Happy Birthday Charles Henry ...

Today this man would have been

90

years old.

Happy Birthday

to my

Dad

in 

Heaven.

He was born July 8th, 1924

the 2nd son 

to 

William and Bertha Jane

in

East St. Louis Illinois.

He married my mother

Pauline 

on August 21, 1954.

They had 3 children

Debra,

Sandra,

and

Tania.

My dad passed away young in 1974

at the age of 50.

He wasn't in my life for long,

but he left me with 

sweet, sweet, memories.

He was a strong, loving, giving,

soul.

I sure wish he could have 

met his grandchildren

Morgan

and

Nicholas.

I miss him 

and 

I 

know that he is 

smiling down from heaven on 

his family

every

single 

day.

We may not be able to see him,

but he is with us in our thoughts always.

These Things Make Me Smile ...

Unexpected Flowers from my guy!

Trivia Tuesday's at Malarkey's in Long Beach!

Time spent with my silly, funny, Brown Eyed Girl Morgan!

26 Miles across the sea, SANTA CATALINA is waiting for me!

Our Puppy Girl "Raisin".

Southern California Sunsets.

Breakfast at Woody's Diner on the weekends.

Time spent with my guy Patrick!

We Moved You Know ...

3000

Miles Away

From Connecticut

All the way

to

CALIFORNIA!

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you have to run with it you know!

I chose to run with it ...

Morgan chose to run with it as well ...

and here we are.

I loved my home in Connecticut.

I love my family and miss them every single day.

Morgan misses Connecticut and her family as well.

There isn't a day that goes by that we don't think about our "people" there.

We think about the back roads we used to go for drives on just because.

We think about the crazy weather, hot and cold and muggy and snowy.

We think about our first "Harry's Burger" of the season every year.

We think about our weekends in Maine.

We think about Mystic Village and our favorite shop there.

We think about having breakfasts at "The Shack".

and how could I ever forget 

My favorite chili dogs at Saints.

We think about all the memories we created there.

We think about the people we lost and buried there.

We wonder ever single day if we made the right choice when we moved here to California.

It's different ...

It's never going to be our Connecticut.

We don't expect it to be.

We are looking forward to all the new memories we'll make here in California.

We know it's been hard for our family and friends to have us so far away.

We miss you and we know you miss us too ....

but life throws us curve balls sometimes

and you either stand there and get hit or you run with it.

We will see you all again when we can.

Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or even next month ...

but when we can and we hope you'll all remember we'd love to make new memories

with you here in California when you come to visit us.

Randomness ...

One day in conversation a long time ago, my daughter mentioned that she felt like her dad doesn't know her very well.  I thought about that for a moment and realized she was probably right.  Now in his defense, she hasn't lived with him since she was 3 years old, and then he moved back to Northern Maine, which changed their visiting relationship due to location. Could he have tried harder to know more about her,  probably yes ... who knows though, maybe he thinks he knows quite a bit.  I don't see that relationship changing much however, since she now lives on the opposite coast from him.  I have lived with her since she was born, and I feel like I know her quite well, though I am positive that things change every single day so she keeps me on my toes.
Then I thought to myself,  I wonder how much people know about me.  I like to think I'm semi-private when it comes to "letting people in" or "letting them get close".  It's not that I don't like people, I do, but I have always been a bit shy until I know you well, so people see me as a hard cookie to crack.

Here are some things you might want to know about me for future reference.

1.  I'm the 3rd of 3 girls in my family.

2.  I'm the tallest of my sisters peeking at 5'11".

3.  I was born in Connecticut.

4.  I lived in California for 11 years when I was younger.

5.  I moved back to Connecticut when I was 17 years old.

6.  I have been married 2 times.

7.  I was divorced one time and widowed one time.

8.  I have one daughter.

9.  My favorite color is Green.

10.  I love the ocean.

11.  My favorite food is probably pasta with Italian sausage and spicy sauce.

12.  I am afraid of snakes and birds.

13.  I do not attend church, though I consider myself religious in my beliefs.

14.  I have never smoked a cigarette or "other".

15.  My mom had Alzheimers.

16.  I do not swim well.

17.  My father died when I was very young.

18.  I love Frozen Yogurt, but not ice-cream.

19.  I love to cook and bake.

20.  My favorite flowers are Peonies.

21.  I fear time passing to quickly.

22.  I am deathly afraid of fire.

23.  I don't like roller-coasters.

24.  I have driven across country 3 times in my life so far.

25.  I HATE GUNS.

26.  I consider myself pretty liberal.

27.  My favorite state is Maine.

28.  I have never traveled out of the country beyond Canada.

29.  I love Motown music.

30.  When I was little I wanted to become an Architect.

31.  I collect old "Menu's".

32.  I don't care for Seafood.

33.  I love to read.

34.  I used to scrapbook like crazy.

35.  I recently moved back to the West Coast.

36.  I need to find a job.

37.  I wish I had gone to college.

38.  My biggest and best contribution to this world has been my daughter Morgan.
39.  I have a hard time tolerating rude people.
40.  My birthday is WAY to close to Christmas.
41.  I have never used "drugs" other than those prescribed to me by my doctors.
42.  I hate scary movies.

Just me ... hoping you've learned something new and challenging you to share some things about yourself that might surprise people.

Super Powers ... and all that jazz!

Do you have any super powers?

Have you ever wished for something that would set you apart?

Do you wish you could fly when traffic is as thick as mud?

Do you wish you could read the thoughts of others when you believe they are talking about you?

Have you ever wished you could withstand high heat or extreme cold?

Perhaps you would have super strength?

or 

Would you wish to be able to connect to the dead?

I think we all have wished for super powers at some point in our lives.

