This photo is from the start of summer, 1970. That’s my younger brother Steve in the red & white stripes (holding a paddleball), my older brother Duke in the glasses and yellow & blue shirt, our cousin Mark over for a visit and holding our dog Bone, my sister Shawn holding our sister Donda-Lin.
That’s me in the red shirt in the back, feeling a bit shell shocked and maybe I’m looking at my younger sister with some resentment, I can’t remember.
Right around the time this picture was taken, Mom & Dad told us that our sister Donda-Lin was getting too big for her crib, and Shawn’s tiny bedroom wasn’t big enough for another bed; so we’d be moving to an older but bigger house in the country. Everyone seemed fine with it, except for me.
Anyway, I was just thinking that Mom was 29 years old when she snapped this photo. And with 5 kids. How she did it is beyond me.
Speaking of moms, my new neighbor Sharon (I’ll be writing more about her in my next blog) told me she’d recently lost her mom, who was 91 years old. This is such a strange, sad coincidence. This past month, my friend & former coworker Lisa lost her mom, also in her 90s. My blogger friend Margaret of Stargazer lost her mom, in her 90s. My friend Robin from Canada just lost her beautiful mom, also in her 90s.
I can’t help but wonder, is it easier when you lose your mother at such an older age? I lost my own when she was only 64. It wasn’t sudden, we knew her end was coming, but it was still far too young for her to go.
Speaking of sisters, my youngest sister Courtney (who isn’t in that photo above, she wouldn’t be born for another 5 years) just turned 50 years old on July 2. She lives in Ohio now with her husband Robert, and has a pretty successful business doing first aid training in the corporate sector.
I can still remember the shock I felt when Mom announced she was pregnant for her—how was it possible? She was an old lady with 5 kids, she was 34 years old!
Anyway, Court was delighted to get her “welcome letter” from AARP, indicating she’s officially getting up there. I remember when I got mine 14 years ago and wrote about it here. Dammit to hell, now I really am old.
I’m also grouchy, I’ve been trying not to talk about it but I’m still dealing with inflammation issues from long covid. (Right now the center of my face feels like a bad sunburn, and the inside of my mouth is very, very sore.) I get 3-4 days of feeling fine, then 3-4 days of this crap.
A couple days ago at the senior center, I got a few raised eyebrows when I announced I was meeting up with some high school girls this week for an outing. I had to clarify that, I’m meeting up with my friend & former classmate Diana, and our former classmates Ruth Ann & Renee, for a visit to a local conservatory and then lunch.
I haven’t seen Diana since 2023. I haven’t seen Ruth or Renee since 1979!
At least I HOPE it happens. I really need this stuff in my face to quiet down. I’m a real barrel of laughs today, aren’t I…
Well, I know I didn’t have a lot to say or share here but I just wanted to put something new-of-sorts out there; frankly that photo of Connie & myself in my last blog is getting a little old. I hope everyone had a nice Farce of July, and as always, thanks for dropping by.
