absence

After a year off, a return to the work force, and the paying off of my house, I am returning. Hope to have new stuff for you in a few weeks.

Back Again

I have been out of the loop for about a year, went back to work but retiring soon and looking forward to reconnecting with you all, hang in, I will soon have new stories, articles and recipes to share.

Foster Parenting

Sometimes things can really move fast. We applied to be foster parents and just a few weeks later our first little boy arrived. We had a series of boys, all in good shape and placed for adoption in just a few weeks. Our first girl was different, she was not wanted by her foster parents, they said she had "problems." She banged her head against the bed constantly. Funny, if you picker her up for a bit, then put her down and rubbed her head a little she was fine. Such a cutie, but so many problems. A product of rape, grand father was her father. She had asthma, eczema, allergies, abducted hips. The latter required she wear a pillow split between her legs which in about a year fixed that . But we made several trips to the er when she was gasping for air because of the asthma. She did outgrow that too. In the mean time, the car from the agency would pull up out front every few weeks and bring us more babies. I remember a day my daughter and I were shopping, daughter was maybe 10 years old by then. We each had a baby, and 2 elderly ladies came up to look, asking how old they were, I told them mine was 6 weeks old, they looked at my daughters bundle expecting a doll but it was a real baby, they asked if we had twins, I said no, that one was 3 months old, they stared at each other and you could hear the wheels turning, both my daughter and I kept a straight face til we got to the car then we collapsed in laughter. How funny. It was an adventure we loved. We lost one baby to SCD, and had one that was deaf and others with problems. Most of the moms were about 12 or 13 so we watched carefully for health concerns before the babies were placed. We carried this venture on through several states, mostly Illinois and Texas. When the baby girl who was ill was about a year old, we got orders to move to Texas. We had had her about a year, and totally loved her and knew she would not be adopted. Asked if she could go with us but were told no, unless we adopted her. After seeing the new foster parents who had a son that like to drown their pets, we decided to adopt so started proceedings in Illinois that ended in Laredo TX. The Air Force kept us moving around, we went from the extreme heat of south TX to Grand Forks ND, on the Canadian border, about as cold as the North Pole, snow that took til June to melt and never very warm. About then our little girl started bruising badly, the docs were alarmed and sent she and I off to CO to a big Army hospital. She was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, the inability of her bone marrow to make red blood cells. Because medical care was not possible in ND, we got transferred to Chanute in Illinois, where we were close to Chicago and a big Children's hospital. We had a five year adventure, moving to the country and growing our own foods, had chickens, horses etc and raised what we ate, drove a pony cart to deliver papers and get grain from the elevator in our little town called Clarence. We learned where to go to pick fruit that no one wanted, it just fell off and rotted on the ground. Ground our own flour, made everything from scratch, no sugar. Kids were never sick, the absence of sugar is a sure way to stay well. But five years down the line, Karen needed more and more transfusions and we lost her when she was 10 years old. Guess we always thought she had a chance, so it was a shock. By then the fostering had stopped as she needed all our attention. And all our own kids were now in high school, graduating, heading off to college or the service or to work, so the nest emptied out rapidly. Life can change at the drop of a hat, but those were rewarding fruitful years that God had a hand in. Karen required many transfusions, which made me realize the worth of blood donors, and the service they provide their community. I ended up divorcing my husband about then and moving in a different direction altogether. Sometimes all the pressures of life seem to mess up m head and I get lost in the aftermath. But I have never regretted a moment of my life, I have so much to be grateful for.

A Christmas Story for you, Jake's Tumbling Tree

I have drawers full of children's stories I have written, some published on Kindle, but most with a stack of rejection notices. This one was prompted by an incident my sis told me about her son, who is now all grown up. So here it is: He flew across the room, like a tumbleweed in the wind. At the window, he stopped, his velvet brown eyes twinkling, half hidden under a shock of straight auburn hair. His bright red snowsuit gave him a rounded look, like a bouncy rubber ball. Jake was so excited! How he wished Mom and Dad would hurry. They'd never get to Grandma's at this rate. He could just see it now, the tree, sparkling with red and gold trim. And the special lights that play Christmas Carols. And under the tree, piles of gaily wrapped gifts. "Ohhhhhhhhh, do please hurry," he thought, hopping from one foot to the other trying not to burst. It seemed forever before Mom and Dad loaded all the gifts and food into the car. Finally, they were on the way. Jake hummed to himself and watched the snowy fields zip by. It took a very long time to get to Beatrice, where Gram lived. And then, there it was. The dear little white house with blue trim. In the windows, electric candles burned brightly. Out of the car he bounded, and up the walk he flew. Grandma was waiting at the door. He was still small enough to be scooped up and hugged like a teddy bear. Jake was quickly out of his snowsuit and off the see the Christmas tree and all the gifts. His nose crinkled, he could smell turkey baking. Very soon , it was time for dinner. The table looked like a giant Christmas gift, all red and green with gold trim. Even the spoons and forks were gold. Candles twinkled like magic stars all up and down the table. Jake hardly tasted his food. He was dreaming of all those gifts under the tree, just waiting to be opened. When it seemed he could wait no longer, dinner was over and everyone moved to the living room. This year Jake was four years old, he could open gifts all by himself. Wrapping paper and bows soon littered the floor. Jake got a big yellow truck, a game and some books. How he loved story books. There was a lumpy red sock, full of candy, apples, crayons and small toys. Jake lay on the floor, holding his truck and listening to the jingle bell lights play Silent Night. He reached out his hand to touch a green ball. It was smooth and shiny. Suddenly, the tree was moving. And then it was on top of him. It fell right over! Nothing hurt, and the grown ups were picking up the tree and checking him over. At first, he felt like crying, but instead he began giggling. That tree really like him. It came right down to see him and his gifts. Soon the tree was back in place, as sparkling as ever. Everyone had a good laugh. Jake would remember this Christmas for a long time, his Christmas of the tumbling tree. Merry Christmas to all

