Friday, November 30, 2007

I told you so!!!!

Do you remember the moment you found out Santa isn't Santa? (Don't let your young ones read this....Ha!)
It must have been the Christmas Eve before I turned 8. Dennis must have decided it was time for me to abandon my childhood notion of the jolly old elf and told me outright, "There is no Santa!!"
"What??? No Santa??? Who brings all the gifts then" I asked?
Dennis replied quickly and to the point, "Mom and Dad".
I must have had a dumbfounded look on my face so Dennis just said, "Stay awake tonight in your bed, you'll see"
That night I had mixed emotions as the evening lengthened on and Mom and Dad were trying to calm us down and herd us off to bed.
Dennis and I had bunk beds. I slept on top because it was near impossible with his disease for Dennis to climb the few stairs up to the top bunk.
As we layed in bed that night Dennis kept whispering up to me to make sure I was staying awake. Staying awake wasn't a hard task as the great ponderance kept running through my brain..."Mom and Dad are Santa Claus? No reindeer?"...just a multitude of questions swirling through my
head.
As we both layed there for a bit pretending to be asleep, I soon heard some footsteps shuffling our way in the dark.
"Ricky.....Ricky, you want some hot chocolate", it was Dad whispering to me very quietly in an effort to ascertain if I were asleep or not. When I didn't respond or budge he must have assumed it was safe for him to go onto his next task, which was getting into the closet right next to our bed. He clicked on a flashlight and as I slightly opened my eyes, I could see he was pulling gifts out which were destined to soon be placed under the tree.
As Dad quietly sneaked out of the room I could hear Dennis shuffling through his blankets in the bunk under me. "I told you so!!!" he muttered. When I didn't say anything he simply said, "I know you're still awake. I can hear you crying."

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

My father died in early December. He lived an event filled life for 86 years so no one felt he had been taken too soon, well, except for Mom who had been his wife and sweetheart for 60 years.
As I look back on the day of the funeral I have several things to laugh at along with the life time of memories and lessons Dad shared with me. Dad was a military man up until the time I was five years old, so promptness was always something drilled into our heads..."If you are not fifteen minutes early you are late" was a common phrase uttered from his mouth. It so happened the day of the funeral Vic, Ron and myself had been asked by Mom if we would dress his body right before the funeral, which we were glad to do. The funeral home had said they would give us a call when his body was brought from the funeral home in Farmington to the funeral home in Kirtland where the dressing of his body would take place and from that funeral home they would bring Dad over to the church house where the funeral would take place.
Dad's body was put in a hearst in Farmington, but on the way to Kirtland that hearst broke down and a replacement hearst was dispatched to make the transfer. It was a slow transfer. By the time Dad's body arrived and we were called, few precious moments were left to get his body dressed so we could start the funeral. This was not something any of the three of us brothers were well practiced at, so it took us a lengthened time to get Dad ready. The final result of all this was that saying that you have all heard a hundred times before...."he'll be late for his own funeral"... well, he was almost late. Going by his own words he was not fifteen minutes early, so by Dad's standards he was indeed late for his own funeral.
After a long life, Dad mellowed in his attitude about different situations and I know he would have gotten a good chuckle at the irony of it all.
We remember Dad fondly at the start of each December.
As I was going through some of my Father's papers in an effort to help Mom get their estate in order I ran across this poem I had written to him in an earlier time...
You cheered me on in basketballand in everything I've done
you've been proud to be my father,I've been proud to be your son
but when this life is over and the next life has begun
on our first day back in heavenI will take you one on one....

Dad loved basketball and though I had written him several poems, this is the only one I found he had kept. I suppose he is up practicing now so we can keep this committment on the b-ball court.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Grand kids can get you arrested!!!!!!

