One evening last week as I got into bed, I had a memory from long ago, and one of my Aunties was saying to me in my memory, " we should put things away the right way first". What she was telling me, was to do this one thing before going on to anything else.
I had several very important mentors and people that were examples that steered the direction that I took in life. This was during my childhood years, and then I was on my own. My visits to home, which would be also grandparents, aunts and uncles, I would leave with inspiration, knowledge and love. I would feel like I was filled up again.
What we say when we are around children and young adults is very important that we get it right. It truly matters because children remember. If we will simply share what we have learned in our lifetime in a way as our generations before us did we would have a more peaceful world.
My family would just live it in front of us, and what I mean by that is they did not stop what they were doing they simply took the time to explain what they were doing in a way that was teaching. They did not tell us what to do, they showed us, They included us in taking part in what they were doing.
They did not necessarily stop working on something when we came over, and if they were busy doing something they included us in what they were doing. This is how we learn from one another, this is what we should do today and instead of stopping what we are doing, just include them in what we are doing.
Many people today want to clean up before someone comes, make excuses for them not to come over because everything is not perfect. To have them arrive at a specific time to you can have everything ready. This is not the way it was in the past. People dropped in on each others, many people did not have telephones or anyway to say that they were coming.
In my family, no matter which family member it was, when you showed up there was plenty for you to do. My cousin that has reconnected with me through my blog and forum understands this well. No matter what family member we visited we would most likely get a job.
When family came that was a welcome visit and the more the merrier to get all those jobs they needed to do done. What that did was gave us many good memories, and we laughed so hard the entire time we would be there. We normally went home sore with a few bumps and bruises.
It wasn't anything unusual to take down curtains to wash or help scrub floors. We helped with the cooking and repaired boards and most anything. It was when homes were lived in and we had to move newspapers to sit down in a chair. In the 1950s when people started getting televisions, leave it to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet sanitized the home and made it look perfect but this was a tv set and not like most homes.
It is difficult today to explain how it was before electronics were around. Everyone was included and present and it was a wonderful time that we can bring back if we just would do so.
My Grandmother and my mother were very good examples and I am thankful for that. The most important part was the small things they said that registered in my mind. I never saw my Grandmother judge anyone, she might chuckle her soft chuckle, but kept those thoughts to herself.
The words "put it away the right way first" now speaks volumes. I thought about my home and how if only I had put it away the right way first I would not have the need to go back and organize over and over. It has changed my entire way of thinking since this memory has come back to me.
I must get things put away the right way, the right place, the thought out process of why something is where it goes.
We all drift away from doing things the right way, for me frequently but I come back to it. When we stop coming back to it is when we get in trouble.
I have made a lot of adjustments keeping home with no children, to having babies, to teenagers, then being empty nesters. Now grandchildren and great grand children. So many stages and changes through life.
At this time we keep our home prepared for guest, they do not come often but when they do I want to be ready. When the children were still home the bedrooms were full, when someone came we used cots, the couch, pallets on the floor. Now the children have their own homes and for those that have small families have less people to visit. This is not to say this is sad, it is to explain how our homes change.
With our history study of 1942, we see that as our loved ones went off to war, many family members moved in with other family members. Many things changed throughout the 1940s as it did during the 1930s.
It seems that we go through periods of time that there is smooth riding so to speak and then something will change.
We had a surprise snow this past Sunday morning.
"Put it away the right way first". That seems to have many meanings because if we put things away the right way first we would be quite prepared, and when we are quite prepared then we are "available". We are available if we need to take a meal to someone. We are available to help another or just visit someone. We can let go of things easier.
I crocheted a hot water bottle cover this week.
If I put my knitting or crochet away properly, then I will know exactly where it is if I need to pack it to visit with someone in the hospital. I will know where my knitting bag is and a project that I am working on. Maybe my needles and yarn to start a new project.
When my mother was on hospice, one of the hospice sitters came to give me a night off so I could go to bed and sleep. I had not had sleep in days and they could tell that I needed to sleep .They sent someone to sit with my mother through the night and early that morning when I got up, she handed me a kitchen towel with a crochet top to hang on my cabinet handle or the front of the stove. She had crochet that top onto that towel during the night to leave for me. I will never forget her kindness.
We are the only ones that can do acts of kindness, and if people never experience kindness they do not know how to be kind to others.
