THINKING ABOUT IMPORTANT DATES IN HISTORY

HAD SOME TIME ON OUR  HANDS TODAY,  and we got to talking about what might have happened on September 10, in just any old year.  Lots of things did in different years.   I know this because I looked it up on the Web.   There was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a fine man;  the assassination  of Robert Kennedy, one of my beloved Kennedys; and the riots at the Democratic National convention to choose a candidate to run for president against Richard Nixon.  The convention was held in Chicago and Mayor Daily called out 7500 National Guard troops to quell the rioters outside the convention.  (sometime my group had to be quelled inside the hall but they managed to do that without the National Guard)  All those things happened on a September 10. 

Well, another fine thing happened, a sweet nun riding on a street car felt she heard the voice of God telling her she needed to leave the comfort of the convent and spend the rest of her life helping the poor.  That nun took the name  Mother Teresa later.  What a fine thing to think about on a September 10.

Ray Kroc sold the first Big Mac for forty nine cents and today its still on the menu with a bit more big money involved.  The first ATM machine opened in Philadelphia and 911 became a United States wide number to call for emergency help.

The first successful heart transplant was done (no one mentioned how many failed) and that has become almost simple.  That is if it happens to someone else.

The term burning the bra became everyday thanks to the Women's Liberation Movement, later called Women's Lib.

All of those things happened on a September 10.

Then we talked about dates some more and I said "Let's just suppose we pick a year, any year and see what happened on September 10 that particular year." Then my mate of 60 years said "Okay, lets just randomly pick 1968."   (we do fun things like this all the time)

Of course I found out the usual ----gas sold for thirty four cents a gallon; the average family income was $7,950.00; the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour;  the see through blouse to be worn without a bra,  made a brief appearance but women were still smart enough to reject it as a true fashion statement.

The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were the hot singing groups of the day.  Even today I still prefer the Beatles over any group I have heard  sing outside the Gaither Homecoming Group.  Top movie of the day was The Graduate and it introduced us to  Dustin Hoffman, not as good then as in Rainman, but he matured.

I found out that if we had started saving a penny a day in a penny bank, then today we would have a $146.09. 

WOW  we then found out that James William Marshall, Jr., better known as Jimbo was born at 9:35 September 10, 1968.  Happy Birthday Son.   Love from Mom and Dad

AUNT MILDRED'S SHOVEL

She was the only truly interesting person in our family.  We loved her.  She was independent in a day when that was unknown in most women and especially in Oklahoma Farm Women.  She was smart, she was not afraid and she loved with all her being the man who became our Uncle Earl.  After his death is when I think I really began to know her or it may have been when our mother was dying from cancer.  She seemed to be the strong one we could lean on.  I still miss her to this day.

When she passed away, we went back to Mangum, Okla home to lay her to rest beside her true love.
I never knew her to step foot in a Church building except for the couple of times she went with us when visiting in Texas but truthfully that was only to appease our Mother.  But she clothed and fed the poor and watched after her neighbor and did all the good things that a Christian should do.  She just preferred to do them her way.

After the burial we went back to the house and began to load her belongins to bring them back to Texas.  All of our kids were there and since we were the only heirs, there was no hesitation in dividing things even then.  It wasn't like vultures, it was something that had to be done.  We would later make other trips to Mangum to finish up the estate.

One item that we brought back was a "grain" shovel.  Shiny aluminum, sort of a short handle and not needed or really wanted by any of us.  But for some reason and some way Mate and I ended up with the shiny shovel.  It hung in the garage on Dunbar for at least ten years.  We joked about it and the fact that since I was the oldest I got all the good stuff like the "shovel".

When we sold the Dunbar house and moved to the lake near Tyler, the shovel went with us and hung in the garage there.  Again not to be used.  We laughed about dusting it.  Then we moved in town in Tyler and on Pam Street, the shovel hung on the wall, still shiny and still needing dusting.  Again never to be used.