I got a call from my youngest daughter who was laughing and wanted to pass on a conversation she had just had with our 3 year old granddaughter.It seems our granddaughter was giggling at something and when an inquiry was made as to what was so funny she said..."I am thinking of the time Grandpa was sucking on me...
"Well, needless to say this caused an instant picture of horror in the minds of my daughter and son-in-law so they started the interrogation. "Which grandpa was sucking on you?" they asked.
"The crazy one" was her reply. (Usually she calls me the silly one, but I got upgraded for this tattle tell story)
So now I was the suspect."How was he sucking on you?" was the next question.
Her answer brought confusion to my daughter."You know Mom. You were there. Don't you remember?"
This made my son-in-law's eyebrows raise even further as the this dastardly deed now involved my daughter.Upon further questioning it seems my granddaughter was remembering the time I was vacuuming up the stairs with the long hose from our central vac system. In a teasing gesture, each time she got close by me I would push the hose her way in an attempt to "suck" her up through that little hose and off the stairs along with the dirt particles. This would make her howl with terror at first, but then laugh with glee when she had gotten away to safety.The way she had remembered it and passed it on to her parents had my own daughter ready to have me arrested.I'm glad they did more questioning before calling the police......

Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Christmas gift giving idea

As Dennis progressed with his Muscular Dystrophy he became physically weaker and slower. We were a family that always loved sports and tried to play every chance we could get. Dennis had gotten to the point where no one wanted him on their team, as he would be a liability no matter what position he played ,so he and I started our own form of two man baseball. Rather than hit the ball with a bat I would throw the ball straight up into the air as high as I could. This would give Dennis time to take a few steps to get himself under the ball as it fell to the ground. If he caught it, I was out. If he dropped it I got a single. From first base I'd do the same thing again, throw the ball straight up in the air as high as I could. If Dennis caught it, I would be out. If he dropped it I then moved to second base and on it went like this until he had caught the ball 3 times making 3 outs or I would advance around the bases until I scored a run. We could play this way for quite some time. Every now and then Dennis would fall down for no reason, which was just a fact of life with the progression of Muscular Dystrophy and the Duchene Strain that Dennis had. It slowly robs the strength of every muscle in your body from your neck to your ankles. On one particular high lob that I had made, Dennis situated himself under the ball waiting to make the catch as the ball descended. Just as the ball was approaching his glove, Dennis' arms lost all strength and his arms fell to his side which allowed the ball to smash into his nose causing him to tumble down onto the ground in a bloody heap. Dennis never was one to cry, but easily let his frustrations get to him. He threw the glove away in disgust that his body wouldn't do what he wanted it to do. He took off his shoe and pulled the sock off his foot which he used as a hankie to help stop the bleeding. If it hadn't been such a sad situation it might have been hilarious...a boy with a bloody nose using a sock as a first aid remedy. Well, the truth was, we had encountered many similar situations before because of his disease and I was used to having these mini-disasters, so I couldn't help myself...I started laughing. Dennis' first reaction was anger. He couldn't get up to pound on me, so he took the bloody sock and threw it in my direction as best he could trying to hit me, but didn't come too very close to me. The blood continued to trickle down his lip so I took off my shoe and offered him my own sock to help him out. This made him laugh in return. After the blood had stopped we got Dennis to his feet and we went into the house, laughing at our newest experience and both of us only wearing one shoe.
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If you enjoyed this story might I recommend my book as a gift to give for Christmas. The book details Dennis' life and has several stories just like the above on that are both touching but sweet. The books sell for $10 and I can easily send you a signed copy that you can have in a week. Drop any request to me...cmydimple@yahoo.com