I saw kindness from my Aunties, Grandmother and Mother. They helped others, they did small things that mattered. Kindness does not have to be anything big at all, sometimes it is simply to look someone in the eyes and smile, sometimes to take a dish of pimento cheese and crackers or share some slices of cake or pie. Sometimes it is to share part of our harvest.
My lifetime memory of "Put it away the right way first" were something she was doing and explaining to me at that time as I understood the meaning as I watched her carefully put her sewing items away. This could have been also done in her kitchen, I have a solid visual memory from those simple words.
My father wrote me a note before I married and said, "There are no greener pastures on the other side". That had many meanings to me, and one was that my parents were divorced and I feel that he was saying that he and my mom should not have divorced. I also took that to be happy where I was, to be satisfied and not to always be looking for something better but to make it good where I am.
I have found in my lifetime to make life interesting on my own way, and since this I do not need entertainment as I have always made my own entertainment. I can say that I have never been bored, not one time have I ever felt bored.
I am a bit behind in this weeks study because we rescued a puppy a couple of weeks ago that is about three months old. We heard a dog crying behind our house on the other side close to some woods at 1:30 a.m, one morning. We searched with a flashlight but cannot find where the crying was coming from. We looked for several days when we would hear a whimper, throughout the weather issues and only off and on did we hear the crying and it was weaker.
We finally found her and she was dehydrated and emaciated and curled up in a hole with leaves behind some bushes and could not get up. I reached for her and she melted into my hands and then my arms. She had lost her cry and almost her will to live. We fed her and gave her some water and rushed her to the vet.
She needed a name for the Veterinarian office so we named her Audrey after Mrs. Hall on All Creatures Great and Small series.
Charles and I knew that we could not keep her because of our age. We do not need to start over with a puppy as it would have a good chance of outliving us and the thought of her being left behind was too upsetting. We have two elderly dogs and Charles mother's two cats left behind after she passed away. If we were just ten years younger we would keep her.
We went to a no kill shelter to talk to them of our options and suggestions. When they saw her condition they asked could we foster her to get her stronger. We did not have to think about that and we said yes. They said they would do their best to get her a good home. They would be working on their end to find her a home while we were getting her stronger. She needed medication for hook worms, she was anemic and needed medication for that twice a day. This has been one of the hardest things for us because we are not good at all of letting go of an animal that has been in our care.
Then suddenly a few days ago we got a call from the shelter asking if we could meet a lady at 5:45 a.m. that was a volunteer that was going to drive some puppies that had been chosen to where they needed to go. Audrey had been chosen and needed to be on that transport. We came home that morning sobbing with grief and at the same time we said, " We cannot ever foster again". We simply cannot take that kind of pain and grief again.
In her short time in our care, we fell in love with Audrey. She had daily medications, food, exercise to strengthen her muscles again, loving her all day and night telling her she was beautiful, smart and loved.
Photo taken the night before we met the transport.
Audrey improved quickly, she was so intelligent and learned to play with toys, she did not know what to do with a toy and the short time she had two favorite toys she carried around all day long inside and outside the house. She started running, she learned her way around the yard and house. I wrote her a diary and each day made an entry for her new family to read so they would know what had happened to her and how we found her, how she improved each day. All we know is that she would be under vet care when she got to where she was going and to a family or to a new foster. Her weight was 12 pounds the last time she was weighed.
My Grandmother had written in the back of her small bible The Unseen bridge prayer.
I feel that we can be the bridge to help someone or something to get to where they need to be. This entire experience has shown us the enormous need for lost or abandoned animals. It also opened us to the many wonderful volunteers that are out there doing unseen things to help. We met a few of these through this journey with Audrey.
For the forum this week I would like to know if you have a memory of a small thing that someone did or said that inspired you in some way. It could be a parent, family member, teacher, friend, stranger or just about anyone.
Have you ever been around someone that made you comfortable to be around and inspired you to want to be like them? What was it about them that made you comfortable?
Have you ever gone to someone's house and they included you in with what they were doing?
What skill did someone help you to learn? Was it a family member or someone else?
Also do you have any family stories passed on about changes or adjustments in their life during ww2.
You can answer any or all of these questions or just read along. Anyone can read along, to answer you simply need to sign up just one time, no cost just a way to keep the blog safe.
Hope to see you in the forum, Grandma Donna
