Posted in 2023, family, Memories

What It Was to What It’s Become

Posted on by nancyb422
Twin, Janice, Twin Summer 1963

I can look out my family room window and almost remember this sight with the blanket on the lawn for us, the chicken coop foundation in the background, and the mother of all maple trees.

There was a kiddie pool in front of us where we had car tire-sized inner tubes (remember those black ones with the stem that would scratch you if you weren’t careful?!)

Clothes hanging on the line to the left, extending from the house to a dead tree. I’m not sure how the tree withstood the loads of laundry for so many years!

The driveway was gravel and every summer we toughened our feet up walking down it “ouch” -ing and “ooo” -ing all the way.

There was an apple tree with a swing where I received my first bee sting as I was swinging and swatting at the bothersome bee. THAT hurt!

The old chicken coop foundation was ground level and the sides gradually got higher as the ground dropped away. We would run around until we got to the back and walked very carefully around.

Against the back wall was Rhubarb that grew wild (as did asparagus in another part of the yard!). When it was ripe, we’d get a baggie of sugar, tear off a stalk, and scoop up the sugar. I guess that’s where I got hooked on sugar!

All of it’s gone now – the foundation replaced by a 2 story garage, the mother of a maple tree removed because of disease, the clothesline, and the pool.

The gravel became asphalt but is once again gravel as my husband has turned the space out the back door into his garden sanctuary and we’re spending more time in the space I spent growing up.

Garage that replaced the chicken coop; maple tree that has now become the mother of maple trees
Posted in 2023, life

What’s Your Why?

Posted on by nancyb422

A blog I follow has a calendar for the month of May with one small task to complete each day.

May 1st is “Write Your Why”. SUCH A LOADED QUESTION!

I attempted to write it this morning but I didn’t get far. I took it as “Why do you live your life the way you do” and with that, I focused on myself. I described my why about being good to myself, to feel happy mentally and physically. It’s been an effort over the years to quiet my internal critic. I continued to think about it, feeling like maybe I’d lost the Why, because I have spent 35+ years focusing on my husband and son, and the clients in our business.

I googled it this afternoon and ran across a TED Talk by Johnson McDowell. He is a teacher in his 40s with a wife and young son and he was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. It was caught early enough, a small tumor, and he was able to have Whipple surgery and is now on chemotherapy. He gave a talk, “Know Your Why”.

I was close – because the why is not a thing, the Why are the Who. The Who(s) you get up for every morning, live for, love. They are your spouse, children, parents if you have them still, siblings, and friends you haven’t seen in years. The second Who are the people in your life – in his case students, in my case everyone who makes our business work so well like employees, clients, vendors, and trade partners. That Who can also be myself as I originally wrote!

Now that I know my WHY are all the WHOs in my life, I will work to show them love and kindness. I will reach out to friends and family I have lost touch with. I will be of service to people who need me. Not only will I treat others with love and kindness, I will treat myself with love and kindness because I am definitely part of my why.

Posted in 2023, Writing

My Winding Down

Posted on by nancyb422

I’m putting in less hours a day in our office but they can still be pretty hectic!

It’s weird but I find it soothing to organize at home!

I’ll usually go up to my room and put clothes away, organize shoes, and sort through my closet if I see a need.

Posted in 2023, Books

Unaccustomed Earth

Posted on by nancyb422

I fell in love with every story in this book, Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I read Interpreter of Maladies but no other of hers since then. Shame on me because she is an incredible writer!

Most intriguing were the final three stories – they were a trilogy! First in one voice and then in another and then….read it and you’ll see.

I seem to find takeaways from books lately and in one story I found it. A character says, “…grieving freshly for my mother as neither my father nor I had done. Being with her through her illness day after day had denied us that privilege.”

That is something I’m unpacking in my Seasons of Betty series on my blog centered around family and, for me anyway, it spoke such truth to my memories of that time that I reached for my phone to take a picture so I wouldn’t forget it.

If you enjoy short stories and stories about families, I recommend this and I’m going to catch up on all her other books that I’ve missed since reading Interpreter of Maladies!

Posted in 2023, family

His Yellow Boots

Posted on by nancyb422

From the age of 2 until 5, my son wore these yellow boots nearly every day rain or shine, summer or winter.

They were bought to wear with his Batman Halloween costume which he wore every weekend from 2 to 3 years old. But even after the costume no longer fit, the boots lived on.

I even bought a second pair when he started to grow out of the first. I guess I was as much to blame for the constant use!

I lent them to a family friend and when they were done, they sent them back and they’ve stayed in the cedar chest with a few other treasures of his childhood.