Then the time came to move back to Wichita Falls into the house in Edgecliff and it hung in our garage here, still shiny and still needing dusting for 13 more years, until the big blizzard during Christmas a few years ago.  My niece, husband and two kids from Fort Gibson stayed at our house while we were in California and if you remember people could not get down residential streets.  Our nephew by marriage got the shovel and cleaned out the cul d sac.  The only time the shovel served its purpose.

Today, Aunt Mildred would be happy knowing that the shiny aluminum grain shovel rests with someone or several someones in a devastated small town in Oklahoma, where it will never suffer the embarrassment of having to be dusted.  It is now doing what shovels should do.  Its shoveling like it was mean to do and this time, serving the Lord. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY

ITS HARD TO SAY BABY BOY WHEN HE WAS BORN IN 1968.  But you know, in all honesty he still is our baby boy.  

Happy Birthday Jimbo.  You were quite a surprise in our lives.  Your sister was 15 years old and our lives were pretty well settled.  Then all of a sudden the doctor announced it was really not something that i had eaten that had given me indigestion, it was you!!!

So there I was with an unbelieving spirit and a husband in shock and a teenage girl absolutely bouncing off the walls with happiness.  So after working every day for the entirety of the nine months and in your defense never feeling better in my life, on the afternoon of September 9, 1968, after working til 2:00 in the afternoon, i went home packed a bag, got in the car with your Dad and sister and ventured to the Bethania Hospital,  You were scheduled to arrive the next morning and we had reserved the operating room for 9:00.  It was rather nice that evening, i had whatever i wanted to eat for dinner, had a nice big private room, and a good book, didn't feel bad and after kissing your dad and sister goodnight and them leaving, it all of a sudden hit me.

What on earth was i doing there.  I was not ready for this.  I wasn't all that motherly (as you would find out) my life was just peachy and all of a sudden someone small unable to take care of themselves, or even pick up after themselves was going to descend on my life into my space if you will.

It was a long night.  

Fortunately you were born while it was still a civilized event,  None of that room full of people, just anyone that wanted to drop by while the poor mother lay there in pain with legs spread asunder and belly in a sort of tent.  No, I knew everyone that walked in the room which would have been the doctor and the nurse and your dad and sister.  Even they were taken to a discrete waiting room when it was time for you and i to go the green mile, alone together, just you and i and the doctor who would put me to sleep and two nurses Plus, Dr. Richard Bates. One of the nurses, a lovely lady named Mary Rogers. 

She would be the one to announce your arrival to your dad, sister, your grandmother and your great grandfather, (again all waiting outside in a waiting room)

I vaguely remember being told your had gotten here, then i was put to sleep and it was later that evening when you came to visit me for a while  (we were also civilized about the babies staying in the nursery so that the mother could rest).  On that visit, just you and I, something happened that i did not expect......I fell in love.  It has never gone away.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY  

59 YEARS. STILL MARRIED

Today, we celebrate 59 years of marriage.  The marriage that everyone thought would never last. 

You know about Larry.  He is our preacher.  Has been for many years.  We love him.  Doing a series Sunday evenings on what the beautiful verses in Proverbs have to say about marriage.  We are only a few lessons in and I had no idea there was so much there.  (this of course being in part that I concentrate on the red letters). 

I listen to these wonderful words and try to figure out if Mate and I did even one of them correctly. We have realized we are the exception that proves the rule.  The Proverb rule that is. I think God actually saw we would need a bit more help than usual and sent an extra measure of the Spirit. 

Mate and I decided we should do something special for our 59th anniversary.  We are not prone to do presents;  haven't for years.  We have everything we need and certainly more than we want, and since we neither one like to shop, we just don't.  This year is different.  We are going to share a gift.  Its a big decision and frankly one of the most exciting things we have planned on doing in a few years.

In 59 years we have had one shower curtain.  Well not the same one, but the same pattern, over and over and over.  Its one we like. In about 1959, we bought the house on Dunbar.  Up til then we only had a tub, no shower.  Loved the fact that it had a shower.  Thought it would be wonderful to put in shower doors, so we did.  Consequently never needed a shower curtain.  Then some 30 years later we sold that house and moved to Lake Palestine.

