Happy belated anniversary to my baby sister. She's been married for 8 years.She was my flowergirl when she was 7, and dreamed of her own Christmas wedding ever after. So she went with the last day of November when the church was decked out much like mine, but chose not to do the stress of the week of Christmas like I did. She is smarter than I am, by a long shot.
Today is the Parents' Luncheon for graduates at our daughter's university. I am taking another mom who doesn't know her way around too well, and meeting up with Sarah and her friend, Kelly. We are stopping by my hubby's office near the school so that he can drive the five of us. He is the guy you want at the wheel when you need to get from here to there, with a path that includes one-way streets, four-way stops, metered parking, parking garages, high heels, cold temperatures, and a big campus.
He left the house wearing a suit and Sarah asked, "Why a suit, Dad?" He answered dryly, "Somebody's gotta look good." Well, he does. I just love a sharp-dressed man. My daddy always made a suit look good, so I guess I'm partial to the "professional uniform" that includes a starched shirt and silk tie. And cufflinks for the finest occasions!
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Speaking of my daddy, I had one of those flashbacks today of a Christmas past. I was remembering when I was about 10 or 11, and had not a dime to my name, but wanted so badly to be able to buy presents for my parents. Daddy gave each of us girls $10 to shop with, and we bought him what he always asked for and raved about with "gush overkill" such as I've never been able to duplicate. What was the gift? Socks. Boot socks to wear with his cowboy boots. He wore cowboy boots with his suit because they supported him better than regular shoes. What I think of, looking back, is how his gesture of giving money to us so that we could have the joy of giving back, was such a picture of how our Heavenly Father operates. We have nothing without Him, not even one breath. But He gives to us, and it's His joy to receive back from us our piddly offerings of love, and I do believe he "gushes" over our mortal attempts to bless Him.
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My husband came home from work on Friday, changed his clothes, and then--without announcing it and without even so much as eating first, he began moving all the furniture out of the family room and then steam-cleaned the carpets. I don't know where he gets his drive. "Friday night" and "carpet cleaning" don't belong in the same sentence. At least not in my book. But he writes a different bo
ok, which is why he is so successful, I guess ."Work before play" is his motto, and I usually get it reversed. You know, to balance him? He decided while he was at it, to run the machine through the living and dining rooms also, so his sidekick rearranged her schedule and chairs to accomodate his ambition. I like the results. The dog doesn't. The Man declared, "No more tennis balls in the house! Look at this dirty water!" :(-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My sister Andrea had to put her dog to sleep a couple weeks ago. Wyatt was part yellow lab, part German Shepherd, and part greyhound.Three days before her birthday they let him go. He'd had bone cancer that was making his right front leg useless and extremely painful. They took him to the vet to see about amputating it, but the vet looked at the x-rays and saw that the cancer had spread to Wyatt's lungs and liver. They sedated him for the x-rays, and while he was calm and peaceful, Andrea and her hubby made the gut-wrenching decision to go ahead and put him down. Making him take another trip home would be agonizing for him. Making that awful ride back to the vet when it "was time" would be agonizing for them. So sad. Wyatt was the dog that her hubby got as a puppy when he returned from his deployment. He was very much a part of the healing process, and he was a heck of a watchdog, which is what every law enforcement officer wants as a sidekick.
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I decorated the tree all by my lonesome this year. No one wanted to help.
My parents are not celebrating Christmas for the second year in a row because "it's pagan." But unlike last year, I am not letting it "get to me." I have grown in the area of accepting what is, and respecting that other people don't owe it to me to keep traditions that I value. Am I sad and hurt? Yes. Do I still whine about it? Sure. But I'm not letting it zap my joy like it did last year. That was miserable.
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I have seen everything. My oldest son came home from a weekend in New Jersey where he'd gone clothes shopping at Syms in Philly. Syms is one of our all-time favorite stores. It's going out of business, so he seized the opportunity to buy some pants and shirts for work. And get this: a pink silk tie and pink shirt. People, can I tell you that my men have been anti-pink for as long as they've been alive, but now, NOW that one of them is taking a bride who LOVES pink, and is having him wear PINK in the wedding, well, he was rather sportin' it last night. "Mom, do you think this is too much pink?" And since he already had it on, I kept my mouth shut. No matter what I said, he would stick with his own opinion. He's like me that way. He really just wanted me to say, "No, it's not too much. You look great." And he did. Pink washes him out, but what mother can't see the handsome in any color?
That's it for now. I think my vehicle needs a vacuuming before I chauffeur anyone around in it.
I've had my "play before work" motto fulfilled at this point, so off I go. Have a happy Monday! I plan to.
4 comments:
I love a man in a suit too. My hubs loves to wear a suit and even though his office doesn't require suits he's gotten his whole team on board with tie Tuesday. All the guys wear a tie on Tuesday. Not required but its fun.
Enjoy your luncheon today...does she graduate this term? We were super excited to make our final tuition payment last week as ours graduates in May.
Glad you are keeping your joy this year!
This is her last week of student teaching and she is both sad about that (loves her kindergarteners) and eager to get on with a job that pays! The graduation itself is in early January and she has a 4.0 ! Summa cum laude--I do love the sound of that! Two down and two to go for college!
Good for you, establishing your own traditions. Parents often feel that their way of doing things is the only way. As a parent, I learned that my children need their own traditions, and I try to accommodate them. Some of the things they do are different, but it makes them happy, which should be a parents desire. I never want them to feel obligated to me.
Oh, I love a man in a suit too and Hubby looks mighty fine in one and wears one frequently. And, along that line, "real men wear pink." I saw that on a T-shirt a couple of years ago and I loved it.
Sorry about your parents but glad that you aren't allowing it to dampen your spirits.
Sounds like you had a busy, busy day. Bet you were a tired Momma this evening. :o) Blessings!
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