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Chapter one of my next book

It had all the markings of being a great week. The day before was filled with much laughter and reminiscing as many family members had met together at our house to share in the happiness of Joel’s homecoming from his two year mission in Baltimore, Maryland. Joel was our nephew, but had become more like the son we never had. He had made us proud of the change in attitude he had under gone since moving into our home to join the family six years earlier. The fact that it was his birthday was a mere coincidence, still it added a bit more luster to the day.
I think many of the visitors used Jayden as an added excuse to come by the house and stay a bit longer visiting and cooing at the newest arrival to the family. Jayden was barely six months old and getting cuter everyday as she grew and showed each us of something new every day. It was one of the reasons I’d get up each morning just to see her smile at me. She would wave her hands wildly and kick her legs in an animated effort to give me her best hello and let us know she had things she wanted to do.
Our oldest daughter Amy, and her husband were living in the downstairs area of our house as he made his way through college and offered us the blessing to be able to see and care for our dear grandchildren everyday. Conner was the older of the two grandchildren and was full of wonder and energy being the two year old toddler that he was. Jayden became our first grand daughter the previous November and we were enjoying the laughter and excitement that had been missing in our house for several years as we watched with amazement, the joy these two newest buds on our family tree were bringing to us.
It was Monday and I had just been awakened by my wife Dot as she was making her preparations to head out to start another work week. My attention was given to the chirping of a flock of birds that had taken up roost in the cherry tree situated in the backyard and probably about eye level with our upstairs bedroom window. I got up and peered out to see if I could count how many birds were making such a continuous conversation amongst themselves. I was surprised to find I couldn’t see a single bird, but knew they were out there just the same. I don’t have the best hearing, but it was evident that morning that my ears were better than my eyes. I’d soon be getting a message that my ears couldn’t believe and that would make my eyes tear up as well.
I have never been one to stay in bed when there is so much else to enjoy with the start of each new day. I turned my attention away from the birds and made my way down stairs to start my normal routine of the day. I went straight down the stairs and out the front door to retrieve my newspaper to catch up on the happenings of the weekend.
Everyone in our family had their own individual routine for starting the day. Dot had to be to work by 6:30 so she would stay in bed as long as she could and then do a rush, rush routine to get dressed, made up and out the door. She always prided herself in being able to get ready for the day within 20 minutes of getting out of bed. Sometimes I’d make toast for her, but most times she’d prefer to have a cup of hot chocolate and be on her way.
After our goodbyes and “have a great day” wish, I would settle into getting through the paper and doing my crossword puzzles. The headlines always hinted at what disasters and misfortunes were rampant through out the world and other people’s neighborhood and I always tried to not think of the fact that bad things could easily happen to me or my family.
I could hear Jayden rustling and crying a bit as I was finishing up my last blocks of the crossword puzzle and I waited momentarily to see if Amy would be attending to her soon. It is one of the perks of being a grandpa, I didn’t have the immediate responsibility of looking after a fussing child, but if anyone else was too slow to give attention then I could choose the be the first one on the scene to start the day for this precious baby of ours. We considered Jayden to be ours as well because we shared in the daily acts of bathing, diaper changing, feeding and all those required demands that a new one brings.
I was just getting ready to head downstairs and be the hero who started Jayden’s day, but Amy came out her bedroom door and headed towards Jayden’s nursery
“Jayden has been so fussy all night. I took her out for a drive during the night to help get her to sleep” Amy said. “I hope we didn’t keep you awake during the night.”
“No. I didn’t hear a thing at all last night and I doubt your mother did either. At least she didn’t mention anything before taking off.”
Amy looked tired already and the day had barely begun. She turned and whisked herself into the nursery to take care of Jayden.
Drat, I’d have to wait for another opportunity to be the hero.
With my crossword puzzle out of the way and my cereal gone it was time for me to make my way up to the shower and keep to my schedule that would lead up to my leaving the house to head off to another day at work. As I was getting into the shower I could hear Jayden crying again and knew she was fussy from having had another bout with her chronic bronchitis. She had several attacks during her short six months of life and the albuterol treatments were making her feel not quite her usual, happy self. Again, I waited that extra five seconds that we grandparents get before seeing if I could be of help with a fidgeting child……..hmmm not needed again. Maybe Jayden had finally fallen asleep. I got in and out of the shower, got dressed, took a few moments to write down some to do items, put away a few things and headed out the door.
I drove away from the house and arrived to work in a timely manner. All the joys and activities of the previous day were still fresh in my mind and the thoughts of all the love and blessings I was currently enjoying brought a broad grin to my face. What a lucky man I was. What a lucky man indeed.
I hadn’t been to work for even thirty minutes when Janet sent a page over the intercom for me as I was in the check stand.
“Rick, you have a phone call on 501”
Knowing that phone calls were not a proper thing to answer while in the check stand, I responded with, “I’m in the check stand, could you take a message please Janet?”
It wasn’t two minutes later that Dennis, my store director came and took my place in the check stand saying this was a phone call I needed to take.
I walked over to the nearest phone and picked it up.
“Hello this is Rick”
The voice on the other end was immediately recognizable to me as my neighbor, but she introduced herself just the same.
“Rick, this is Lavaun. Little Jayden has passed away and the paramedics are taking her to the hospital. You’re supposed to go meet Amy there”
Just like that Jayden was gone…..
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Now I could use the help of any who remember that day and the week that followed. Please drop me a note and share your thoughts of that day. What you did...did you come to the house? Make a phone call?
The rest of the story details that week and will end at the gravesite where we had that final ceremony. I'll be looking for your response...Thanks

