It’s Hard for Him to Remember October 29, 2008
Posted by Deb in Uncategorized.Tags: Childhood, family, Memories, Petting Zoo
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He wishes he could remember more about his childhood, but no matter how hard he tries, memories before his teenage years practically eluded his mind.
He can remember a few though and the first one that comes to mind is just a small snippet.
He was in kindergarden and he remembers having to climb up some stairs. At the top of those stairs was a room filled with huge blocks that looked like the blocks on some of the homes in his neighborhood. Some buddies and he began building with these blocks and he was surprised at how light they were when they looked so heavy! What to build, what to build. They began piling block upon block and before long a fort was built. How much fun they had playing in that fort!!
His first real memory was one of taking a trip. One morning Momma woke him up an told him to get dressed. He couldn’t understand why she was waking him up so early, but he loved Momma and did what she asked.
After getting dressed he went through the house and smelled something yummy..breakfast!! Sitting down and eating quickly he wondered what was going on.
After breakfast Momma told him to gather up his things and get in the car. He could feel the excitment in the air and with each mile got more and more anxious.
Daddy was driving and Momma was sitting beside him. They were talking and laughing and he just couldn’t stand it any longer..
“Momma, where are we going?”
“You’ll see..”
Sitting back in the seat he wasn’t happy about the answer he received.
After a while Daddy asked him if he could read the sign that was in front of them.
He tried really hard, but right now all he could read was little words and this was a big word.
“No. What does it say?”
“Welcome to Michigan!”
Sitting back again he thought Michigan? We live in Indiana. He’d looked at the map of the United States in his classroom and he knew that they were in a different state. This wasn’t making any sense….
After a while, Daddy started slowing down and they pulled into this place called Deer Forest.
He asked Momma what Deer Forest was and she replied again, “You’ll see.” If nothing else, he decided that he didn’t like that answer to a question. Funny thing is, years later he would do that to his own children……
After parking, they got out of the car and paid for their tickets. Momma also paid for a big, colorful key. What in the world could a key that big be used for??
They walked through a gate and he walked into a fairytale!!! He looked around with big, wide eyes and couldn’t believe what he was seeing!! He saw Humpty Dumpty and Jack and the Beanstalk. He saw Old Mother Hubbard and The Old Woman in the Shoe. Scene after scene and they all looked like they jumped out of his rhyme books!! Daddy took the key and showed him how to put it into a box in front of each scene. When you turned the key, someone inside the box would start telling the rhyme!! It was the coolest thing he’d ever seen in his young life!
After the nursery rhymes there were a few rides you could ride on. Rides like he rode on at the fair, only smaller.
He was having so much fun that he didn’t notice his tummy rumbling, but when Momma suggested they sit down and eat the picnic lunch they had brought, he didn’t object! He can’t remember what they ate, but Momma was a good cook and she’d always taken such good care of him…he knew it was good whatever it was.
After eating they began walking again. They came up on a petting zoo. He wasn’t sure what that was, but after just a moment he knew. They actually let you pet the animals!! There were goats and rabbits and llamas and deer…hey!!…maybe that was why this place was called Deer Forest. There were alot of trees and here were the deer…made sense to him.
Daddy would take a quarter every now and then and put it in a machine that looked like a gumball machine at the dime store. When he would turn the knob, corn would come out instead of bubblegum. He would give it to his son and then the little boy would hold out his hand so the deer would eat out of it!! That was scary and exciting at the same time!! He was amazed that the deer would even come so close to him, much less eat out of his hand!
All too soon the day came to an end and it was time to go home. As they piled back in the car, he laid down in the back seat. It had been a wonderful day and he would remember this forever.
And he did…..
Her First Christmas Memory October 21, 2008
Posted by Deb in Uncategorized.Tags: Christmas, Santa Claus
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She doesn’t remember how old she was, she just remembers it was Christmas Eve and she was sleeping on the couch.
Her uncle was visiting and he was sleeping in her bed. She didn’t mind because if she slept on the couch, Mommy would leave the lights on on the Christmas tree and it was so beautiful!
The tree was so big! It was almost as big as Daddy, and he was a big man..
The tree was silver and when they were busy putting it together it would scratch her skin. Oh, it didn’t hurt..just felt a little funny.
She doesn’t remember shopping for it, but she does remember how big the box looked sitting in the livingroom floor. Mommy opened the box and took out all the pieces. That tree sure looked funny in the box, but Mommy promised that once they got it put together it would be beautiful….and she was right.
Once it was put together, Mommy began to put the lights on. They were beautiful!! Blue and red, green and orange and the best part was…they blinked!! She wondered how many other little girls had trees that blinked.
