Memory Post

As I was driving to my destination on Wednesday, I heard a song on the radio that triggered a memory that I have since shared with Jessica and Lewis and thought would be a great memory post for the blog. For me, music brings memories. The song that I heard was "All of my Love" by Led Zeppelin. Not only did I hear it on my way, but I also heard the song again on my way home. A 1980's song twice in one day, on two different radio stations. I usually don't believe in signs, but this was just meant to be.
Senior Banquet May 1980

The song brings back memories of the winter of 1979-80, specifically the twin snowstorms that hit Tidewater and brought our region a record 41.9 inches of snow that winter. The first storm was February 6th and brought about 18 inches of snow in Chesapeake. The second was March 1-2 and brought 22 inches. This was simply unheard of for Hampton Roads. We are lucky to get an inch every couple of years. In fact, the weather is calling for snow this weekend for us. Ironically, it is supposed to start on March 1. Could history repeat itself? I for one, secretly hope so!!!
Christmas 1983

On to the memories though. The memory that this song really triggered was of my best friend Janet and I. Janet has been my BFF (as they would say now) since I was in fourth and she was in fifth grade. She walked up to me when my family moved to our neighborhood in Deep Creek and wanted to know if I played Barbie's. She was taller than me (at that time, but not for long) and was pretty demanding that I meet her in her backyard later that day. We met and fast forward 36 years later and I still consider her my best friend. We may not see each other like we used to, but we still talk at least every couple of weeks and if we needed each other, everything would be dropped at a moments notice. Janet was my maid of honor at my wedding, she was in the delivery room when Jessica was born, and in fact when I was in labor, she and her husband announced that they were expecting, and their son was born almost exactly nine months to the day later.
January 1990

Janet and I were both seniors that winter (I had skipped a grade and was graduating a year early) and we were both dating midshipmen at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. We had taken numerous trips up to Annapolis to go to the various dances. In fact, the song mentioned above was popular the weekend that we went to the Valentines Dance at the Academy. We would usually drive up on a Friday afternoon and come back on a Sunday evening. Looking back, I can hardly believe that our parents would let us do that, especially considering that we were only 16 and 17 years old . I would drive my moms Pontiac Sunbird, and off we would go. Once there, we would stay at a chaperones house and then go to different activities all weekend. Usually in the winter, there was ice skating, sledding, and of course going to the formal dances. The sunday that we came back from the Valentines dance, I got pulled over by a state trooper right outside of Gloucester and luckily was let go with just a warning for speeding. That was a secret that we kept to ourselves for a VERY long time. Hey, we wanted to use that car to go back and my mom would have had our butts if I had gotten a ticket.

Two weeks later though, she almost did have our butts for the little stunt that we pulled after the second snowstorm. On that Tuesday, March 3, I think everyone was feeling a little stir crazy from being cooped up in the house and Janet and I decided to take a walk. Our neighborhood was about a half a mile from the old Deep Creek High School. We had attended the old school until our senior year when the "new" high school was opened. Part of the old school was a three story gymnasium. On the way on our little walk, we stopped by the small nursing home where my mom worked. She had pretty much been stuck there as the next shift could not get in due to the roads being impassable. My mom was working and going to nursing school at the same time. Looking back, I don't know how she did it. She worked the 11PM-7AM shift and then would go to school during the day. She would catch a few hours of sleep and then go to work and study at night while the residents slept. Anyways, we stopped in, chatted for a few minutes and told her we would be going back home once we finished our walk.

We had just gotten out the door and out of sight when we heard a car coming. It was a couple of guys that Janet and I knew from band class. Al, Buddy and Danny were in Danny's Volkswagon Bug and I don't even know how they were driving as the roads were so bad, but they stopped and told us to get in. They were going to the old high school so that they could do donuts in the parking lot with the car. Sounded good to us, even though my father would have shot me knowing that we were in the car with three guys. That was just a big no-no to my dad. Once there, we came up with the bright idea of going out back to where the gymnasium was and I don't remember who decided to start climbing up the gym but that's just what we did . Getting up the side was the easy part as there was a ladder attached to the side wall. Standing on the roof, I remember Danny saying something about wouldn't it be cool to jump into the snow drifts that were up against the side of the building. There were drifts about 6-8 feet deep but being the stupid teenagers that we were it never occured to us that there could have been anything in them. We just all took that leap of faith and off the roof we went straight into those drifts. I remember being literally stuck up to my neck in the snow.

