family – Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2026, life

Bless the Caregivers

Posted on January 20, 2026January 19, 2026 by nancyb422

I have caregivers on my mind after writing about my grandmother over on It’s All About Family.

While driving home from church yesterday (maybe it was because of church?), I said a prayer for the CT Transit bus driver waiting to take a right turn with his bus at a very annoying corner. There he was on a Sunday morning, probably already out for a few hours, and who knows how many more to go.

Today, I stopped at Walmart on my way home and I saw a young man hoisting a folder up wheelchair to put in the back of his car. I looked to the interior and there was an elderly man waiting for him. Grandfather? Paying customer? Later, when leaving the store an older woman was pushing a carriage with a toddler and telling her husband with a can in his carriage to wait and she’d get the car to pick him up. Was the young child her granddaughter?

These caregivers, people taking care of family members, neighbors, or even strangers have my deepest admiration. It is not easy.

Caregiving for my mother when I was 27 was short and there was no traveling involved. Years after that was caring for my dad. It was helpful that his primary care doctor was at the assisted living facility. He was in a wheelchair and it was easier to get him up into my SUV than it was to lower him into a car! After he passed away, I took on the grocery trips and doctor’s appointments for my aunt, my dad’s sister. That started when I got a call from the school she worked. She became ill and was being taken to the hospital and I was her emergency contact! All of that involved a change to my routine, fitting something in, taking time off from work, or having my family fend for themselves while I was caregiving.

I don’t say all that for any pats on the back but I’m realizing how important it is to have “people”.

2026, Healthy Living, life

My Word for 2026

Posted on January 3, 2026 by nancyb422

Engage….

….with people, events, my faith, and dare I say, social media for our business.

More on that word later. Right now I’m heading off to “float” with my daughter in law. Hmm, engaging in something new with someone I’ve really been getting to know much better in 2025.

2025, family, life

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2025 by nancyb422

*My sweet mini Christmas tree and the morning sunrise*

Christmas Day, re-birth, a new beginning. Like a precursor to the new year. I’ll spend the week, contemplating the past year and the year ahead.

My husband and I have opened our presents, all purchased by me this past Saturday. Various candies we enjoy, a book, puzzle, and gift cards. Gone are the days of agonizing over what to buy because we spent so little on ourselves through the year, it felt like we “needed” everything. Now, we need nothing, want nothing.

Our son and daughter-in-love will come over mid-morning for a late breakfast and to exchange presents. I’m grateful they live a few miles away, and more grateful that they want to be with us in the morning.

After they leave, I’ll break open my new puzzle – White Mountain brand, Saturday Cartoons – and we’ll watch Arthur Christmas, which was recommended on my “Ordinary and Happy” December 25th Daily Planner. I was not successful completing any of the suggested items but Today is always a great day to start.

I hope your day is a blessed one where ever and how ever you spend it.

2025, family

Wedding Review

Posted on November 17, 2025November 16, 2025 by nancyb422

My niece’s wedding is over and we are back home. Although the venue was an hour 20 minutes away, for old folks like us, we’d rather stay over than drive home in the dark.

It was held in the area of Connecticut I love most, the northeast corner for the state, better known as “the quiet corner”. It happens to be the area where my college was located before it closed in 1980, so no wonder I love it!

We drove up to the hotel in Dayville, a Comfort Inn & Suites which was a very nice hotel and 10 minutes from the venue, checked in and headed off to Putnam to join my family from Maine at lunch. Putnam has gone from a New England mill town, to a rundown town with a K-Mart when I was there, to a destination for antique shopping, biking, hiking, and leaf peeping. There are 5 or 6 restaurants to choose from right in the main area of town, and plenty of parking, and the lots were filled when we arrive at 1pm!

After lunch we all headed back to the hotel to get ready. I had showered in the morning and had my hairdresser wash and dry my hair at her salon. That isn’t something I normally do, but I thought about it far enough in advance and she had time to do it.

