A Candle in the Wind

When I was in a job search, I used to call all of my potential interviews, candles in the wind...they were out there, but the slightest thing could blow them out and I would be left with a burned out candle. But to me, it was nice to have candles in the wind...they were opportunities, they were potential career moves. They weren't official, but they were something to give me hope.

"Official" things in life are funny. We always knew that Marie would be in our family, but it wasn't "official" until Tony asked her to marry him. We always knew that Jenna and Jon would have beautiful children, but it wasn't "official" until Ben and Sam were born...and we always knew that David and Joanna could weather any storm, but it wasn't "official" until David got sick.

Retirement and moving is becoming more and more "official." We got our first lot loan payment notice on Friday...meaning we own (or are at least paying on official Swegle dirt!!) And, Tony's retirement clock is "officially" ticking off each day.

I posted that when we went to North Carolina, I talked to the builder, who is trying to set up a Call Center, and ultimately, sent him my resume.....well, I got an email from him on Friday, asking if I was still interested and asking me to call him.

It's a candle in the wind....the wind that will blow across our new property and new stage of life. It may not work out....but it give me hope. Never blow out your candles in the wind, children...they light your path.

From One Extreme to Another

What a fun day I had yesterday. Jenna, Ben, Sammy and I went to the bank to flip over some money in Ben's savings account to a CD and to open a savings account for Sammy. Ben was so big. He sat in the chair next to me holding his savings pass book. I told him to give it to Nora, the banker who was helping us and he did. After a few minutes, he looked at Jenna and said, "Mama, she's not giving my book back." Nora cracked up. A few minutes later, Nora asked him his name. Apparently Ben has been cautioned about giving out too much information, because he said, "Moe Moe, she wants to know my name, but she's a stranger." Nora cracked up. Then, Ben decided that he wanted to tell Nora his name, so he asked Jenna if he could tell her. Nora asked how old he was, and Ben responded, "I will be 4." Nora asked when his birthday was and Ben said, "soon." Nora said, "really, when???" Ben responded, "really soon." Nora cracked up. I finally convinced Ben that he could tell Nora when his birthday was even though she was a stranger. Nora completed the transaction of turning some of Ben's money into a long term CD and I gave Ben back his book and said, "Ben, this is your bank...you have money here." That impressed Ben a great deal. He said, "Mama, this is my bank...I work here." Nora cracked up. She told Ben at the end of the transaction that she was glad he was a customer of First Federal of Lakewood and that she hoped she saw him often. Ben said OK, waved and was on his way.

Sammy started out being a little afraid of the bank, but soon was running and jumping on the couch. He too is a customer now, but I think it will be awhile before he is handling his bank book like Ben did.

And then, after work, Jenna and I headed for West 25th street. Call me crazy, but West 25th street has always been a suspect area. An area to avoid. But, there we were heading to a tattoo place to get her Sammy tattoo--my birthday present to her. You couldn't go to Strongsville??? I asked?

Ah, it was an interesting place. The smell of lack of air conditioning, ink and sweat hit you as you walked in. Men were walking around in various stages of undress and ink and a young lovely came and went--apparently a girlfriend of one of the "tattoo-eese" with even less clothes on than he, even though he was only wearing shorts. What is that line from a movie about "something about napome in the morning???" Well this was like, "there's something about butt crack in the tattoo parlor."

The music was ..interesting. It was a combination of heavy metal, rap and good ole boy country. I had no idea that the word f**k applied to so many kinds of music. There was the country song...."I'm Layin Here Wasted While My Woman is Out Getting F**ked" Then there was our personal favorite...."I Can Polish Off A Bottle, But I Can't Polish A Turd." Oh...and then there was, "She Used to Be Pretty, But Now She's Just Pretty F**ked Up." The heavy metal songs were harder to identify as far as words were concerned....it was kind of like. "BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, AHHHHHH, EEEEEEE,,,,,and I told her you better get ready to f**k.....or I would BAM, BAM, BAM, OUU, OUUUUUUUUU, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. I'm sure the words are much more classy than that, but I just couldn't decipher. I thought of asking if they had any Barry Manilow or Air Supply, but Jenna didn't think that was a good idea.

But finally, she had two beautiful tattoos. One of a B17 with Sammy's name across the top (see her blog, I was only going to post the outline, but she has the whole thing there looking beautiful.) and her father's signature on her shoulder. That one made me cry. I hadn't seen that signature in 34 years, but I remembered it instantly.

I had fun. It was hard to watch Jenna be in pain, but I was there with her this time and I wouldn't have missed it or given the opportunity to anyone else for the world.

