Memorial Day

What did Memorial Day mean to you? Was it the start of summer, your first Bar-B-Que, or an extra day off of work? I hope it meant remembering the veterans, the reason the day was established in the first place. I have an easy way to remember - I am married to a veteran.

This year he was the featured speaker at the Rhinelander (a town of about 15,000) Memorial Day ceremonies. Our grandson, who is in NROTC at Marquette and will be commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the Marines when he graduates, also attended and sat up on the stage with me. His speech was good, It always is.In it he mentioned our grandson John and he had to pause because everyone there applauded which surprised me, him and John.

I was impressed because there were two WWII veterans there who were also POW's. One was in the Battle of the Bulge and the other paratrooped into Normandy. I was able to talk to them after the ceremony and hear their stories. You see movies about the war but it's much more amazing to hear someone tell you about it and THEY HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN THERE! I wish I could have spent an hour with them.

I told this all to my son who I am now visiting in Tampa and he reminded me to be equally impressed with the job the guys are doing now in Iraq and Afghanistan. He, by the way is a Commander in the Navy and his new job here in Tampa has something to do with Afghanistan.

I'm glad we remember the veterans at least once a year. Freedom isn't free.

Mother's Day Presents

I want to tell you about the clever gifts I received for Mother's Day from my kids(2 of them are Nanny Poppinz owners) Susan got me a book bag with great quotes for readers on it. Then in it she had the latest book by T.C. Boyle who is one of my favorites. This one is "The Women "which is about Frank Lloyd Wright who is someone I have researched extensively. She was so on the mark I thought she was a mind reader as this was a book I've been trying to get and couldn't as it's too new for my library to find. Sara sent me tiny Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I am a Snow White fan so again I was thrilled. Michael sent me via email this whole video where I am declared Mother of the Year by all these famous people and newscasters. It was hilarious. Before I give him too much credit, I do think his very considerate wife was really behind this. So I am proud of my children and it's nice to be remembered.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs

I like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I even received a new set for Mother's Day from the Arizona daughter. Nice she took time from her busy Nanny Poppinz franchise!

Snow White. Friend to all the forest animals. They sense she is good and kind and so they love her too. They help her clean, they help her make beds and cook. They keep her company as she is way out in the woods where they are no people. They try to warn her not to eat the apple and when she does even Grumpy is sad but we all know it ends happily. My heroine, Snow White!

Mother's Day

I'm a mother 4 times over so I can blog (I love that word) about mothers and their day. Somebody asked me if I thought Mother's Day was mostly for young mothers with young children. Nope, don't think so. Once a mother always a mother and we should get our due! I love being remembered on MY day, maybe even more than my birthday, tho it is not a good idea to forget me then either.

I remember one Mother's Day when my oldest son, then a teenager, called me into his room, put on a Jimmy Dean "What is a Mother" record and I bawled my eyes out. What a tearjerker of a song that was and it so took me by surprise. Pretty thoughtful wouldn't you say. I would.

But all us mothers want is to be remembered!!!!!! Now that mine are grown and gone, a phone call or card is enough, though flowers, presents, money are appreciated. Just kidding, kids.

The Library

I love libraries. Because of that and because I'm cheap I used to take the kids there as our regular outing. As soon as they could walk, we would go and they would pick out their own books. I would try to grab something for myself but with 4 kids under 5 that didn't always happen. I would give young parents my piece of advice which is count how many books total leave with you to go home! Then there is none of this "now how many did each of you pick out?" I think it's a bit of a thrill for kids to do this on their own and yes it usually seems to foster reading. Obviously you go through periods in your life when you have more reading time. When the kids are small you might even have zero time for books but at least you can read to them.

Maybe the best thing about being retired is there is almost no limit to your reading time. You can EVEN read during the day. [Sleeping til you wake up is a close second]There are tons of good books out there. It's really a case of can I get these all read before you know.

We have a great library here in a very small town (no stoplight). Any book I read a review about and want to get is able to be ordered from the library. They get it, call me and, get this ,I pick it up by walking in and they hand it to me. I don't need my card anymore. This has got to be a small town thing. It certainly is my thrill for the day.

We have Great Books Discussion Group here that meets every Thursday and we are sloughing through all the Great Books. Sometimes they are hard to read and stick with but the discussions which are 2 hours long, are always stimulating.

Back to the advice thing that I previously wrote about...If my now grown kids asked me for just one piece of advice on raising their kids, I would say "Take them to your local library."

Dear Abby/Oma

What do YOU do when your children ask for advice? I don't know what to do when mine do? You might be thinking Wow, that's so great they ask you! I agree, because you can't even consider giving any TIL they ask you. But not so fast, they ask and then you know what you would like to say but if you say it they will never talk to you again! So you try to phrase it in such a way that they might get the gist of what you would like to see them do but still continue to like you and maybe even ask again. Sometimes their problems are so "modern" that I can't relate and can just say "I can't relate". Other times I can relate alright but I don't want them to do what I did in that situation. Alright I'm no good in the Advice business.