• One year old…

    September 8, 2012 / 5 Comments

    What a fun birthday week this has been!  I can hardly believe that one whole year has passed since this sweet girl made her entrance into the world.

    She loved her birthday decorations – the streamers, the balloons and all the other adorable decorations. Those big blue eyes clearly were taking it all in when she woke up on the morning of her birthday!

    Now, her Midwestern parents will tell you in a heartbeat that she isn’t a “Southern” baby but that sure is an adorable SOUTHERN baby dress that a friend of theirs gave her as a birthday gift!  I loved it!  What you can’t see are her adorable little soft leather cowgirl boots!

    The expression on her face when she saw her “smash” cake was absolutely priceless!  If she could say more than five or six words, she probably would have said:

    “Hello!  What ARE you three adults thinking?!  Uh, don’t you know that I have been fed so healthy for the first year of my life?!  I have NOT had sugar!  Nope.  Not for the entire first year of my life.  Granted this cake is from one of the top ten bakeries in the U.S.A. but still… you DO know this cake is made of pure SUGAR?!!  Don’t you?!  Are you SURE you want me to have this?!”

    So, as the Paparazzi clicked a few stills she took advantage of the moment and dove in (truthfully though, health conscious Mom and Dad limited it to a few bites – which she loved – then distracted her with a new birthday toy and removed it!)

    I have a photo of her Dad at the same age which looks just like this!

    She is always happy and even-tempered!  What an amazing baby girl!

    We had lunch at a nearby Garden Cafe.  They have herbs and vegetables growing and even a couple of chickens in a little chicken coop.

    This child is full of joy and takes my breath away!

    Happy Birthday, baby girl!  I love you!

  • Surprise….

    September 1, 2012 / 1 Comment

    I was standing at the luggage carousel at the DFW airport waiting for my luggage to roll around…easy to recognize with the Scottish plaid ribbon and the large cupcake ID tag.  My son would be picking me up any minute now.  I had prepared myself that my baby granddaughter would be asleep when I arrived and that I would have to wait until early morning to see her.  I had not been here for the past four months and I could not wait to see her!  Facetime and photos are fun…but definitely not the real thing.

    Just about that time, I heard happy laughter.  I turned around to see my beautiful baby granddaughter toddling toward me, arms up and outstretched!  (She had just started walking the week before!)

    My son and his precious wife stood back, laughing at my surprised and happy expression as I ran toward my granddaughter to scoop her up into my arms. I love surprises like this!

    Friday is her FIRST birthday and it’s going to such a fun week!

     

  • Never say never…

    September 1, 2012 / 3 Comments

    I have flown dozens of times…most likely hundreds.  I think I could honestly say that at one time I loved flying.  The claustrophobia started about a year and a half ago during a storm coming out of Chicago.  It does not happen every time.

    I have discovered what I need to do to fly successfully.  Flying successfully means NO claustrophobia!  I do best in a row of two seats – the premium seats (an added cost of about $44 per seat) with the greater leg room.  I do best when I’m by a window.  However, not every flight will have the option of only two seats.

    I was in the Denver airport waiting for my connection to Dallas.  Earlier on my flight from Iowa to Denver, the passenger seated next to me asked me if I would like to have the aisle seat.  I politely said I would not.  I had paid an extra $44 for my window seat!

    Later,  during the travel day another passenger and I were talking about “never” giving up our premium seats that we had paid extra for.  Oh, yeah…right.

    I kept wondering why we were, apparently, getting ready to board so early when I realized that the battery in my watch had stopped two hours prior!  It was really almost 7:00 p.m. and my watch said 5:00!  Obviously, something that I would have to make time to replace in Dallas…

    About that time, I heard my name being paged in the Denver airport!  Not again!

    I went to the desk and, this time, the desk agent informed me that I had the premium window bulkhead seat.  I already knew that.  I looked to my left and there was a rather large lady in a wheelchair and her husband standing there.  They nodded a greeting to me.  I smiled back.  From their brief explanation, she was paralyzed from the hips down.

    “Would you be willing to give up your premium window bulkhead seat?  She needs the extra leg room and you have the largest leg room seat.  I’ve already asked them.  They also have the premium bulkhead seating directly across the aisle.” said the desk agent pointedly glancing in the direction of the silly couple of kids who looked to be in their early twenties and were having a hard time keeping their hands off of each other.  “They declined.”

    “Of course they did.”  I replied with a slight snarl and a glance in their direction.

    “You don’t have to do it either.”  added the ticket agent.

    “I have claustrophobia.  I cannot sit at the back of the plane.  I paid an extra $44 for this seat.”  I began…desperately listing my reasons for why I just couldn’t give up my seat.  At this point, I was transported back in time to my last claustrophobic attack:  The Sea Lion Caves in Oregon.  Surprisingly, I had made it fine all through the cave, up the steps inside the cave to the view out the cave wall and then back down again.  I was fine until it came time to get in line for the elevator out and I realized that I couldn’t just get OUT!

