Mother's Day Already?

I take a very practical view of raising children.

I put a  sign in each of their rooms: "Checkout Time is 18 years."

~Erma Bombeck

May 13, 2012

Yep, that's when Mother's Day is this year, (on a Sunday for those that don't know,...it always falls on a Sunday), so that's a little over two weeks from now. No doubt every mother on the planet is wondering what this year's Mother's Day will bring, (whether they'll admit it or not). Some mothers will be over-flowing with giddy anticipation, day-dreaming about what sweet surprises their children have up their sleeves while other mothers approach the day with dread and resignation, afraid to find out how her offspring will blow her off, leaving her all alone or worst yet, show up and devastate another Mother's Day by way of being selfish, stupid or spiteful.


 Most of us will greet the day with a grin and pull our selves up by the boot straps and take part in the day with a fair degree of sentimentality attached to it. We all have a mother, (somewhere, either here or,..well,..not here), and then some of us ARE mothers, even grandmothers! I'm a mom  and now, at 55, I'm a Proud Grandmother, (but no 'Proud Grandma' plaques and coffee mugs yet) . I have 5 children and 3 grandchildren, which I love and cherish dearly. Years ago, when I was knee deep and sweatin in the trenches of being one of those caped hit the floor runnin, hands on, no time for a break mother, I just couldn't understand why all the "older" grandma aged mothers got the royal treatment on Mother's Day. I figured us moms who were scrambling after naked toddlers, breaking up sibling smack downs and negotiating loan terms with lazy, yet sly teens trying to rob the already too generous "Bank Of Mom" were, oh, so much more entitled to the red carpet pampering!. I mean after all, WE were the ones in active battle on the front lines fending off pre-teen explosions, dodging insult over injury while wolfing down stone cold rations like a starved POW.
How come we weren't the special ones?


But the days did pass and I found myself spending less and less time in the trenches and finally, peace arrived. The kids grew up and out of the nest allowing me more time to ponder life and situations, such as why Grandmothers had it so darn good on Mother's Day. Call it wisdom gleaned from years of living, combined with time off the harried battlefield, but it didn't take me long to figure it out. It was suddenly crystal clear to me -  us older, more seasoned moms are gifted with the honors for one perfectly sound reason - WE DESERVE THEM!!!! 

Some folks view Mother's Day as nothing more than one of those sappy holidays created solely for the sake of commercialism - a money maker for gift shops and florists . Well, after a bit of investigating I discovered that isn't the case, (I looked it up on the net).


  Mother's Day has quite the interesting and even hostile past. I won't go into tedious detail, but I found it rather interesting to learn that we basically took the tradition from the Brits. In the 1600's England came up with "Mothering Day", an especially compassionate holiday toward the working classes of England. Just a sweet, sentimental Sunday where servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to their towns of origin to visit their families. Mothering Day also provided a one-day reprieve from the fasting and penance of Lent so that families across England could enjoy a family feast—Mother was the guest of honor, of course, and lovingly presented with cakes and flowers, as well as a visit from their beloved and distant children. Nothing hostile or stressed out there. No, the unrest wouldn't raise it's ugly head for awhile.  When the first English settlers came to America, they discontinued the tradition of Mothering Day, leaving it back in their British homeland where it would live on as a simple, precious tribute to mothers while the American Mother’s Day would be invented, (of course),—with an entirely new history—centuries later.


 The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mother’s from all around to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers. Julia Ward Howe called for an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood.
I knew a war had to be involved in it somehow, some way,..
At one point Howe even proposed converting July 4th into Mother’s Day, in order to dedicate the nation’s anniversary to peace, but her proposal was rejected and eventually June 2nd was designated for the celebration.

 In 1873 women’s groups in 18 North American cities observed this new Mother’s holiday. Howe initially funded many of these celebrations, but most of them died out once she stopped footing the bill. The city of Boston, however, would continue celebrating Howe’s holiday for 10 more years. Despite the decided failure of her holiday, Howe had nevertheless planted the seed that would blossom into what we know as Mother’s Day today. 
Thank You Julia Ward Howe!


 A West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday. In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day. After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School. Her request was honored, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother's Day celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Whew! Guess Mother's Day wasn't dreamed up by store owners and when you know the depth of dedication these women carried and then rallied for, ya can't help but have a little more respect for Mother's Day.

