This I believe was taken the summer of 1970. I would be 4 and my brother Danny 2.5 years old. This was taken by our babysitters, twin sisters (the twin thing seems to always have been a factor in my life!). We lived in "the little red house" which was a rental on their property. What a fun summer it was for us. I remember our kittens "Boots" and "Tiger" who were found on the property, running through the sprinkler and eating lunch outside in our lawn chairs using overturned cardboard boxes and old wooden wire spools for our "table". My Mom did such an awesome job taking care of us, making fun for us, even though our family was strugging with my Dad's alcoholism and we were poor...we never knew we were poor. We just knew we were loved. I hope that is something that I can also pass on to my children. We don't have a lot of worldly wealth to pass on to them, but we do have lots of love and I try to pass on to them a sense of fun and adventure that both my Mom and my Grandma Hopkins did for my brother, my cousins and I. Danny and I were 17.5 months apart, just like my son and his twin sisters. It made us very close. I honestly don't remember fighting with him much or feeling in competition with him. I remember loving to play with him and wanting him to stay awake during nap time to play with me (that has since come back to haunt me! LOL). Some people have told me that it couldn't be like I remembered, that I glorified it because my brother is no longer living, but my Mom has verified that we really did get along famously and loved each other "whole bunches". Danny was very affectionate. I remember his giggle, sometimes echoed in my son. Another thing my son does that his Uncle did, was walk on his tip toes like a ballerina. It was eery to see him do it the first time, a deja vu type of feeling. It is like when ballerinas go 'en pointe' and I have not see other children do this, although I'm sure they do. My Mother has given me most of his photographs and I really do need to make it a priority to put them together in a Creative Memories album to preserve them. I also want to make an album for my son with pictures of his Uncle and Grandpa and cousin, all deceased, that he was named for...to pass the memories on. My "to do" list is long, sigh...but the death of Shelley's Mom has reminded me how important it is to do some things like that now...so that you don't have to say, "but I never asked her this..." and "I never told him that." I have learned the importance of the verse in Ephesians that says to never let the sun go down on your anger and Mom and I learned the hard way, more than once, the value of always saying "I love you". I never regret that those were the last words I said to my brother, my dear step father and my Daddy shortly before they were all taken unexpectedly. I don't want to wax morose or maudlin, it's just that sometimes there needs to be an outlet for one's grief. For me, I always feel that words physically take a painful emotion outside of my body. And so I am using this format to extricate pieces of my grief. Please remember to hug someone you love today and tell them how much they mean to you. If you got this far in your reading...thanks! God bless you! Don't worry, I'll be back to knitting, spinning, quilting or more likely flower photos, soon! :o)
Thursday, March 23, 2006
One More Memory...
This I believe was taken the summer of 1970. I would be 4 and my brother Danny 2.5 years old. This was taken by our babysitters, twin sisters (the twin thing seems to always have been a factor in my life!). We lived in "the little red house" which was a rental on their property. What a fun summer it was for us. I remember our kittens "Boots" and "Tiger" who were found on the property, running through the sprinkler and eating lunch outside in our lawn chairs using overturned cardboard boxes and old wooden wire spools for our "table". My Mom did such an awesome job taking care of us, making fun for us, even though our family was strugging with my Dad's alcoholism and we were poor...we never knew we were poor. We just knew we were loved. I hope that is something that I can also pass on to my children. We don't have a lot of worldly wealth to pass on to them, but we do have lots of love and I try to pass on to them a sense of fun and adventure that both my Mom and my Grandma Hopkins did for my brother, my cousins and I. Danny and I were 17.5 months apart, just like my son and his twin sisters. It made us very close. I honestly don't remember fighting with him much or feeling in competition with him. I remember loving to play with him and wanting him to stay awake during nap time to play with me (that has since come back to haunt me! LOL). Some people have told me that it couldn't be like I remembered, that I glorified it because my brother is no longer living, but my Mom has verified that we really did get along famously and loved each other "whole bunches". Danny was very affectionate. I remember his giggle, sometimes echoed in my son. Another thing my son does that his Uncle did, was walk on his tip toes like a ballerina. It was eery to see him do it the first time, a deja vu type of feeling. It is like when ballerinas go 'en pointe' and I have not see other children do this, although I'm sure they do. My Mother has given me most of his photographs and I really do need to make it a priority to put them together in a Creative Memories album to preserve them. I also want to make an album for my son with pictures of his Uncle and Grandpa and cousin, all deceased, that he was named for...to pass the memories on. My "to do" list is long, sigh...but the death of Shelley's Mom has reminded me how important it is to do some things like that now...so that you don't have to say, "but I never asked her this..." and "I never told him that." I have learned the importance of the verse in Ephesians that says to never let the sun go down on your anger and Mom and I learned the hard way, more than once, the value of always saying "I love you". I never regret that those were the last words I said to my brother, my dear step father and my Daddy shortly before they were all taken unexpectedly. I don't want to wax morose or maudlin, it's just that sometimes there needs to be an outlet for one's grief. For me, I always feel that words physically take a painful emotion outside of my body. And so I am using this format to extricate pieces of my grief. Please remember to hug someone you love today and tell them how much they mean to you. If you got this far in your reading...thanks! God bless you! Don't worry, I'll be back to knitting, spinning, quilting or more likely flower photos, soon! :o)
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2 comments:
Oh Theresa, thank you for sharing the memories of your brother! I have to admit to choking back tears as I read..I have three younger brothers and a younger sister, and I am reminded tonight by your words to tell them again soon how much I love them and how much they mean to me.. Hugs to you!
BLIND NAVY VETERAN ACCOMPLISHES THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
The Navy has a tradition of helping their own. Elroy day, a former bubble head has an incredible story to tell. He was blinded in a home invasion in North Carolina in 1995. He recently applied for and was accepted into the Purple Heart Service Foundations job training program to teach him how to become an at home call center agent. Against all odds, working with a disability that would stop most everyone else, he graduated. He completed 600 hours of hard training and now he is reaching out to other blind and vision disabled veterans to tell them about the opportunity that he had. He wants other blind veterans to come and join him. You see, he has a dream of opening a blinded veterans call center. Staffed by former members of the US military who are now blind, for what ever reason. You can help with his dream, just spreading the word. If you know of any veteran who is vision disabled, have them contact Elroy Day immediately . They can email him at eday@carolina.rr.com or call Ms. Thompson at 703 835 3531.
And remember, the Navy has a tradition of helping their own.
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