Then Mommy brought out this stuff that looked like shiny, red rope. They worked to get it wrapped around the tree, standing back every now and then, tilting their head one way then the next to see if it was even. She really didn’t understand what even meant, but she did understand pretty..and this tree was pretty.
Next, she and Mommy sat on the floor and put hooks on the most pretty ornaments she’d ever seen in her little life!! There were shiny balls and icicles. There were little Santa Clauses and elves! Mommy even had a couple of angels. After getting all of the hooks on, they began to hang them on the tree. She was so excited!! Excited to the point that Mommy had to keep reminding her to be careful!! Oh..she surely didn’t want to break even one of these beautiful trinkets.
For the next few days at school, they would make an ornament to take home and hang on their tree. She wondered if Mommy would let her do that. After all, the tree was so pretty and her handmade ornaments…well..weren’t.
That first day she carried home a piece of white paper cut in the shape of a ball. She’d spent so much time making sure each piece of colored macaroni…and by the way, how did that macaroni get all of those different colors??….was in just the right spot. Then she took paste and pasted each piece carefully to the “ball”. Oh, darn!! No matter how many ways she tilted her head, it just didn’t look right, but, it was time to go home and so, with ornament in hand, she began her trip home.
By this time, she was used to the walk and now even Scott waited on her and they walked hand in hand until he had to turn off on his street. He was a little shorter than her, but that was okay..it made it easier to look at that beautiful white hair…..
Once inside her apartment, she carefully laid the ornament on the table. Turning on Captain Kangaroo and sitting on the couch, her eyes would wander from the tree to the ornament. There was no way Mommy would hang that awful thing on their beautiful tree. She even thought about throwing it away before Mommy got home from work, but just maybe there would be a chance…..
She heard the now familiar sound of the locks clicking open and turning, saw a snow covered Mommy walking in the door. As usual, Mommy was tired, but she always had a hug ready and wanted to hear about her little girl’s day.
Sheepishly the little girl showed Mommy the ornament, trying as best she could to hold back the tears. It was truly an awful looking thing….but to her surprise and absolute astonishment, Mommy went and got one of those hooks and put it on her construction paper and macaroni ball and hung it right in front on the tree!!! Not only did Mommy think it was beautiful but she even gave it a place of honor!! She had the best Mommy in the world!!
So laying on the couch on Christmas Eve night, her eyes wandered from the macaroni ball to the Santa Clauses and the angels. The lights were blinking and she knew she needed to be getting to sleep so Santa could come but that tree was just soooo beautiful……
She heard a noise. Like someone was moving the presents under the tree. Peeking through her sleepy eyelids she saw him!!! You know…HIM….Santa Claus!!!! He was bent over putting things under the tree!! Oh no!! What would happen if HE knew she saw him? Should she sit up? No… Should she cough? No…Should she even breathe??? She was so excited…she was actually looking at the real Santa Claus! No one was ever going to believe this…not even Scott!
She decided she would just hold her breath as long as she could and peek out of her eyelashes so that maybe Santa wouldn’t realize that she was awake.
“Oh no!! He’s turning around..he’s looking at me!! Don’t move. Don’t even breath…”
The next thing she knew it was morning. When did she fall back asleep and when did Santa leave? Did she really even see Santa?? No matter. Sitting up she saw all of those presents and knew he’d been there and it was time to wake up Mommy and Daddy. Running through the apartment and jumping on the bed she tried to explain to them it was time to get up. Wake up uncle and let’s get busy opening those presents!! And by the way she saw Santa….Mommy just smiled and told her that she couldn’t have saw Santa, he don’t let people see him. But she knew she saw him…didn’t she??
To this very day when she shares that memory with Mama, Mama just smiles……
Her First Memory October 13, 2008
Posted by Deb in The Early Years.Tags: First Day of School, Latchkey kids
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With as much boldness as a barely 5 year old could muster up, she got her sweater and headed out of the school. She turned to the left with many of the other students and made it to the end of the first block. So far so good. The crossing guard held up his sign, made sure it was safe and off she went. The crowd thinned a little as she made her way to the end of the next block. She noticed him then…it was Scott!! He had the whitest hair she’d ever seen and she could hardly take her eyes off of it. She picked up the pace and by the end of the second block she’d caught up to Scott. He didn’t notice her, but that was okay. He turned to the left to go home and she pressed forward. Half a block to go…
The crossing guard again made it safe to cross and when she reached the other side, she lifted her hand to chest. Yep, it was still there. Her door key.
Earlier that morning, Mommy had tied the key to a string and then put a knot in the string and put it around her neck.
“Debbie, you can’t let anybody know you have this key around your neck.”
“Okay, Mommy. I wish you would be home when I got here.”
