I attended my cousin Don’s memorial service today. Don worked for WSB radio and television many years ago. Then he went on to work for CNN for about fifteen years after that. During his early years at WSB he made some great friends, and several of his WSB friends spoke at his funeral today. One of those friends was Don Kennedy. I didn’t realize that my cousin Don was good friends with Don Kennedy. If I had known that when I was a kid, I probably would have begged cousin Don to introduce me to his friend. Don Kennedy was one of my childhood heros. I didn’t know him as Don Kennedy, though. To me - and to thousands of other children in Georgia - he was Officer Don, the energetic and kind and funny host of the Popeye Club.

Once Officer Don brought his traveling Popeye Club to our little town of Ellijay, Georgia. Out of all the children in the audience, I was one of the lucky ones to be chosen to play one of the games on stage. My game was musical chairs, and I WON! My prize was a white cowboy hat with Officer Don’s autograph. I remember getting the cowboy hat, but I have no idea what happened to it afterwards. It was truly a high point of my childhood. Thanks for the memory, Officer Don!

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Today was my cousin Don’s memorial service in Georgia.  At the service, my mother and all my siblings and I were together for awhile.  It has been a couple years since we’d been altogether, and it was nice - even if it was for a sad occasion and even if it was for only a couple hours.  After the memorial service at the church and then visiting with family and friends and sharing a lunch in the church fellowship hall, we each went our separate ways again.  RT and I headed back to my mother’s to get our suitcases and fly back to Tennessee.  My oldest sister, Janice, and her husband started the long drive back to D.C.  My youngest brother, David, headed back to Alabama.  The others headed back to their homes in Georgia.  For a little while today, though, all our paths converged.  We went outside and had photographs taken of all of us together. 

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I spent last week in NYC.  I went there to attend the February Institute at Teachers College of Columbia University.  Classes were from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. each day. Once classes were over and we had done our homework for the next day (and sometimes before we’d done the homework), we headed off to soak in every ounce of NYC experiences and sightseeing that we possibly could.  I doubt if we could have fit in another activity.  It was an extremely full week.  Here are thirteen of my favorite things about the trip.

(1) The beautiful and intricate architecture of the old buildings - all over NYC.  I loved looking at those old buildings.

(2) Wicked.  It was a wonderful Broadway show at the Gershwin Theater.  It was totally delightful.

(3) Shopping in Chinatown for purses.  They made it a seem like such a cloak and dagger experience, although since every tourist knows about them, I’m sure that all the police officers do, too.  It was a hilarious experience, though.

(4) Jersey Boys - another Broadway show.  This one was about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - wonderful music and great show!

(5) The Empire State Building.  It was my first time to see it, and I loved it.  We lucked out in being there at a time when there were no lines.  We were able to go right up to the top  and walk around in the wind and cold of the observation deck.  I thought of “Sleepless in Seattle” and “An Affair to Remember” and just thoroughly enjoyed it.

(6) Meeting my niece at the Empire State Building.  She’s a nanny in NYC,  has a degree in Musical Theater, and she didn’t think twice about hopping on the subway to meet me at the ESB and then going with me to have dinner with some of my teacher friends.  It was just cool to see family when I was so far away from family.  Does that make sense?

(7)  The snow storm on Friday morning.  It was wonderful waking up to the beautiful snow on Friday morning and then walking through the falling snow with about 6 inches of snow already on the ground to get to our Friday morning classes.  I learned that the northerners who come to the south and make fun of us for shutting down because of a little snow don’t have room to talk.  Lots of things shut down in NYC because of that snow last Friday.

(8) I especially love the fact that our flight home was not cancelled or delayed because of the snow.  Although earlier flights had been cancelled, ours went home right on time.  While NYC was great, I was ready to sleep in my own bed and see RT again.

(9)  A. - one of the session leaders at the institute.  We started counting how many times she used the word “like” -  it was in the hundreds on any given day.  She was very knowledgeable and likeable, but her speech had a definite Valley Girl bent.  At one time she said we were going to talk about mini-lessons, and she declared: “I love them!  I LIKE THEM A LOT!  They’re really good!”  (I know that is EXACTLY what she said because I started writing down exact quotes once I realized what a treasure trove of bizarre quotes she was providing us).   Anyone who becomes orgasmic at the mere mention of mini-lessons was someone who held our interest and provided lots of material for discussion.  My roommate was particularly adept at imitating A., and we spent one evening in absolute hysterics laughing and talking about things A. had said and done in class.

(10) Staying at the International House in NYC.  Great place to stay.  Very much like a college dormity - bare bones type lodging, but clean (except for the shower curtain) and the atmosphere of having people from all over the world staying there was really fun.  Plus they had a great cafeteria with wonderful food.  That saved us a lot of time and money for our other NYC adventures.

(11)  Being in the audience of the Late Show with David Letterman.  It was a fun experience.  RT and I watched the show when I got home, and he said it was about the worst show he’d ever seen.  The jokes weren’t funny and the guest was boring.  However, the experience of being there in person was lots of fun.  Plus, there’s a clear shot of me in the audience - so I have that tiny claim to fame.