    “I’d give you the $44 if I had it.”  said the lady who couldn’t use her legs even if she tried.  And then her husband wheeled her away.

    I’d like to say that I said yes right away but I did not.  I’m too scared of claustrophobia.  I said no at first.  I really did.

    But the Holy Spirit is more powerful than my claustrophobia.  The Holy Spirit does not give you a swift kick but a gentle nudge.  Finally, I said “yes” she could have my seat.  I prayed I would not have claustrophobia!  I prayed that I would not have have a seat at the back of the plane!

    Thankfully, the plane wasn’t crowded, so the desk agent blocked out a row of three seats for me so no one would be sitting around me ( though not as much room, still premium seats with extra leg room) directly across from the lady who took my seat and one row back (behind the silly young couple who have a lot of growing up to do).

    Then, I went over to tell the lady that she could have my seat and she reached up to squeeze my hand and said “thank you”. 

    They seated her on the plane first before they boarded anyone else.  When I sat down later, she glanced back and smiled at me.  I asked her if she were okay.  She replied she was and then she asked me if I were okay.  I knew what she meant.

    “Yes, I am.  Thanks!” 

    It was a successful flight…

     

    fromthesky

     Above photo by Penny Glenn.  Copyright 2012.  Used with permission.

  • All too soon…

    August 31, 2012 / 1 Comment

    Life moves along at such a remarkable speed.  You turn around one day and your little girl is grown.  She falls in love, gets married and in a few years becomes a mother.  In turn, this bestows upon you the most incredible role of your life:  Grandmother!

    After that, life continues to move even faster!  See the precious toddler in the photo above?  The adorable one walking next to her big brother?  She’s turning thirteen today.  A teenager!  Even as a tiny toddler, she was a runner.  Now, she can run faster than her Mom and Dad and almost as fast as her brother.  She is also a swimmer and swims on a competition team for the school.

    Now that I have my automobile, she loves that I drive her to school and we have talks on the way.  I think she was worried that I would get lost on my way back home the first time that I took her to school for she said “did you find your way back home okay, Grandmom?”

    Tonight, we celebrated with cake and ice cream and she opened her presents.  One of my presents to her was actually one of “my treasures”.  My mother was born in 1904 and, about 1920, was given a solid gold bar pin with her initials on it in a beautiful scroll.  I placed this special pin in a small heart shaped leaded glass dish.  I thought it was time to give it to my granddaughter…since my mother and my granddaughter share the same initials.  (She is the only grandchild with those initials.)  She was very pleased and I think will treasure it and take care of it for many decades to come.

    Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

    Why do they have to grow up all too soon?

     

     

  • The stories…

    August 31, 2012 / 1 Comment

    I had not been in the Midwest – or in my daughter’s busy home – for very long at all when “the stories” began.  They would start with a simple word the children would say and, then, that word would evolve into a children’s story in my head.  I began to think of them as “gifts”.

    My computer had not yet arrived – neither had anything else.  And, so, I would disappear into their study/classroom and enter the stories into their computer.  I did remember to bring my “jump” drive and would save them there.  Sometimes, one of the children would be in the classroom studying and I would tell the story to them.  They loved them.  The youngest especially would like it when the story would be about him. Perhaps there would be hope at the end of this “living on a retirement pension” tunnel…

    My daughter is an amazing artist and I began to realize that she could illustrate these – what I was beginning to think were pretty doggone good stories – and I could actually have them published.  That would, of course, involve my stepping into HER shoes to free her up so that she could paint and illustrate! 

     

  • The puzzle…

    August 30, 2012 / 1 Comment

    I watched as the auto-transport carrier driver moved first one switch and then another…carefully.  Then, he’d proceed to move one car a few feet and then another.  There were pins and pulleys to adjust.  My car was two tiers up and two tiers back.  It was nerve-wrecking to watch. It was literally one gigantic puzzle.

    We’d received the call the night before that the following morning he would arrive after transporting my car cross country.  The next morning he called to ask if we could meet him at a nearby truck stop – something about a vehicle that size not being allowed on neighborhood streets?  Hmmm….

    I had been without a vehicle for ten days now and at this point, I was just glad to be getting my transportation back.  My daughter was always more than glad to take me anywhere I needed to be but she literally needed to be in 4 places at once!  Plus, with my car, I would be able to help her transport kids to school, swim practice or piano lessons.  Another automobile would be a big help!

    I continued to watch as, step-by-step, he continued to free my car.  He would lower each station and then bring it closer to the front.  I was standing to one side watching.  My three year old grandson had moved to the front seat of the minivan and was watching every movement closely – fascinated.

    Finally, my Camry was free and was backed carefully off.  It was sitting on empty (I clearly remember having almost a full tank and wondered if they had to empty it before hauling it cross-country?).  The first place I drove was to the gas station next door and filled up.

    My daughter laughed and said I was like a kid again who zoomed off with her first set of wheels!