REMBERING DEC. 7th 1941

I haven't posted since April, having been quite busy trying to get my home ready to put on the market, but as I thought about today being the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I found myself thinking about how the lives of all of us who were alive on that date were changed from the moment we heard about it.
Our country has been involved in wars since that time, but this was the first time since we became a nation that our country was attacked by another country.

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, & we were living on Bessemer Ave. which coincidently was the street my parents lived on when I was born. We lived in a two story house & are apartment was on the second story which was acessed by stairs in the rear off of a little porch.

My sister & I were playing together, & like in most familys of siblings, a disagreement arose. Who better to settle it than mom, so we both raced up the stairs & were about to present our "sides", when we were promptly shushed by our parents. The radio was on & we heard with amazement the announcer tell about the attack on Pearl harbor. At that moment, I'm sure the full impact of what we heard did not really register with us.

The next day we listened to the radio as President Roosevelt address Congress as our Nation declaired war on Japan. Our lives & those of our neighbors were changed. There was another house on the same lot behind ours. From that house, the oldest daughter would join the Marine Corp. along with her brother & nephew. Years later I was ble to visit the daughter Florence after locating her in Portland, Ore.

In later days we would pass many homes with the blue star proudly hanging in the window, & then sadly some with God stars indicating the loss of a family member.

We at home would learn to do without. As the war progressed, sugar, & other products were either in short supply or unattainable. At school we were visited by Army personel & I got to ride in a Jeep & became a Jr WAC, the army's woman's division. We helped by paper drives, & flattening our tin cans that our canned food came in. Patriotism was high & everyone wanted to help. Our information was limited to Newspapers, Newsreels at the theater & radio of course as to how the war was going.
Little did we realize when we heard that first announcement on Dec 7th, that the war would last 4 long years.

I will always be glad that I had the opportunity to have visited Pearl Harbor where so many lives were lost when the Japanese bombs fell that day. I hadn't really thought about the civilians who also died, until I read the Plaque with all of their names listed, & realized that there were whole families who died that day which included young children.

Visiting the memorial where the battleships were sunk that day, & gazing down into the water at the remnants of the Arizona, had a profound effect on me. Reading the letters of the young men which were on display there, letters written home to their families who would never see them again, I felt saddened at their loss.

The phrase used to recruit young men & women to join the service, as well as to all Americans in those war years was "Remember Pearl Harbor" It is something that I will never forget, & hope that others too will stop a moment & will remember with me.

LITTLE THINGS & LITTLE ONES

As you know from my daughter Tammy's Blog, Little Cherub just celebreated her 5th Birthday on the 18th.
I called her up to sing Happy Birthday to her, a favorite custom in our family. She told me she liked the card I sent her & added that she liked the money. This was the first time that I had enclosed money with their birthday card, & this was a Dollar Bill. To a child a dollar is a wonderful amount & can be spent at their favorite store for purchases, the Dollar Tree.


Since I was a child during the Depression, I was more than likely the receiver of a Penny, or the wonderful Nickle, preferred over a dime at a young age, because it was bigger, & of course bigger than a Penny.

When I was 2 years old, someone, possibly my dad gave me a Nickle which I promptly swallowed & got caught in my throat. I thought it was candy. Daddy, I'm told turned me upside down & tapped me on the back, & fortunately the money was dislodged.
In those days,Penny's could buy penny candies so my sister & I loved receiving those small amounts & happily spent them.

It doesn't take expensive items to make a small child happy. They do want certain items they have seen advertised on TV such as the Curious George bubble set, which I'm glad her daddy secured for her. As a child growing up, I sent for a Decoder badge featured on the Little Orphan Annie show on the radio, by sending in the seal from the Jar of Ovaltine. We too were subjected to the merchandising of sponsors on the radio, before the advent of TV.

What was exciting for Little Cherub, was receiving mail addressed to her & finding the card & that all important dollar inside. I hope that they will always find delight in the little things of life, seeing a butterfly, watching a bird make a nest, picking dandelions & other wild flowers & presenting their bouquets to me.