(12) Riding the subway and seeing that yes, people are people are people.  In general, the people we met in NYC were friendly and helpful - and several of them went way beyond the call of duty to offer assistance and information when we needed it.

(13) The airline employee in the Nashville airport who told us about the best view of NYC:  “It’s out the airplane window when you’re leaving NYC on your way back home.”  While I can understand why people would want to live in a city like NYC - there are so many wonderful experiences available there - I can’t imagine living there myself.  It was crowded, it was noisy, and bags of garbage were everywhere.  I was grateful to return to my country home in Tennessee.

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This is a photo taken in the 1960’s when we lived in Ellijay, Georgia.  My mother made matching robes for all the girls in the family, and she also made matching robes for all the guys in the family.  Somewhere I have the photo of all the girls.  Here’s the photo of the guys in the family: my older brother, Terrell; my father, Charles; and my younger brother, David.  My goodness, but my father was a handsome man!  And Terrell and David were both cute kids - and have, in turn, become handsome men.

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Ha!  Don’t you love that title?  I found this photo on one of my disks.  These are all photos of me as a child.  The top left photo is of my brother,Terrell, my sister Janice and me when we lived in Wilmore, Kentucky on the campus of Asbury College where my father was going to school.  The top right photo is of my mother and me in the parsonage at 333 South 9th Street in Griffin, GA.  It was taken when my father was in seminary in Atlanta and was serving a three church charge (Midway, Sunnside and Vaughn Methodist Churches) in Griffin.The bottom photo is of me and my first grade teacher, Mrs. Landrum, at Fourth Ward Elementary School in Griffin, GA.  I LOVED Mrs. Landrum.  We’d have reading groups at the round “reading” table, and she’d put a little adhesive star on our foreheads when we read well.  I remember skipping out to the playground simply giddy with delight because I was sporting my reading star.  I had Mrs. Elder for second grade, and I don’t really remember much about her except there was a cloak room adjacent to the classroom, and it was a scary place.  Mrs. Giles, my third grade teacher was wretched.  That wasn’t a very good year.  For some reason, I have totally blocked out fourth, fifth and sixth grades - the grades I completed when we lived in Ellijay, Georgia.  I don’t remember those teachers at all, although I do remember some of my adventures at school.   I love these photos.

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Back in 1989, RT and I celebrated our 20th anniversary, and we decided to celebrate the occasion by spending a week in Hawaii.  Since RT had traveled so much with his job, he had saved enough frequent flier points to completely pay for our round-trip plane fare.  We left the kids with family, and we were on our way to Honolulu. 

I had dreamed of going to Hawaii every since I had read James Michener’s book Hawaii when I was younger.  Seeing the places I had read about was almost magical to me.  There are so many things to do in Honolulu and so many things to see.  The first thing that struck me was the abundance of flowers.  Everything was in bloom and looking beautiful.  Then there were the rainbows.  Rainbows were plentiful - especially in the afternoons after a quick refreshing rain shower.

We hiked up Diamond Head to see the incredible views.  What a wonderful place to be!  We swam in the crystal clear water, snorkeled offshore, shopped at the International Market, visited Pearl Harbor and toured the Arizona Memorial.  We learned about Hawaiian culture by visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center.  RT’s father lived in Hawaii as a child, and we were able to see some of the areas that he had told RT about. 

Someday we intend to go back to Hawaii.  It is an unbelievably beautiful place.  You can call Trusted Tours & Attractions to plan a wide variety of individual, romantic, or family vacation ideas.  They have tours that will take you to the Big Island to explore Volcanoes National Park and the Thurston Lava Tube.    I think I could spend a month or more in Honolulu without seeing all the wonderful sights and attractions.

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I wanted to show a progression of our new home. I plan on making a progressive collage to frame to display in our home. This was one of the most fun times of my life - and now that we’ve moved in and are mostly settled, it is even better. So here is my online progressive collage:

First, the land was cleared.  RT did almost all of that himself.  That’s him on the bulldozer. 

There were four trucks full of logs that hauled wood to a sawmill to be cut into boards.

Then the piers and pilings were poured. It was an exciting time because after years of planning, we were actually beginning to build the house. We walked through the “rooms” at this stage and envisioned what they might look like as they grew.

The foundation was built, and I worried that the house would sit up too high off the ground. I was told repeatedly that it wasn’t too high, but they couldn’t convince me. I could see a L-O-N-G, arduous set of steps to be navigated to get up to the house.

The framing might have been the most exciting phase.  That’s when the individual rooms really took shape.

When I saw the kitchen bay window framed out, I had tears in my eyes.  It was that exciting.  We had looked at the plans for this particular house for so long, and to see it becoming reality was wonderful.

Framing the second story was also exciting.

I loved it when the two front gables were framed out.  They’re part of the distinctive features of the front of the house.

And then they nailed up the plywood and then that waterproof-paper-whatever-it’s-called over the playwood.

