Happy Heart Attacks

  This week's Slice of Life is Happy Heart Attacks.  Have you ever given some one a happy heart attack??  It's fun to do, you make paper hearts and stick them all over someone's door with a note to say thank you for what they do.  

This week we are to tell about a time when someone said thank you to us.  I have a drawer full of thank yous from my children.  Parenting is hard work.  It is nice to know you are appreciated and it can lift a parents heart.  Here are a few that I found. (click on the letter to make it larger, if you can't read it)

Even though David was compelled by a Sunday School teacher to write this thank you, it was very heart felt and appreciated and touched my heart.

 

This is a thank you that April sent to her Daddy.  Mike would tell our children stories at night, the name "Daddy Long Stories"  stuck when we were camping and he would tell these long long stories until the everyone would fall asleep.  I know it touches his heart to know his children enjoyed the stories.

Naming children can be really hard.  I'm so happy that Katie Rose loves her name!!  Katie was our most prolific letter writer.  I would find little notes from her all over the place.  I loved it!!

By the way, I had her fooled, I was no where as near magnificent as Katie thought.  Yet, those little notes would give my heart strength. And now she is a magnificent mother in her own right.

I love all the little tips Rachel would write to me.  This letter was written when she first went off to BYU!  It is interesting how children appreciate parents more when they leave the house.

Sometimes, we get thank yous from other people too.  I found this one thank you, that touched my heart.

It's from my dear friend Diane who passed away earlier this year.  I really miss her.  I'm so glad I saved this card as a little reminder of her. She was a great example of writing people little notes to say thank you. Or calling them and singing "I Just Called to Say I Love You".  I still have one of her messages on my answering machine.  Hopefully, it will never get erased.

One of our families fun Christmas traditions was being a "Secret Elf" to a family.  We would do a 12 Days of Christmas and drop off little treats and goodies along with a piece from a nativity set for the 12 Days before Christmas.  It was very hard not to get caubeght.  We did this anonymously and worked really hard to be sneaky.  Usually, we never heard if our efforts were appreciated or not.  One year however on Christmas morning early, when dropping off our last little gift, we found this note and picture on the front porch.

It was great to know that we brought joy to this wonderful family's Christmas.  If you are reading this blog and know this family, please, please don't tell them it was us.  It's been many years and I don't think they know and we like it that way. 

Sometimes we are thanked when we are trying to thank others.  That happened to Mike and I one year.  We were volunteering at a wheelchair camp at the University of California Santa Barbara that Evan had attended for several years.  We were just trying to give back and help those who make this camp such a success.   We were surprised with the Charlotte Colton Volunteer of the Year award. This almost gave me a heart attack!  So many people work hard to make this camp successful.  It was amazing they were recognizing us.

All these thank yous and many more really do touch my heart. It's the good kind of Heart Attack!! 

You can join Slice of Life by clicking here.  By the way, a big THANK YOU to Texasblu for starting Slice of Life. 

Twinkle Twinkle

Yesterday we spent most of the day at Stanford Medical Center for appointments with Evan. It was going to one of those days where our bottoms were going to get very tired of sitting.  At one point we had about forty five minutes between appointments.  So, we decided to walk the halls.   We walked past the surgery waiting room.  (My does that bring unpleasant memories, but that is another story).  There was a lady playing classical music on the harp, so we stopped for a few minutes to listen.  At one point a little family came up with a toddler in a stroller.  The harpist said, "let me play something she might know".  She started to play ever so softly and sweetly "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", while the child watched wided eyed.   As, I listened and watched, I thought how touching, just a simple little act of kindness, can gladden a heart.  It's was just a small thing.  

By the way, Evan is doing great!!  Both doctors we saw were pleased with how well things are looking.  We always like that good news. 

My Political Ancestor

Thanks to my wonderful husband we have made a very exciting family history find.  On Saturday I found this obituary for my Grandfather, John Thomas Crowley.  I had heard stories that he had served in a political office but didn't know which one. So, I was excited to see his obituary said he had served in Congress. 

click to make larger

While I was at a meeting on Sunday night, Mike searched Google and found some cool information to verify where my Grandfather had served. 

Here is the cover of a Legislative Souvenir from Massachusetts 1915.

Here is his picture on the bottom right hand corner. 

And these two pages have information regarding the service they provided. My grandfather John Thomas Crowley is on the bottom of the first page and top of the second page. This document includes what committees they served on and also how many votes they received.  It looks like there was 19 votes between him and his closest competitor a member of the Progressive Party.  

He also served in 1917,  I love the cover of this one!!  

You can find him in District Five. 

  I have often wondered why my Dad didn't seem to know much about what exactly his father did politically,  I can see now that it was because he was a little boy at the time.  I'm proud that as a first generation born American my grandfather was concerned enough about our country to serve in that manner.  

I never knew my grandfather, he had died before I was born. Now, I'm filled with questions.  What was it like for him to serve as a State Legislator?  What were his major concerns at the time?  Did it take a lot of time away from his family to serve in this manner?   I wonder if other descendants have or will follow in his footsteps in politics.  

You can find the whole 1917 document by clicking here.  Then chose PDF in the "see other formats" button on the left. The 1915 version is here. It has cool pictures of the meetings rooms for the different committees.  Wow, what would I give for a hard copy of one of those documents??? 

