For my birthday week--a trip to Tybee then more and more and more to remember.
So it works for me that on this morning, one of my two "next-to-me-sisters," Betsy, was the #1 birthday greeter before she & Jerry travelled back home to Indiana. My other "next-to-me" sister Rosemary who's local, was the next birthday greeting, first caller to sing, and tonight I'll celebrate with # eleven Krider--Kris in Davidson. In between, are birthday memories of sisters and brothers and mother and daddy. Those who've known me the longest, the best and yes, the worst of me! Margaret, Bill, Dik, Bob, Marijo, Jimmy and my almost ten years later life-twin Janie--ten years younger, ten pounds thinner and ten times more the traveller--we have all shared truths and such secrets. Rosemary, Kathy, Betsy, Billy, Dicky, Margaret, Janie, Jimmy, Bobby, Marijo & Christopher fill the tiniest crevices, zip along the superhighways and fill the endless skies of my so far oh so good journey! So how the heck did I get to be at home and online in my oasis at 5945 Prescott Court in Charlotte, NC? The answer is--the long way!
From a little house with a porch in a neighborhood called Parkview Heights in Cincinnati to Greendale to going away to school in Oldenburg to SMWC and then back to Greendale and then bingo--married and a mother and then almost 20 years disappear and after all those years of knowing where home is, I'm moving again and again and again!!
A trip--that's what I always want most for my birthday. "Home is where ya go when there's no where else, how long can you stay, where have you been, when will you be back" At home, I hear my mother's voice that challenged and questioned and who was and is my never-ending reason for feeling always loved, defended, and welcomed home. At home in my heart, I still feel the energy and passion of my dad's pride in me and in all we all did and all we his children and their children's children have become. What a trip!
My summer of turning 21 with Bill on a camp Ross Trails 5-12 getaway. Then what a wedding on September 26 and Jon William. April 26 & celebrating Jim on May 26 are easy to remember days and dates for marking best birthday memories. Then Dec 31 and Robert Eric to add "Makeing Memories" music to celebrate every New Years and holidays, and now birthdays, ice cream, cake and celebrating cousins, in-laws, outlaws, and cousins, and their spouses, and partners, and more cousins and more move-in's and move-outs of homes and families from around the corner and around the world.
A trip--that's what I always want most for my birthday. "Home is where ya go when there's no where else, how long can you stay, where have you been, when will you be back" At home, I hear my mother's voice that challenged and questioned and who was and is my never-ending reason for feeling always loved, defended, and welcomed home. At home in my heart, I still feel the energy and passion of my dad's pride in me and in all we all did and all we his children and their children's children have become. What a trip!
My summer of turning 21 with Bill on a camp Ross Trails 5-12 getaway. Then what a wedding on September 26 and Jon William. April 26 & celebrating Jim on May 26 are easy to remember days and dates for marking best birthday memories. Then Dec 31 and Robert Eric to add "Makeing Memories" music to celebrate every New Years and holidays, and now birthdays, ice cream, cake and celebrating cousins, in-laws, outlaws, and cousins, and their spouses, and partners, and more cousins and more move-in's and move-outs of homes and families from around the corner and around the world.
Now I have Suzanne, and Carla and Eva and Sam and Sean and Jay, and nieces and nephews, and more cousins and more moves, more gifts and greetings and places to go, treasures to collect on oh so many more trips and travels. At my age, of course I'm tired & lazy, lazy & tired sometimes, but what a trip--so far so good. To all the folks who've punched my birthday trip ticket, thanks, I'm getting my money's worth.
Birthday memories remembering, wanting, wandering and wondering.
Remembering as far back as a summer when I was 3 or was I 4? A road trip to Florida to Auntie Maid & Aunt Sophie & Uncle Mark's house on some water that Rosemary fell into and was pulled out by her pigtails. I don't know if it was even near my birthday, but I close my eyes to see the earliest summer memories and there's Betsy with cute blonde curls as she toddled down some steps to come outside after her nap. It was always about "three girls" and then I skip along memory moments to daddy coming home from the Navy, and Billy's curls and then when Dik arrived, we moved down to 471 and I was having a backyard birthday party with our Ridge Avenue to St. Lawrence school bus stop riders--Chrissie & Sherry & Janet & Jerry and so many more whose faces are forever remembered in a black and white photo. Damn--I sure wish I'd learned to label and to have pasted more into albums. When I close my eyes for the worst memory--it's the fire of course. My photo album with those crinkle edged snapshots melted with names and events and Christmas trees and presents. No wonder I love pictures for marking and sparking the memories. Keep posting folks. Thanks for the DVD collections, Bob, I'm a frequent visitor to look at and love the shows!
Remembering as far back as a summer when I was 3 or was I 4? A road trip to Florida to Auntie Maid & Aunt Sophie & Uncle Mark's house on some water that Rosemary fell into and was pulled out by her pigtails. I don't know if it was even near my birthday, but I close my eyes to see the earliest summer memories and there's Betsy with cute blonde curls as she toddled down some steps to come outside after her nap. It was always about "three girls" and then I skip along memory moments to daddy coming home from the Navy, and Billy's curls and then when Dik arrived, we moved down to 471 and I was having a backyard birthday party with our Ridge Avenue to St. Lawrence school bus stop riders--Chrissie & Sherry & Janet & Jerry and so many more whose faces are forever remembered in a black and white photo. Damn--I sure wish I'd learned to label and to have pasted more into albums. When I close my eyes for the worst memory--it's the fire of course. My photo album with those crinkle edged snapshots melted with names and events and Christmas trees and presents. No wonder I love pictures for marking and sparking the memories. Keep posting folks. Thanks for the DVD collections, Bob, I'm a frequent visitor to look at and love the shows!
Of birthdays beyond 6 to today's 66! Stopping by celebration 16 for first boyfriend crushes, Jim Streck & Jim Caldwell & forever friend JoAnn. Suddenly I'm up to 30 birthdays and Daphne, Janet, Laura, Charlotte, Carolyn, Andrea, and funnygifts and twirling in a flowery prom dress I could still fit into! Then it's my birthday 55 and I'm at Brad & Sabrina's wedding-family party at Dik & Jean's whose birthday is oh so close to mine that I KNOW why I love her so much. I turn pages and pictures and uncover summers with Patsy Satchwill whose birthday is the day after mine and then there are Satchwills for fish fries, summer cook-outs and Fourths of July at Uncle Jim & Annamae's and then I digress from birthdays and summers to paths less traveled, to trips I might have taken, to choices.
The memory-accuracy isn't any longer as clear--is it old age, denial or fuzziness that helps avoid the high definition wrinkles now. Was it last year or two years ago or three that we gathered the "locals" to a steak house in Charlotte with Justin--who's flying in because his birthday is oh so close enough for a co-celebration!-My birthday--how did I get there from here, and from here to there. What a trip.
I always want as many birthday wishes as I can collect. I'm greedy for forever receiving--ice cream, candles, cake, presents, cards and a huge family and so many friends who love me! Thank you notes to write to mother and daddy, sisters, brothers, Bill & my boys, cousins, friends, friends of friends and families of families. So many gone, so many more, I hope, yet to be. My mind floats through my high & low tides and summertime birthday breezes--I loved the beach this week for walking, swimming, and getting stuck in the still, sticky, hot, humid Hoosier days of trying to label and post all my June 26th parties. Wondering...how many more. Who will be there. Do you remember my birthday only because I reminded you? I'm wandering across miles of summer roads and June skies and across oceans...it's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to!
