Sunday Morning Memories

One of my fondest memories as a child was Sunday mornings, because of my Dad. :)

My Dad, has always had such a great outlook on life.  His mentality is that life is good, plain and simple, that you always make the best out of a any situation.  

And that is why the song by Louis Armstrong “What A Wonderful World”, so reminds me of my Dad.

On Sunday mornings, My Dad would cook one of his famous (what he called) omelets.  It was eggs, mushrooms, ham, cheddar cheese and green onions.  He would mix it all together, pour them in a cast iron skillet and let it cook to a beautiful golden brown.  Then he would flip the whole thing over. 

Then when it was done he would cut it into squares and yell “Come and get It”!  It was good, so good I can taste it now!  Yet, somehow, I have never been able to duplicate that wonderful goodness.  Dang!  I’m making myself hungry, not just for that omelet, but for those days gone by so long ago. 

But the most wonderful memory I have about Sunday mornings was the music!  We had what was called a Stereo Console!  It was a High-Fi Stereo on one side, on the other side was all of the controls and a radio, and in the middle was the TV.  It looked kinda like this…

Back then there were record albums, 33 rpm’s to be exact!  My Dad loved his tunes and he had a lot of albums!  He had jazz, swing, rock, you name it, oh and there were comedy albums also. 

We listened to artist like Bobby Darin, Brenda Lee, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Astrud Gilberto, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, comedy legends like Jonathan Winters and Rusty Warren.

He would dance around with his spatula in hand, music playing loud.  His love for music and life was contagious. 

Good Times and wonderful memories! Thanks Dad, I love you!

Hard To Watch

Our parents teach us everything.  How to walk, talk, eat and love.  They devote their entire lives to making a good life for us.  They are our go to people when ever we need someone to go to. 

My Mom has taught me everything from cooking, sewing, cleaning.  She was my inspiration to become a decorator, she was always moving the furniture around, or recovering a chair or foot stool, painting a room.  She was the CFO of our family and could make a dollar stretch farther than you could imagine.  The unconditional love she has for her three daughters, her grandson and great grandson is amazing.  She also has a big love for animals, as long as I can remember we have always had dogs, cats and what ever else we could talk her into.  And of course if you needed comforting, she is the best on the planet.

My Dad has always been and always will be my hero.  A cool guy, kind of tough, but really a big softy.  He taught me everything from working on cars, how to shoot a gun, to how to fix anything.  He always said he was a jack of all trades, master of none.  But he could fix anything!  He would do anything for his three girls.  Once on the fourth of July, I remember him taking us up on the roof so that we could watch the fire works show over Las Vegas.  Back then our roofs were covered in rocks, so he hauled up a mattress so that we could all sit there and watch the show.  He gave me my love of music, all kinds, he loves it all.  On Sunday mornings while he would cook us an omelette he would play LP records on the stereo, dancing and singing with a spatula in his hand.  Both of them have taught us you can do it yourself.

Over the years, like most families, we had are ups and downs, but they always hung in there, giving us hope and strength.  The toughest tragedy for them was the death of my sister Trudy, she took her own life, I don’t think to this day they have ever stopped blaming themselves. 

Now due to illness and aging I am watching them slip away daily.  It’s the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  I always knew they would grow old one day, but what I didn’t realize is how hard it would be.
Over the past 5 years I have watched my Mom deteriorate both mentally and physically.  She was diagnoised with breast cancer in January 2008 and has beat it.  She has a hard time comprehending and remembering but does pretty good.  My dad suffered a stoke a couple of years ago and he actually came through it pretty good, his eye sight was impaired along his short term memory. 

Both of them take many medications and have a lot of doctor appointments, of which it is hard for either one of them to understand what the doctors are telling them.  We always make a fun day of it by going to lunch or for a drive. 

I love them both so very, very much and even though I am so grateful that they are still here, it’s so hard to watch them change.  I really miss them, the way they were.

Mom, Linda & Dad on his 75th Birthday September 2007

Dad, Mom, Laren, Cole August 2009

TIP:  Keep a typed list of all medications, with dosages on the refrigerator.  When my father had his stroke the paramedics had to write down all of his medications.  However, they did not write down the dosages so it was of no use to the doctor.

Matching Tattoos

August is a great month because it is my husband Young’s and my birthdays.  So we got the whole gang together to celebrate.  During the day Caiden wanted to put on some tattoos.  Later that evening he showed Grandpa (my Dad, his Great Grandpa) his tattoos.  Grandpa thought they were pretty cool.  Then Caiden asked “Grandpa do you want a tattoo”?  Grandpa said sure!  Caiden was so proud! “Look Grandpa and I have matching tattoos”!  They are wearing Doc the Hudson from the movie Cars.