But wait, there's more!

It was Anna Jarvis who created the tradition of presenting carnations to mothers on their special day. She chose white carnations—her Mother’s favorite flower—to adorn the patrons. Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance. Today, white carnations are used to honor deceased Mothers, while pink or red carnations pay tribute to Mothers who are still alive. In 1908 a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Elmer Burkett, proposed making Mother's Day a national holiday at the request of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). The proposal was defeated, but by 1909 forty-six states were holding Mother's Day services as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. Anna Jarvis quit working and devoted herself full time to the creation of Mother's Day, endlessly petitioning state governments, business leaders, women groups, churches and other institutions and organizations. She finally convinced the World's Sunday School Association to back her, a key influence over state legislators and congress. In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to officially recognize Mother's Day, and in 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance, declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
Way To Go ANNA!!!!!

And it doesn't end there,...

The holiday flourished in the United States and flowers, especially white carnations, became very popular. One business journal, Florists Review, went so far as to print, “This was a holiday that could be exploited.” But the budding commercialization of Mother's Day greatly disturbed Jarvis, so she vociferously opposed what she perceived as a misuse of the holiday.


In 1923 she sued to stop a Mother’s Day event, and in the 1930's she was arrested for disturbing the peace at the American War Mothers group while she was protesting their sale of flowers. In the 1930’s Jarvis also petitioned against the postage stamp featuring her Mother, a vase of white carnations and the word “Mother’s Day.” Jarvis was able to have the words “Mother’s Day” removed but the flowers remained. In 1938, Time Magazine ran an article about Jarvis's fight to copyright Mother's Day, but by then it was already too late to change the commercial trend. In opposition to the flower industry’s exploitation of the holiday, Jarvis wrote, “What will you do to route charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations?” Despite her efforts, flower sales on Mother's Day continued to grow. Florist's Review wrote, “Miss Jarvis was completely squelched.”

Anna Jarvis died in 1948, blind, poor and childless.
Jarvis would never know that it was, ironically, The Florist's Exchange that had anonymously paid for her care. By the time of Anna M. Jarvis's death, over 40 countries observed the Mother’s Day, and today that number exceeds 70.

History Of Mother's Day

It wasn't my intention to add quite so much in regard to the history of Mother's Day, but the story intrigued me and I just had to share.  Interesting how such a sweet and innocent English celebration known as "Mothering Day" could end up as such a scandalous mess once it got over here, (but not surprising). My heart aches for Anna Jarvis.  She stood stern to her beliefs so valiantly only to end up alone, poverty stricken and without children of her own gathered around her when her time on this earth was finished. I don't know about you, but for every Mother's Day that I'm blessed with I'll think fondly of Anna Jarvis and send up a little prayer of gratitude in her honor for all she sacrificed in order for us mothers to have our very own holiday. Sad though, that as soon as that sweet Mothering Day seed from England sprouted into an idea for us, it was saddled up and slapped into battle. I do find it rather fitting though, that the women who were so instrumental in creating Mother's Day rallied with the spirit and tenacity of an Army General to gain the attention of the people. A woman's spine is made of surgical steel and once she gets her back up about something she's passionate towards, watch out and step back, she knows NOT the meaning of retreat!


Every Mother
Whether it be that you are a mother, grandmother, step-mom, aunt, sister, close friend, nanny or just a woman that tends to and loves unconditionally the folks most precious to your heart, Mother's Day was created in YOUR honor and I salute you for the dedication and generous labor of love you've bestowed upon your family. 


I hope this Mother's Day gifts you with a chance to sit back, put your feet up and bask in the joy as the hugs come your way!

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

~Abraham Lincoln

Face Places and All Those Other Silly Spaces

I used to do Facebook but you get a little too wrapped up in that stuff.

 It's more distracting than anything so I don't any more.

 I left it behind. I detoxed!

~Emma Stone

Who Knew?

