Childhood Remembered

Haven't been blogging recently with Christmas and some other things getting in the way. I also want to try to make the subjects interesting which is not always what I see happening in my life. Recently though I was invited to an old friends house for my birthday back in December even though we celebrated it way past that date. She fixed a lovely meal and invited her sister and all the hubbies. It was so fun just sitting over a glass of wine reminiscing and laughing about old times. Their mother was my mother's best friend. I try to call their mom occasionally because I know she misses my mom terribly even to this day (it's been 2 years). Dana is closest to me in age and her sister is about 3 years older than Dana. Even though their personalities and looks are totally different, they are very close. Our fathers were best friends and partners in sales. They would travel around the U.S. and sell everything from fire alarms to nursery furniture. When my dad died their father cried for a week over the loss of his friend, my dad, even though they hadn't spoken for a number of years.
At the dinner party last month the sisters were telling me that they and their husbands were going to Florida for a number of weeks and were debating about taking their mother along with them.  Joyce (their mother) lives in a retirement community close to Dana's house in Shoreview and had indicated that she had told them that she wanted to come with them on the vacation. I indicated that maybe that would be a good thing for them. Spending some quality time with her rather than an occasional visit to her retirement condo. I understood where they were coming from but I don't think they even realized my thoughts on that particular subject.

me, Pam and Dana

Sometimes I think that we really don't realize that we can be complaining about a family member in the presence of someone who has lost that same member of their family. I remembered once a couple years ago at a gathering of women that some of the women were complaining about their husbands. Simple things that aggravated them like leaving the toilet seat up etc. No one but myself realized that one of the gals had lost her husband 6 years ago at a fairly young age to cancer and I wondered about her "take" on the subject since her husband was no longer in her life.
Certainly life is short. Once they are gone there is no coming back. Memories are all we have sometimes. I thank the Lord that these gals are in my life. I truly care and cherish their friendship with me and those of their husbands. We try to make it a regular thing to meet up with them for dinner or breakfast at a favorite restaurant. I will also miss them when they are gone, unless of course I go first. But we do have the memories which brings me to the picture. Enjoy.

Christmas 2014

Aiden had a late Christmas with us as he was at his dad's this Christmas. Got a few pics. Enjoy.
the first one was a work set with screw drivers, hammer, etc.






















He loves to help Daniel work on the cars so he really was thrilled with this present. The second one was a dry erase board where he can work on his writing skills. Hannah wants to encourage him to prepare for Kindergarten hopefully this fall.