Looking back, what in the world were we ever thinking? Telling my mom about it later, she about went through the roof. What if we had been hurt? What would we have done? Why would we even consider doing something like that? I don't know even to this day. Janet and I were just talking about this when we chatted two weeks ago. Of course, we still giggled and no, we still can't tell you what possessed us but one thing is sure, we will never forget the second snowstorm of 1980.

I feel like a professional!

My good friend Jerri that I work with will be getting married in November and do you know what she asked me? She asked me to shoot her wedding!!! Yes you heard it right, my first paying photography job. Of course it's months away but that's even better because I'll have time to save up for the camera that I need. Right now I take all of my pictures with just a regular Polaroid digital camera but what I really want is a Nikon D60. I need this camera if I'm going to further myself in photography. I'm sooooo excited but soooooo nervous at the same time. I mean, Jerri is my friend and this is her special day and I definitely don't want to screw up. I want her to have beautiful pictures to look at for many many years. Hopefully I'll be able to get the camera soon so I can get used to it before the wedding. Plus I can't wait to use it for Photo of the Week!

Jessica

Photo of the Week

This photo was taken at City Park last spring. This was when I first started getting serious about photography. Don't get me wrong I've always loved it but this is one of the first pictures I've taken that I really was proud of.

Not Me Monday!!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This has been a slow week for Not Me's but here goes.

My family did not go through a pack of 72 slices of Kraft Cheese in two weeks, plus I had purchased an additional 24 pack on Saturday that is almost depleted as well. I guess we all really, really like cheese.

I do not still have the canolli in the fridge at work that I bought two weeks ago. Obviously my eyes are bigger than my tummy. I think it needs to hit the garbage, what do you all think? Should I chance it when I get really hard up for something sweet?

I did not take two naps on Sunday after not getting out of bed until 9:15AM. I was back asleep by 12:30PM and didn't get up until forced at 3:00PM. Then was back asleep at 8:00PM. Nope, not me.

Jessica and Lewis did not go to WalMart to get a 42" flat screen TV, which was NOT at the first WalMart and then had to go to another and then return said TV to WalMart as the power cord and remote was missing from the box. Just our luck!!!

Jessica did not get up on Sunday morning and frantically yell at Lewis about being late for work!! Hey, it's Sunday, no work for her!

I am not already dreaming of tax returns and continually wake up through the night to remember what I need to change the next day on said tax return. I am plagued throughout the tax season with this. Please let me have a full nights sleep!!

and finally Jessica did not just find a piece of plastic in her spaghetti from said Kraft Cheese slices that she always adds to it.

UPDATE: Lewis did not just spill an entire glass of lemonade on the bed while laying there playing with Jessica's two hour old new laptap, just missing the laptop. He then proceeded to get it up by laying a towel down and stepping on the towel while wearing a teeshirt and a pair of longjohn bottoms like he was stomping grapes! Poor Lewis, he just keeps on giving us more to blog about. His life is no longer sacred.

Hopefully, we will have something a little more amusing next week.

The Dewey Decimal System

I guess I have my greatest thoughts about my blog when I am either going to sleep at night or upon wakening in the morning. As I was laying in bed this morning think about my blog post last night it kind of hit me that I don't have to tell my story with Butch all at once, I can tell it bit by bit.

The reason that I named this post the Dewey Decimal System is that I was thinking about different memories that I wanted to post about it. As I was pausing over the different memories and then shelving them, I was thinking about the old card system in the library. As those of us with a little age on us knows, when you used to go to the library you would pull out the long wooden boxes with the little cards set up for each book. You could pull the card and see the title of the book, the author, what the book was about and where it was located in the library.