I got my first computer in the late 90's, actually it was a gift from my Mother, (God bless her sweet soul!) And I took to the Internet like a duck to water -  I'd found my "place"! Trouble was that I had no computer skills whatsoever. I had to teach myself and it was a lot of trial and error, (to say the least). Another big problem was that I got addicted to my "Little Box" super quick. I got swept up onto that Internet Highway and the hours would literally fly by as I learned how to master this new interest of mine. Sorry to report that my obsession with my computer took a toll on my marriage, but it did. 

But that's not what I want to write about today. 

What is on my mind is this love affair folks are having with Facebook, Twitter and similar places like them.  When I first got online, (which I was on AOL for a lot of years),  there weren't many places to communicate with the masses. Ya had the notorious chat rooms, complicaTED message boards and basic email - that was about it.

I remember when I began "online journaling" people thought I was really strange to put an internet diary out there for the whole world to read, (which in reality only a couple of my online friends made time to read it). Then a couple years later along comes the infamous B-L-O-G! 

Suddenly everyone thought it was cool and had to jump on the blog-wagon. 

Go figure,...

I still think blogging is one of the better aspects of the Internet and wish I had more time and opportunity to devote to my blog. Blogging on library or other people's computers is a pain. But I remain hopeful that the day will come when I'm in a place and have a computer again, (mother board fried in my old one).

High Tech Bubbles

As much as I support, (and enjoy), the "Computer Age", I find it alarming to witness the extent of where we have gone and are continuing to go when it comes to our fascination/addiction with high tech gizmo's and gadgets. We've gone far beyond just having computers on a desk. We have cell phones, ipods, kindles, notepads, laptops and ipads. I can't keep up with it anymore - seems like yesterday my oldest child was begging me to get him a beeper!

The whole texting phenomenon is something I never expected. Yes, I have a cell phone, (who doesn't these days?), but I rarely text, (try not to anyway).  Yes, our high tech toys enable us to be in instant contact with each other and it doesn't matter where we are or what we're doing, we can toss out our most mundane and trivial thoughts to the whole world to read in a matter of seconds. Do we really have that much to say that we have to be "tuned" in 24/7? Seems to me that we're so preoccupied with texting/Twittering that we're oblivious to the real people around us like neighbors, co-workers and the folks we rub elbows with in general. Our eyes and attention are cast downward and we aren't even able to meet another person's face and exchange smiles. Our High Tech Bubbles are cutting us off from the outside world and that is not a good thing. It's especially detrimental in regard to our kids/teens. They already have issues with paying attention to people, they certainly don't need to be plugged in to their high tech gadgets to distract them more.


 There was a time when we were totally cool without having the ability to have instant communication at our fingertips, (literally), and if we got a busy signal when we called a friend it was no big deal, we'd get a hold of them sooner of later. And friends were actual people that we'd chat face to face with outside the grocery store, along the backyard fence or over a game of Canasta, not sitting at a little box typing impersonal quips and  barbs to pop off to some "Face Place" where the only evidence of having friends is if they are so inclined to casually click a  "Like" button . 


Hopelessly Addicted? 
Have we become a society so severely addicted to high tech socializing that we have lost the ability to meet another human being's face and form intelligent words that shape a good, old fashioned conversation? Have we lost interest in the intimate spontinaity of the in-person, up close and personal meet and greet with real folks out there in the world?
If so, then we are sacrificing one of the most precious gifts in life - eye to eye, hand-in-hand friendship. The kind that treasured memories are created from.


We need to take a break, power down and unplug.
Call it old fashioned, but it can all wait, the Twittering, the Facebooking and all that trivial texting. Close your eyes and just listen and those footsteps you hear? That is a real life person walking by and all you have to do is smile and say hello!

What troubles me is the Internet and the electronic technology revolution.

 Shyness is fueled in part by so many people spending huge amounts of time alone, isolated on e-mail, in chat rooms, which reduces their face-to-face contact with other people.

~Philip Zimbardo

Hopeless Places

Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.

~Mark Twain

There's a song that's being played over and over these days by Rhianna that is basically titled, We Found Love, (In A Hopeless Place). I like the song but the radio stations are quite literally playing it to death. It's what I term, a "raver tune", one of those with a frenzied beat the ravers girate and be-bop all over the place to. And there aren't many lyrics to the song other than what is also the title.

