Journal Excerpt: January-February 1985

Tami was the captain of the cheerleaders for the first game.

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Jan 8--Started Ryan on whole milk.

Sunday, Jan 13-- Ryan clapped his hands during singing 

Ryan keeps busy now clapping his hands. 

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Sunday, Jan. 20--Mom I. for lunch--leftovers. Kaley to Megan's; Todd to Jay's; Doug and Tami to Hill's--Super Bowl; Mom and I put a puzzle together.

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Monday, Jan. 21--Mom in town: Cinnamon buns and boiled dinner!

Alicia was so funny--she did everything Grandma did. She pulled her little chair right up next to Mom's chair next to the fire to eat and read books. She crossed her legs just like Mom. She helped Mom make cinnamon buns and rolled out and cut her own.

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Ryan sits up now from a lying position. I walk into his bedroom and there he is sitting up--it shocks me every time.

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I was rubbing lotion on Alicia's legs and I called them "sweet little legs". She said, "I love these legs."

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Ryan straightens up on his back legs when he's on all fours so it looks like he's going to stand up. He stays that way for quite a while--it looks so funny.

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Todd was having a problem with Mrs. A, his new teacher. I talked to her on the phone; she admitted she was wrong, and we set a date for the three of us to talk on Monday.

Todd said, "I'm really nervous about this."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because when people say they are sorry, they usually hug you."

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February 1--Tami and Todd's stories chosen for Language Arts

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Monday, February 4--Todd played his first basketball game

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Feb. 5--Ryan "walked" while Doug held his hands

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Feb. 5--Kaley won the Spelling Bee to compete in Language Arts

Feb. 7--Ryan crawled a little at Grandma Hill's--also waved when we said "hi".

Doctor's appointment with Dr. Goodman 21# 4 oz.

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At one point we told Alicia her birthday was pretty soon. The other day she stated with great resignation, "Pretty soon is a long, long time."

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Ryan crawls now, but he looks like a dying man in a dessert crawling to a drink of water.

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Ryan discovered his tongue. He sticks it out and plays with it every time he laughs.

He recognizes his name now.

He crawls all over now. He crawled into Dad's study and started chewing on the filthy crud in the Rainbow basin. Poor Dad--he had to pull it out and clean Ryan up. Ryan had his four teeth brushed for the first time!

 

A Sound to be Detested

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. It made me 1) want to hop on a plane to France or 2) at the least, open a bottle of French wine. The following excerpt describes my on-going love/hate relationships with the telephone:

"We got home to find the telephone ringing. It is a sound both of us detest, and there is always a certain amount of maneuvering to see who can avoid answering it. We have an innate pessimism about telephone calls; they have a habit of coming at the wrong time, and they are too sudden, catapulting you into a conversation you weren't expecting. Letters, on the other hand, are a pleasure to receive, not least because they allow you to consider your reply. But people don't write letters anymore. They're too busy, they're in too much of a hurry or, dismissing the service that manages to deliver bills with unfailing regularity, they don't trust the post. We are learning not to trust the telephone, and I picked it up as I would a long-dead fish."
                                           --From A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

Making Waves!

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CM Unit E-mail Explaining Retirement Plan--April '08

As you know, last August I made the decision to become a CM hobbyist so for the past months I have not been holding get-togethers or recruiting, I’ve just been servicing my existing customers. I’m a new product junkie, so I have thoroughly enjoyed each unveiling of the latest and greatest CM products.

It has become clear to both my husband and me that the year 2008 is the year that I should hang up my Creative Memories hat. The bottom line is this: it is simply time. My plan at this writing (keeping in mind that it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind!) is to place my last order in November. That would mean that I would officially lose my consultant status in February.

February will be just short of my 19th CM anniversary. It would be fun to wait and celebrate my 20th but, as I said, it is simply time.

It’s almost impossible to imagine my life without my CM business; in fact, it’s very emotional for me. I’ll start to think that maybe I could wait a couple more years, but then I remember: it’s simply time.

I will take it easy during the summer, like I do every summer, so I can enjoy all the family activities that a family my size is involved in, then I’ll come back strong in the fall and wrap up my career during the season of thanksgiving.

I hope that the weather in your town is as exquisite as the weather here in Newark Valley. Blissful!

I’ll be back,
Nancy

Small-Town Girl

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Day Two--The Journey Continues

Desperate Prayer of the Day by Doug: Please make this Route 395, even if it wasn’t before!

--10:40am. We were traveling through our old haunts in Maryland where we lived with our two little ones from 1971-1974. We kept exclaiming over highway signs that announced Silver Springs, Andrews Air Force Base, Beltsville, New Carrollton and Annapolis. We felt young again. It felt good.

--11:00am We saw the top of the capitol building! It still evokes pride and awe in us.

--Doug had been surprised when the GPS had insisted on going through Washington, DC, but so far (in spite of his declarations of disagreement), it had not steered us wrong. But through Washington, DC?! And, then, right in the middle of a dubious part of town, the TomTom went to sleep! That’s right—it closed its weary eyes, gave a soft snore, and the screen went dark. I repeat--right in the middle of a dubious part of Washington, DC.

Obviously the GPS needed to be recharged. There was a McDonald’s on the corner, so we fought our way through DC traffic and pulled into the parking lot. No one in the entire restaurant spoke English, so no one could tell me if they had Wi-Fi. Since I saw no sign advertising this service, we decided to use the bathroom and leave. That is, until we learned that they charged to use the bathroom; there was no way we were going to pay cash for that privilege!

Grumpy now (for more reason than one), we tightened our seat belts and pulled out into the unknown. I have to say that my husband is amazing. By instinct and vague memories of years past, he was able to navigate through the streets of DC. Eventually he breathed the Please make this Route 395, even if it wasn’t before prayer and we were on the highway. By 11:30 we crossed the border into Virginia, and I must say, a Welcome to Virginia sign has never looked sweeter.

Day Two

Saturday, February 26

Quote of the day: “Every so often I need OUT; something will throw me into total disproportion, and I have to get away from everybody—away from all these people I love most in the world—in order to regain a sense of proportion.” A Circle of Quiet, Madeleine L’Engle

--We woke up early, packed the car and were on the road at 6:50, earlier than we had announced the evening before. We were heading to Todd’s to get the insurance card for our car, when he called to say that he was at that very moment in Ehret’s driveway with the insurance card in hand! [Now, that sounds like a Gilmore girl scenario.]
--We met him at McDonald's near his house and he patiently taught me how to text and how to answer text messages. [Who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks?]
--We were on the road again (Why does that phrase sound vaguely familiar?) at 8:10.

We’re off the to see the Wizard! The wonderful Wizard of Oz!

--And then started the love/hate relationship with the TomTom. First of all were the bongs that went off every time Doug exceeded the speed limit (you can just imagine how well that went over), and then there were the fairly frequent times when Doug disagreed with the directions the woman was giving him. (Once again, you can just imagine that whole verbal scenario.)
--I, on the other hand, was caught up in a lovely world created by Madeleine L’Engle. Doug kept talking to me, but I was completely oblivious. I finally had a decision to make: should I be a good wife, put the book away, and be involved with an on-going conversation with my husband? Or, should I remain immersed in A Circle of Quiet and completely ignore every wild animal—dead or alive—that my husband pointed out to me along the road? I agonized for a bit, and finally made my choice.

But, I’m not going to tell you which choice I made. I'll leave that up to you to decide.