We left for the venue – Pinecroft Estate with plenty of time to spare. They wanted everyone there at 3:30 to have everyone gather in the heated tent and proceed to the outdoor area for the ceremony. Being mid-November in Northern Connecticut it was chilly, and I was glad I had my coat!

It was a beautiful, and short, ceremony. My sister and her husband escorted my niece down the aisle and her sister was her matron of honor. We all got teary-eyed.

After the ceremony, the photographer had everyone, wedding party and approximately 90 guest, stand in front of the barn for a group picture. I stuck my head next to my sister so we look like conjoined twins in the picture!

Everything about the reception was perfect. The tent, connected to the reception barn, was beautifully heated and, of course, had sides to it. Inside was a couch and chairs, metal outdoor tables and chairs, and one of two bars. The hors-d’oeuvres table was here along with servers passing food.

Once we got into the barn, the festivities began! The wedding party and parents were introduced, the first dance was danced, and the speeches completed.

The efficiency of the staff was incredible. The servers blended in and were never in the way. The food was prepared in the house next to the barn and delivered 4 or 6 plates at a time. My husband and I had pumpkin raviolis in Sage butter sauce.

The wedding cake was a small one that the bride and groom cut, but for the guests there was a cookie table along with coffee and tea.

Once the dancing started, my son, his wife, and my nieces and nephews never left the dance floor! I don’t know how they do it! We especially enjoy watching my niece and her husband and told her it’s evident where her 6 year old daughter gets her theatrical nature.

We were there from 4pm to 9:30pm and we couldn’t believe how it felt so much longer! But the end rolled around and we got our coats and left. Some family members continued on in the hotel lobby, but my husband and I headed to our room.

We saw most of the family in the lobby for our hotel continental breakfast before we all headed home. It was so nice to be together and we will see most of them again at our family Christmas party next month.

*Family photo taken while family photo was being taken!*

2025, family

Wedding Bells Are Ringing

Posted on November 15, 2025November 13, 2025 by nancyb422

My first born niece is getting married today. The last of the five cousins to marry. There is only a 2 year span between the five, split between mine (1 boy), my twin (2 girls, one being the bride), and our 18 month older sister (1 girl, 1 boy).

My sisters had their first born daughters only 7 months apart. The last three are steps on a ladder with my son born in July, my niece born in August, and my nephew born in September all in the same year.

It’s been fun that they are so close in age, they all get along very well, and their spouses fit right in.

My sister was four months pregnant when I moved to California in 1987. The first time I met my niece was when my husband and I came back to Connecticut to get married in May of 1988 and she was 3 months old. It was love at first sight.

I’ll be thinking of that first meeting as she walks down the aisle!

2025, Healthy Living

It’s Special(ized)

Posted on November 9, 2025November 9, 2025 by nancyb422

Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased (not your home or car).

It’s a good thing I love to ride a bike because my most expensive personal item recently purchased is a new gravel e-bike I brought home in September. It replaced the first e-bike, a Salsa Confluence, I bought in February. It quickly became evident the Salsa was not up to speed (pun intended), for the rides our group takes. The Salsa was half the price as the Creo, had a smaller motor, thinner tires designed more for bike paths than dirt roads, and unfortunately for me on dirt roads with rocks, no shocks in the handle bars.

My new, best bike is a Creo Turbo 2 Comp with a 1.2 SL lightweight motor, and SRAM hydraulic disc breaks. A really crazy feature is the “etap levers” for changing gears. If you’ve ever shifted gears on a bike, you can hear it going on down at your feet as the chain moves higher or lower. Not this bike because it’s electric! There’s only a delightful little “click” as I press the right or left lever, and the chain makes its move on the cog.

It is worth every penny because my hands no longer ache after a 30 mile ride, I’m more comfortable and confident barreling down a hill, and I have more electric power for that hill at mile 27!

2025, Memories

On This Day In History

Posted on July 17, 2025 by nancyb422

A funny thing happened 35 years ago while trying to birth a bowling ball. It, I mean HE, didn’t want to come out!

