Thursday, January 22, 2015

A time to laugh - Part 1

It's been over a month now.  Seems like yesterday -- seems like years ago.  I still don't know exactly how to function everyday.  Seems like every day brings something that needs done, or something that needs thought about or decisions that need to be made.  If it were for anyone else, I would be calling mom and dad and asking, "Is this the right decision?"  But -- I can't.  One of our favorite sayings here at the shelter is "put your big girl panties on."  We tell each other that all the time!  Sometimes you just have to step up, make a decision, hope and pray it was the right one, and stand by it, no matter what.  Easier said that done.

But in the midst of all my downheartedness, I decided it was time to find a reason to smile or to laugh -- at least just a little.  So I thought I would down on paper things about my family that might not be known that make me smile.  It would be easy to start with the kids -- but I thought I would start with Dennis.

I hadn't really thought about it much, but he was around my mom as a "mom" for right about as long as he was his mom.  His mom died when he was 32 and he had known my mom for 30 years.  That's hard to imagine!  So he and mom had a really good relationship.  Actually, I had told her and my dad that I thought they liked Dennis better than they did me.  Funny......I don't remember them ever telling me that I was wrong!!  LOL 

Dennis spent a lot of time with dad -- they seemed to be able to get in the worst shenanigans ever!  They would occasionally let me and mom tag along.  There was one night in particular that we were coon hunting.  Mom and I were in the truck and dad and Dennis had went to get the dog.  When they came back, you could tell something had happened.  That's when the story started about how they had seen Moses' "burning bush."  Mom and I accused them of hitting a little bottle while they were gone, but they both assured us it looked just like a burning bush.  Probably some kind of glowing bugs, and maybe you just had to be there to witness their faces, but it was priceless.

Then there was the time that we were headed to a pageant in Ft. Smith.  It was coming a really bad storm.  We were driving on the state highway instead of interstate that day -- just taking a scenic route.  All of a sudden, the sky turned pitch black.  Tornado sirens were going off and the rain was POURING down!  Poor Dennis couldn't see for anything!  Mom was in the backseat begging him to stop -- in the middle of the road, no less.  Of course, he didn't -- but she was so scared.  We have had many laughs with her about that day.

Mom loved her flowers -- ALL of them!  When Dennis would mow her yard, she always reminded him not to mow down her flowers.  I don't think he ever did -- at least not on purpose, but it probably wasn't too far in the back of his mind.

We were driving to Harrison the other day and Dennis told me about a couple of years ago when we took our camper to Branson for the week.  Mom came up and stayed with us, of course.  But then Dennis decided he was going to come back home and go to work for a few days.  I expected mom to stay up there with me as she had done in the past but she decided if Dennis was coming home, she would just come home with him for a few days and then come back with him the next weekend.  He said on the way home, they saw an elk in the field.  She had never seen one except on TV.  So he pulled over so she could look at it for a bit.  He has always been so patient and kind with her, and for that, I'm grateful.

As I said in an earlier post, one of us always looked at her house before we went to bed at night to see if she was up, had a light on, etc...  I noticed last night as we went to bed, Dennis opened up the curtain, looked over towards her house, turned the light off and went to bed.  Habits are hard to break.....

Next blog......Greg.....