I have been thinking a lot about memories lately. With Christmas almost here it seems that I keep trying to think about the Christmas's that we had with my mom. I miss her this time of year the most. I would like to share with you some of the memories that have surfaced lately.

I was thinking about my grandparents lately. Specially my grandma and grandpa B. It has been a long time since they past away. I was only 10 when they pasted away. My grandpa had alt-timers and my grandma couldn't take care of him so he was put in a rest home where you could get better care. I remember that every Sunday my parents and I would take my grandma to visit her. Grandpa didn't remember that many people there were only 3 of us that he remembered. My grandma, my dad (who was his middle daughter's husband) and me. I am the youngest grandchild on my mothers side of the family. I don't know why my grandpa remembered me and not my cousins but as a young child I didn't know how special that was. I would get so mad at him because he always thought I was 7. That was the age I was when he first started to get sick. To a 10 year old being remembered as younger than you are is a big deal. Anyway some of the memories I have of my grandpa is at the rest home taking him for a ride around the world. This just meant that I pushed him in his wheelchair around the halls. But I can remember making up stories with him about where in the world we were and what we would see there. I also can remember my grandpa before he was in the rest home.
The memory I hold the most dear about Grandpa Braithwaite was fishing on the lawn with him. This consisted of getting the lawn chairs out, a bucket, two sticks or rulers if we couldn't find any sticks, string. We would make fishing poles and pretend to catch fish in the bucket. It was so fun. I can still hear my grandma and mom sitting in the house laughing at us. While Grandpa and I fished he would teach me the words to the song You Are My Sunshine. Every time I hear that song I start to cry because it reminds me of this time with Grandpa. I will always have this memory and hold it dear. I like remembering Grandpa B fishing on the lawn to me and laughing and singing.

A memory of my Grandma Braithwaite that is dear to me well let me share with you a few of them. I remember that every time we went to Grandma's house she would have snacks and always try to feed us. I can remember getting into the freezer in the backroom and getting out a ding-dong. Another memory of Grandma is staying with her when I was home sick from school and Mom and Dad had to work. I would lay on the couch and watch Days of Our Lives and Guiding Light with her. She loved her soap opera's! I also remember Grandma letting me get in her dresser drawer and get a Little Debbie Nutter Butter which were her private stash. Another treasured memory is of a gift Grandma gave me.
I was really sick with the chicken pox's and Mom and Dad had taken Grandma shopping. When they got home Mom brought me this box and said that Grandma hoped I got feeling better soon and that this would help. I opened it and there was a porcelain music box. The music box has what I call a "Grandma" Goose and her granddaughter on it. It plays It's a Small World After All. I remember falling asleep to the song and thinking of grandma. When she died that music box became even more special to me. I can remember one time I ended up hitting it and breaking it. I cried and cried and told my parents that it had to be fixed because it was from Grandma and couldn't be replaced. My dad was able to super glue the goose back on in fact you can barely see the crack in it. I have always taken care of it in fact it stays on the piano in the front room. The music box always helps me remember my grandma.

This is a picture of my "Grandma Goose" Music box.

I have many memories of my mother. All my friends thought she was the coolest Mom on the block because she always treated them like family. Mom always had a smile on her face even when she was in a lot of pain. She would always sing specially when she was in pain. She always made up little songs. She was more than my mother she was always my friend. She knew how to make everything better. One of the memories that I hold dear is her reading to me at night. Mom would make up these stories about a squirrel named Timothy. Timothy always went on crazy adventures and Mom made these stories the best. I can always remember that Timothy was always getting into trouble and remembering things that his mother told him. I remember asking Mom to tell me another story about Timothy and what he got up to she would start telling me a story and I would say "no Mom that's not what he was doing last night." Mom would smile and say this is a different story about him tonight. I have this little squirrel figurine that I got after Mom died to help me remember her telling me stories about Timothy and all the mischief he got into.

This is a picture of Timothy.

These are just a few memories that make me feel close to my loved ones. I hope you enjoyed these treasured memories that I shared.

Things we take for granted.

I was thinking about everyday tasks that I do all the time. Most people take for granted some of the things that I think are major accomplishments. Let me explain what I mean. For me because of my health it really wears me out to get dressed. Most people take 5 minutes to get dress and they don't even think about it. It's just pick out the clothes and put them on. For me it's get the clothes get up the strength to lift my legs so that I can put on my pants. Then rest for at least 5 minutes then get the strength to lift my arms so I can get the shirt up over my head. Finally after I am dressed I have to lay down for a while (20-40minutes.) I watched my darling husband get dressed today to go to work it took him 15 minutes and this included a shower. Then I timed myself this morning it took me 20 minutes to get dressed and then 30 minutes to be able to move after dressing myself. I bet most of you don't even blink about getting dressed in the morning it's just something you do without even thinking about it. To me this was a big accomplishment!!

Another thing that most people take for granted is sleeping. I have had 8 hours if that in the past 2 weeks. I am not kidding you. Again the lack of sleep is because of health and hurting. Most people just go to bed at night and get up in the morning when the alarm goes off without even thinking about it. I most nights toss and turn trying to sleep. I look at the clock and think oh I've most likely been asleep for an hour most times it's nope it's only been 20 minutes. After laying in bed hurting for awhile I have to get up for a half hour that's all I allow myself and then I try to sleep some more. Most of the times at about 5am I give in that I will not be going to sleep and read a book in bed. Sometimes this helps me fall asleep so that I can at least get an hour of sleep before my husbands alarm goes off. After that it's touch and go if I will get anymore sleep. I slept one hour last night and I celebrated this morning that I got that much sleep in between the pain waking me up.

Just one more thing that I have noticed people tend to take for granted. Their parents. As children we always think that Mom and Dad will be there forever. It's really hard when we get a call tell us that one of them has past away. How many times do we go to pick up the phone to call Mom or Dad and say oh I'm to busy I will call them tomorrow. Or we say I will go down next week and see them. I think we can all say that we always think there will be a tomorrow and plenty of time to talk to our parents. I know I did this. I can call Mom tomorrow and tell her I love her. I can see her tomorrow. I don't have anymore tomorrows to see my mom. Please don't take the ones you love especially your parents for granted. Tell them every chance you get that you love them. Make an effort each day to let the loved ones in your life know how much they mean to you. Don't let one single I love you pass you buy.