Posted in 2023, Books, Writing

Make Me a Time Traveler!

Posted on by nancyb422
Daily writing prompt
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
View all responses

If I could be a character from a book or film I would want to be a time traveler in one of Connie Willlis’s books! Doomsday Book, Black Out, or All Clear. To examine the past and travel back to the middle ages or WWII would have been amazing to explore and bring back information to use in their research.

Sometimes it was scary being in the middle of the plague or the bombings in London but they made it through.

Posted in 2023, family

Spirits Watching Over Us

Posted on by nancyb422

I’m always amazed at the way the spirits show themselves to me. Whether through a medium or expressing their presence directly to me.

717 is my special number because it’s the month and day our son was born. Whenever I see these numbers – especially on the oven clock! – I say “I see you my family!”, knowing that the spirits are with me.

Yesterday we were in the attic moving a heavy cedar chest away from the top of the stairs so the HVAC people could get up there and put their unit upstairs.

It’s bittersweet because we’re getting central air for our 2nd floor which gets incredibly HOT in the New England summers we have, but the money comes from the sale of my father-in-law’s home in California. He passed away in October and this was something we knew we needed in our home and in our son’s and daughter-in-law’s home.

After we moved the chest away, I saw a piece of paper on the floor where the chest had been. I picked it up, turned it over, and saw THIS and got chills. It’s my handwriting but that chest has been in that spot for about 5 years after the attic was cleaned out and insulation was put down on the floor!

There’s only one explanation – my father-in-law is acknowledging the 110+ temperatures we endured with him when we were there last August and he’s saying “I got you – you’re welcome”.

Posted in 2023, Writing

I Can’t Do It!

Posted on by nancyb422

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was five I don’t think there was a thought in my brain as to what I wanted to be when I grew up!

I knew what I wanted to DO when I was 5…I wanted to learn to tie my shoes and show my teacher so I could get the award she gave out! She has them for everything! Knowing your address, phone number, line leader, milk distributor and they were so cute written out in her teacher printing.

But boy did I have trouble! I remember my mom teaching me and my twin. The problem for me was they were both right handers and I’m a leftie! I just couldn’t get it. My dad’s a leftie, but I don’t remember any help from him!

Finally, we had to resort to the Bunny Ears method. Two loops and put one over the other. It was acceptable, and I received my reward.

Posted in 2023, family, friends, Writing

Falling Leaves and Chill In The Air

Posted on by nancyb422

What is your favorite type of weather?

I love fall in New England because it brings about the weather that brings back memories.

It brings me memories of Columbus Day off from school where the weather started out chilly but it would warm up quickly. It was our first holiday off in the school year. Six of us would borrow as many bikes as needed and ride out across town to a dairy restaurant for ice cream. it was a thrill to get from the town to the farm area and feel the heat off the road and the wind in my hair.

It bring me memories of sunny Sunday afternoon Pop Warner football games when our town had enough pre-teens to field enough football teams to play against each other. Warm enough still for no jacket in the afternoon, but “you might want one just in case”. My dad would bring us, either on bikes or walking, to the park where they played and see them out of the classroom and in their “other lives”.

It brings me memories of blue sky so bright it hurts your eyes on a warmer than normal Saturday afternoon. If you pause, you can feel the chill lurking behind the warmth. Those days were spent on the sidelines cheering on my high school football game. Loudly encouraging the fans to cheer and the team to score. There was excitement and anticipation in the air as you looked for friends in the stands waiting for the teams to play.

It brings the memories of the nighttime chill with a drop of heat of the Indian Summer still lingering. I would think, “I just have to be outside”. I would put on my heaviest sweater and just walk, look at the stars and feeling so alive. Feel like I could do anything, that there were so my opportunities coming.

I love fall for it’s memories.

Posted in 2023, life, Writing

On the path to my career I met….

Posted on by nancyb422
Daily writing prompt
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

I always enjoyed typing, in fact, I taught myself to type on my aunt’s portable typewriter typing out poems while sitting on the floor in my room probably in my very early teens.

I took my first typing class my sophomore year of high school and that is when I met Mrs. Shirley Shadish. She was young-ish and I thing her husband also taught in my high school. Taking typing, I realized I was really good at something. I moved on to the continuing classes and also took shorthand with Mrs. Shadish in my junior and senior year. I think she liked me because I was eager to learn and in turn she encouraged me to keep it up.

This was in the 1970s when there were actually 2 year secretarial degrees! I went to college and received my degree. I never used shorthand after I graduated from college but I still love typing and I put that to good use over the 40 years I have worked in businesses – others and my own.