Lest anyone think that this doting grandmother just had a card for Little Cherub's birthday, Nammy told her that there is another present at my house which she will receive, either when mommy brings her down, or I'm able to bring it up to her house.

MY FIRST CAR

I was 21 when I bought my first car. We lived on the outskirts of the small town of Willoughby Ohio which was about 3 miles from town & around 20 from Cleveland where my mom & I were working at the time, & my sister was away at college.

I was during the long walk home from the Greyhound bus during a bad thunder storm that I made this huge decission that I needed to buy a car.
To say that I was scaired walking home that evening with the thunder crashing & the lightning flashing, was an undrstatement. We had been getting some bad storms & had received a lightning strike on a previous occasion when lightning struck our wire metal clothesline & wrapped it around the tree in our side yard.
It also dug a deep hole in the ground. This same storm had brought the neighbors who lived behind us over because lightning had traveled inside through the pipes to the bathroom tub which they said was glowing in the dark.

There was only one small obstacle with my car purchase idea, neither I nor my mother knew how to drive, but being a confident 21 year old female, I wasn't going to let that stop me from buying a car.

I don't remember whether my mom went with me or not to the car dealership in Cleveland, but I put myself in the hands of the sales person & asked him to help me pick out a reliable car, & as all of you know car salesmen are honest, hard working etc people. I bought a 39 Chevy which I think was a 4 door.
It had a stick shift on the floor. It had a really good engine, much better than the body, I was to learn later. The dealer agreed to deliver the car & we were in business. The next step of course was to learn to drive & this was solved by my next door neighbor's dad who agreed to teach me. Since we both worked the lessons were at night. Once I was proficient enough, I went Solo & eventually obtained my Ohio driver's license. This is not to say that some difficulties had to be overcome, like snow & icy roads that first winter. There were a few times that I went off into the ditches which were on the sides of the road & I had to be recued by some good Samaritin who could pull me out of the ditch.
When You are 21 years old everything is a big adventure. It wasn't long before I was driving into the big city. As I previously mentioned the engine was better than the body. I had had the car quite awhile though before part of the running board fell off while driving through a prestigeous part of the city. My black beauty also received a dented fender when my sister hit the tree in our front yard while I was teaching her to drive. To me though it was the most beautiful car in the world, & even my mom was glad to have a better kind of transportation.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS?

Since the purpose of my Blog was to let my grandkids know what life was like growing up, I know I need to post more than I have lately.

One of the big differences was in the small town where I lived between ages 4 & 11, Doctors made House calls. I remember many visits from the doctor when we lived in Freemont Ohio. I don't remember this happening in Cleveland where they probably had clinics.

As a small child, if it was a disease, we caught it, & would generously share it with each other as siblings do. We had among other things, Chicken Pox, which I got in Kindergarden & brought home to my younger sister, who had it much worse than myself on every part of her body. We had both kinds of Measles, what was called then as 3 day measles, & regular measles the hardkind which lasted longer & made you really sick. One of the worst ones was Whooping Cough because you cough so hard & have a problem catching your breath. My sister contacted Scarlet Fever,
& our house had a sign on the door which read "Quarentine" which ment no one could come in or out during the time the sign was there. Daddy had to go to his mom's house.

The doctor would come to the house carrying his little black satchel which contained a thermometer, & stethescope to listen to our chest, & I don't know what else was in there.

As a small child I had very bad nosebleeds & I can remember several visits by the doctor when this happened. He must have had an office downtown though, which was quite a distance from where we lived.
One day I was taken there to have my tonsils & adenoids(whatever they are) removed. This was a very frightening experience & I remember being angry with my mom about it.

The anasthetic they used was Ether. The Nurse put the cone shaped thing over my nose & the Ether was dripped over it from a bottle I think. It was horrable smelling stuff. I'm not sure how long I was there but I was groggy & my throat hurt afterwards. I think I went home in a Taxi which was driven by one of my older cousins who carried me out & then into the house when we got home.

There were good things about growing up during that long ago time, bu childhood diseases which we now have shots to prevent, & modern anesthetics are a big improvement as well as our modern well equiped hospitals make this a good time for my little grandkids to be growing up in.

