For those of you in the U.S., hope you had a nice July 4th weekend! I had fun with my husband and mother-in-law in upstate New York, barbecuing, overloading ice-cream cones, lighting sparklers, taking long walks, drinking lemonade on the porch. No giant feast or fireworks show for me this year, but sometimes a little quiet time with a little family is just right. Simple pleasures. Quality time. There are pretty words for this kind of thing. But I guess I just think of it as a sigh of relief. Because it takes the pressure off of us "grown kids" - it doesn’t take fancy gifts and dinner plans, sometimes just hanging out is enough to make a weekend nice or a day memorable.
Helen H. Lahr
May 20, 2010
A Wonderful Day
It’s always a pleasure when members of my family and I get together, so you can imagine how happy I was, when Shannon, my daughter-in-law called on the phone and asked if I had a commitment on the coming Friday. I was free, but had I not been I would have canceled.
I could barely wait until Friday. I had gotten up very early when it did come. Finally the bell rang and there stood Shannon smiling.
I asked if she would like something to eat or drink. She didn’t care to have anything at the moment.
We decided to go outside. Outside, we sat facing each other. We talked about the past, how we first met and how happy we were during the early years when the children were born. There were two, Tracy and Eric. Now Tracy and her husband have two children of their own and are expecting another in July. Eric has just become engaged.
Most of our conversations centered about the children. Well, we talked and laughed and embraced each other. The time passed so fast we were surprised when my daughter came in from work.
Soon after, Sharon took us to a restaurant for dinner where we had a long, lingering meal. Finally, it was time to go home and, reluctantly, we went our separate ways. When Sharon arrived at her home, she called to say that she had no problems on the long ride home.
When Mother’s Day approached, I received a beautiful card. Written at the bottom were these words; “Our Friday visit was wonderful.”
Hattie Lee Ellerbe
May 20, 2010
Mommy’s Secret
I cannot beat around the bush…as I write from week to week, all of you know that my children are my achievements. I could not be more proud of any three people in the whole world. They are my life..my best friends….”The wings beneath my wings.”
In case they read this note, the secret is out, you are all ‘mommy’s favorites.” The guessing game is over. Now don’t fight over me…who want’s me this weekend?
Michael Chan
June 10, 2010
A Trip to New York
Last week my daughter drove a van of 10 of us to New York. To see friends over there. We saw family, talked all day, talked about recent changes and things. We left Philadelphia at 8am, arrived to New York at 2 to 3 hours later. We stayed and left after dinner, came home at 11pm. Very tired. The good kind. In between meals, we went to see the President’s House in Mount Vernon. I bought a small souvenir to remember the day by.