Texas and Baby #Two

By the time we were expecting our second baby, we had been transferred to a base at Wichita Falls Texas, further south. But we still got snow, I remember it covering the car and everything else in sight a few times. The summers were HOT to say the least, and I spent a good deal of my time walking , towards the end of the pregnancy, every day. We met so many people at each base, good friends we kept in touch with for many years. Regretfully I have lost touch with them all now. Some I met in the hospital, after the birth of babies, we all had common ground and spent time watching our babes grow up. We had good times and met some wonderful folk along the way. We had some neighbors who would do anything for you, and did when they could. Their trailer was rather dirty as they had dogs that would be in heat and mess up the floors, and she never scrubbed. When our second was born, Dick left Doug with them while he took me to the hospital, I had him go home as soon as possible, knew they were kind and caring but was antsy about Doug being on their floors. Another neighbor had kids that would take our children's books off the shelf and tear out the pages. Mom said, "oh , isn't that cute, they are reading." I had taught our kids to treasure books and treat them carefully so was a bit upset about her attitude. Our second baby was due in July, about my dad's birthday, the 16th. Back then, there was no induced labor, if you were late, you were late. The summer dragged on and I was miserable from the heat and being so late, I walked and walked. Finally, on the 17th of August, little miss Laurie was born. She was big for me, weighed almost 9 pounds. But so pretty. And we were pleased to have a boy and a girl, now I could do ruffles. I did too, all those cute little dresses that she wore, lacey and poofy. She looked like a little doll. Her first year she grew slowly, only weighing about 20 pounds when she was a year old, so little she could walk right under tables. But she was fine, just small boned and petite, still is. I had a tough delivery and they wanted me to wait awhile before considering another child. Back then, no pills, not many options, and they offered me one that did not work. So not far down the line, we had number three on tap, and now we were not caring if it was a boy or a girl as we had one of each, so either would be wonderful, as long as good health came with it. We stayed in Wichita Falls til David arrived, another perfect little guy. Three kids under four years old was a handful, and we were young, I was barely 21 when I had all of them. We grew up together, and it was a ball, so glad I had so much energy back then. Wish I could grab on to some of it now. Laurie and Dave were born on the 17th and the 16th of August, barely one year apart, and lots of folk thought they were twins. When Dave was one, he and Laurie were about the same size. Life was good, days were full. And again, we moved. This time to Chanute Air Base in Illinois. By now the kids were all in school, I was room mom, teaching Sunday School, and heading up scout troops but still had time on my hands. One Sunday our preacher had a sermon about leaving our footprint in the sand. Funny, a few days later I saw an ad in the paper for foster parents and the desperate need. An omen. We signed up and started yet another journey.