Friday, November 2, 2007

On the lighter side

November brings several birthdays to family members so this will start a highlight of something about each...enjoy.

I remember November 25th, 1956. It was just one of those much unexpected mornings from my youth!! I got up in my usual manner and headed right for the kitchen. I was in my normal sleeping attire, my kiddie briefs and nothing else. I could smell the welcomed aroma of breakfast being cooked and was anxious to get my day started. You know how many things a nearly 5 year old has arranged for his busy day.I hadn't gotten ten feet into the room when I froze in my footsteps...who was that stranger at the kitchen stove? No way was this Mom! Far too tall and wearing a dress. Mom never wore a dress for breakfast. She turned and I recognized her instantly as my Aunt Marguerite, the one aunt I was smitten with. She always looked so exotic. She was a beautician by trade and always made herself look as if she were headed out to an important social event. Just the type of woman I would be taken with.
What an awkward moment for me. There I was nearly naked and quite unprepared for this encounter. I was getting ready to make my sneaky retreat back into my bedroom when she turned and our eyes made that undeniable contact. My mind went blank. I was transfixed by her gaze. I felt weak at my knees. What hold did this woman have over me? I could tell by her body language she was not offended by my near nude state. After all, for a five year old, I did have quite the adonis body. She had a sweet smile, her arms were open...we continued in our transfixed gaze. It was the perfect moment for me to express my true desire. Tell her what a beauty I thought she was, but I found myself speechless still. Being the older, experienced woman she was, Marguerite was the first to speak, "Well good morning Ricky, come give Aunt Marguerite a hug." she said.
Still, I was frozen there on the kitchen floor stunned at this situation I found myself in. I must say something, so I gathered my thoughts around me and sounded out those three words that still ring in my ears today...
"Where's my mommy?"
Marguerite still had that sweet smile even though my question was so lacking in romance. "She is at the hospital. You have a new baby brother and I am here to get you started on your day. Here, I've got breakfast waiting for you."
She pointed to the chair at the table, turned, got a plate of pancakes and set them at the spot on the table where I'd be closest to her. My mind was still racing. What should I say now? Something sophisticated, enticing..."I've got to pee."
I've got to pee? What kind of line is that? Way to go Ricky, you are Mister Suave and Debonair. I turned and went to the bathroom. I didn't want Marguerite to know I was a liar on top of my other inconsiderate acts. I sat there on the toilet trying to regather my thoughts. Organizing the words that would turn the tide in my favor with Aunt Marguerite. I was searching through her words she had uttered to me, looking for a hint she was as smitten with me as I was with her when those words she had said suddenly hit me like a brick...I HAVE A NEW BABY BROTHER!!!
I hurriedly got dressed and raced out to the kitchen table. Novemeber 25th ended up being a very exciting day................. Ron's birthday will be on the 25th, wish him well.