Yellow Diamonds In The Light

And We're Standing Side By Side

As Your Shadow Crosses Mine

What It Takes To Come Alive

It's The Way I’m Feeling I Just Can't Deny

But I've Gotta Let It Go

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

Shine A Light Through An Open Door

Love And Life I Will Divide

Turn Away Cause I Need You More

Feel The Heartbeat In My Mind

It's The Way I'm Feeling I Just Can't Deny

But I’ve Gotta Let It Go

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

Yellow Diamonds In The Light

And We're Standing Side By Side

As Your Shadow Crosses Mine...

We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

So those are the lyrics and I think most of us can relate to the basic message of the song. Sometimes we just "gotta let it go". 


The song got me to thinking about the many Hopeless Places out there in life. Desolate, barren places that offer us nothing more than the finality of something that at one point in time held so much promise in our life.

Hope goes hand in hand with desperation, (I think). Granted in some cases the desperation is minimal, maybe even minuscule but for many, we cling to hope as desperatley as an infant clings to it's mother.  Having hope in our lives helps fill the void of the mundane reality of accepting where we are as being, well, "where we are" and to accept that what it is,..is "what it is".


In other words, hope is the answer to that proverbial question,..."Is that all there is?"

 7 Kinds Of Hope

 1. Inborn Hope – Most children have hope, it’s their basic disposition unless adults do something to threaten it. Some people have to struggle for their hope while others seem to have it so easily. It depends on one's individual disposition.


2. Chosen Hope – This is the person with cancer who determinedly chooses to believe that treatment will be successful no matter the current outlook. It’s a parent’s right to hope for a child, even if things don’t look good at the mo-ment. Chosen hope is a life stance.


3. Borrowed Hope – Sometimes another person sees causes for hope in your life more easily than you can. If the person is honest and trustworthy, you can borrow their confidence in you, and their hope for you.


4. Bargainer’s Hope – When a daunting challenge or crisis crashes into our life, we can take a bargainer’s position. This position says, “If I do this, then that will happen,” There’s nothing wrong with bargainer’s hope, it’s human nature and often a first response to something really hard.


5. Unrealistic Hope – This kind of hope belongs to teenagers who believe they could be the next Michael Jordan of basketball. Or the hope created by the promise of a certain cereal will help you lose weight and keep it off for years to come. You’re hoping for things that could happen, but it’s not probable.


6. False Hope – There are silly versions of false hope, like chain letters promising money if you send them along. Or more serious false hopes, like the ones created by nasty insurance schemes that bilk money from people. And everyday examples of false hope, such as the hope that one person, whether friend or spouse, can meet all your needs and make you happy.


7. Mature Hope – A person with this kind of hope can wait. His or her hope is not based on particular outcomes or on a belief that everything will turn out well. Mature hope is based on meaning. In other words, things are worthwhile regardless of how they turn out.
Martin Luther King Jr., took the long view when he said, “The long arm of history bends toward justice.” Mature hope is a hope that jumps in to participate in the desired outcome. It doesn’t give up easily and it can be the most fulfilling.

These 7 kinds of hope can be found in many places throughout our lives.
Hope evolves within as we travel the passages of our lives, arriving at those stages of life that present a more realistic view of where we're headed, (or not headed).


I'd like to add 2 more to the list - Lost Hope and Stolen Hope.


Lost Hope is when we find ourselves in a place that we never EVER intended to go, such as ending up addicted to drugs/alcohol or taking prescribed drugs that alter your mental state, (antidepressants), or afflicted with mental illness.
 I also believe, (adamantly), that this takes place when a person contemplates/commits suicide 


Stolen Hope is just like it sounds. Hope that is snatched away from us by way of someone else's motives, which are usually selfish and cruel. Violence, whether it be physical or emotional, steals away the hope of it's victim.

The easiest way to end up in a Hopeless Place is to lose faith in something or someone. And the best way to lose faith is to lose trust. This is common in marriages, a spouse betrays the other, trust is destroyed, the betrayed spouse loses faith in the marriage altogether and next thing ya know it becomes a Hopeless Place. What I find alarming is this is what I see happening in regard to our government. Americans are beginning to believe, (more and more every day), that they cannot trust those in office and with faith diminished to almost nothing, Americans will, sooner than later, find themselves living in a Hopeless Place. Which a people without hope are people without the capacity to genuinely and compassionately care about their fellow human beings. 

