It was the winter of 1944. Dad was a young sailor home on leave, his first leave, after having spent the previous 18 months on a Minesweeper in the Pacific. He happened to be on a street car riding back to Minneapolis from roller skating at a rink in St. Paul, when my Mother and her friend, Kathy hopped on. Mother just remembers being face to face with this cute sailor in his dress blues, Navy pea coat and smoking a pipe with his Navy cap at a jaunty angle. The three of them had a pleasant chat during the 40 minute ride and he said he'd be going back to the South Pacific soon and would they care to write? It was widely regarded as patriotic duty to write the servicemen during World War 2, so both girls quickly agreed and he jotted down their addresses. He had to write first, since he didn't know his ship assignment yet. Dad/1944 He did write both girls and, for a time, Mother and her friend, Kathy would compare & discuss his letters together. ...
My life journey transitioned in 2020 when my husband of 38 years unxpectedly died in December that year. I was numb for months, yet still functioning thru day to day life. The Lord sustained me, granting me insights into my husbands death. Now, looking back aside from those high-points, that first year is kind of a blur. Of course, priorities changed. First thing I did, right after his death, was adopt a cat from a local no-kill shelter. (She picked me!) We had a plan to adopt anyway and I enjoy a cat for companionship. His death totally rearranged my life--I had to rearrange my daily routine, rearrange my house, my closets, my social activities... I'm still with the Navigators, doing ministry in the town I live in that's outside a military base, though now alone without my life partner. I don't have family in town or any children. So figuring out comfortable social activates to get myself out among human interaction became #1. I joined a a local garden clu...
T he Mama Kat writing challenge today is a "College Memory." After 4 years in the Air Force, I decided I was ready for college, so I was older then most of my fellow students, who were right out of high school. My first semester of college was in the fall 1980. The year John Lennon died. That alone sent a memorable wave of grief over the school population. I was enrolled in a 2-year Commercial Art program. It was a small country college. The class wasn't big. Maybe 20 students in my graphic art classes. I remember this one guy was obsessed with the band "KISS" and, anytime he could, he made them the center of his art. He was apparently great at drawing KISS; less great at anything else. My instructors were both commercial artists who'd worked in the field before becoming college teachers. Brad Rock was one of them. He was new that year. A blond, forty-ish guy taking on a room full of greenhorn artist wannabe's. One day that first semester,...
The Mama Kat blog writing prompt suggestion I'm doing today is, "tell us about the last time you went ice skating." Last time I went ice skating....? How about somewhere in the range of 45 years ago. I only ever went once. Once was enough. The Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis on the State Fair grounds hosts events and entertainment all year round ranging from concerts to livestock shows to Hockey. I remember seeing the Shrine Circus there a couple times and Holiday On Ice performances several times. Winter is Hockey season, though and the Coliseum floor gets a iced and is available for public ice skating during the day, skate rentals included. I think it might've been a 4-H club trip outing with several club members the time we went, since Mother & Dad were the leaders, plus my sisters and myself. I was in my teens. I did know how to roller skate well enough to mostly stay upright and circle around the rink with the rest of the crowd....
The Mama Kat prompt I'm doing today answers the question, "When was the moment you realized you were grown-up?" It was 1975. Vietnam had only been over a couple years and anyone in the military was held in low-regard in the public-eye. Even so, I joined the Air Force and left for boot camp in October of that year. My Dad drove me to the military enlistment center to Indianapolis on his way to work, hugged and kissed me good-bye outside and I went inside. After that I was on my own. I don't remember thinking about being grown-up at the time. I just remember feeling fairly nervous, but if I have to pick a defining moment for being grown-up, I would say being completely on my own at that point was it. After being sworn in, the recruiter herded myself & a couple other recruits to the airport for our flight to San Antonio, Texas. After that, there was no going back. I have fine and happy memories of Basic Training. We were still treated as "ladies...
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