Can I Go?

My daughter's children did not get outside to play as often as I felt they should,

If they were at my house I took them out to play. That was not often because I also worked. 

Their usual caretaker was their paternal grandfather. He loves them and took good care of them. He did not enjoy being outside.

Once they were spending the afternoon with me. They did not want to go out with me but finally we were in my back yard.  They were playing tentatively. They were getting some sun.

There was a healthy breeze that day. Sometimes the gusts were a bit stronger. 

I noticed that they both seemed a bit afraid. I asked what was wrong. They said they were afraid of being blown away,

Before I could ask who had told them such a ridiculous thing my phone rang. Because my back yard was fenced in I felt comfortable leaving them out while I ran in to answer it. So I did.

I answered the phone. As I did I turned around. There stood my grandchildren right behind me.

The sister of my daughter-in-law lived 3 houses down the street from me. Her daughter is the same age as my granddaughter. She called me 'Grandma-down-the-street'.

When they were a bit olde3r my grandchildren liked playing outside. I went out with them because we lived in the city. It is not always a safe place to be.

 All three children would have a good time. They had toys to play with. On hot days I would turn on the sprinkler so they could run through the water and stay cool.

One day my grandson came to me needing desperately to go to the bathroom. There was not time to gather all three of them and I could not leave the girls outside. So I told him to go in the bushes.

He looked at me like I had lost my mind. I told him to go stand between the house and the bush of his choice. Then he could do what he needed to do in privacy. 

When he was done he was so proud of himself. He bragged about it for the rest of the afternoon.

After thar day whenever he came to my house the first thing he asked to do is go to the bathroom in the bushes.

DNA

My son decided to take a DNA test. From his father he knew there would be Irish, German, and Swedish. I on the other hand am a melting pot of many nationalities. 

It took several weeks for him to receive the results. It was fun looking through the results. It made me want my own.

My son gave me a test for Christmas. It consisted of directions about how to use it, a mailing box, and a sterile test tube with lid.

I put the proper amount of clean saliva in the tube and mailed it. It was hard waiting for the results.

Finally they arrived. I knew one of my grandmothers was 100% Danish. I knew there would be a lot of 

Germanic ancestry.

From my DNA results I am mostly of Northern European descent. It tells me what percentage of what nationality makes me. It is fascinating.

I have also learned that even though we have the same parents my brothers and sisters DNA will probably not match exactly. There may be small differences in traits that we inherited. That is why we have different colors of hair, different eye colors, even baldness. 

Every once in a while the web site for the DNA company re-defines the tests. It might include a specific area of a country and what percentage I have from there.

Since having the test done I have learned from other sources that there were many Mormon ancestors. They traveled through here as they were on their way to Utah. Who knew?

I am glad I did it. It lets me know a bit more of who I am and why I have certain traits.

How I Met My Husband

When I was teen-ager Friday nights were for socializing. If you had a car you would drive what we called the loop.

To drive the loop you drove down Pierce Street to Gordon Drive. From Gordon Drive you went up Nebraska Street to 14th Street. 14th Street over to Pierce Street. 

Unless you went to get something to eat you did this over and over until you decided to go home.

If you had no car you wandered around downtown. You were not confined to the same streets as cars. We thought it was great fun. Why I have no idea/

We would also stop to get something to eat. Once in a while parts of the two groups would meet that way.

As a matter of fact that is how I met my husband. He and his friends came in from their car. I and my friends were having a hamburger and fries when they entered.

They sat near to where we were sitting. We began to talk and get to know each other. 

We were invited to join them the next night. We accepted.

Because my friends and I were on foot we walked home that night.  I lived a long way from downtown. I was late getting home. I was grounded for two weeks.

 I told my parents I had a young man coming the next night to take me out. They were not impressed. I was still grounded.

When he came to pick me up that next night I wanted to be able to go out to let him know I could not go. My parents allowed it. Somehow he talked me into getting in the car and off we went.

We drove the loop that night. When he dropped me off at home Daddy was waiting. I went in to accept my further punishment. My husband-to-be took off before Daddy could get to his car.

I still have no idea why I disobeyed. I did not do things like that.

Round And Round

I lived in a little bitty town. The business area was one block long.

We lived on the highway leading into town. When I climbed my tree I could see everything that was going on downtown. It was my favorite place to be to have some alone time.

I was 14 years old. I went to a small school. We all socialized with each other.

One night my friend knocked on the door. She wanted to know if I could go riding around with a bunch of the kids who were there in the car. I had to get permission from my parents who reluctantly gave it,

I excitedly jumped into the car with my friends. It was my first time to ride around. I was growing up!

We went all over that small town. We did nothing but ride and laugh. We had fun being out.

After about an hour they dropped me off at my house. I felt happy because we had such fun.

When I walked into the house the mood was definitely not happy. My parents were furious.

When I asked to go riding around they thought I meant riding 3 blocks to the other end of town. Then we would turn 'around' and I would be home.

It was a huge misunderstanding. I did not communicate properly and my parents were too literal.

I was severely punished. We all lived through it.  

Good Morning

How do you get up in the morning? Now that I no longer have to go to work I enjoy taking my time. 

I watch birds in the trees. I watch the news and a couple other programs as I get dressed. It is a relaxing way to start my day.

My father had been in the Navy during the war. We learned at early ages to stand back if we had to wake him up. As he awoke he would jump up and stand at attention. Anyone in his way would be knocked down.

My ex-husband would wake up swinging. I do not know why. We always stood away from him too.

The most interesting to me is my little sister. She is normally a sweet soft-spoken person. When she gets up in the morning she wants to be left alone. If you speak to her too soon she growls. She actually sounds like a wild animal. We usually give her about two hours.

I would love to hear any interesting ways people wake up.

Celebrate

 My youngest sister was born on July 5th.

This is what happened. My sister was not due for a week or so. As is normal for most women Mom was tired. Besides the exhaustion that comes near the time for a baby to be born Mom had 5 of us to take care of. Add to that she only recently had stopped having morning sickness. Having a baby was not easy for my mother.

My aunt was staying with Grandma on her yearly duty visit for two weeks. It was decided that there would be a cook-out on July 4th. My aunt and uncle would come as well as their four grown children and spouses and children. 

Daddy manned the grill. The women made everything else. It was a great meal.

When time for clean-up came Grandma announced loudly that Mom could take care of that so "the family" could visit properly! (Grandma was a real sweetheart!)

I was not quite 11 years old so I was no help. Mom was on her own.

When we got home Mom was in tears of exhaustion and immediately called the doctor. She told him she could not take any more. She needed some rest and some quiet.

The doctor told her to go the hospital right away. He kept her there all night so she could sleep. It was a small town and the doctor knew how Grandma could be.

The next day when he came to see her Mom looked much better. He suggested that as long as she was there anyway they could try to induce labor.

My sister was born that afternoon.

Years later before she started school for the first time our house was the last one toward the top of the hill. We could see forever from the very top.

The drive-in theater in town set off fireworks every year for the 4th of July. We went to the top of the hill to watch.

My baby sister thought it was so nice of them to celebrate her birthday. And it was.