Beneath the Wraps

On Christmas Eve, I opened a gift presented by my granddaughter.   The name of the book is “Grandmothers Are Like Snowflakes . . . No Two Are Alike” by Janet Lanese (who I believe refers to herself as “Grandma Jan”) and had started reading it before I went to bed and continued after I got up and after we opened presents.    It’s got a bunch of great thoughts and little proverbs and I started reminiscing with many quotes that I read – starting with myself. Some quotes come with full names.   Some are quotes taken from children in which first name and age of child are given.   One of my favorite quotes came from an eight year old named Tammy.   It says, “ I love my grandma’s wrinkles.  Every one tells a story ” – which is where I got the title of this post.      I don’t feel much like a grandma.   I haven’t been with Ester much to make a connection in which we are both comfortable in our roles.   She’ll be three in...

         I read this piece of trivia: “On November 23rd, 1889, the jukebox was invented by entrepreneurs Louis Glass and William S. Arnold. They called it the nickel-in-the-slot phonograph which is possibly the least effort we've seen put into the name of a product ever.” and was reminded of having seen jukeboxes on occasion.         Jukeboxes weren’t as popular when I was growing up, as I believe they were when my mom and dad were teenagers. But I do remember some restaurants featuring a single jukebox and one restaurant that allowed you to make selections from the table.   I also remember spending quarters (not nickels) for making a selection of up to six songs.   I don’t recall ever dancing to my jukebox selections – just having the music in the background.             There was a jukebox at Snelgroves for a short t...

         So often the weather forecast promises rain – and there are a few drops.   Sometimes we have showers that last almost twenty minutes.   Jenna and I will sit under the carport and watch the rain.   I love rain.            The promised rain always goes somewhere.   Often it is not received as a good thing.   It has caused the earth to moisten to the point of mud slide causing extreme financial damage –  not to mention has left some homeless.     Or having I-15 close – in the dessert of all places.   That’s just mind-boggling .          For me personally, Rain has always been a positive thing.   As I mentioned in this post , at least half my family vacations involved rain – not that we had planned it that way.   Dad always helped us to make the best of it, and we learned to acc...

            As Jenna and I were walking toward the school this morning, there appeared to be a car backing out of a driveway.   She took my hand and gripped onto a little.   “Death Grip?” I asked jokingly. “What does that mean?” she asked. I told her that her grip was really nothing but related the accounts of my dad’s “bone-crushing” death grip.   We called it the death grip anyway. As a child, I had always thought that my dad’s hands felt clammy.   Yet he was always holding the hand of one child or another.   He did it out of love and responsibility. By the time he was in his early 50’s, my dad had been the victim of several strokes – many which went undetected, as they were considered “mild”.   But with each stroke came the lack of communication between his brain and his muscles. His speech slurred more with every passing stroke – and although he knew exactly wh...

There was one year when Roland seemed to make more money than in previous years or even the ones that followed. He had managed to find a package deal through a travel agency and took us all to California just right after Christmas.   The boys were out of high school for the holidays.   Jenna was two. I have heard that between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the best time to visit Disneyland.   From personal experience, I know that between Christmas and New Years is the absolutely worse time to go. I remember riding the tram the first day we went to the park.   Jenna’s enthusiasm at riding the tram from the parking lot to the park was awesome.   All four of them were excited and enjoyed every moment. I’m not exactly certain why we had driven or taken the tram.   We spent two days at the park.   As I recall we just walked to the park the second day.  I know Richard and I went back to the hotel about four hours before...

     I decided I would take an early bus and get some snacks for the girls.      When I first walked in the store, I noticed the display set up for Mother’s Day.   A sign said, “Don’t Forget MOM” Tears welled my eyes as I thought, “I won’t.   I can never forget her.   I wish she were still here with us.”      After I purchased the snacks I went on my way and passed drug store advertising some kind of Shingle prevention shot – at least that’s how it appeared.   I thought about the commercial that advertises that if you have had the chicken pox the virus is already in you.        Mom told me that she could find only three chicken pox on my entire body.   It’s quite unfortunate that the worse case of chicken pox she had ever seen was that of my brother Patrick.   She said he had chicken pox on top of chicken pox all over his entire body.   She said he ...