A trip back in time

When I planned my trip to Virginia to spend the month with my granddaughter, Ella, I left a few days before I needed to be there so that I could stop along the way. My first stop was the Lacoochee reunion, where I had a chance to visit with my cousin whom I hadn't seen for quite a while. After leaving Lacoochee, I drove up to north Florida where I visited another cousin who lives in Jennings. Jennings is a little town just south of the Georgia border. My cousin and her husband have lived there most of their married life. They started out in a little Jim Walter home, and as they needed more room, they added on. Her house is filled with her many talents. Quilts, paintings, antiques. It's just so much fun to go there and see her collections, but most of all, to visit her.

Outside, away from the house stands this cabin. It had originally stood on some land that her husband owned and worked, and he had it moved to their property. It is a fully working house, electricity, plumbing, television, everything that one might need.

I love her kitchen. Can't you remember a kitchen like that, with a curtain to cover the pots and pans? The red accents bring it to life.


It was around four when I was there, and as we were in the kitchen, I was particularly struck by her table with the pitcher, the scales, and Aunt Jemima there, with the sun shining through the panes of glass on them.

I'll share a little more of this interesting cabin tomorrow...also some pictures of my lovely granddaughter. And, of course, I want to finish my exciting biography...yawn.

Thank you all for your comments on my last post. I've been keeping up with you all, even though I hadn't posted.

Going to Lacoochee

Every year Lacoochee has a reunion. People who lived there come back each year for a giant pot luck in Dade City. I'm on my way there tomorrow to visit with a cousin. After that, I'll be going up to north Florida to visit some more cousins, and then on to north Georgia to stay with a friend for a few days.

After that, I'll be driving to Waynesboro, and I'll be there for a month. Taking care of Ella will be my primary focus, although on the weekends I will take some side trips. My brother-in-law and his family are in Chesapeake, so I'm sure I'll go over there one weekend.

I'll be offline most of next week...not sure how I'll survive, but I'll be seeing you once I get to Waynesboro.

Who am I now?

Back in July, I wrote a post regarding role and identity, entitled A Note from Becki. I thought I had it all figured out.

As you know, I just had my 65th birthday, and in that birth month, Medicare kicked in. I had put off a couple of appointments for September, so that I could use this wonderful system. I went first to the dermatologist's office, handed the girl my Medicare card and my insurance card. She copied them and then said to me, "Who are you going to be now?"

When I got married, I never changed my name on my Social Security card. When I started teaching, just after I got married, my married name went on my files, as well as on my insurance.

So now I have a Medicare card with my maiden name, my husband's SSN-D. My insurance card is identified by mine....

I went to the retina specialist on Monday...red lights again,.."Who are you going to be?" The insurance lady suggested I call BC/BS to fix something there...they said, "Well, we can't do anything."

I called Medicare. Don't you hate those menus at the beginning? I finally said, "I need to talk to somebody." At least Chantelle was kind (better than the insurance lady). She didn't think there would be a problem since the policy number is forwarded.

Oh well, we'll see. After I come back from Virginia, I'll have to decide which name I'm going to use. For now, I'm back to my maiden name...for Medicare's sake anyway.

Life is wonderful.

More birthday stuff

The photograph below is one that was taken In Lacoochee. My two friends, Wayne and Melanie, and I spent a lot of our time playing war. With wooden guns we were going to take care of keeping America free for democracy. After the war was over, my mother and daddy moved to Bradenton.My mother and daddy both worked out of the home. My mother worked at a drug store downtown Bradenton, and I spent a lot of time there. Because we lived inside the city limits, I wasn't eligible to ride the school bus, so I would go with my mother every morning to the drug store, eat my breakfast there, and then walk to school. I sat at the lunch counter with many notables in town. I don't know if you have a Beall's Outlet where you live or not, but the original Beall's Department Store was downtown, and old Mr. Beall ate at the drug store where my mother worked.

