Happy Anniversary...

Today would have been 65 years for my parents! My father has been "gone" for over 24 years, so they didn't get to celebrate their 50th, either. HOWEVER, today I'd like to HONOR THEM here!...I do believe it was a GOOD marriage. My Mom has a GREAT story to tell...and I'm always encouraging her to write it down. I am THRILLED to have known some of the details, but sometimes they aren't perfectly "remembered" by me.

My father was in the Panama Canal Zone with the U.S. Navy and met my mother there. She wouldn't date him until after he'd come into the card shop where she worked for nine months (maybe 8?). I LOVE seeing pictures and imagining them YOUNG and IN LOVE.

My mother immigrated with my father in 1945...about a year after they were married. They were expecting their first child who was born in December, shortly after their arrival to the "states. It was a boat to San Francisco and then a train to cross country and she was "with child".

I never met my grandparents in Panama and she never saw them again. She did return to Panama years later for a visit with her youngest brother and sister and a niece to visit her oldest brother still living there. Just wish I could have gone along, but $ and leaving my kidlets home were just not DO-ABLE. I wouldn't go without my spouse...THE BEST HUSBAND ANYONE COULD HOPE FOR!

My father "sponsored" three of my mother's sisters and one brother to come to live her in the USA with us. I was 5 yrs. OLD and had a "sort of brother" in this UNCLE...The older brother I always wanted and still love DEARLY today. My father did this without the need for my mother to "work" outside the home. She worked PLENTY inside! She canned, froze, sewed, cooked, cleaned, etc. for her own FIVE children AND for her siblings. She always provided and Christmas was always very special...even the year my brother was born when I was 7 yrs. OLD. She had warned us that Santa might not be able to "leave" as much that year! He(SHE) still came through. She made the nicest clothes and sweaters for us and she always had a PILE of toys and clothes for each of us under the tree! LUCKY US!

My father never skipped work. He provided well for us, though we didn't have a lot of money. He was a smiling and loving man who was also violent. I didn't have the BEST relationship with this man, but learned to accept and love him before he died. He told me he loved me and I was so shocked. I told him I loved him and that made me even more shocked...because I MEANT IT! The only other time I remember him expressing love to me was the day of my wedding when I came "tearfully" out to walk down the aisle. He said, "What the Hell's the matter with you!"...and I DID feel that was his expression of love!

You see, some families may not be SAYING love, but that doesn't mean they aren't FEELING it. SO...if you don't HEAR it...don't be so sure it's not there! I am now QUITE verbal about loving my adult children and wish I could have been more expressive when they were young.

My mother showed us love in her sewing, baking, cooking, shopping, ETC...I could go on. She wasn't real outspoken about anything. We knew she loved us though...she SHOWED it. We knew being good and doing well in school were important, but we never got much help from our parents. IT WAS OUR JOB TO GET GOOD GRADES AND TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE. We didn't ALWAYS do both, by the way. We knew what was right and what was wrong because we were taught!

We always went to church and learned more of this...and I was lucky enough to be in Girl Scouts for many years, where the message of right and wrong was also taught. This helped me to grow and learn, too. My Sunday school teachers and my Youth Fellowship leaders ALSO taught these things to me. MOST OF ALL, I learned that WHEN I "messed up" there's a GOD who forgives and who will never give up on me.

I continue to learn and grow...about GOD and about what my parents TAUGHT me. I recall things at my ripe old age of 60 yrs. (...not necessarily as well as I'd like. Some things from "farther back" come more easily.) I have parented and I've been parented...I've OVER-parented and I'm learning to GRAND PARENT without OVERDOING that, as well. It all takes time and lessons of life don't come easy. We never STOP learning and I SO APPRECIATE the things my KIDLETS are teaching me as they learn more about life from their perspective. We cannot be on the same LEVEL as PEERS, but we sure CAN learn a LOT from each other.

SO HAPPY ANNIVERSARY #65 to my "parental units" and I PRAY that my children and grandchildren can continue to learn from me and from my mistakes.

What do you think of this blog? Email me by clicking on the envelope below or comment if you like. I'D LOVE IT! And that's it for AlaneSays today!