I guess I was doing the same with my memories. Thinking about them, remembering a little more and then putting the memory back for another. I realized I don't have to tell the story all at once, I can do it a little at a time. I love blogging because it has made me think of so many things that I had not thought about in forever and ever. I constantly find myself making little notes so that I can blog about it at a later date. Now, the key is to do it. I promise a memory post is coming soon.

Have a good weekend everyone!

"Well, I had enough. So I said when."

I guess this must be my week for quoting from my favorite movies. If you do not recognize the quote that the title of this post comes from, it was from the movie "Regarding Henry". This was a movie that I very much associated with. If you haven't ever seen it, it is a very good movie with the typical happy ending. Per IMDb "Henry Turner is a despicable and ruthless trial lawyer whose life is turned upside down when he is shot in the head during a robbery. He survives the injury with significant brain damage and must re-learn how to speak, walk, and function normally. He has also lost most of the memory of his personal life, and must adjust to life with the family that he does not remember. To the surprise of his wife and daughter, Henry becomes a loving and affectionate man."

Yes, I can relate to this movie because of my experience with my husband and our 19 year story with strokes and dementia, but I am not going to detail our story yet for I am not quite ready, although I am working on it to post in the future.

The reason though that I mention this movie is the quote "Well, I had enough. So I said when". I was laying in bed thinking about this week and a conversation that I had earlier with my brother, Scott. Sometimes, we have to recognize within ourselves when we've had enough and gain the courage to say when.

That is not an easy thing to do. It is so easy to say though. This is not even easy to explain here in this post. I am the type of person that is a pleaser. I value my self-worth on making others happy. I know that and I freely admit it. It is not a good thing though, because when you are that way, you are constantly disappointed and unhappy. You are continually trying to make others happy but in the meantime you make yourself miserable. You have to learn how to say "when".

I guess I have always confused self love to being selfish. Sometimes you have to have that epiphany to realize that you have been wrong all along. Self love is not selfish, if anything it is self preservation. You have to learn to love yourself. It is vital to self preservation. It is no wonder that I have spent a lot of my life unhappy. I need to practice what I preach. Maybe part of being able to do so is to recognize that I am guilty of this. I need to make a concentrated effort to change.

I know it will not happen overnight. I have been doing the pleaser thing ever since I can remember. You will never make everyone happy. You may as well at least make yourself happy and at peace. We only have one life and we need to live everyday to it's full advantage.

Just remember my dear brother. A good sister will help you move. A great sister will help you move the dead body. I am your great sister, in fact I am your only sister. Good thing you got me!!!!

Rough Week

It's been a crazy week. Started this weekend when Lewis' niece Kaitlyn ended up in the ER. She was diagnosed with a viral infection and sent home. Went back to the ER on Tuesday and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Our poor little Cindy Lou Who (as we sometimes call her) is so sick. Needless to say, as much as Jessica and Lewis are around her, now they are sniffling and feeling yucky.

Then on Monday evening Lewis' best friend, Kyle had a house fire and the house is almost totally destructed. Luckily, Kyle's brother was home and heard the dog's barking and went to check. The garage was already in flames. He got the dogs out and got out of the house himself. By the time the fire department got there, there were issues with the fire hydrant and needless to say there is not much left. Poor Kyle has been over every evening to hang out. I feel so bad for him. His family does have good insurance but still that doesn't make it a lot easier. At first they said they were going to repair the house but as of tonight apparently the insurance company is talking about razing it and starting all over.

To top things off, I got a call from the facility that my husband lives at. He had some outbursts yesterday and they had to call the MD back in for a medicine change. Come to find out today, since he had been doing better the MD decided to cut back a medicine, hence the bad outburst. When will these professionals learn that just because a dementia/Alzheimer patient is in a good spot, it does not mean that you go fooling with their medications? Why, why why do we keep going down this same road? I'm so frustrated! These patients are not lab rats and you do not experiment with what is working.

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday. If I can just manage to keep my patience for one more day, I will have the weekend to relax. It seems like every tax return I have touched this week has issues and I end up having to call the client, get information faxed, etc, etc.

I'm going to end my post tonight with a quote from my favorite heroine Scarlett O'Hara "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow, after all, tomorrow is another day". It is another day and it will be better!