Family Blogs (544)

When my son Steven was about 3 months old, we went to a Roy Rogers restaurant for some lunch. To my left sat a rather old woman in her 80's. My wife was holding our son and I could see the old woman looking at him admiringly. I'm pretty good at reading peoples faces and it was obvious to me that she was remembering the days long past when she had her own babies. My wife apparently saw it too. I looked at my wife and cocked my head toward the woman and without saying a word my wife nodded approvingly. I stood up and took Steven from my wife and gave him to the woman not uttering a word.

The woman seemed to come alive with a huge smile and said “Oh my, I haven't smelled a baby in soooo long!” She was of course referring to the talcum powder and baby shampoo. She lovingly held Steven in her arms and he looked into her eyes probably wondering who was this strange person holding him. Steven was unlike a lot of babies who easily get intimidated by strangers so I had no fear that he would start screaming when I passed him to this old woman. We let her hold him for about 10 minutes while we ate our lunch. She thanked us for a priceless gift, a trip back in time to when she was a new mother.

I often think about this moment and it never fails to stir me emotionally with a feeling of pride for being perceptive and brave enough to hand over my baby to a complete stranger. Doubtless this woman carried that memory to her grave.

When my husband first died, I visited his grave daily, then weekly, and then, it became just special dates...holidays, his birthday, and our anniversary. I placed a baseball cap at the base of the flower vase, (cut a hole in the middle of it) so, it would fit..It changed with the season..as did the flowers..Bucs, Rays, or Lightning...I purchased a double plot...with his plaque..and a single slab of granite..joined together...where I will one day reside...The slab of granite began cracking..and that is where the flower vase is located..my figuring was when our children visited us..they could place flowers for both of us..Kill two birds with one stone..so to speak. I haven’t been by the cemetery in quite some time..I have since moved further away, and I just did not have the need to, as I once did.

My oldest daughter and I met for brunch today, then went by the cemetery to pay our respects. The crack in the granite has grown so big..that the flower vase is now gone...so, we just laid the flowers on the grave. The cemetery was very busy..Lots of sons and daughters stopping by to see Dad.

I still talked to him...told him I was doing well...and, I think he would be proud of our family..and what a fine example he was to our children...We are who we are, in part because of him.

All my family Blogger
I want to know about Respected Ashlander.
Anyone know about her.

I saw my Dad take a few steps with his walker, the nurse behind him with wheelchair. In my life I never thought I could write a blog about see my father take a few steps. Impressive a few steps are when young and learning and just as impressive when old and dying.

He also responded to the excited praise much as a child does. It was a cute moment.

The one thing I have to say about my itty bitty Mom is she went against all the medical systems to get him home and I assure you they put her threw the typical government red tape but Dad is better, much better. More alert with a tad bit better memory than in the facility but his memory over the last 94 years really sucks, not sure where it went but it is mostly gone. Flashes come and go.

In my heart I can't imagine what this is like on Mom besides the fact that she has turned into a skeleton with a bit of skin draped on it.

There have been famous multiple births in recorded history: quintuplets, sextuplets, septuplets and even octuplets. But a Malian woman recently gave birth to the first surviving set of nonuplets.

Yes, that’s nine babies at once, and the kicker is she thought she was having seven babies. Halima Cissé, 25, gave birth to five girls and four boys on May 4 in a Moroccan hospital where she’d been sent to receive special care for her high-risk pregnancy.

Two of the children had gone undetected during ultrasounds. Cissé reportedly laughed when she heard she had delivered two extra children.

Video footage from the hospital in Casablanca where the nonuplets were born showed the tiny infants moving little limbs while being cared for in incubators after their birth at 30 weeks. The footage comes from news channel France 24.

My Mom is a super 84 yr old woman, SUPERwoman! Against all odds and the nursing home that did not want to release their cash cow, I mean my Dad - she got him home.

What a nightmare she went through with all the beuracracy and redoing her house to make it wheelchair friendly. Fighting with doctors and insurance companies. Getting home health care lined up while fighting her "falling" which bruised and cut her up, she succeeded. Dad is home. He sits in a wheelchair during the day and is put to bed fairly early in the evening. He still spends most of his time doing what he enjoys the most, SLEEPING. He likes to sleep as much as dogs do.

My mother seems happy to have her husband home even if it is making her look a bit more frazzled. Between 12 hrs of home health care and us 5 brats, we will make sure our parents are happy. I heard my Dad say once that he wanted to be "carried out of his home" (of 50 years) when the time was up. While he spent two years during a pandemic in that nursing facility - those words haunted me. Just maybe he will get his wish.

The time may come when us siblings come together and have to put them in an assisted living facility but not today.

I spent a few days including Valentine's Day with my Mom. She took a fall that sent her to the hospital for a few days over a week ago. My daughter had been staying with her but wanted to see her boyfriend for the weekend so I went a stayed. I had a great time. Mom looks like a mummy all bandaged up but she is getting around. She didn't trip this fall, she fainted due to her blood pressure medicine never getting lowered to agree with the weight loss since Dad's illness then the panademic. She is certainly getting better everyday insisting on bringing Dad home. I'm just taking it a day at a time and I"M FINE.

We spent a lot of time going down memory lane, there was lots of laughter. Her phone is crazy nuts riinging with people checking on her.

Anyways back to the point of the title. In my family we kiss hello, we kiss goodbye, we say I love you with every goodbye especially on the phone, all phone calls end with I Love You, even before I go to bed in Mom or Son's house we kiss goodnight and say I Love you. I'm sure many families are that way, if not then I'm sorry.

Twice now I've said I Love you when I didn't mean to say it. Once to my boss who called to scold me and at the end of the call I said I Love you or maybe it was an email - either way the boss said right back "I love you" I was red with embarrasment, still it was funny.

We have a grocery delivery service here called InstaCart. I order groceries a lot and did so from Mom's. Rarely is there a mistake but this last time there was. I called to get credit (customer service is great), once I got the credit and was ready to hang up I said, "I Love You" BLUSH to a deep 50 shades of red!
I apologize then explained my accident and the rep laughed and said "I Love you too"

I just love being a crazy old lady that can laugh at myself. Life is good and

I do love you.