Somewhere I have photos of the guys doing the brickwork. I’ll look them up someday.  However, here’s a photo of the finished brickwork - including the beautiful front steps.  Not too many steps at all!

This photo shows our landscaper (our son) drawing his plans for the landscaping, sprinkler and lighting systems.  You’ll notice that the forms are ready for the sidewalks to be poured.

The paving crew poured the patio, sidewalks and driveway.  They did a wonderful job.

The finished house - with the front rock garden that RT built for me. 

This next picture is the artist’s rendering of what the “Hickory Ridge” plan by Donald Gardner should look like.  I think our house is MUCH more beautiful than what the artist envisioned.  We made a few changes - added an additional bedroom and bath downstairs and made some of the windows larger.

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I was looking through the photos on my Photobucket album when I came across this photo:

The photo was taken on Saturday morning, November 29, 1986, at RT’s and my home in Tennessee.  It is a photo of my father and mother with five of their granddaughters.  When the photo was taken, we had no idea that in less than a week my father would die suddenly and we would all be gathered again  - this time in Georgia - for his funeral.  This is the last photo we have of my father.  When I see a meaningful photo such as this, I immediately start thinking not only of the events surrounding that photo, but also of all that has happened since the photo was taken.

The oldest granddaughter in the photo is my daughter.  She’s now married and has two little girls of her own.  The youngest granddaughter in the photo - the one my mother is holding (the daughter of my younger non-blogging brother, David) - just got married this past year.   She and her husband live on a farm in Alabama.  The curly-haired blonde immediately in front of my daughter is now a teacher/missionary in Kenya (and yes, with the situation in Kenya, we are all worried about her).  She’s the daughter of my non-blogging sister, Debi.  The one sitting in my father’s lap (The daughter of my sister, Beth) with her hands clasped in front of her face is now living on her own in California.  And the granddaughter standing beside the chair holding her doll is the daughter of my brother Terrell.  She is now living in New York City - working as a nanny and hoping to work in musical theater.

Over twenty-one years have passed.  Four new grandchildren have been born since my father’s death, along with lots of great-grandchildren.  My father had such a robust attitude towards life, and he loved his children and grandchildren.  I would give anything to share with him the joy I feel for my own grandgirls.  No major point here - just the observation that life goes very quickly.   

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This week I am writing about seven Christmas traditions that I am thankful for:

(1) Christmas stockings - I love planning and shopping for items to go in everyone’s stockings.  It’s just fun.

(2) Christmas Tree - There’s nothing more beautiful than a pretty Christmas tree.  Everytime I look at our Christmas tree, I like to squint my eyes so that only the lights stand out - and they look softer and beautiful.

(3) Colored lights on the Christmas tree - While all white lights look pretty, there is just nothing more Christmasy than colored lights.

(4)  The star that our daughter (now almost 33 years old) used in a pre-school Christmas play 30 years ago.  Each year it is the star at the top of our Christmas tree.

(5) And next to that star on top of the tree is the angel our son made in school 25 years ago.  So we have a doubly wonderful tree-topper each year.

(6) We have always had the tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve.  Everything else has to wait till Christmas Day.  It’s always fun selecting the one gift we want to open early.

(7)  Christmas caroling…There is absolutely no music more beautiful than Christmas music.  “Silent Night”  “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”  “O Holy Night” “ Hark the Herald Angels Sing”  ”Mary Did You Know?”  “Away in a Manger”  - along with the more secular “Christmas in Dixie” “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” and “Tender Tennessee Christmas”

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I was watching TV and working on a blog post, when my computer beeped to let me know that I had an email.  I clicked over to the email program and found the following  from my wonderful and loving son.  It’s no wonder I adore him:

Hey Moma, 

I was just remembering how you used to play the piano every once in while when I
was younger.  I love the sound of a piano, most of my favorite songs have a
piano in the background.  I remember watching tv and hearing you play, it wasn’t
for a long time or often but it left an impression on me and I love the sound of
a piano because it reminds me of you. 

I love you mom.

Joey 

Yes, it made me cry. He’s a very fine 29-year old young man. I’m so proud of him.

Now for the coincidence.  This past Saturday RT and I were visiting my mother.  My mother had just bought a piano.  She wants to take lessons, and she got a great deal on a used piano.  She’d also just had it tuned.  So as my mother, RT and I sat in her living room chatting, she said I should play the piano for her.  I sat at the piano, opened the Methodist Hymnal and started playing some hymns - not very well, but I muddled my way through about 10 or 12 of my favorite hymns before calling it a day.  I told RT that someday I want a small piano to go in our library at home.  I don’t play well, but I really enjoy occasionally playing the songs I know.  It’s just a relaxing and happy thing to do.  Even when I do it poorly, it puts me in a good mood.  I’m not sure why except that I love the sound of a piano.  I just talked with RT and told him about Joey’s email, and he swore he had not mentioned at all to Joey that I had played the piano at my mother’s just a few days ago.

What are the chances of those two occurences happening so close together?

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