As I said before, I was in Brownies and Girl Scouts, and for my ninth birthday, I had a big party. All the troop was there, along with some neighborhood friends. I'm the one in the hat. My Girl Scout leader is to the right.
About the time I turned 9, I became a latch-key kid. My parents both worked on Saturday, and they decided that I was old enough to stay home by myself on Saturdays. I'd sleep in, then get up and listen to the radio (no, we didn't have a TV yet; we didn't even have any stations in Florida). It was during this time that I began to gain weight and by the time I was in sixth grade, I had become a fatty, or obese, as we correctly call it today. I guess a lot of my eating was out of boredom. On Saturday afternoons, however, I would the bus into town, and go see the western that was showing. There was usually a double feature and a serial. It cost all of 9 cents to get in. Mother would give me 15 cents, enough for a ticket and a candy bar. I look at high schoolers these days and think how young they look. Yet, when I look back on our days, we thought we so grown up. Looking at the picture above, I'm reminded of the many dresses I made; in fact, I made most of the clothes that I wore. My mother had always sewn for me. When I was little, she made dresses out of flowered or patterned feed sacks. I'm sure that some of you can identify with that.
After high school, I went on to university and graduated with a degree in elementary education. My goad was to be a missionary and teach missionary kids. I went to Cincinnati and taught in a Christian school for two years, then worked in the public schools for three. During that time I got my Master's degree from Miami University in Ohio, and then I was off to Haiti.

I will save Haiti for another post. All of my pictures are slides, and I need to figure out how to scan them and save them. Also, I don't have any pictures of my father here. I have some hilarious ones of him when he was young. That will also be a post for another day.

Thanks again for your kind comments. Today is also my blog birthday. When I was looking back at my first post, I saw that I had first posted on September 20.

September 19, 1941

My friends know how I love cats, even though I don't have one at my house right now. The inside of the card says, "As long as we can keep our chests and stomachs from doing the same thing." Hopefully that won't happen. Speaking of cats, I read that every life needs nine cats.

Thank you for your well wishes. I'm going to do some more photos soon, maybe tomorrow, but I have a few other tasks at hand before I do that.

If you'd like to know what important events happened on your birthday, or what famous person or celebrity was born on your birthday, go to wikipedia. I found out that George Washington gave his farewell address on this date. Cass Elliott and I share the same birthday, even the same year. Wow, I'm impressed.

I can't believe I'm 65. Oh, yes, I can.

September 19, 1941. Our country was about to enter World War II. My mother and daddy were living in Lacoochee, Florida, a little town which owed its livelihood to the Cummer Cypress Lumber Mill. My mother had come to Lacoochee to live with her sister, and my daddy lived in Trilby, a small community a couple of miles away. Mother and Daddy were married eight years when I was born. They had lost a son, who was stillborn before me. My father worked in the lumber mill. When the United States entered the war, and all the men went to volunteer to serve, he went along too, but he was classified 4-F and couldn't go. Part of his service consisted of guarding German prisoners of war who were brought to the States to be imprisoned. If you google prisoner of war camps, you will find interesting reading about the activities of the prisoners. I know that being a prisoner was punishment, but their lives were not horrible.
Lacoochee was a company town. The lumber company built housing for the employees, and there was a commissary where employees could shop for things that they needed. There was a hotel, and my mother became the manager of that while my daddy worked at the mill.
After the war was over, my parents left Lacoochee and moved to Bradenton, and that is where I grew up. You'll notice in the above picture that my curls are gone. I gave my mother such fits about brushing my hair, that she took me to the barber shop and had him cut my hair short. I didn't have ringlets any longer, but my hair still had curl and was nice and wavy.

I lived in the same house from the time I was four until I went away to college at 17. I graduated from high school with friends that I had been in school with since kindergarten. Today we still see each other and get together for lunch from time to time. In a couple of years there will be that 50 year reunion. I remember remarking on Judy's blog that I used to think only old people graduated from high school that long ago.
One of the special times in Bradenton growing up was being in Brownies and Girl Scouts. Our Brownie troop flew up to Girl Scouts, and we stayed together through high school. During high school some of the girls went on to become Mariner Scouts. I dropped out at that point.

