Sweet memories

The photo on this page has remained one of my very favorites of Laura.  She was about 4 years old here.   I can still remember her running in the house, all smiles with a bouquet of dandelions she'd picked for me.  Remember your favorite pink corduroy overalls Laura?  You crawled into them every chance you got, and wore them totally out!

A random snapshot-

A forever memory

Any moms out there with small children?

Trust me.

I know how busy you are,

How frustrated you get

How there's not enough time

or money

I know how much laundry you have to do,

How dirty or cluttered your house gets.

I know how you just get one mess cleaned up and there

behind you is three more.

I know how miserable it is when you have sick kids

I know how difficult it is when YOU are sick and have kids.

I know how many meals you have to make, and how you just get one meal 

cleaned up from and it's time to make the next.

I know how you can't be on the phone, the computer or in the bathroom for a minute

before someone starts hollering for you, fighting, or disaster strikes.

I know how tired you can be and how much sleep you miss.

I know alot more than just this too.

I know how fast 30 years goes.

I know how many things really don't matter.

It's like being in labor.

You think you can't do it,

It's going to never be over--

Until that baby is placed in your arms

And you know how much it was worth it,

and time dims the memory of the pain.

And one day somehow you find yourself

in a far away place.

Somewhere you never expected to be

Because you never imagined your child there

Saying goodbye.

And realizing....

In spite of everything

They grow up 

in the blink of an eye.

Realizing that you don't remember

the work you left undone;

but  you remember moments

that you took the time to love.  

To play, to hug,

To read, to be silly.

To let them be little,

To let them sleep in the middle.

And to exclaim over a small dandelion boquet

cluched in grubby sweet little hands

by a barefooted, tousel headed little child

who just tracked mud all thru the house.

Again.

Who left the door open for the flies to come in,

and the toddler to escape out.

Again.

Who woke up the baby you just got to sleep

Again.

with a joyful cry of
"Look what I brought you mommy!"

Happy 30th Birthday Laura--With Love from your Mama

The time has come

"The walrus said..."

Now really, I have no idea where that saying came from, except that I remember my grandma Ruth saying it!
Anyway, it popped into my head when I was starting this post, so that's what I wrote!

3 years ago, the first of July our Daughter Laura went to Finland to live and work.
Without today's technology of cell phones, skype, internet--e-mail, blogging and facebook, I can hardly imagine how difficult it would be to have any of my children go so far away.  When I was a kid, "over-seas" was very very far away, and rather un-amaginable.
Today's technology and the ease/frequency of travel makes it a whole different scenario.  While it was still difficult to see her leave, I know it was no where near close to years ago when travel & communication was a very long and difficult process.

This was a couple months before I started blogging, so I'll post the pictures from then.

 Our family--at the airport to see her "off"...

Some of her co-workers who came

Goodbye's are a bit hard at best, and there's alot of distance & time with this one!

At least there was a smile for the last view before the gate!

*******
Last summer our 14 year old daughter went to visit her for 3 months, traveling by herself. (See here) I don't think I ever would have been able to send her alone without the technology!  She flew from Denver to Newark, NJ, and I saw her on the plane in Denver.  Laura was in communication with me via cell phone at the same time as tracking Meshayla's flight progress on the computer.  From boarding, to take off, to progress in the air. 

Meshayla called me as soon as they landed in Newark, and I talked to her as she went from her arrival gate, to her departure gate, both of us looking at the maps of the terminal that we printed off the computer.  She hung up after telling me she was on the plane, and Laura called to tell me that the plane had taken off.  She sent me updates via facebook telling me of her progress as long as it was available, & then called to tell me that the plane had landed, and Meshayla was safely on the "otherside" and by her side.

We worked it in reverse on her flight back home 3 months later.  Pretty much kept the whole "traveling on her own" thing bearable.  (And yes Lynisha and Relyssa, I know...I STILL had some moments...)

Anyway....a little side tracked with where this post was suppose to be going.... 

It's MINE....For the very first time, I have a passport.  Travel in my life has been very limited & I've never had a reason to get one before.

After much talking, persuading & figuring out plans, *I* am going to visit Laura!  Leon can't go as he dosen't have time off from his job available.
I applied for and got my passport in record time, still didn't know for sure who was going to go with me, I was NOT wanting to go by myself, and I was thrilled when my friend Ruthie said how much she'd like to visit over there, and I said "Would you like to go with me"? and she said "YES"!

(Raimie w/baby P. Gay,-- me, and Lynisha with our friend Ruthie.  We spent the night and had Sunday morning and noon with her on our way home from our trip to Longaberger country Ohio.)

I leave the middle of Sept, and will be gone for 3 weeks.
Now I have my work cut out for me.  Arrangements for kids.  Laundry done up.  Bills paid.  I have a convention to get ready for first, and then last but not least......
The all consuming question of WHAT CLOTHES DO I TAKE?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA DIANE!

May 19, 1981--The years pass so quickly! I was going to add come commentary here about remembering some things, and forgetting some things, but decided to skip that line of thought, as I know good and well that my children who read this would definitely comment on it, and probably not too complimentary to me....SO! Back to Laura's birthday! (Whew my 3 days have passed that I had a 24, 25 & 26 yr. old!)
Laura is #3 in our family. In many families, that would make her the youngest, or at least among the younger ones. In ours it makes her one of the "older" girls! When I was working on getting pictures together to post here, I was definitely having a problem scaling back. I wanted to use most all of them! I found so many of my favorites, and they brought back so many wonderful memories. I wish I had them all scrapbooked, but still working on that one.
Happy Birthday Laura, from each one of us! We're thinking about you, hoping you have a wonderful day and enjoy the memories in pictures! Love and hugs from all