Hopeless Places are dark, despairing and bitter cold. 

But how do we escape these Hopeless Places?

 Are we doomed to dwell there without a way out? Well, as a Christian, clinging to Jesus is my way out. I open my bible and there it is, the Light of Hope. It sheds a brilliant illuminated path leading me out of the darkness towards His Promise, the only promise I Trust and have Faith in.

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing

 through the experience of your faith that by the power of the Holy Spirit

 you may abound and be overflowing bubbling over with hope.

 ~Romans 15: 13

The world is filling up with Hopeless Places at an alarming rate. Our foundation of trust has all but eroded and washed away. Our faith languishes and looming ahead is the Hopeless Place of all Hopeless Places. 

The solution is simple for me because God and His Beloved Son provide the Hope I need to bypass all the Hopeless Places in my life. Without that, the way I see it, it really is hopeless. But it doesn't have to be unless we let it. 

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word.

 ~Psalm 119: 114

Hey - How's it goin?

 

Oh, you know how it is,... it's goin

Yeah, life can get ya down, that's for darn sure.

Right now I am living in a woman's homeless shelter and as much as I'm so VERY grateful to have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in, it's a tough situation. I am still looking for work and have literally made looking for employment a full time job. Seven days a week I put in as much time as I can applying for jobs online and when I have enough gas in my car, (which isn't often), I apply for jobs in person or check up on jobs I've already applied for. 

Then after the hunt for work I have to apply for housing as I only have 90 days at this shelter. I'm at the halfway mark now, (the clock is tickin!). These crappy economic times are scary for the homeless population, especially the clean and sober, "never been faced with this kinda thing" homeless person.

I share quarters at the shelter with women who never in their wildest dreams thought they'd be where they are and I'm one of them! It was NEVER supposed to be like this for me, not at 55 years old. I envisioned myself content and comfy in my life tending to my garden and spoiling the grandkids - NOT passing out my job resume like a flyer to anyone who'll takeit and wondering if I'll be back living in my car come spring.

~ Home Is Where The Heart Is ~

Being homeless is the loneliest place to be. 

No matter how many people you might be surrounded by in the shelters, it's an isolated journey and the phrase, "Man without a country" comes to mind for me. The reasons we end up homeless are daunting. Racking us with guilt and worry we wrestle with our major fail while at the same time trying to salvage what tattered shreds of dignity we may have left. Once we accept our homeless fate and begin to asses what our chances are in regaining the safe haven of having our own home again we get smacked upside the head with the reality of just how impotent are economy really is. As excruciatingly cruel as it feels, we end up being the people that society doesn't want to see, talk about or even know about.

 Most folks view the homeless as dirty, stinky drunks and druggies with no more ambition than to stand outside businesses bugging the working class for their spare change.  Truth is that the majority of the clean and sober homeless have cars and even jobs. People look stunned, their mouths dropping open like cod fish when I tell them I'm homeless. They can't seem to grasp how something like that could happen to someone as intelligent and "together" as me. They struggle with words of comfort to offer and usually end up saying all the wrong things. Then they come up missing in my life.

 "Out of sight, out of mind", I guess.

I have another blog that is dedicated to the plight of the homeless, (Project Homeless), so I won't be sharing a lot about my homelessness here, but it does shadow my days, casting a heaviness over me that sucks the life out of my writing muse making it difficult to be lighthearted or even funny. I do have times at the shelter that are quite comical in those awkward ironic ways that life can be.

I had one gal at the shelter accuse me of being "bossy".

BOSSY? ME? No way,.......

I took offense to her assessment of me but then another woman piped up in my defense, (I guess), and said I wasn't bossy as much as I'm more of a "Mother Hen".

I have to admit, she's right, I am.

Maybe it's because I raised 5 kids or that I just have a need to know everything that's happening around me but I am the first one to remind the gals at the shelter to have their beds made before noon or that there's no TV allowed till after 4pm but I'm also the first one to ask how things are going, offering up pep talks and genuine hugs when they're feeling down.

Just like everything else that's happened in my life I always take to it with an exploring eye - I study this experience of my homelessness like Jacques Cousteau might study a pod of humpback whale in migration. I take mental notes, pondering the reasons that be, questioning the theories and then study the options. 