Texas, the first years

When you live in one place all your life, moving across the country is like going to a foreign land. I grew up in Nebraska, with only one trip out of state, to the Dakotas for our one family vacation. We drove across Kansas, Oklahoma, and into the top of Texas, our base was in Amarillo. The dirt was sandy and red, there were critters, funny things call horned toads, snakes, things I was not used to. I thought my mom would like the toads so I fixed a cardboard box, put bugs and a dish of water in it, and mailed it. Silly me, thought the Post Office would keep it right side up and be gentle with it. Mom opened a box with dead toads in it of course. We moved into a tiny 8 by 25 mobile home. Front room and kitchen combined, bedroom with a bathroom in a closet. But it was our first home and a special place. I cleaned and tried to cook, had many disasters there, including a pyrex dish of beans I baked that exploded. Meat was confined to spam as the frig was a tiny thing with no freezer or storage space for much more than milk and eggs and margarine. Air Force pay was not much, I remember my allotment check was $57.00 a month which needed to cover food and some utilities. We had frequent dust storms, coming from the north and blowing red dirt from Oklahoma in so thick it was hard to breathe, we hung wet towels over the windows to catch as much dust as possible. After the polio I had been told I would not be able to have kids, nothing inside was in the right place due to muscle damage so we were very surprised a few months after we were married to find out I was expecting. Our house was way too small for a family of more than two, so we went looking for a cheap solution. Found a burned out trailer really cheap, and Dick refinished the inside. It was much longer, maybe 50 feet so felt much bigger. We got it fixed and moved into a trailer court outside of town. By the time that first baby was due, it was mid February and we were snowed in. I remember Dick being panicked and trying to shovel a way to the base, in "case". Snow plows did the job, and we got to the hospital in plenty of time for the arrival of Doug, our first precious baby . I remember trying to make tiny blue jeans, back then they were not a buyable item. I made tiny felt cowboy boots and a fringed white shirt for him to complete the out fit, he was such a cutie. His dad did not like to be bothered in the night so I had a big job keeping him quiet, one night I grabbed a gallon jug of milk from the frig with one hand and dropped it on my toes, breaking most of them. We had a dog, a border collie named Judy, that adored Doug. She would sit by his bassinet, and if he stirred at all, she came and got me. I could put him outside in the sun and she would sit right beside him and guard him. I don't know what happened to her, but she was a great dog, really nice pet. Before long, Doug was walking and talking and guess what, baby number two was on the way.

High School Years

I loved high school. We got to choose elective classes which was wonderful, I always picked choir or chorus,and orchestra and art classes, and English classes like creative writing. The first couple of years were pretty normal, by junior year things changed. The summer before I had met a cute fella that lived down the street, first major crush. Of course he totally ignored me. By summer, I had passed my life saving tests for swimming and was teaching a class at the YWCA. So I rode my bike there in the morning, then out to College View, a suburb of Lincoln, to help my grandparents with lunch. Then home, and by evening I baby sat with the neighbor kids til late evening. So when junior year started, I was pleased to have tap dancing as my elective sport, and debate for English, neat teachers, fun classes , all was just about perfect. until the day I got a blinding headache at school. Not something I ever had. Went home and to bed. A few days later, went to the bathroom and could not get up off the toilet so had to call mom for help. They found I was running a high fever. The diagnosis was polio, which was at that time a big epidemic. The hospitals were full so the folks set up a hospital bed in the living room and kept me there. The first 6 weeks required laying on boards to keep my back straight, real comfy but better than the next step, hot packs devised by Sister Kenny. Mom would put them in the pressure cooker, pick them up with tongs and put them on my back to loosen it up. In a few days they stopped that as it was boiling my blood. Therapy was no picnic either, after things have not moved for months, they don't want to. But we worked at it. In the mean time I was doing classes at home with an intercom system. I got to talk to the kids at school and take part in classes. We had an exchange student from Belgium that year, he came to the house to see who was on the other end of the box, nice meeting him. His name was John and his uncle was royalty in his country. Well, the year went on, and one day I heard the doc tell mom they were going to get a wheelchair and help me learn to get around with that, the legs were not doing too well. I was not happy about that, and my sisters started coming down at night and helping me stand up by the bed. When the doc came back and saw I could do that, they fitted me with a long leg brace and crutches and I became mobile again. Sort of. At least by fall I could do well enough to go back to school. So my senior year, dad went back to high school to get his GED. We graduated together at Pine Wood Bowl. About half way through the year in Chemistry class, I got to know a kid named Dick. I was walking to school and home, about 18 blocks, carrying books and my violin. So when he pulled up beside me one afternoon and asked if he could take me home, I said yes. We started dating, what sort of dating we were allowed then, which was visiting each others houses for supper with parental watching. Plus 2 sisters that hung over the bannister and giggled at us. By the end of the year, we were talking about a future. I started to the U of N, and he went off to basic training in the Air force. College was a challenge, lots of distance between buildings, and I was not fast enough to get to class on time. I struggled the first semester, and dropped out. No motorized wheelchairs of accommodations for handicapped were available then. After a short time, I found a job at a new store opening in down town Lincoln, and rode the bus to work everyday, that was a fun job, at Hested's Jr department store. And I had a paycheck, which was helping put away money for a wedding and future. But down the road a few months, I fell going down the stairs to their basement and crunched the metal brace into my ankle, messing it up big time. Took a big cast to make it start healing. So I was married when Dick came home on leave and I wore a white cast with my white wedding dress. It was still a nice wedding, have pictures stashed away to this day. After the wedding, we loaded up the car and headed to our first base, in Amarillo Texas.