I just read Cynthia’s blog which talked about picking “your song”. Her video of REM on Sesame Street inspired me. LG and I love the guest singers on Sesame Street. Sandra Bullock once did a mean “Ma-na-ma-na”…can’t find it on you tube.
I don’t know if I have ONE song, but this is a song that I LOVED as a child. It’s message rings true to my life…Sing a song, sing out LOUD, don’t worry if it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear….just sing!
Everyone seem to have posted something really sweet for their spouse yesterday, and all I came up with was the depressing last post. Give me a break, I was up throwing up the whole night before.
I do love my man, and was especially grateful that he was there for me yesterday….not because it was the big holiday, but because he took care of the kids while I slept away most of the day, trying to recover.
This video is for you LG, I know you will enjoy!
I may be in trouble for blogging this because it doesn’t follow the “no talking about the bedroom” rule. [If that doesn’t get you to keep reading, I don’t know what will]
Valentine’s Day usually comes and goes around here without too much fanfare. We usually buy each other something small. Today LG got the movie, Tommy Boy, a trashcan basketball hoop and a card. I got a cd, a pedicure, and THIS card.
On the front of the card it says, “To my honey – I got you this LITTLE button to wear for Valentine’s Day.” It shows the part of the button through the cut out hole that reads “World’s Greatest Lover”
When you open the card, it looks like the above photo, and reads, “Okay, so it’s not that little.” The rest of the button now shows and it really reads, “I got this from the World’s Greatest Lover.”
I have told you before that LG has a great sense of humor, right?
Well, it is just pure coincidence that this post follows the earlier one that is entitled Dead People. But, after reading poor Saxon’s blog, I got thinking back to the days when I was a single girl, not looking forward to V-Day.
In High School, my friend Kristen Dillon and I used to sympathize with one another about our singlehood. We used to get each other something small to say I love ya. Two years after we graduated, I lived in Utah and she lived in California. She called me one night because she was so excited that the next day she was going to see our shared HS crush. She mentioned in passing that she had a late Valentine’s Day card for me and that she would mail it when she got home.
I am not trying to be morbid. You have to realize that this has been 15 years ago. And, I only share this story because I know Kristen is up there laughing about the following story. Kristen died in a car accident on her way to go and see her secret lover.
The next week I found myself at her funeral. My sense of loss was very real and debilitating. Kristen’s roommate walked in with a card in hand. As she passed it to me, I saw my name in Kristen’s handwriting on the envelope.
Kristen would have loved the irony of this ending. Her and I shared a love of humor and literature. Here I sat, two rows back from her casket, shortly before the beginning of her funeral.
The front of the card read, “You may be getting a lot of flowers and cards this Valentine’ Day.”
The inside: “I told people you died last week.”
The card was passed down the row from the hands of each of our friends. Every person reacted the same: jaw drop. Ah, Kristen, she was always good for a shocking laugh.
And, no matter how great each of my Valentine’s Day have been since then, there will always be that one when I was single so long ago. Yes, sometims the love we share the week before Valentine’s Day will always be more important than the actual day. Kristen taught me that.
Abigail went out with her group of church girls last night and sang to some people at a nursing home. (This picture is not from last night, but from a school thing last year – I included the pic. to give you the idea of how cute 8-11 year olds) Aren’t they darling? I am sure the nursing home loved their company last night.
Anyhow, on the way home, I was very impressed with Abigail’s observations of the night. She was telling me all about the people that she met.
“Mom, there was this really old guy who was 97. There was a lady who was deaf and they had to write everything on a paper for her. There was a black guy, and it was his birthday.” She even told me the people’s names.
Sophia and Bella were listening to the conversation and started asking Abigail questions about her adventure. Bella being inquisitive about the aforementioned deaf person asked me, “Mom why would they sing to a dead person?”
I was glad that the girls were paying attention to Abigail’s story, but who would have guessed the dead person association of my 4 year old? I guess I better start writing my mommy speech now for reassuring Bella when it is her turn to go to a nursing home to sing. Really, how am I going to handle this with honesty? It’s not like I can say, “No Bella, don’t worry, there aren’t any dead people at nursing homes.”