I'll continue this exciting story tomorrow...I know you can hardly wait. :-) 

Working on my birthday blog

I'm working on my birthday blog, but Blogger isn't uploading my photos right now..Will try later.

Saturday stuff

Some of you know from previous posts that my son graduated from Penn State, home of the Nittany Lions and Joe Paterno. During the football season I join the faithful alumni in Sarasota to watch the football games. Last week's game was forgettable as far as the Penn State team was concerned. Notre Dame beat them handily.

Today they played a division-AA, which is to say, they should have won, and they did. There are some great freshman and sophomore players playing and getting good experience. Next week will be another story when they travel to Columbus to play Ohio State.

Michigan handed it to Notre Dame. Who would have thought? And now, Florida is getting beaten by Tennessee, and Clemson is leading Florida State.

On my way to Sarasota, the sun was shining brightly, and as I looked ahead, there was a distinct line across the road. As I crossed the line, the rain was coming down, and it was the smell of a fresh rain on a summer day. I don't remember that smell for some time. We've been having lots of rain here in my area. When it rains for two or three hours, intersections near my house are covered with water. It's a good thing we haven't had a hurricane.

A friend sent these pictures to me in an e-mail. I thought I'd share them with you.

That one might strike a chord...
...and then I'm sure many of you can identify with this sign.

Thank you

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your comments about Ella and all of us. You are all so very kind and thoughtful.

Attention, attention!

I have a birthday coming up...Tuesday, the 19th. And I noticed that my first blog entry was September 20.

This is one of those milestone birthdays. I'm now a card-carrying senior citizen. I used my Medicare card for the first time at the dermatologist's office this month, and it will be used a couple of times in the next week.

My daughter doesn't blog, so I may have to do my own tribute...pictures and all that stuff. I'll work on it this weekend while I should be getting ready for my trip to Virginia. I'm going to leave on the 23rd, stopping by a Lacoochee reunion, visiting a friend in north Georgia for a few days, and then going on to Waynesboro where I'll be for the month of October. During the month of October I'll be taking care of granddaughter Ella since Mom is going back to work October 2.

I read this comic strip this morning and thought it fit the occasion nicely (or not.)


Does the period go inside our outside the parenthesis? Judy, can you answer that one for me? By the way, Judy has some funny cartoons on her site today.

And in honor of getting older, I leave you with the comment I found on Hoss's blog by Bonnie..."Overheard at the Incontinence helpline--Can you hold?"

Ella's appointment

 

Ella had an appointment with the cystic fibrosis specialist yesterday. My daughter-in-law said that they spent four hours at the doctor's office, meeting with the nurse, the doctor, the respiratory therapist, and nutritionist. She had her oxygen level tested and was weighed and measured, had a throat culture and two x-rays.

What a day for a baby! and her mother! It was a very hard day for my daughter-in-law as she pretty much saw Ella's future laid out before her. She did find out that her body is producing some of the enzymes naturally but not enough to take her off the enzymes. She'll be tested again in a year to see if the level has dropped which may be the case.

They are beginning to perform chest Pt on Ella twice a day. There are six different positios and they have to "thump" her for three minutes in each position. The respiratory therapist said to plan about a half hour for each session.

As I said after we had heard her diagnosis, this blog won't be just about Ella and CF, but it is so heavy on our hearts. When you read and look at pictures of Ella and the parents, pray for them or send good thoughts their way. Thanks. 

We'll Never Forget

Please read through this post to read the prayer at the end by Max Lucado. And then please read the following post.

September 11, 2001 - a day forever etched in our minds. I had just come home from the gym and turned on the TV to see the second plane fly into the tower. It was inconvceivable that this could be happening to us. That moment is frozen in time for us. We are too young to remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor; some of us were not even born yet.

Most of us remember exactly where we were when JFK was shot. I was just walking with my class back into the school building when someone came out to tell me the news. We remember when the space shuttle Challenger was lost to us. A work day at our school, we sat in disbelief that this could have happened, especially with a teacher on board. On a smaller scale, we in the Tampa Bay area remember the day when the freighter rammed into the Sunshine Skyway, sending many to a watery grave. One of our teachers drove over that bridge every day to come to work, but the day before she had decided to stay in Bradenton over night, so she was safe.