RING,RING, WHERE IS THAT PHONE?

A few years ago, my daughter and son-in-law gave me a Cordless phone for Christmas. It came with a base which is an answering machine, and plugs into an outlet for charging.

Yesterday when the phone rang, I discovered it's absence
from the base in the Dining room. After hanging up from talking to my friend, I began my search for it.

Remote controls for the TV & VCR have a way of getting misplaced in most households in America. I have hunted for them numerous times, but this was was the first time I have had to do an exstensive search for my cordless phone.

I looked in every room in the house, concentrating mostly on the living room.. Since this prooved futile, there was only one thing to do. I called my friend & asked her to call me back. She knew that the answereing machine would come on after so many rings, so she let the phone ring several times, hung up & repeated the process.

Ring, ring, I'm getting closer.
Ring, ring, it's coming from the Living room where I had previously searched.
Ring, ring the sound was getting louder.
Ring , ring, it's coming from the couch.
Aha there it is behind a cushion.
" Found it I gleefully told my friend, whereapon the phone went dead after a warning beep. I hapily replaced it to be charged &
called my friend on my other phone.

Little did Alexander Graham Bell realize, that one day his invention would evolve into an instrument that would enable this little old lady track down her phone with it's ability to ring .

PICKING A SUPERBOWL TEAM

Since I did not know anything about either team, and wanted of course to pick a team to root for, my method was different than a man would use picking out a team.

They would probably know all the stats on both teams, & something about the players on the teams. Plus I'm sure they would know something about both coaches. They also may have followed them throughout the season making their choice an easy one.

Since I am totally uninformed about all that stuff, my choice will have to be based on something else.

Lets see, my mom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1888, & I have a first cousin on my dad's side living there. Ok do I know anyone who was born in Chicago, hmm no one I can think of. Do I personally know anyone living there except Oprah? No. So OK I'll root for the Colts.

Choice made I can sit back & enjoy the game. It would have been more fun if I could have gone to a Super Bowl party, but I'm by myself with just my dog Sandy to watch it with me. Well not exactly watch, he laid curled up on his bed & slept the whole time.

The final score was evidence of a good choice, but the things I learned
about this wonderful coach was what will stay with me about the game.
The announcer said, he never swears. He does not ever raise his voice when talking to his team. The clincher that he is a Christian came in his acknowledgement of the Lord in his speech accepting the trophy. Yes it is wonderful that he is the first African American coach to have a winning Super bowl team, but more wonderful in my eyes is the Christian life he has led in front of these young men, & the shining testamony he gave for the world to hear.

My unorthodox method of picking a team to root for may not be the best, but you'll have to admit I picked real winners, both in football & most importanly in life.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 24th 2007


GOLDEN MOMEMENT, FROZEN IN TIME

Today is a special day for me, because it is my daughter's Birthday & it takes me back to the day of her birth. She was actually due on December 29th, but decided to linger in her cozy spot beneath my heart until January 24th.

The reason she was late however was the fact that she was in a breach position, & being that I am a petite person in height, she did not have much room to turn around in I guess. When I finaly went into labor, a Caesarian was an urgent necessity, & I heard a doctor who was asked to examine me, exclaim. She needs a Caesarian, she needs it right now & 15 minutes later this wonderful unknown doctor did just that.

The special moment that was frozen in time, came when my beautiful a perfect little browned eyed darling, was placed on top of me where each of us could look deep into each other's eyes.
It was love at first sight. This precious little girl, I had longed & prayed for, had finally
arrived. She was all I could have hoped for. I had prayed for a healthy baby, but in my heart, I really hoped it would be a little girl. She was 22 inhes long & 8#3 oz so it was understandable that she took up a lot of room.

I had picked a name that I had seen in a Christian movie at College, years before, & little did I know that a more modern movie with Debbie Reynolds, would make the name so popular, that a lot of other babies would be named Tammy.

I have relived the joy of that moment, as my daughter gave birth to two little replicas of herself, but nothing compares to the magical momement of that first look into your child's eyes. Though I couldn't be with her today, I'm with her in spirit, as she, as her youngest called her is the the Birthday girl today.