I think if I could have one power, it would be that of the flash.  

I would want to move so quickly that I could travel back and forth to visit family and friends without it taking hours and or days to get there.

My mom always told me not to wish away my time,

because it goes so quickly on its own.

I never understood that though until I was much older.

As a child, we have no worries, the days go by slowly and we long for days to come, perhaps a trip to the beach, or a family vacation.

I guess we all have a bit of a super power in our memories because we get to relive them over and over again.  

We don't go back in time, but sometimes a quick trip back in our memories is good enough.

I have a few little quirks, or should I say super powers that I've always taken for granted.

I have a super smeller, yup that would be by nose.

I smell everything, good and bad.

Strong smells and weak smells ... it there is a smell you can bet I'll mention it even when others don't smell a thing.  Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's my thing.

I also have a really good memory for faces.

Don't ask me to remember everyones names, but faces I almost never forget.

Recently I ran in to someone from my childhood, someone I hadn't seen in over 35 years.

We came across one another at a farmers market where she was a vendor.

I knew when I saw her that she was familiar to me in some way.

Sure enough, after a bit of conversation we realized we had gone to church together and that our sisters had been good friends.

It's a small world, but you can bet if you are someone I have met or known in my past, I will remember your face.

It can drive me crazy when I can't figure out who someone is, but I'm not shy, so I'll probably ask.

***

Now those aren't big things, and they probably aren't really super powers, but since they are the closest I'll ever come to being able to claim that I have powers ... and super at that, I'll take them.

It makes me smile to wonder what everyone else's super powers are!

***

Speaking of using my super powers, my favorite is when I get to smell the amazing chocolate cake my father in law used to bake.  I've only made the recipe once, but I hope to make it again soon.  It's amazing and SMELLS so so good.

Now don't you wish you could smell this cake too?

***

On Grieving ...

Saw the following quote on Facebook today... and thought it was perfect for all those who think that I didn't grieve long enough, or hard enough.  Everyone's grief is different, everyone shows it differently as well, some are outwardly grieving while others are very quiet and personal about their grief.  Don't be to quick to judge another's feelings, they are very personal and not so easily understood.  Life continues for the living, you must put one foot in front of the other and keep on keeping on.

Grief never ends,

but it changes.

It is a passage,

not a place to stay.

It is the price of love.

- Author Unknown -

Heaven must be a wonderful place, it's filled with so many people I love and who's love I feel every day even though they are gone.

Friends on Facebook ... are they really my friends?

This is a post that I made to my Facebook page this evening, I thought perhaps it should have been here but since so few people come here, and so many go to Facebook, I shared it there and just copied it here.  It's long but I was feeling pretty grateful tonight and thought I'd share.

How many friends do you have?  I've been asked by people how I could possibly be friends with 172 people because that's how many people I have on my friend list here on Facebook.  Well ... here's the answer.  I know all of the people on my friend list in some way, shape or form.  I have not met all of them ... in fact 28 of them alone are friends I met online through various scrapbooking websites.  I do call them friends and count them among some of my very best friends.  I have met probably 10 or 12 of them in the past.  We felt comfortable enough to meet because of all the interactions we had online.  We shared personal information, secrets, loves, losses, betrayals, illnesses, good news, bad news ... pretty much everything.  When one of my scrappy friends would go off the radar, we would check on one another, we exchanged mailing addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and shared photos through our scrapped pages.  I haven't met all of these people, and sadly may not ever be able to, but occasionally we get the chance.  In moving here to California, I am mere miles from one of those scrappy friends.  Both she and I will meet for the first time this Saturday and even better, we are meeting up with another one of our online friends who is visiting from Utah with her family.  It's going to be so nice and I am very excited.  Michele and Marcie, I truly can't wait.  I am currently rooting for one of my scrappy friends whom I have met as she battles cancer, she's going to beat it though, she's got courage and hope and lots of spirit, if I were cancer I would be sorry I picked her to attack.  Gabi girl ... I love you.  Monica ... is my best friend, and the first time we met I truly thought I wouldn't like her one bit, gosh was I wrong, we hit it off and have built a wonderful friendship over the years, I've even traveled to NC to visit her and stay in her home with her family numerous times.  I hate that we are on opposite coasts now, but she knows she's always in my thoughts and owns a huge piece of my heart.  Patti, Abby and Bernie ... my southern NJ friends ... we've all met as well, and had a blast getting to know each other.  Loved every minute we spent together in Wildwood and then again right near your homes.  Carrie ... my CT. scrappy friend ... we spent lots of time and money together, shopping for supplies and then scrapping together for hours on end, we enjoyed each others families and I was so sad to say goodbye, but you're on the move again soon as well, and I know our paths will cross again.  There are so many I haven't mentioned ... you all know who you are if you scrapped online with me, I hope we get to meet someday as well.  

Some of you are friends met through Brian, teachers he worked with and loved with all his heart, and college friends whom he spoke about until the day he passed away.  

I have a whole bunch of new friends since moving here to California, most of them people I've met through Patrick, we're having lots of fun getting to know one another ... I never thought that these wonderful people who Patrick hung out with and called friends would like me too.  :-)

And then of course there is the family members ... I have lots of them, sisters, my daughter Morgan, her family on her dads side (I still count them as mine, I'm kind of greedy that way), cousins, aunts, uncles, 2nd cousins and there kids and the list goes on and on.  I love them ... and miss them ... and I'm so happy they are in my life.  

Friends ... I love you all, and I'm so happy you're all a part of my life.

Family ... I didn't get to pick you, but I'm a lucky girl to have so many to love and to be loved right back by so many.

Thought I should let you all know, because I'm not sure I express my appreciation nearly enough ... <3!

Thanks for stopping by my friends!!!