This reminds me of another story. Back in December, we had an unfortunate death in the congregation that shares our building. I was in charge of our ward party that was to happen the evening following the funeral. I had a bunch of things that I needed to drop of at the church early because I had to work the next morning. So I stopped by the church late after the funeral was over.
I wasn’t sure if they would have left the casket at the church overnight until the following day’s graveside service. (I believe they did this with Grandma Gold in VA – every state law is different to this effect and I wasn’t sure what TN law was) As my girls love to run the round hallways as soon as they get into the church, I warned them to stay close by because there may be a casket in the cultural hall. You can imagine where the conversation went from there…
“Mom, what’s a casket?” “Why do dead people sleep in a casket?” “Why do they leave dead people in the church?” “What’s a funeral?”
I had tried to play off all the questions so that they wouldn’t be too afraid of ever entering the church ever again. I had told the girls that a funeral would be over the next morning and there was no reason to be afraid because a funeral is “like a party for dead people”. O.k. hindsight is always 20/20! Yes, I could and should have given a better explanation than that.
If you couple Bella’s amazing imagination with her slight anxiety, you can imagine what she thought was going on in the church at the party for dead people. I was surprised that she still wanted to go inside when I had given her the chance to just stay in the car while I ran a few things in. Do you think that she was showing bravery or did the sure terror of being alone in the van when the party all came out of the building egged her forward into the building with mom? I think it must have been the latter, the way she was clinging to my leg.
Either way, whenever I die, I hope all my girls will remember that they are invited to my party for dead people.
So this morning as we were getting the girls ready for school, all of the girls were telling their dad about their trips to see our friend’s baby goats. Thanks to Grammy for the field trip. The girls just loved these baby goats. And thanks to Steve and Stori for their fun petting zoo.
Here is the goat with Bella. Isn’t she cute? I was talking about the goat. This baby goat’s name is Carameletta. Isn’t that a cute name? Again, I am talking about the goat. The other two babies are Dotty and Pedro. (Pedro’s the boy)
“We had to chase the babies dad. We caught Dotty. The baby one is called Dotty
because she has a lot of dots. The dad has a long beard. The dad is
harry-er. The mom goat looks like she is mad at you and being protective,
but she doesn’t really care. The dad goat is bigger than the mom goat. They
were all so cute dad. They were so fun. The dad goat has bigger horns.”
LG in response to the girls: (yes his wit is really keen in the mornings) “So, I think I got it all, tell me if I am right: the dad is fatter, harrier, and hornier?” Yep I guess that dad really does = goat.
I just rolled on the floor laughing. What a great way to start the day.
I think that Gina’s hubby’s humor is also a little twisted. Gina informed her hubby that I suggested he win a good hubby award, he said, “What does a man do to win the chubby award?”
LG is under stress and has kept me awake with his tossing and turning for three nights in a row now. I just knew that if I got on the computer this morning I could find a reasonto go back to bed !
If this article is true, WHY do my kids have to be to school by 7:45 every morning?
“I think it would be a digression of a few hundred years to get someone like
Huckabee in The White House. He is totally religiously prejudiced. As a Mormon,
I cannot support him, knowing how he feels about my religion.I have NEVER heard Romney put anyone else down…yes, he has faught the issues to the core, but he has never personally attacked anyone or their religious beliefs. He embodies Christianity and I think it is a shame that the people of our country have failed to see that a belief in God is one of the most important factors for this country to continue to be strong. How many people just turned their heads to Bill Clinton and his charade?
This speech was brilliant! As a conservative, I agreed with every word. Our societal woes are the things that the majority of our society want to continue to ignore (especially the liberal democrats) Romney’s willingness to speak of such things is music to many of our ears.
I don’t think that the end of the world is near because Romney has pulled out. I do think that it is the end of the world because so many people in the land of the free and home of the brave, have completely forgotten the God who has given them all the opportunities in the world.
It’s a shame that many of those people are members of the Republican Party.
It is time to form a new party I think!”
Here is an image for our church’s website.
This is what happened at the school today while I was there working with the kids.
Taylor: “Mrs. Gold, what church do you and Abigail go to?”
Me: “We attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Abigail: “It’s a mouthful, isn’t it?”
My question, would it really be a horrible sin to go back to telling people that we are Mormon? It is just so hard for those of us that have to answer this question every day.
alice w. gold 