This will be a fun trip down memory lane. Will not be in any particular order but just as it comes to me.
Have fun with me. Love you. God bless you.

REMEMBERING
For almost 70 + years I saw my whole life as a big messed up blob. Lately God has been picking out little gems of lovely remembrances. I thought my parents were mean and didn't show me love. God let me see that maybe they didn't know how.

Sure my Dad told me I was stupid and crazy and couldn't do anything right. How many parents tell their kids that? It's not right but who is perfect? They might have said it in the heat of the moment but didn't really mean it. Did they get the same from their parents? It stems from the sin nature in each of us. Adam and Eve are to be blamed. All through the Old Testament, mothers and fathers had their pick of the litter. They pulled all kinds of tricks to have their favorites get the best. God's justice prevailed in all situations. PTL!

The point is not to find fault with our ancestors but to take what we had and see what we can make of it. Some of us are fighters; some are not. Some use guile to get what they want. It is so easy to blame someone when things don't go our way. God is stripping away all the excuses as to why we did this or why we did that. We just wanted to---no if's, ands or buts. Even little tiny minds know when they are wrong. It is so funny to watch them when they are determined to have their own way.

Do you want to know something? I refused to be fenced in. I was told that I climbed out of my crib or my play pen at a young age. Did I fall on my head and that is why I am so addled at times? Laugh out loud! I fell on my brother's head when he was made guard to watch me. I wanted to experience life in the most dangerous way I could. I got my wish once I got over being afraid of my own shadow in some things.

No wonder my parents got upset with me. I probably scared them out of their wits for all the shenanigans I pulled. MY dad was in World War II. He got gassed in Germany. He smoked up a storm. I was amazed how fast he could roll his own cigarettes with Bull Durham tobacco.

He was a janitor at the priest's house. He took me down and let me stand on the porch to watch the kids play. He let me play hooky from high school so I could get a winter coat. I even remember it. A long black coat with a hood lined in red. Little Red Riding Hood? I felt great in it cause I had a lot of old hand-me-downs. This was brand new just for me! WOW! It was a sacrifice to get it for me.

I know a lot of the real old songs even though I forgot some of the words. I learned them from my mother. Some were silly songs and some great songs. They still pop into my head at unexpected moments. One I loved was "Across the sea, beneath Hawaiian skies I long to be." And so on. I always pictured what it would look like across the ocean. I wanted to go there. I live along the river and dirty as it is I still love it.

I loved to read ever since I was about 5 years old; that and doing crossword puzzles. I started school when I was 5. My Mom did both. I was amazed when I discovered her favorite author was Zane Grey. She didn't seem like the cowboy type. I believe now that under her drab and martyr type clothes with a tight bun in her hair, there lived a livelier woman with hopes and dreams that never came true. Life just happened to her like it did me.

She was stung by a wasp on her leg and was crippled since she was seven. She dreamed of being a writer. This was at a time that women weren't recognized. When I wanted to go to writing school, she told me this and didn't want me to be let down. She must have cared for me. Also when she had to leave the home for crippled children at 14 she got a teacher's job. She was a smart woman! I guess I got some of her brains but didn't always use them for the right things.

In many ways I took after my mother. As for my Dad, I think he told me I was stupid because he knew I could do better. He knew how rebellious I was when I wanted to do something. I learned that he loved me while he was dying in the hospital. My husband went to see him. My dad told him that I was the best of the bunch! That was a shock and even more of a shock that my husband even told me. He agreed with my dad by also telling me I was stupid and crazy.

MY dad only went as far as 5th grade. Just wasn't interested in learning. He would rather spend his time by the river catching frogs. Someone who didn't know the difference, gave him the nickname "Toad" Go figure! It is so hard to imagine that my dad was catching frogs along the same river I live by!

Yet the man was a genius in keeping track of his bills. He also was able to draw up plans to build houses. He built the houses on his own. He might have had helpers but I'm not sure. This was besides doing other carpenter work. My one brother followed in his footsteps as to doing carpenter work. He did a lot of work at the funeral home besides making great figures like birds etc.

My two sons planned and built their own houses. Noah built an ark without schooling except by God's plans, the Master builder. God puts these talents inside a person.

I think that is enough for now. That is only the tip of my iceberg. I am having fun remembering even if you aren't interested. No one said you HAVE to read it. (smile) It is sure releasing me and my hang-ups. I am looking my life straight in the face. May you learn to do the same. Whew! What a big load off my back.!

God bless you! He is still on the throne. God has to have a sense of humor, watching His children and their antics no matter how old they are. Enjoy your life.