The due date had already been adjusted and I was now a week overdue.

I entered the hospital at noon on a Monday, July 16th and was induced. It was all fun and (cribbage) games until the back contractions hit. I nearly broke my husband’s hand from squeezing it.

Finally around 5am, on Tuesday July 17th, after HOURS of no progression, the doctor said it was time for a c-section.

As they prepped me, my husband thought he was going to wait it out in the room. I said, “oh no, you’re coming with me!” And got gowned and followed me in.

I remember so clearly, the room, lying on the table, the sheet blocking my view from my lower half.

As the prepped me, I looked at the clock on the wall and said, “we’ve waited this long, can you take him out at 7:17?” They laughed and said No!

Our sweet baby was born at 7:06am on 7/17.

2025, family, life, Memories

A Sunday Morning

Posted on June 29, 2025 by nancyb422

This morning I sit in the spot my father occupied most evenings during the summer as I grew up.

In his webbed chair that glided back and forth, he’d sit with his cup of tea after dinner and watch the neighborhood go by. We might sit near by on the metal couch glider reading a book.

Was he surveying what needed to be done around the yard? Mowing the lawn was the main focus as there were no shrubs and the trees and bushes were growing “naturally”. He was not a man who enjoyed taking care of yard work and we three girls did our share of mowing the lawn (we enjoyed the exercise!). Or was he just enjoying the view, our company, and counting his blessings?

I know he would have sat here on a Sunday morning like I am as there would be a flurry of preparation for 9:15 mass. But after Sunday midday dinner, he’d be here listening to his radio with a ballgame on or country music, watching the neighborhood go by.

2025, life, Memories

KFC

Posted on June 21, 2025 by nancyb422

Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

I grew up in a traditional household in the 60s and 70s. Sundays involved the 9:15 mass, picking up newspapers (New Haven Register, New York Daily News, Boston paper) with the possibility of a comic at Boylans, and a stop at my aunt’s house before we were home. Once home, we read the papers, and waited for Sunday Dinner which happened anywhere between Noon and 2 p.m. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but some Sundays it felt like it was that late because everyone else was out playing while we were still waiting to eat!

Except for that rare Sunday when we got Kentucky Fried Chicken….

Kentucky Fried Chicken. There was a store across the street from our church that opened at noon. On those Sundays (usually during the summer), my mom would head back out to pick up a box or bucket. They would also get the cole slaw and mashed potatoes and gravy that went with it.

Oh that chicken! So crunchy and greasy. I probably ate it for the skin more for the chicken. You can have those big old chicken breasts at the bottom of the box or bucket! Give me a leg or thigh for that juicy dark meat. As a last resort, I’d eat the breast but I’d need a lot of cranberry sauce to wash it down.

My father would jokingly swear that the cole slaw tasted “just like ice cream” and I’m sure we choked it down. Not like now – I love cole slaw!

Stores still exist, but the one across from our church is long gone and it’s probably a good thing because, like anything else that tastes so delicious, that skin is not good for you!

The last time I had it was in 2022 when we were traveling in California to visit my father in law and we stopped to pick it up and bring it for a dinner with him. It was as good as I remembered it and I’m sure as I did every other time I ate it, I told my husband the stories of my families KFC Sunday dinners.

2025, family, Home, life, Writing

This Weather!

Posted on June 9, 2025 by nancyb422

Here in Connecticut, it has rained at some point during 15 consecutive weekends. Maybe one day, maybe both days.

When we moved back here in 1995, me, the Connecticut native, told my husband, the California native to expect at least one day on a summer weekend to be rainy. I think I did pretty good with that assessment. Overall, this has been a Really Wet Year and it doesn’t look like much is changing.

Now that we are in “summer”, the humidity rises. And falls. And rises. I can handle it but my poor husband suffers from the Jekyll and Hyde atmospheric pressures. Vertigo, sinus conditions, headache – he’s had them all!

Do you have constantly changing weather where you live?