David. Tracy and Rosa are in the air and should arrive here about 4:30. What a blessing to be able to have them with us for a week before they head out to England and Scotland.
Computer people, why does Del's computer have a sticky /b/ key? I have to really bang on it to get it to work -ay, and should have read baby and band. All other keys seem all to ready to show up, often in pairs.
Del is still sleeping, so I thought I would get a start on today's thoughts. I'll finish off later with a report that all have arrived safely.
Today is my brother's birthday. Unfortunately, he died in October after a difficult fight to find a way to live with his cancer. He was a good man who was devoted to his family and who was dedicated to the people he served as Commonwealth's Attorney in Newport News and after retirement there, to the clients in his private practice. He finished his last case just weeks before his death.
Bubba had been an only child for nearly 12 years when I showed up, but he was a good big brother. The story is that they dressed him up and put a man's hat on him so he would look old enough to get into the hospital in Richmond to see me and that he went home and told his teacher that I looked kind of like a little monkey. I probably did. He got the looks, such as they are, in the family. I remember overhearing a distant cousin of Daddy's saying "He was the prettiest child, but she is a good little thing, isn't she." Actually I must not have been, or I wouldn't have been hiding under a drop leaf table listening to adult conversation.
Bubba said he cried every morning when Mother put him on the school us for a very long time, and Mother said she cried all the way back down the long path to the house. He had not been away from her much in the first place, and living 5 miles from Emporia and 5 miles from Jarratt, we had a bi-townal life. Daddy worked in Jarratt, and we went to church there, but our address was Emporia and we went to school there. As a result, the children Bubba knew went to school in Jarratt. I was always afraid that the Jarratt kids thought I didn't go to school and the Emporia kids thought I didn't go to church. We had a difficult time when Daylight Savings Time was on a local option basis. Emporia had it, Jarratt didn't and our household was a confused place until they got a second clock and had one set for Jarratt and one for Emporia. But, again, I digress.
The bus situation was made even worse because the high school girls thought he was the cutest little thing and kissed him when he got on the bus crying so he showed up at school with lipstick on him every day, which made him cry more.
I only know this story from hearing it told, but apparently Bubba's first date had a misstep. Daddy drove him and his date, one of the Matthews girls, I think, to the dance. When they got to her house to pick her up, Bubba went to the door, escorted her down to the two door car, helped her carefully into the back seat and then climbed into the front seat with Daddy. I'm sure his technique improved greatly by the time he got to high school.
I do remember one occasion when the "good little thing" took a notion to follow Bubba out to the tobacco barn. He didn't notice when I climbed the fence and headed out across the pasture behind him. The resident cow or bull, I don't know its gender, took offense and started charging toward me. I started screaming and Bubba ran back, tackled me and slid us under the fence. In my preschool mind, I had been surely about to die, and after being saved, I was not sure he or Mother and Daddy might not kill me. I don't remember what did happen in that regard, but I know it didn't stop me following him.
We are happy grandparents, and parents tonight. David, Tracy andRrosa got here safely, after a frantic rush to make their connection in Brussels. If not for fast running and a kind security guard who took them through the handicapped lane and had the plane held for them, they would not have made it. I have to say, the Brussels airport is now top of my list of fine places. Rosa said she was breathing so hard she could not hear herself think
We went to the Italian place in the hair salon and to the grocery to get snacks for our train ride to Klaipeda and then home for an early bedtime. Our train leaves at 9:45. We aren't airconditioned here, so the windows are open and you can hear everything on the street. Rosa said she heard clopping and looked out to see if it was a horse or a woman in high heels. It was a woman on the cobblestones. How they make it on those tall, tall heels is beyond me. I can manage just fine in my Tevas, but am a little wobbly when I have had to wear my sensible heeled Easy Spirit big girl shoes.
The adventure just gets better and better. What a joy to be able to share a place we have come to think of as a second home with our family. I hope they come to understand why we like it so much.
Computer people, why does Del's computer have a sticky /b/ key? I have to really bang on it to get it to work -ay, and should have read baby and band. All other keys seem all to ready to show up, often in pairs.
Del is still sleeping, so I thought I would get a start on today's thoughts. I'll finish off later with a report that all have arrived safely.
Today is my brother's birthday. Unfortunately, he died in October after a difficult fight to find a way to live with his cancer. He was a good man who was devoted to his family and who was dedicated to the people he served as Commonwealth's Attorney in Newport News and after retirement there, to the clients in his private practice. He finished his last case just weeks before his death.
Bubba had been an only child for nearly 12 years when I showed up, but he was a good big brother. The story is that they dressed him up and put a man's hat on him so he would look old enough to get into the hospital in Richmond to see me and that he went home and told his teacher that I looked kind of like a little monkey. I probably did. He got the looks, such as they are, in the family. I remember overhearing a distant cousin of Daddy's saying "He was the prettiest child, but she is a good little thing, isn't she." Actually I must not have been, or I wouldn't have been hiding under a drop leaf table listening to adult conversation.
Bubba said he cried every morning when Mother put him on the school us for a very long time, and Mother said she cried all the way back down the long path to the house. He had not been away from her much in the first place, and living 5 miles from Emporia and 5 miles from Jarratt, we had a bi-townal life. Daddy worked in Jarratt, and we went to church there, but our address was Emporia and we went to school there. As a result, the children Bubba knew went to school in Jarratt. I was always afraid that the Jarratt kids thought I didn't go to school and the Emporia kids thought I didn't go to church. We had a difficult time when Daylight Savings Time was on a local option basis. Emporia had it, Jarratt didn't and our household was a confused place until they got a second clock and had one set for Jarratt and one for Emporia. But, again, I digress.
The bus situation was made even worse because the high school girls thought he was the cutest little thing and kissed him when he got on the bus crying so he showed up at school with lipstick on him every day, which made him cry more.
I only know this story from hearing it told, but apparently Bubba's first date had a misstep. Daddy drove him and his date, one of the Matthews girls, I think, to the dance. When they got to her house to pick her up, Bubba went to the door, escorted her down to the two door car, helped her carefully into the back seat and then climbed into the front seat with Daddy. I'm sure his technique improved greatly by the time he got to high school.
I do remember one occasion when the "good little thing" took a notion to follow Bubba out to the tobacco barn. He didn't notice when I climbed the fence and headed out across the pasture behind him. The resident cow or bull, I don't know its gender, took offense and started charging toward me. I started screaming and Bubba ran back, tackled me and slid us under the fence. In my preschool mind, I had been surely about to die, and after being saved, I was not sure he or Mother and Daddy might not kill me. I don't remember what did happen in that regard, but I know it didn't stop me following him.
We are happy grandparents, and parents tonight. David, Tracy andRrosa got here safely, after a frantic rush to make their connection in Brussels. If not for fast running and a kind security guard who took them through the handicapped lane and had the plane held for them, they would not have made it. I have to say, the Brussels airport is now top of my list of fine places. Rosa said she was breathing so hard she could not hear herself think
We went to the Italian place in the hair salon and to the grocery to get snacks for our train ride to Klaipeda and then home for an early bedtime. Our train leaves at 9:45. We aren't airconditioned here, so the windows are open and you can hear everything on the street. Rosa said she heard clopping and looked out to see if it was a horse or a woman in high heels. It was a woman on the cobblestones. How they make it on those tall, tall heels is beyond me. I can manage just fine in my Tevas, but am a little wobbly when I have had to wear my sensible heeled Easy Spirit big girl shoes.
The adventure just gets better and better. What a joy to be able to share a place we have come to think of as a second home with our family. I hope they come to understand why we like it so much.
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