Communications

This week for Slice of Life, we are to share how communication has change in our life time.  That got my mind to thinking about this box:

I pulled it down off the top self in my closet and have been going through it off and on through this week.  It is filled with letters.  Mostly letters that Mike and I wrote to each other while we were dating and in the first few years of our marriage.  He was serving in the Navy at the time. We have hundreds of letters.(My children are forbidden to read them until we are both passed and gone, as it could prove to be embarrassing)  Letter writing was the best way and many times the only way for us to communicate in those early years of our relationship.  The box also has letters from family and close friends.  I thought I would share just a few examples.  If you click on them you can read them better if you are interested. 

  
 This letter is from my Aunt Gertie, my Dad's sister.  She is missing her husband Ray, but also expresses gratitude for her blessings.  That is a great example to me.

This letter is from my mother.  Whenever she bought a pineapple she would cut off the top and try to get it to grew in a pot.  I had forgotten about that, until I read the letter.  I also love how at the end, she says, she is "just trying to be a mother."  Our jobs as mothers don't end just because our children are grown and married.

This letter is from my brother Mike.  He wrote this soon after I was married. I'm not sure why I needed to R.S.V.P!!  If you want confusion in communication marry someone with the same name as your brother.  I would always have to clarify with my mom, which Mike I was talking about. 

This letter is from Mike's (my husband's) Grandma Pearl.  I had forgotten I even had a letter from her, so this was an extra sweet find.  I love having the signatures of Grandmas and Grandpas!!

This Thank You came from the sweet Elders who baptized us.  I loved the stamp with the Mission name.  We were able to meet up with Elder Barth a few winters ago and had a great reunion.  I had forgotten about this letter too.  I also found a wedding invitation from Elder Barth.   Oh, and if you are wondering who Niki is, that was our dog. 

Here is one of Mike's many, many letters to me!  This one seemed safe to post. It is so fun to go back and read these.  Hopefully, you are listening to "If", I added it to my playlist. 

And, of course a letter that I wrote to Mike.  Sometimes we would get silly and write backwards, or in circles or in many different colors like this letter.

In spending time this week looking over this treasure box of memories, I couldn't help but wonder about the next generation.  How do you save text messages, or Facebook posts?  It is sad that we are losing the art of communicating with letters.  I realize that I need to write more letters to my children and grandchildren so they can have something tangible to remember me by. 

Reminders

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about my mom. (Bless her heart, she passed away in July.)   The reminders are every where. From my favorite spot to read in the whole house, her blue recliner that sits in my bedroom,

to the spreader I use to butter toast, 

to the silly plastic frog the chirps when you walk by, 

 to the cactus that she had on her patio, that is amazingly still alive, I love how she was very creative in her plant containers,

To birds of all types, 

to the beautiful white china in my cupboard,

Even looking at my feet reminds me of my mom.  My big toe seems to be a little too cozy to the second toe.  My mom had really bad feet for as long as I could remember.  She had a pretty severe looking bunion, and always had problems with corns. She said it was because she wore pointed toe shoes when she was younger.  I have always been a very practical shoe wearer. So, guess what now I have a bunion too  It's mild for now.  So, I put on my shoes and I'm reminded of Mom.

I remember going for walks with Mom and she would complain if the sun was bright.  Being born with cataracts, the glare really bothered her eyes.  She loved walking in the fog.  I loved walking in the sun, it feels so good.  But, guess what?  I'm developing a cataract  and the glare of the sun now bothers me, and I know exactly how she feels.  Another reminder.

When mom walked she always carried tons of facial tissue for her very drippy nose.  Heaven forbid she forgot her "Kleenex".  Now I have to do that same thing.  Before I go out the door for my morning walk, I make sure I have plenty of tissue.  

There are many more, I could go on and on.  I'm grateful for all these reminders.  I never want to forget my mom. 

What reminds you of your mother? 

Costumes

I am behind a week on a Slice of Life.  Last week it was Costumes. I'm sure my children will remember the clown costume.  John is wearing it in this picture. 

 And Katie is wearing it in this picture. 

This costume would definitely win an award for best use of fabric.  The fabric in this costume started out as different projects I made when sewing as a youth.  I learned to sew in middle school and made several of my own outfits.  At one point I took those fabric scraps and made myself a patchwork skirt.   I wish I had a picture, but couldn't find one.  One Halloween I decided to make a clown costume and that slightly worn out patchwork skirt just yelled out to me, "Use me!! Use me!! I would make a great clown costume!!"  I'm not even sure who I made it for first, or how many of our children wore that silly costume.  It's still sitting in my costume box.  Who knows what will happen to it next??

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Reunion

A few weeks ago I wrote this blog post, Finding Family.  This weekend, I had a wonderful reunion with one of my newly found sisters, Gloria. 

Gloria and Cindy

 Evan and I drove down to Southern California and met up with Gloria and her husband Myron, at Steve's family's house.  Steve is their son, my nephew.   We enjoyed a yummy lunch together.  And, then chatted, shared stories and just got to know each other better. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.  Gloria shared with me some of her beautiful paintings.  She is very talented.  

Steve and Sue's children Ben and Annalise with Evan

Ben and Annalise were very kind to Evan and they had fun playing games together. 

Me, Gloria, Myron, Sue and Steve

This whole experience has been so amazing. It is hard to actually put my feeling into words.  It is wonderful to find lost family.  I would have never imagined this possible.  Now, I'm looking forward to meeting Ron and Barbara.  There are still two brothers, I need to contact somehow.  Wouldn't it be an incredible experience to get all of our family together in one room.  Gloria shared with me that our Aunt Lauretta at one point had told her three of our names and said that one day we would all meet!  That gave me chills. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a bigger reunion!