I have a job that pays for that home.
Thankful that we can still dream and hope and plan....
Thankful that God is in control....
Prayerful that we do the right thing when the time for change comes...
Refreshed by having new plans and goals....we plunge back in to tread water for awhile longer.
Thankful that we know how to swim.


Linking up for week 5 of Just write.

Just write - the fourth -I'mperfect

I'mperfect. miss-spelling totally intended.

Last night, as I lay in bed with grandbaby girl on one side and baby boy on the other....my husband came in and laughed because the only way for him to fit was across the foot of the bed.so he did. We both smiled at each other because it was so imperfect and yet so very perfect.

Our evening routine consists of dinner, bath, fresh pajamas, baba for one...sippie for other....and songs. lots and lots of songs.
As I lay there last night.....both little ones held my hands. grandbaby girl on one side and baby boy on the other. their little fingers softly tracing my fingers. how huge my hands must feel to them. their hands so soft and new still.
I remembered a time...oh so many years ago. The first time i held hands with a boy. He was a rough and tough football player....he was the ripe old age of 16. I was 15 and life was still soft and new. We had gone to the city...an hour away...and we held hands the whole way...our fingers softly traced each others...love was soft and new.
Time flys forward 26 years.
Im surrounded by love. sprawled out in every direction. with babas and sippies, and a rough and tough football coach...same boy turned man. now he's the ripe old age of 42.
As a tear slips down my face, i think....this is where we've always been headed. In my heart I KNOW it. Those first feelings of love so many years ago.Those electrical tingles.... That love was a force that has never stopped energizing my world. That love now will continue into a whole new generation of love. and on. and on. and on.
As I gently placed each little one into their own bed....we turned and fluffed pillows and straightened quilts. Once again just us. I reached for his hand. and it's familiar warmth perfectly matched the love in my heart.



Linking up over at: Just Write at the "EO"