Family Memories Carnival Coming April 28

I'm hosting the BLOG VILLAGE Quarterly Carnival focusing on FAMILY MEMORIES! It certainly seems like an appropriate topic for this blog.

So, how about sharing stories of your childhood, or maybe how you met your spouse. Does your family have special bonding rituals? Do you have some "strange" family members who help to make your family unique? How about sharing lessons you've learned from past generations. Are you into genealogy? Does your family story include adoption, blended families, or divorce? You name it - if it has to do with your family, past or present, we'd love for you to share.

You can click the banner to ENTER. Feel free to copy for your blog!

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DEADLINE April 25 midnight
Will be online here on April 28th.
RULES:

1. Blog MUST belong EITHER to a BLOG VILLAGE member OR link directly TO a BLOG VILLAGE Blog.

2. Only 1 entry per blog.

3. Only English language posts will be accepted.

4. No posts with titles, or with pictures, containing profanity, or of a sexual or suggestive nature, will be accepted.

5. Choose MEMBER or GUEST from the Categories, and put the required information in the REMARKS.

GUESTS of Villagers must submit the URL of the BLOG VILLAGE blog they are linked TO for your entry to be eligible for consideration.

VILLAGERS need to enter their MEMBER NUMBER in the REMARKS.

Extended Family Thoughts

Our parents are all gone to be in Heaven now, enjoying a wonderful reunion with their spouses. This is a very comforting thought. It's also very comforting that we were able to be with all four in their last moments here on earth. All four were surrounded by their loved ones. So many people don't get to share those moments with their loved ones, so I feel very fortunate to have shared that important time with them.

Don't get me wrong, though. Even in the best of situations, watching a loved one take their last breath is not easy. I really don't know how people who don't have confidence in life after death can deal with it. All our family members have strong Christian beliefs, and we know we will be reunited with them in the future, through the grace of Jesus's death and resurrection. With Easter so close, and Daddy's death so recent, I'm reminded of this gift of grace many times every day.

I realize there are plenty of loving family members who have not been able to keep their loves ones at home, as we were able to do with three of our parents. I don't want to sound like I consider us "better" than those who decide the best decision for their parent's well being is to move them to a Nursing Home or Assisted Living facility. I'm just grateful that we could help them age in place.

In times past, it wasn't nearly as unusual for several generations to live in the same home. Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles typically were included as part of the nuclear family, providing ready help, advice, and extra loving relationships for the children. They didn't just move in when their own health was ruined, but lived together as strong members of the family unit for many years. I wonder if we will ever see a return to that sort of extended family dynamic in large numbers.

I had to travel all the way to Chicago to see my grandparents, but they were still a strong influence on me as a child. Did you, or do you, live in an extended family?

Grandmother Let Me Get Away with It!!

In the old apartment building in Chicago that Grandmother and Granddaddy lived in, the front windows were bay windows, with a wide ledge, and no screens. Long before air conditioning, I remember sitting in those windows, with a straw and a bag of white beans, playing with it as a pea shooter. I would aim at the passing cars, as well as the street posts and other convenient targets. It was a lot of fun, and I passed quite a bit of time doing that. I will say that I don't remember that I shot at the people who were always walking by.

I look back on that memory now, and I wonder why my Grandparents let me do such a thing! Were they just too old to be taking care of me? Or did they see it as a harmless game that kept me busy and out of their hair? I'll never know, but as often as I did it, it's a wonder someone didn't ring the apartment buzzer, complaining about me. If a child were caught doing that today, particularly aiming at cars, they'd probably end up in court, or even Juvie!!

Chicago Winter Memories

I saw on the News tonight that it was going to be 8 degrees in Chicago tonight. Brrrrrrrrrr!!! Boy, did that bring back a vivid childhood memory of the Windy City!

I don't really remember how old I was when I got to go visit my Grandparents in Chicago one Winter. But I do remember how very cold it was, and how much I enjoyed the snow. It must have been in the 1950's, because I remember being in the Loop, walking down a freezing cold, windy street, in a full skirt with crinolines, which made it stand out. No, it wasn't a poodle skirt, because I never had one of those, but it was that type of skirt. I had what Mama called Snuggies on underneath my skirt. They were basically long cotton underwear cut off above the knees. The reason I remember it so distinctly is that I was so cold that the rough net of the crinolines stung my legs, right through the Snuggies, like millions of little needles. When we got back to their apartment, my upper legs were bright red!! I had never been so cold in my whole life as I was that day.

It's hard to believe that I would have gone out in that kind of weather in anything but pants, but, in those days, girls wore dresses and skirts and blouses - certainly not pants!!

So hearing of an 8 degree Chicago night brings back memories of State Street, Marshall Field's, and the Woolworth's that had an entrance right in the subway station. But most of all, it makes me think of that terribly cold wind blowing off Lake Michigan, and my chapped, stinging legs!!

An Elephant Childhood Memory

It's really funny what odd little bits and pieces of the past linger with us over the years. One of my memories from my grandmother's home in Chicago is of a little china creamer. I can see it in my head as if I had used it just yesterday. It was a squat little pitcher, with a short trunk as a pouring spout and the tail became the handle. His bulging sides became the bowl of the creamer, and I remember that the details of his head were outlined in pastel pinks and blues.

It wouldn't do for Grandmother to pour milk into my glass from the milk bottle. No, she would put the milk in the little pitcher, and I would oh so happily pour the milk into my glass or on my cereal through that wonderful spout. I even remember just drinking straight from the elephant's trunk. Why it turned ordinary milk into such a treat, only a child could completely understand. But it was special to me, turning the mundane into magic.

Grandmother and Granddaddy moved from Chicago to Birmingham, where we lived, when I was 14. I was busy adjusting to High School, and, for the time being, relics of my childhood were not on my mind. So, there are several things from their Chicago home that were left behind that I wish now I had had the good sense to ask for. That little elephant would be at the top of my list.

I've looked at many little elephant pitchers at Estate Sales, hoping to one day find MY elephant, but so far I've been disappointed by each one. What made him different from others I've seen is hard to put into words, but I know I'll recognize this childhood friend of mine when I see him.