Honoring our WWII Vets

John on his honeymoon

      Today is Pearl Harbor Day.  My father in law, John's, birthday.  He was born in 1920 and grew up in through the Depression.  When we first met, he told me funny stories about his father who made the best bathtub gin during Prohibition (and the batch of peach schnapps that exploded in his bedroom).
      Many years later, he told us about training for WWII.  Living on Goodenough Island near New Guinea to prepare for the South Pacific and getting into trouble at basic training.  Even later we heard stories from the fighting in the islands. There were funny stories in the trenches (especially the guy who was so afraid he urinated in his helmet during shelling to throw it out of his foxhole, but would never be issued a clean helmet), to the crazy hospital where he learned to take care of chickens, to some of the horrors.  Let's just say, his protests to keep the moral high ground meant that my father in law was busted back down to a private by the time he made it home.  I couldn't be prouder.

John and Gloria with wedding gifts

      His service to us changed his entire life, changing his faith and his belief in the underlying kindness of mankind.  It gave me the freedom to write my crazy blog and the husband I love.  What great things to come from WWII.
       His 21st birthday was Pearl Harbor Day.  He spent the day going from recruiting station to recruiting station in a vain attempt to keep out of the Army.  He couldn't get into the Navy because he was too thin.  He told us about riding home on the Staten Island Ferry crying his eyes out because he knew the front lines were his only option.  His sacrifice made my adult life possible and I am so grateful.  Thanks and Happy Birthday, Grandad.

John with grandsons, Daniel and John

P.S. The funny part of the story is he gave birth to a future Naval officer, who married a Naval officer (me!) and tomorrow is the big game, Go Navy! (Beat Army!)

Piece of a Cake

from La Dolce Vita

    Last night as I was winding down to bed, I was frustrated.  You know, you say your prayers, offer your day to God and then apologize that the day was such a poor offering.  I've been working for days on a YouTube video and am having difficulty putting it together (lets just say, it's still not posted).
    So in the free association that happens before bed, I remember this horrible cake my sister and I made for our mom one birthday. In our minds we were making a beautiful offering like the Amaretto cake pictured at left (my personal favorite cake ever made).  This cake, however, was a yellow cake, straight from the box.  We had mixed it up according to the directions and set it in the oven to bake.  Sounds like a great beginning, yes? Well, let's just say the end did not live up to the beginning.

from Breezy Cheetah Pop

      As we removed the layers from the oven, one was dropped.  We took the good layer, then spread the bad one on top.  It looked a bit like freshly mixed cement.  Then it was time to decorate.  This was long before the advent of Wilton's concentrated coloring, so to make a frosting of the lurid red I remember, it must have taken two bottles of food coloring.  To complete, we added multi colored sprinkles.  Of course we did not take pictures, but the cake at right has the same feel of our sorry cake.
      My thought last night was how gracious my mother was in accepting her ugly cake, then it came to me how much I would enjoy it from my kids as an expression of love.  Maybe the day was not such a waste.  Later, I told my husband about the different ways to see the day, he said "Who cares, it's still cake!"  I guess we could restate it as "Any day above ground is a good day."  Hope you all have many more good days, and I promise, the video is coming.

Happy Thanksgiving!

from Blacksheepsite

2012 first pie

      Happy Thanksgiving! As I sit to write, the first pie is out of the oven with more to come. I just love a holiday all about food and family, from the families we were born in to the families that we create.   I was blessed to be born into a large crazy family.  My Grandma, Henrietta, lived with us 4 days a week, and this Norman Rockwell painting shows how she would cut the edges of the crust off the pie.  It was one of the great goals of my life to be able to hold that pie up and cut off the edges.  Thanks, Grandma.  Here is a picture of as her with the grandkids in 1973 (yours truly is sitting front and center in the yellow dress).

     Those families we create are next on my gratitude list. My little family began in Cincinnati (with just me), but over the years has grown.  I have cooked turkeys in Annapolis, the Philippines, Sicily, Florida, Cincinnati and Florence.  In each place there has been a wonderful gathering of people to share it with.  My favorite turkey was one in Sicily.  It was the first with one of those red buttons that pop to tell you the turkey is finished.  The darn thing stayed firmly in the turkey after three or four hours (it felt 5 hours...).  I actually called Mom back in the States.  Calm and collected, she said stop worrying, just shake the leg, see if it's loose.  Can you imagine getting a call from your frantic daughter six time zones away?  Thank God for my mom.

from Timing the Perfect Turkey

I also give thanks for all of the things I have learned this year and especially to my teachers:

•  JoAnn, Wendy, and Sianna in various classes
• my friends at bible study who continue to expand my mind
• my students; yoga, reiki and others
• most of all, my family, Greg, John, Daniel and Joan