In the week following 9/11, we in the Tampa Bay area were hit by tropical storm Gabrielle. We were totally unprepared; we had been so stricken by the tragedy of that day. The storm was bad enough that my husband could not drive his big truck through the water to do any jobs. He was called to several places to do service work, but he had to tell the people that there was no way that he could get there.

That Saturday, September 15, I had planned to go to a John Maxwell leadership seminar at a church in Tampa with my Pampered Chef® director. The seminar was broadcast by satellite. In view of the events of the week, it was modified in that during the last session, a prayer meeting was held. Max Lucado was invited to be a part, and he prayed a prayer that he had written for the events of 9/11. Please read it here.


Do It Again, Lord
by Max Lucado


We’re still hoping we’ll wake up. We’re still hoping we’ll open a sleepy eye and think, “What a horrible dream.”

But we won’t, will we, Father? What we saw was not a dream. Planes did gouge towers. Flames did consume our fortress. People did perish. It was no dream and, dear Father, we are sad.

There is a ballet dancer who will no longer dance and a doctor who will no longer heal. A church has lost her priest, a classroom is minus a teacher. Cora ran a food pantry. Paige was a counselor and Dana, dearest Father, Dana was only three years old. (Who held her in those final moments?)

We are sad, Father. For as the innocent are buried, our innocence is buried as well. We thought we were safe. Perhaps we should have known better. But we didn’t.
And so we come to you. We don’t ask you for help; we beg you for it. We don’t request it; we implore it. We know what you can do. We’ve read the accounts. We’ve pondered the stories and now we plead, “Do it again, Lord. Do it again.”

Remember Joseph? You rescued him from the pit. You can do the same for us. Do it again, Lord.
Remember the Hebrews in Egypt? You protected their children from the angel of death. We have children too, Lord. Do it again.
And Sarah? Remember her prayers? You heard them. Joshua? Remember his fears? You inspired him. The women at the tomb? You resurrected their hope. The doubts of Thomas? You took them away. Do it again, Lord. Do it again.

You changed Daniel from a captive into a king’s counselor. You took Peter the fisherman and made him Peter an apostle. Because of you, David went from leading sheep to leading armies. Do it again, Lord, for we need counselors today, Lord. We need apostles. We need leaders. Do it again, dear Lord.
Most of all, do again what you did at Calvary. What we saw here last Tuesday, you saw there that Friday. Innocence slaughtered. Goodness murdered. Mothers weeping. Evil dancing. Just as the smoke eclipsed our morning, so the darkness fell on your Son. Just as our towers were shattered, the very Tower of Eternity was pierced.

And by dusk, heaven’s sweetest song was silent, buried behind a rock.

But you did not waver, O Lord. You did not waver. After three days in a dark hole, you rolled the rock and rumbled the earth and turned the darkest Friday into the brightest Sunday. Do it again, Lord. Grant us a September Easter.

We thank you, dear Father, for these hours of unity. Christians are praying with Jews. Republicans are standing with Democrats. Skin colors have been covered by the ash of burning buildings. We thank you for these hours of unity.

And we thank you for these hours of prayer. The Enemy sought to bring us to our knees and succeeded. He had no idea, however, that we would kneel before you. And he has no idea what you can do.

Let your mercy be upon our President, Vice President, and their families. Grant to those who lead us wisdom beyond their years and experience. Have mercy upon the souls who have departed and the wounded who remain. Give us grace that we might forgive and faith that we might believe.
And look kindly upon your church. For two thousand years you’ve used her to heal a hurting world.
Do it again, Lord. Do it again.
Through Christ, Amen.
© 2001, Max Lucado. This prayer was originally spoken at America Prays, a prayer event held September 15, 2001 by InJoy. Title: "Do It Again, Lord"
Author: Max Lucado
Publication Date: September 18, 2001

Janice J. Brown, 35

September 11, 2001, a day we will never forget, nor should we. People in the blogging community are remembering victims of the tragedy that happened to our country five years ago.

