Family
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Happy Friday the 13th!
Many people consider Friday the 13th to be a very unlucky day, the kind of day when it’s probably best to stay home with your head under the pillow. Well, maybe not UNDER, because then, being Friday the 13th, you would probably suffocate. In my family, however, Friday the 13th is considered to be a lucky day. Perhaps we’re rebels, or perhaps we’re demon spawn, which puts us at odds with everyone else, but regardless of these possibilities, we do. The reason that Friday the 13th is a lucky day dates back to when I was in the 5th grade. Back then, in the days before direct deposit and so…
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Wordless Wednesday
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Real Moms teach by example…
Have you noticed, when you get to know people, how sooner or later, your story comes out? Unless you’re hiding it, and sometimes, even if you are. But assuming you’re not hiding anything, your story explains to people who you are, how you got to be this person that they are talking to, how you grew and developed, what your strengths and scars are… Part of my story isn’t really mine, it’s about my parents. I’ve told it before, but the short version is that my mother wasn’t married to my father…or my brother’s father, and they weren’t the same man. My mother was divorcing her first husband when I…
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The Good China
Whilst out and about, watching a certain Bride to Be try on beautiful wedding dresses, I have recently had occasion to peruse the bridal magazines that they have sitting around at the salons. Anyone remember these? They’re full of pictures of dresses, of course, tips on how to get in shape before the wedding, ideas for fun honeymoons, ettiquette advice, and checklists galore. Things to be done, and when (6 months before the date, pick your venue and your dress…3 months before the date, order invitations, etc.). They also have suggestions for your bridal registry. Different people register for different types of things, some for the conventional china and silver,…
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3 Things…
1st, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, Happy Birthday to La Luna! Happy Happy Joy Joy, eat some bacon, and some cake, but please, don’t make it bacon cake! (unless that floats your boat, one never knows…) Â La Luna is a wonderful sister to me, (my sister-in-law if you want to get technical) always there, always ready with a helping hand or to walk our doggy or loan me vanilla extract…always with a kind word if I need it, ready to help out. Thank you La Luna, for being you, and keep it up! Happy Birthday. 🙂 2nd, excitingly, we’re getting our new STOVE this morning! I’ll admit, I’m going to miss our…
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My Aunt Colleen
Today would have been my Aunt Colleen’s 55th birthday, had she lived. She died of an unexpected brain aneurysm at the age of 43. This picture is her High School graduation photo, circa 1970. I’ve been trying to decide what to write about my aunt, who left us far too soon. I remember babysitting for her when I was young, dancing to “Abby Road” with her young daughters, Jenny and Kristy. Aunt Colleen bought me my first pair of shoes, when she was 13 years old. When I was 11, and let a rat come and make a nest at the back of my head (figuratively, not literally), she patiently…
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Happy Birthday Stevie Boy!
Today is Py’s brother’s birthday, and I want to wish him a very Happy Birthday. 🙂 When Py and I were married, part of the ceremony was a vow taken by Steve, that should anything ever happen to Py, Steve would be there for me, that he would take care of me. Also, if the family should ever think ill of me, if there should be a fight or a disagreement within the family, he would take my side until I was proven guilty. Don’t you all wish you had someone like that in your in-law’s family? Someone who is always there for you, someone who has vowed to be…
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Happy Birthday, Grandma!
Today is my Grandma’s birthday. I have told you about her before, here. You’ll be happy to know, she’s feeling much better lately, though healing is much more difficult in your 80s than in your 20s or 30s, probably even more difficult to heal a bone than in your 60s. She broke her wrist, and it’s having a hard time mending. But that’s not the point of my post. My Grandma is a wonderful, amazing person. I remember when I was a child, writing her letters, and her writing back, and feeling like I had a pen pal. This helped me to know her when I was living in Alaska,…
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Happy Birthday to Me!
Today is my 41st birthday…that seems wild, since I don’t feel any more mature than I did when I was 21 or 22…maybe that’s the secret to the fountain of youth…stay immature! For my birthday dinner tonight, I asked Ted if he would get me cracked crab with garlic butter, some wine (or maybe champagne?) and some french bread. He decided to do me one better on the French Bread, and get garlic noodles from Thanh Long. Oh my. They are SO yummy. So, yesterday, we drove into the city in search of garlic noodles…but we thought, why go all of the way to San Francisco, our favorite city, and…
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The Memory Keepers Daughter
I’m about 2/5 of the way through this book. Reading this has been a difficult task for me…not that it would be for everyone, but it was for me. Those of you who have read my blog for awhile know that I didn’t know my father or my sisters growing up, that I met them when I was 21 (dad) and 22 (sisters), so I missed out on a lot of their lives, as they did mine. One thing that I missed out on was that I had an uncle, Bobby, who had Downs Syndrome. He was my father’s older brother, and he died before I had a chance to…
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Happy Birthday Julie!
This is a picture of Maya and my step mom, Julie. Today is Julie’s birthday, and I wish we could be there to share a piece of cake with her to celebrate. Julie and my dad live in Portland, and have a beautiful house and a pretty good life there. Julie owns a yoga studio, and has been teaching yoga for about 35 years. She’s without question the best yoga instructor in the Pacific Northwest, so if you’re ever in the market for a really good yoga class in Portland, check her studio out. In addition to being a wonderful yoga instructor, and a pretty savvy businesswoman, Julie is a…
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Happy Birthday Richard!
Happy Birthday, to my big brother, Richard! Always there to help me buy big item electronics, or give me advice on video games…even though he lives far far away. Thanks for letting me practice dating on your friends (not that you really had much say in the matter), and for selling me your half of the dog when we were little. Even though that meant I was responsible for picking up the dog poop, still the best purchase I ever made. Thanks for bringing Kathy home, and for being smart enough to marry her, giving me a wonderful sister-in-law. Thanks for being a generous, wonderful, snide, snarky older brother. Happy…
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Happy Birthday, Maya and Melissa!
These beautiful women are my sisters, Maya (left) and Melissa (right), and today is their birthday! Melissa doesn’t read my blog, or any blog, and barely has time with a 3 year old and a 4 month old to check her email. Maya reads when she gets a chance, but she has a job and a beautiful 2 year old of her own. So it’s entirely possible that neither of them will see this post. No matter. I wanted everyone to see them anyway, and to say, “Happy Birthday to J’s sisters!” I first met my sisters in January of 1988…after having met my dad in the fall of ’87,…
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Fostering Resiliency
The Center for Human Development in our area offers a “Healthy Choices” program, called “PEP” (Parent Educators Program), which the parents bring to some of the schools. Maya’s school is fairly small (under 200 students) and fairly new (this is their 6th year), and we are working to implement the PEP program in the school. Back when I was on the school board, when we realized this charter school experiment of bringing Montessori Education to the public schools might actually ‘take’, and we were probably going to stay open, we started looking past the immediate needs of getting a permanent location, running water, a principal, and funding to pay the…
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All Souls Day
Today is All Souls Day. Not being a good Christian (but I am a good Atheist, which is better than a bad Christian, right?), I don’t know much about this holiday, but I read a bit on Laluna and Zee’s blogs the other day. I was intrigued. The Christian belief is that the faithful departed who have not atoned for their sins can get into heaven, if they have people still in our land of the living pray for their salvation. (If I have that wrong, please let me know…it’s interesting.) I’m a little bit more interested, though, in the Pagan roots of the holiday, if there indeed are any.…