My teachers also come to me through books.  From Pavel Tsatsouline, who teaches how real men stretch, to Steven Pinker, who proves the decline in violence, to Susan Cain, who taught me that I was an introvert, I am truly grateful. (By the way, her book got me interested in the Meyers Briggs personality test.  Turns out I am an INFJ which is only one percent of the population.  It explains a lot of things and frees me to be myself.  What a gift!)

from Carlos Flores, USNA class of 1988

     My next offer of gratitude is for those who serve our country in the military.  The definition for veteran: someone who has written a check, payable to “The United States of America”, for any amount up to, and including, their life.  This post from August is about our gift of Thanksgiving to the country of Grenada by invading in October of 1984. I am especially grateful for those who continue to serve, keeping our family gatherings possible through your service.
      A small side note of gratitude goes to my internet.   I have been having problems until this morning.  Let's just say I have 13 draft posts and four more rough ideas caught in the files of my computer.

From Tewksbury Rod and Gun

     One final note of gratitude goes to the beloved American Turkey, who gives his life annually that we might have a great dinner.
      If you would like the pleasure and health benefits of adding a bit of gratitude into your life, let me recommend Happy Rambles.  It is an online gratitude journal.  Each day they send and email requesting your entry and store your replies online. It makes you realize there are things to be grateful for every day.

P.S. I am truly grateful for my boys who are in the kitchen pealing and chopping potatoes so I can post on my blog.  I have been showered with blessings!  Happy Thanksgiving!

The Importance of Family

    About two weeks ago, we sold my father in law's house.  He is happily living in a wonderful full time care facility (I must say, I never thought that would be a possibility- I can't believe how wonderful the staff are. After all the horror stories, who knew that my sister in law could find a place like this...  It just goes to show we all have different talents.  What the staff does on a daily basis, with genuine pleasure, I think would drive me crazy if the resident were not my family. Watching the staff gently herd the residents to dinner and activities is a beautiful ballet.)
    We have had to make lots of decisions.  What things are important to each person?  What is important to our forebears? What will have meaning to our children?  After all, we have owned a house (one or another) for 27 years.  Our house is completely furnished and our children are not old enough to need anything.  What to do?
     It was such a funny situation.  Here we were, four adults who had known one another for twenty three years, walking on eggshells.  All of us had heard the stories of families who never spoke to one another again after disposing of the parent's household goods, even if the parents owned very little. We all were working so hard to please one another and just get along.  It was funny how hard it was to think in a house with four adults thinking so hard.
   What was so interesting was each of us had memories attached to different objects.  We wanted the milk glass candy dishes that our boys had pilfered candy from them each visit we made.  My husband wanted an oak chest of drawers that he refinished with his mom.  His sister longed for the blanket chest that had been in the family for years.
     The best thing was how patient everyone was with one another. Even though we were slowly driving one another crazy, with the four of us continued to work together and finish the job.  It is times like these that create the family, not just the fabulous Italian dinner that we shared with my father in law and his brother.  Norman Rockwell times are great, but those other times forge the family.

(A little aside......As I said earlier, our house was fully furnished so we really had to be careful about what we brought home.  Deep in my heart of hearts, I didn't want anything.  The irony of the situation is, by bringing home that dresser (and a hutch for another room), my son's room is much more functional.  Guess fully furnished is actually a floating target that changes as our lives change.)
 

The Gift of Love

Today was one of those days.  To do list the length of my forearm, woke up motivated as all get out, but the day was well and fully hijacked by one of my boys.  He had needs that only I could help him with.

What a great gift for the two of us.  It is good to remember that there are things and people who we would give everything up for (and especially good to remember it without have a major crisis to change your world view).  It is also good to realize that there are people in this world who would give up anything for us.

Most times we go through life feeling a bit like the people in this picture.  There are so many of us, we can get lost in the crowd.  My beloved piece of this party is standing in the red shorts on the left.   Though part of the crowd, he has hopes and dreams, good days and bad days.  On those days where it feels like everything is falling apart, other people in the crowd reach out to support.

It reminds me of a movie I saw years ago.  Unfortunately, I can’t find it on the web. It was about a man who had been an extra in loads of movies.  For each film, he had a still photo of the crowd scene with a big red circle and arrow to himself.  Above the arrow, it said “Me.”  Though it feels egotistical, truly, the center of our universe is always “Me.”  There is no other way to see things than through the filter of our own existence. What is special is when those who step into our existence to make it better.

It happens all of the time.  I am so blessed to have those to love and be loved by.  So often we think we are all alone, no one cares.  It is so important to ask for help and let ourselves be served sometimes.  We all touch one another and are honored to serve.