House on the lake  had two and one half baths.  Needed two shower curtains.  Found a pattern at Lowes.  Loved it so we bought two just alike.   After about 5 years we moved into Tyler and we then had two bathrooms that needed curtains.   Went to Lowes and bought two of the same ones again.  Still liked it.  No need to change.

Moved back to Wichita Falls.  Have bought three shower curtains since we have been back.  Thats right.....went to Lowes.  Same pattern.  Still our favorite.  Couple of weeks ago we had a discussion about doing something special for our anniversary.   We made a  decision, one on which we both agree.  Sometime today we will go to Lowes and shop for new shower curtains.  This year, we will be daring and reckless.  We are agreeing to buy a different pattern.

You may think this is of no consequence.  Not so.  Somewhere in Proverbs I am sure it says that if a couple can live together for 59 years agreeing all that time about a shower curtain, then they have chosen very well.  Happy Anniversary Mate. 

Our one and only wedding picture.  Its not clear but it is 59 years old.
 

 80 YEARS OLD !!!!  NO WAY !!!!!

TODAY I AM married to an 80 year old man.  Can you believe it?  I can't.  Inside my head I still feel young.   My body betrays me sometime but by and large  I still think as if I am at least  no older than say 40 or 50 (my two best decades by the way).   And there is no way that I can even imagine him being 80 years old.   My mind tells me that 80 is OLD. But he will never be old to me. 

Why on earth am I married and living with an 80 year old? When did he get this ancient?  It was just a few weeks ago, Memorial Day to be exact, that I posted a picture of a 19 year old Marine, with a cute twinkle in his eye in one of those dress Marine uniforms; a Marine that had turned 18 in a foxhole in Korea.  Where did he go?

Well we already know he went to Korea.  Then he went to Austin, and then he came to Wichita Falls, then he went with me to get a marriage license and then he went with me on a journey that will have lasted 59 years when July 3 arrives.  We were joined on this journey  by two children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.  But they dropped off one by one and started on their own journeys. Now only the two of us remain on this last part of the journey along with a cute white schnauzer we picked up along the way.  That is how it is supposed to work.   We are on a road that we have never traveled and which we will, God willing, travel together for most of the way.  I am thankful for that.  Thank you God for allowing this journey. 

So many things are easier now.  The road has become straighter.  Not so many burdens to carry.  Still worry about those who traveled with us but now realize that our control, if indeed we ever really had any,  ended a long time ago.  Living together is so much easier on the last part of the journey than it was on the first part.  So many things we thought were important are no longer even blips on the radar.  We don't really fuss about anything anymore, just sort of smile if one of us is irritable.  In other words we now are contented. 

Actually I know exactly where this 80 year old is.  He is sitting in the chair reading on the Kindle,  scratching the dog's back and I am blessed that he is there.  Happy Birthday Mate.

WALK WITH DAISY # 3

Find that where I previously thought I would never run out of things to say....  I ran out of things to say.  So I have not done a "writing" in a long time.  Needless to say much has happened and not much has happened.  I find that to be true as you get ......well.....older.  

Been retired officially since the second week in January.  Enjoying it a lot.  Wanted to do some giving back for all I have been given, so Mate and I are involved in several "good works".  I am attending Ladies Bible Class for the first time ever.  Every Wednesday morning during the fall and winter, ladies of a certain age (estimating from 55 on up through and including 98)  meet for an hour of Bible study and just plain old sharing of information.  I have known  these ladies almost my entire life.  I love them.  I am confident of few things at my age, but one of those things is that they also love me.  We share a history that cannot be obtained other than through the love and belief in a Savior.  Its so ......well.....WOW wonderful.  


