Happy Birthday Grandma

The year was 1928. The President of the United States was Calvin Coolidge until the November election in which Herbert Hoover defeated Alfred E Smith. Mickey Mouse appeared in Steamboat Willie. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean. The US was in the middle of the prohibition and it was a time known as the Roaring Twenties.

1928. This year welcomed Walter Mondale, Maya Angelou, Shirley Temple, and Adam West into this great big world. It also welcomed into the world one of the most beautiful and amazing people I know: My Grandma LaRue. Today, she turns a whopping 87 years old!! My gift to her is this blog posting even though I know she will never see it.....

Dear Grandma,

Today is your 87th birthday.  It gives me great pride to be writing you this letter today. It means you are still here to enjoy life with all of us, a simple fact that I cherish each and every day. I thank God for allowing you to see another birthday and I pray each day that God allows you to see many more! You’ve been on my mind a lot lately. I sincerely hope you know how grateful I am for you. You have played a significant role in shaping who I am becoming as a person. You may not realize this but you are the one of the most incredible sources of constant, consistent, and unsolicited encouragement in my life. When I think of you, I know I am loved. I know when I call that you will lift my mood and put a smile on my face, and you will do what you can if there is a need. Sometimes in the difficult times of being an adult, it is nice to know there is someone I can turn to who will just make things better, simply by offering a small piece of advice. On this, your birthday, all I can say is thank you. Thanks for showing me love that is not based on my performance in life. Thank you for always being there for me during my 42 years of life. Thanks for egg sandwiches, a candy cupboard, ham barbeque, and sodas. Thanks for Christmas memories at 801 Delaware, family Christmas parties, and being a Bingo nut. Thanks for always believing in me. Thanks for showing me what kind of legacy a grandparent can leave in the life of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.  I hope I have the same privilege in the lives of my future grandchildren. Happy Birthday, Grandma. I love you so very much.

All my love and respect,

Your firstborn granddaughter

Until tomorrow, my friends........Think Thankfully



It's the MOST wonderful time of the year!

Today is one of those days that is etched in my memory bank....and will be forever! We often talk about days like today. Those days where you remember it like it was yesterday, despite the fact that the reason for the memory might be, oh let's say 36 years ago!!! Yup, my friends, today is a day like that for me!!!

I was 4 years old (actually 4 years and 10 months old) and it was almost Christmas!!! My grandparents lived in this tiny little house on Railroad Street in Bowmanstown. As I mentioned in a previous blog posting, one of my favorite things to do for as long as I can remember was to help my grandma decorate her Christmas tree! It never had to be just right for her, as each ornament was placed with love no matter where it ended up! If there were a ton of balls on one side and nearly any on the other, oh well!!!  But I digress. Let me take you back in time in this blog.....let's go back to December 23, 1977.

My brother and I were taken to my grandparent's house because my mom and dad had to go to the hospital. You see, our "Christmas gift" that year (among other presents) was a new sibling. I remember praying hard for a sister. I wanted one so badly. At 4 years old, I remember telling anyone who would ask me whether I wanted a brother or a sister, "I want a sister. I already got a brother!" Yes, I wanted a sister so badly that......

.......when the phone rang as we decorated the tree, I ran to answer it. I always thought I was a big shot when grandma let me answer the phone. "Hello Everett's" I said in my most polite 4 (almost 5) year old voice. "Hey kiddo! Is grandma there?" It was my dad's voice. Excitedly, I asked, "Is the baby here? Do I have a sister?" And then, much to my heartbreak, the reply came in, "Yes, the baby is here. You have a little brother."

That was all I had to hear. I hung up on my dad (I know, I know, but to this day I am still sorry about that) and I ran upstairs and crawled under the bed and just cried my eyes out. My poor grandma still didn't know what was happening!! As she came to comfort me with her always loving arms and way of talking to me, she made everything better. It was at that moment, my grandma made me realize how awesome it was to have another brother, because it meant I was still her only little girl!!! Ohhhhhhh yeah!!!!!!!

My dad did eventually call back and tell the world (well, my family) that my little brother, Travis, was born. Anyone who knows me, knows just how special he is to me. He was my first best friend. He is still one of my best friends. He is my hero. Yes, my Christmas that year was a little bit of a downer (I got the sewing machine I really wanted from Santa, but I had to wait til Mommy was home from the hospital with my new brother to use it because Daddy had NO CLUE what to do....oh well!!!), but in the end, I've had 36 years with the best brother a girl could ever hope to have!!!

Happy Birthday, my little brother. May you be blessed in the year ahead with peace, love, and safety as you deploy once again......

Until tomorrow, my friends.....only two more sleeps til Santa arrives!! 

Think Thankfully!!!