“I wish I could too..but you’re a big girl now and it will only be for a few minutes. Keep the key around your neck until you get up to our apartment, then take it off and let yourself in. Do you remember how to unlock the door?”
“Uh huh.” Pouting. Trembling lip. So scared.
“When you get inside, close the door and lock all three locks. Do you remember how?”
“Uh huh.” Tears this time.
“Turn on Captain Kangaroo and before you know it, I’ll be home. Remember not to go near the door and don’t open it for anybody if they knock. Daddy and Mommy have their own key and they can unlock the door for themselves. Okay?”
“Uh huh. Please don’t go to work!!!”
“I have to.”
“Why!!??”
“I just do.”
She entered the apartment building and began the climb up three flights of stairs. Past the mailboxes. Up the first flight. Long hallways, lots of doors, really scared.
She was afraid of what she’d find on the next set of stairs. Sometimes old, dirty men would be lying on these steps not moving..and they smelled so bad!!! But this time, it was all clear.
Her heart pounding, she made it up the second set of stairs and raced up the third!! Running to the very end of the hall she took the key from around her neck and put it in the keyhole. A turn and a click and she was inside. Out of breath, she locked all three locks and began to cry. She was home, but it was so quiet. There were no yummy smells coming from the kitchen. There was no one to play with. She went over to the tv and turned it on. Flipping the channels, she found Captain Kangaroo and sat on the couch. No one to share her day with. No one to tell about how much and how loud Alice could cry. No one to tell about Scott and beautiful his white hair was. Just quiet…and when you’re barely 5, the quiet is scary and 30 minutes is such a long time!
Is this how it was going to be from now on? If so, maybe she’d just quit school, then Mommy could quit her job and then she could stay home and they could play together and make grilled cheese and tomato soup. But then she wouldn’t get to see Scott, and he really did have beautiful white hair……..
In the Beginning October 7, 2008
Posted by Deb in In the Beginning.Tags: Children, family, the 1960's, Young love
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She was 15. Much too young to get married, but believed that she had met her Prince Charming and that life would be over if she could not be his bride.
He was 21. Tall, thin, dark, black hair and wore a crooked smile. Oh, the trouble he could get into….but he thought she was beautiful. Sure, she was only 15, but she seemed so much older than those 15 years. He wanted her to be his wife, and she wanted to say yes.
Her mom couldn’t believe what was being asked of her. Saying yes to letting her 15 year old daughter marry someone who was 21?? Someone who could be quite hot tempered and could find himself in a lot of trouble at any given time? She wouldn’t do it! NO. She would not allow her only daughter to marry this man. If anyone granted permission for this, it would be her father.
And he did.
That was March 16, 1963.
Let’s move forward. Chicago, Illinois, August 7, 1964. She woke up that morning feeling every ounce of her 9 month pregnancy weight on her small frame. So far from the hills of West Virginia and the place that had been home all of her young life.
Her husband of little more than a year was leaving for work. She kissed him goodbye and thought she might just lie down for a little while. In just a few minutes she was sound asleep. A couple of hours later she awoke to incredible pain flowing through her body. She was pretty sure this was labor, but even if it wasn’t, something had to be done. She called her husband at work then called for a taxi. He was going to meet her at the hospital. Only four and a half hours later, she cradled her first child. A girl. 8 pounds 4 ounces. They named her Deborah Lynn. Her mother liked that name and she missed her mother.
Only a state away….In Indiana lived a young, single 22 year old woman. She had met a man and things had gotten out of control. She became pregnant. Like the 15 year old, she too was feeling every ounce of her pregnancy weight. She still had 2 months to go before she gave birth, but she had so much on her mind. Determined to keep this child and raise it, she knew it would be hard. Already she loved this baby and she knew they would make it..somehow.
October 8 found her giving birth to a boy. She named him Philip Ray, after his dad…only he didn’t know that and wasn’t interested in anything about him. With a powerful determination she moved forward. She would raise this child and he would be loved. She would make sure of that. For her, there were no other options.
Time marched on. She worked and began life raising a little boy. Then..she met a man. A man, who, this time, truly loved her and loved this little boy. He asked her to marry him. She said yes. He asked to adopt her little boy. Again she said yes. They became a family.
This is how we began. Philip and Deb. This is where our story begins. Please continue to walk with us as we share our love for each other with you….
Walk With Me October 7, 2008
Posted by Deb in In the Beginning.Tags: Christianity, family, life journeys, true love
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Walk with me….let’s go back in time. More than 40 years ago. Before they were even born, before they were even thought about.
How did it begin? Where has their journey taken them and where are they going?
This is a true story about 2 people…very much in love and doing their very best to serve their Savior, raise their family, and make this journey called life the absolute best it can be.
Welcome to their life. They hope you enjoy…..