Being homeless is certainly not the worst thing that's taken place in my life but it is the most exasperating in that once you're homeless there are no easy ways out, no low road to get to the high road and not too many resources to help you build a foundation of faith and security.

 A slippery slope for sure.

      

Don't eat that snow! (You don't know where it's been)

Snow In Seattle!

It's always big news when the white stuff finds Seattle. We never know if it will even get snow every year and never know when to expect it if we do. We've been dumped on in November and some years as late as February and then there have been years no snow fell at all. 

 The flakes started coming down yesterday morning, just little ones that weren't sticking around. Then at mid-day they decided to stick around and we have a good couple inches this morning. For those that battle feet high piles of snow in other states a couple inches is no big deal, but here it's major news. The main reason it is such big news is that no one in the Seattle really knows hows to drive in the snow. Oh, there are plenty a folks that like to think they do, but they don't. Another reason Seattle has to shut down whenever it snows is that from the beginning of time, Seattle has only owned one snow plow, (think they might have three now), and no one could figure out out how to use it.

Of course I'm kidding, lol, but it is true that we didn't have as many snow plows here that were needed and after a couple of surprise snowfalls that left Seattle totally immobilized, they beefed up the plow fleet. But driving in the snow is real tricky here because of the many, many steep hills. Even expert snow navigators from all those heavy snow laden states come here and can't make their way to the market without landing in a ditch. And we have wet snow too - it's like dumping a tanker truck load of Slurpee's into the roads which leaves no traction at all - ever experienced a Slurpee stop? Kids love 'em cause it's a lot like riding in a bumper car - wheeee!

Snow Happy!

Everyone loves the snow here and most want a lot more than we get!

They're saying that tonight is the night we get DUMPED on!The news is yakking about nothing else and everyone is flocking to the store for supplies. As far as I'm concerned, snow is dandy as long as I don't have to drive in it - and that includes, frozen slush, black ice, regular ice and ANY hill clear, covered or otherwise.

When I was a kid a snow was at the top of the list when it came to that ""Kid Excitement Meter" - especially the first snow of the season! It was right up there with opening the first gift at Christmas, "Snow Days", (not having to go to school), was always an occasion to Happy Dance!

We lived on a hill when I was a kid which meant there were TWO places to go sledding. One was very steep, but on the short side, (which makes a BIG difference on your way back up toting a sled or an inner tube), and then the other was a lot less steep and much longer - my friends and I stuck to the shorter, steep hill, thrillseekers yet lazy.

 We'd be there for hours, only taking quick hot chocolate breaks and then trudging our way back to the crest of the hill. Some of my friends would go in for hot chocolate never to be seen again. Their mother's would get a hold of them, ripping their rubber boots, mittens and soaked snow clothes off before they even knew what hit 'em. They'd perch themselves in their living room windows, cozy in their flannels and bunny slippers, looking quite disgruntled and miserable. Of course we'd wave at them and call for them to come back out. They'd shake their heads or, much to the dismay of their mother, open a window or come out on the front porch to holler at us that their mom's wouldn't let them. We'd laugh, toss a few snowballs at 'em and then tease them with our over-dramatic antics in the snow.

When it was over, it was over.

Limping on feet I wasn't sure were even there, wiping my red, very runny nose with soaked, frozen mittens and trailing behind me my worn out sled I would finally go home, whipped, exhausted, frozen to the core, but oh, so satisfied. I never lasted long after getting into dry clothes and usually drinking down a cup of chicken noodle or cream of tomato soup. We always had the fireplace raging on those snowy days and nights and that's where I'd collapse and fall into a deep sleep, never remember my dad carrying me off to bed. 

Of course there was nothing worse than to wake up the next morning and find that all that precious snow had been transformed into boring old rain sometimie in the night. Snowmen, which stood so straight and alert would be hunched over, tired and oh, so dingy. But in Seattle, that's how it goes - the rain owns this city and when it comes to snow, ya gotta act fast and get out there as soon as the first flake falls. 

We'll see what tonight brings -

wouldn't be the first time we braced ourselves for the "Snow of ALL Snows" only to find a dusting on the front porch. Either way, I'm stocked up on hot chocolate.