The Way Things Work

I grew up an army brat: in other words, I was worldly enriched all over the planet with weather of all kinds.  Sunny days were my favorite with mild climate on Oahu which was a blessed adventure for me as a kid.  We were also stationed in Germany where snow was rare, but we did have it once in a blue moon.  In the distant traveling to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, you could see a vast eye-catching mountain range with trees trailing down the sides of those ever present high peaks.  What a sight to behold.  Obviously, my eyes have seen so much beauty.

Hawaii always helps me to gain balance and get me in the right frame of mind.  The way things work for me is to find equilibrium .  The continual ability to put something in steady position is so vital to me so as to not fall to totally out of stability.  As the ocean flows so my mind quietly does with the tides, robust at times and tame at others.  I close my eyes and abandon myself to deep thought listening to those gentle waves while crashing at even sequencing .  Oh what joy.

It does not surprise me that when I go for massage therapy, my music of choice is always the waves.  As so my fond memories of not that long ago stay with me in a small room for treating my chronic pain. Funny how we go back in time to find the peace we need for today.  Just food for thought for you and thanks for dropping by my friends.

 

Tomboy Summer of 72′

I was known for tomboy antics, but with a price. NOTE the knee bandage!

“You are such a tomboy.”

“No. I’m not.” running as fast as I could from my friend.

“Yes. You are!”

“You can’t catch me. Can you?”

I stopped.  I put my hands on my hips and stuck out my tongue.

Carrie looked at me with her piercing eyes and oh those buck teeth and proclaimed, “do you want to know how many boyfriends you are gonna have?”

Incredibly ‘her tomboy’ friend gladly said, “sure!”

While sitting down in a field of beautifully comfortable grass, Carrie explains to me how I was going to find out the truth of my long line of boyfriends.

It did not occur to me in that moment that maybe I could be a tomboy while looking at my knee bandaged all up.  

“Do this and the more they crack the more boyfriends you are gonna have.”  I watched in complete awe as Carrie popped every finger on her two hands!

“Go ahead and do it.” Carrie said with great anticipation.

So I began to push, pull, and tug my fingers like Carrie was doing.  Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. And than I heard it! “CRACK!” and then I heard only one more pop!

“That’s it for you Alesia.  You ain’t gonna have many.”  I stared at my friend and did not say a word.

“Hey let’s go play some tether ball.” She said.

We both got up and ran like crazy to the playing field.  I beat Carrie in that too!

I probably never beat her in boyfriends though.  The two cracks were enough for me.

 

 

 

 

Genealogy With A Twist

This is a special blog entry written by my son for a genealogy project and I thought you all would enjoy it:

The year was 2077. A special presentation was about to begin by an elderly gentleman who walked into an old-fashioned diner on a beautiful evening overlooking Lake Washington near Seattle. Inside the diner, the tables were full with school-age children getting ready to listen to this special old man. They knew he was a great story teller and the children were eager to listen. With great anticipation, the man excitedly stated, “Welcome to the unique stories a friend of mine shared with me about his life. This friend is Elijah. Elijah’s stories were told to me by himself so I galloped all the way here to tell them to you today.” The children clapped loudly for the action to begin.

Elijah’s stories began with a European ancestor on his father’s side. This man was Baron VanDorstan who was ruled by a German King almost 250 years ago. It has been told that the king became very furious with the baron because the baron felt the poor people were being taxed to heavily and he refused to collect the money for the king. The King therefore ordered Baron VanDorstan’s execution. The execution never happened because the baron escaped on a boat disguised as a homeless man. He eventually emigrated to America! WHEW! That was a close one.

As the elderly man shifted to the next ancestor in Elijah’s life, the children listened intently. The next story was about Elijah’s great-grandfather who was a semi-pro boxer in Chicago, Illinois.  His name was Alex.  Alex  had the opportunity to meet Babe Ruth, a pro baseball player, and he played catch with him.  Another interesting point about Elijah’s great grandfather was that he washed laundry for a living.  One of his customers was the infamous criminal, Al Capone!

As the time was passing, the elderly gentleman knew the children would want to know his identity, but he explained he wanted to stay a mystery until the end of his story telling.  The children grew with excitement, but agreed to wait.  It was at this point the man began sharing about another ancestor who was Elijah’s great grandmother on his mother’s side.  When Elijah’s grandmother was born in Berlin, Germany in 1939, Elijah’s great grandmother with her grandmother were forced to flee because of World War II and all the bombing going on during the war.  They walked all the way to the southern part of Germany to find  safety.  When they travelled they worried they would be caught by the Russians, but thankfully they were not captured and they did make it to their destination several months later.  Elijah would not be here today if they had been killed.

Another ancestor on Elijah’s mother’s side was great, great, great uncle Senator Kenneth Douglas McKellar.  Senator McKellar was born in Dallas County, Alabama in 1869.  He later moved to Tennessee where he became one of the most powerful politicians during the 1920’s-1940’s.  He assisted President Franklin D. Roosevelt in getting the money to build the atomic bomb!

As the evening was coming to a close, the elderly story teller paused to capture the moment in his mind of all the children looking at him admiringly.  The time had come to tell the children the truth about his identity.  He softly stated he was indeed Elijah and all the stories were about his own family.  The kids clapped loudly with this news, although they were flabbergasted.  It was a great night for all.

PLEASE note extra information/photos in regards to Elijah’s genealogy story above:

Babe Ruth  This photo was given to your blogger of Babe Ruth about 30 years ago.  I have treasured it.  This story my son wrote refers to the Babe whom his great grandpa met.

 

This photo depicts your blogger’s Oma and Mother. This story speaks of my mother and grandmother’s escape from WWII bombing.