I am grateful for videos of my grandchildren reciting their scripture verse for the week and of Anissa “chauffeuring” her baby sister through the house as she rides in her new walker.
I am grateful for happy secrets.
I am grateful that I have class tonight and feel like I have an edge-up on the others. We’ll see…
I am grateful for Minsky’s pizza for dinner last night.
And I am grateful for pleasant memories of childhood:
Dish strainers and those multi-colored tupperware cups
A pen with five colors
Homemade noodles drying on a dish towel on the lid of the washing machine – oh my goodness, I want some right now
Gold shag carpet that we had to rake every Saturday
Pipe cleaner dolls when I had to stay home because I was sick
Screen doors on a spring that slammed shut
Rotary phones
Listening to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater on the way home from church or Haviland when it was dark outside
Catching lightning bugs in a jar
Walking to piano lessons on Saturdays with my sister from the station to Mrs. Good’s house
Long licorice ropes in the glass case at the drug store
Merry-go-rounds
Slides that burned your legs
Extra dough from homemade pie crusts that were baked and sprinkled with cinnamon/sugar
The smell of the Haven Library
Matching quilted maxi skirts
Paper dolls
Tractor tire flower beds
The chicken at Snack Haven
Vacation Bible School workbooks that smelled so good and came with lots of stickers
Seeing Mom in shorts and knowing it meant one of two things – either it was a long, awful day of cleaning, or we were headed to Cheney Lake
Vacation Bible School crafts: sand art and matchstick crosses – I loved those the best.
Getting a new fish for the fish tank when I didn’t cry at the doctor’s office
Playing that board game with the cute couples – The Dating Game? – that belonged to Sue Foley
Spring band concerts in the old high school gym in Haven – I was so impressed with Mr. Lee but remember he had such a funny shape as he stood on his podium and directed the band.
The meat locker and Laundromat that we didn’t visit very often
Cleaning windshields better than everyone else, and knowing how to check and add oil and washer fluid
The smell of alfalfa at the elevator
Buster Brown shoes and clothes at the dime store and the unforgettable Hempsteads
The time I stole a piece of candy from Gibson’s and Mom marched me back in to give it back and apologize and the time I stole a piece of gum from Ron and Mom made me march out to the living room and confess to Dad. SO SCARY.
Playing in the rabbit pen in the back yard
Parent night at the grade school when our art was hung in the hallways and we had to perform our solos
Fifi and Sneakers
Elm bugs
The big spools we used to walk/roll on all over the front yard
Auctioning picnic baskets made by the girls/women at church
The cat figurines in the front window
Freaking out over KC and the Sunshine Band in Meleigh’s basement and swooning over Peter Frampton
Dreading every step of the way to swim lessons in the summertime
The Tilt-a-Whirl at the Haven Fall Festival
Listening to music in the boys’ bedroom…The Lettermen, The Carpenters, and this song:
rhondaisgrateful 