From bank to tattoo parlor--from one extreme to another, but what fun I had!

We're All in a Good Place - No Pictures

Make sure you check out the blog I did earlier, showing part 2 of the backyard...it's so pretty. But I was thinking today, we are all in a good place in our lives--and I hope we all realize that.

Tony and I got notification from Compass Pointe that our lot loan was approved and we now own dirt in North Carolina!!! Yea!!! And soon, a house will inhabit that dirt--oh boy, can't wait. David was advised by his doctor that he can go back to work on Monday. That means that Joanna will be going to cosmetology school soon. Tony and Marie put a deposit down on a hall in North Olmsted--not their preferred date--but you never know what can happen. And, Jenna and Jon are #5 on the adoption list--possibly #3, depending on circumstances. So, we are healthy, we have beautiful nephews and grandchildren--we will soon be adding on to our family and we are happy. What a good place to be. Take a step back. Think about where you are individually and where we are as a family and enjoy the moment. So often life is filled with challenges and difficult moments. Isn't nice that we have a good place that we are all in at the same time? Isn't it nice that for a moment in time we are all connected and we are all good?

Enjoy the time, my children. We love you lots.

An Asshole and a Beautiful Day

Today we went to wine coutry--Ohio wine country...Geauga, Conneaut and North Kingsville...where some of our favorite winery are...Tarsitano, is my favorite--good food, nice wne and two people trying to make a living. Ken and Kelly are very special special people.

It's unfortunate that when you are having a wonderful day, someone spoils it. Today, it was someone who cut us off on the highway. He cut in front of us with litereally less than a half a car length between us. I don't know how Tony managed to control the car, blow the horn and give him the finger all in one gesture--but he did. I felt better as we passed him up the road and I gave him a full finger out the window. How stupid that was. How it could have turned out. That someone needed to be in front of us for a minute and would risk the outcome...but he did. Be careful as you are traveling--people are crazy out there.

But the rest of the day was wonderful...good food, good wine, walking in the downtown area and just enjoying the day. Thank you for recognizing Tony as a great father and grandfather--that made my day.

A Wonderful Day, A Beautiful Bride

No matter what fun anyone else had today, I had more. Today was wedding dress shopping day with Marie, her mom, sisters and friend. What a great time we had. We started at Leonardo's in Rocky River. We found dresses with bling, dresses that were pouffy, dresses that were "fun" and all kinds in between. Our problem was the bride. She looked absolutely beautiful in each and every one of them. She didn't walk, she floated and sparkled. And then, with a veil---well, what can I say? She was a princess, a sweetheart, a matador, a mermaid and a goof. She put on one dress with yards and yards of train--and who but Marie would say, "I can have this floor dusted in a minute, watch me...." and then take off with the dress trailing behind her as she chased down dust bunnies!!

Lunch was at Salmon Dave's, hosted by Mona. I was going to wrestle her to the ground for the check, but she beat me to it. We had a great time talking about past weddings, proposals and rings. I am so pleased that Tony gave Marie a wonderful wedding proposal memory. There's nothing like a bunch of teary eyed women sitting over lunch going, "aw, isn't that sweet" to make a bride proud of her groom.

From there we went to Dora's in Fairview Park. They had a great selection at really good prices. But, just like before, our problem was the bride--absolutely beautiful in each and every dress.

After that, we finished the day at David's Bridal in Strongsville. It's a big store, but their dresses just didn't seem to have that "wow" factor that many of the other dresses that Marie tried on did.

I'm not sure if Marie found her dress today. I think she confirmed what she really wants to look like on her wedding day--and I think that she was surprised by how much she liked some dresses that really didn't look that great on the hangar.

I am so glad I was invited to share in the day. At one point, Marie was looking at herself in a dress and she said to me, "do you think your son would like me in this dress?" To which I replied, "Sweetie, you could wear a burlap sack on your wedding day and Tony would still think you were the most beautiful bride in the world." And I know he would.

THE dress is out there and when she tries it on, Marie will know right away that this what she is supposed to look like on this very important day.

Thank you, Marie, for asking me to be part of the day.

The Way We Were

Tony got home from Tampa last night....we had a nice dinner in Berea and then came home, sat on the deck and talked. It was nice.

Tonight, I came home to cut grass, a neatly trimmed lawn and dinner being planned and cooked. Stupid Cat is no where in sight....ah....this is how it's supposed to be.

No laundry tonight. The alone factor is gone. All of the sounds are where they should be.

It doesn't get much better than this!

And Then Ben, Mommy and Daddy Came Back....

Do you think I'll ever remember to post the earliest first??????