I also decided I would become a better neighbor.   I know to say  "Hi" and sometimes,  "Boy we need some rain" with 3 others on our 6 house cul de sac.  Sad isn't it.  I aspire to correct this.  But I am not doing too good a job.  Seems we don't go outside a lot.  Neither do my neighbors.  We no longer work in the yard.  We hire it done.  I do walk the dog but not so much anymore since she has a visitor and they run for hours on end in the back yard.  I don't even see many people in a neighborhood with seldom an empty house.  When I was growing up we at least came out the front door and walked to the garage.  Now I go through my hall to get to the garage and car.  Where has everyone gone?  But I digress. 

 Did see a for sale sign on a house across from our cul d sac and saw a moving van with a young couple moving in.  Thought about it a while.  This is a good place to start.  Baked a chocolate cake, even put walnuts in the icing.  Took it over and with a smile announced my name and welcomed them to the neighborhood.  Blew this one big time.  Seems this was the young couple still moving out and they had lived there since 2000.  They could not even keep the cake as they were on the road.  However with much embarrassment I noted later that evening that no good deed goes unpunished.  We had a death in our congregation.  Wanda Ganzer, beautiful lady, one of those I have known all my life. Ladies responsible for feeding her family needed a cake.   I happened to have a welcoming one all iced even with walnuts .  I knew Wanda well and  it was indeed a welcome home to Paradise cake. 

70 YEARS OF SISTER ACT

I don't remember when I first became aware of her. I do know that I was 5 1/2 years old when she was born.  We had the prerequisite mother and father, two sets of grandparents one Aunt and her husband our Uncle Gid.  No cousins no other children.  I feel sure that I was not aware of her birth because I was completely self absorbed by four grandparents who thought that having me for a  grandchild was blessing of all blessings from God.  Little did I know at 5 1/2 years of age that they would think another grand daughter was a double blessing from God,  I think I do not remember her when she was a baby  because of some smidgen of jealousy.  I had been the center of a universe. I liked it.   I am trying hard to remember the first time I actually became aware that she had entered that universe.  Truthfully I don't know.  I just know  that she has been a part of my life for 70 years.  Longer than anyone else.  I know that our DNA matches more closely than any other  DNA in our family.

We grew up where there was plenty of love to go around and we benefitted from it all of our lives.  My first memory I believe.....you know how you sometime think you knew something and then you are not sure whether you actually knew it or you had heard the story so many times that you believed you knew it.  Its a complicated sentence and thought but you know what I mean.  I heard the story about her long blond curls which everyone thought were beautiful and my hair which seldom ever bent and how I loved cutting hair anyway and so.....the rest of the story is predictable.  I cut a few of the curls off. Again I may only know if from having heard the story, but I think I actually remember it.

She didn't call me Beverly.  She called me Kid.  I never knew why.  It took years and years before her saying Beverly sounded right to me.  It does today,     She was actually much more the lovable child than I.  She was obedient, she was respectful and she was prettier than I was.  Enough to make me wonder what I had done to have this person enter my territory. I was more adventurous than she and together I suppose we finally meshed.

Today I can thank my Mother and Dad for putting her in my life.  I know that she and I both grew up.  She was my chief baby sitter with my  daughter.  I was her chief baby sitter with her first two children.  We traveled many miles together, all over England and Scotland.  Four of us.   Actually,  I know that God blessed me and put her in my life.  That's how she got there.

I still don't know how  we managed when they would visit from Arlington,  and we had the four of us and three children and somehow in a small house on Dunbar Street with one bathroom we managed to feed everyone breakfast get everyone in and out of the bathroom and get to Sunday School on time.

The time that I think bonded us more than any other time was when we spent about 2 weeks together at the hospital in Dallas when we said goodbye to her mate and my brother through her. I knew then that neither of us would ever be alone as long as the other one lived.

Today she is still wiser than me and I am still more outgoing than she and we probably complement each other.  She knows more about me than anyone on earth and I am confident and comfortable with  her knowing.

I've seen her enter into another marriage with a good Christian man.  She would not have chosen otherwise. I thank God for that.    She is a dependable person to have around.
Thank you Father for this gift.  Frances Stewart,  today at this milestone year of your birth,  I hope you have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and that I never have to live without you in my life.