Janice J. Brown is one of the 2,996 victims of 9/11. She was 35 years old. Janice worked as an accountant for Marsh and McLennan Cos, Inc. in the World Trade Center.

I couldn't find an obituary for her or anything about her, except for this comment that was left by a visitor at a site. Shakita wrote this: "I held you as a young baby. My mom was your Godmother. When your grandmother Dinah moved and your mom Juanita moved I never saw your face again. May God bless you in heaven. I read as many articles as I could about you. You are a special angel. The news was stunning to me. Yes, only after your mom passed did we inquire what happened to her daughter Janice. Forgive us. Love and Peace."

To view other tributes, visit this website, www.dcroe.com

Losses

There have been several losses this past week. The first one that I'll mention is the Notre Dame-Penn State game. Oh my, the Fighting Irish did a job on the Nittany Lions. As we watched, we felt we were watching the team of two years ago. Next week will come and this week's loss will be forgotten, well maybe not completely forgotten.

The other loss was that of Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. A sad ending to a young life. Many bloggers wrote about him, and it seems that everyone admired him for being so enthusiastic about his life's work. One's heart goes out to him wife and young children.

The other loss was Andre Agassi's loss at the US Open. No one whose blog I read said anything about this...maybe I don't read in the right circles. Andre Agassi was indeed a colorful figure in the world of tennis during his 21 years. Sports Illustrated had a lengthy article about him a few weeks ago before the US Open. The article described how his father hung tennis balls over his crib when he was a baby. He was driven to succeed. I read once that when he took second place in a tournament, his father was very disappointed and said that second place was no good.


As a young player he came to Bradenton to train with Nick Bolletieri, who ran a tennis academy here. He became well-known as a tennis player and the figure we saw hawking Canon cameras, stating, "Image is everything." You might recall how taken Barbra Streisand was with him. She said, "Oh, he's so evolved." Then he married Brooke Shield, and that marriage didn't last.

Somewhere along the way he got it right. His image changed from the brash youth to a gentleman who loved not only his sport, but his fans. He established a charter school in Las Vegas for disadvantaged youth.

He married Steffi Graf and is now the proud papa of a son and daughter.

When I was flying home from Richmond last Monday, someone left the sports section of the New York Times in the bathroom stall. His picture graced the front page, so I took it along with me to read. One headline said, "From Rebel to Statesman." The pretty much says it all.

And this quote was at the top of the page. "You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could never have reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you, and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life." Andre Agassi addressing the US Open crowd.

And, Andre, we will remember you and miss you. You may have lost the tournament, but you ended up a winner.

Ella at one month

 
While we were in Waynesboro with David and Sabrina, Ella had her one month birthday. A lot has happened in this first month...the blood tests, and then the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. She now is given enzymes before she nurses to aid her digestion.

She generally is a happy baby in the morning, but by late afternoon she lets you know that she isn't too content with the goings on. Fortunately, she has been waking up only once during the night, giving her parents a chance to get some rest.

One's life is changed forever when a baby arrives, isn't it.

I'm going to ask your advice, or I'm going to take a poll. My daughter and I are seriously thinking of relocating to be near David, Sabrina, and Ella. I know that people have said that you shouldn't follow your kids around, because they may not stay in the same place very long. I know that's true. That's one factor. However, David, Sabrina, and Ella are the only family that Sarah and I have. My husband's brother and family are in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Our hearts are really tugged. Sarah stated that she doesn't want to be a long distance aunt who only sees her niece a couple of times a year. Sarah has a home here in Florida, as do I, and it would be hard to pull up stakes and move...but...
I'd be interested in your input. 

Safely home

Sarah and I arrived home last night from Virginia. Our trip home was smooth flying. Flying to Virginia on Friday into the edge of the storm was something else, especially for Sarah who doesn't travel well in the best of circumstances.

On our way to Waynesboro I commented to her that if we were at home, there is no way we would be out in the weather we were driving in. Thankfully we arrived safely at David's home and spent four days oohing and ahhing over Ella. She's a cutie.

I have oodles of things to do today, but I'll get a picture up of her later on...maybe tomorrow.