I heard a new story from Dad about their childhood garden.  Apparently at one point they had land or rented land, 40 acres!!  It was to garden on and then sell the excess produce.  This was in addition to the garden they had at their house, approx an acre or so.  And then I think there was some other small plot of land with produce.  When I started the tiny pool garden at the house with tomatoes and peppers, Dad said “the best smell in the world is tomato plants when they’re growing.  You could go out in the garden and pick them off and bite into them like an apple.”  Sounds like I should have grown up in that time and gotten pro tips on gardening! :-)

Little E

I thought Elizabeth was the most beautiful baby's I had ever seen. She had delightful rolls on her thighs and even her arms! She loved to laugh and when she got to be a toddler she loved to take a bath and make bubble castles.

She always spoke normally as any child of a Midwesterner should with not accent until she went to kindergarten. Her teacher was a southern belle grandma and within two weeks Elizabth came home with her own deep southern drawal!

Melissa 5th bday

There was once time when kid's birthday partys took place at the family home. Perhaps money for not so plentiful or perhaps parents did not realize they needed to outdo so and so's party since this was a pre instagram era. At any rate, for my 6th (ish) birthday, I had a birthday at home with all my neighborhood friends over. The most important things i remember from that birthday was the shock and delight that the picnic table and two long benches were brought in from outside and put in the bottom of out split level house (I had no idea that Could be done!!!) And the beautiful Barbie birthday cake mom made. Big dome shaped cake to resemble her dress and Barbie stuck right down in the middle. I was thrilled!

Oh brother!

It must have been about 1976, mom, dad, Brian and I  had been in the car for hours. Brian and I were in the backseat of the 1970 green pontiatic. We must have been moving  to North Carolina. Mom was just trying to keep us quiet so we wouldn't drive dad crazy. My job was to learn to tie my shoes. Brians job was to be a big brother and annoy his little sister. Brian figured out I didn't like the smell of his grape bubble gum so he proceded to lean over as far as possible (invading "my" half of the back seat) and get within inches of my head. He then blew his sugar laced puple breath directly in my face again and again. Brian  thought it was funny and laughed.... I still don't like the smell of grape bubble gum.

Dad

As dad reflects on his past, he has shared some stories of his time on navy ships and flying.  To me, it’s wild that dad used to fly planes at all, let alone land them on ships.  I would like to learn more about this part of his past or hear more stories and what he thought of it.  I guess it’s true how people sort of always think how they think because when he talks about his past and how he reflects on things it still feels like a similar vein as how he process things now.  Anyways...he was telling a story about how there was a flight that some of his pilot friends were on and somehow his name and his friend was on the manifest.  Dad and his friend were on shore that day so they were unaccounted for and believed to be on the plane also or supposed to be. Apparently there was an issue with their friends flight and either they disappeared or crashed into the water etc. and no one survived. But for a time it was thought dad was on there too.  Fortunately, the manifest turned out to be wrong, but it was a very emotional thing to process; his other pilots death, the possibility he could have been on that as well, etc.  Quite crazy to consider all the alternative scenarios possible.