Another Wardrobe Malfunction

I was at the YMCA pool with Jacob.
It wasn't until I had my tank top cover up layer folded next to my towel
and my shorts cover up layer off and bunched up in my hand
that I remembered The Great Original Plan.
I glanced down at my black tankini top and the bright blue fabric of the other piece below.
omw.
I had forgotten that the shorts weren't a cover up layer today.
I had just slipped them on, like I do sometimes,
over my regular underwear instead of wearing a for-real swimsuit set.
I wondered if I made hastily returning a garment to its original location
look like something natural to do just prior to swimming with your kid.
take it off. put it back on. swim.
doesn't everyone do it that way? ;)
I'm telling you, standing next to a public pool in your underwear
with other people around is far more emotionally traumatizing
than the most ill fitting swim suit.
I would know.
I also know that the sometimes the only redemption and dignity
with the dumb things I do
is to laugh at myself.
And better than that?
Laughing at myself with a friend.
Join me?!

Princess Diana

 

Diana, Princess of Wales
July 1, 1961 - August 31, 1997

It's been almost sixteen years.

I was feeding 4 month old adorable-fluffy-haired-breathtakingly-precious-Baby Ben.
Sitting on a 1980's plaid sofa. In a mauve, blue and antique white room. With a paisley pattern thing going on with the wallpaper border and pillows.

Jared, the always-moving-never-not-talking-while-awake-also-adorable-and-breathtakingly precious-toddler, was in bed for the night. and sleeping.

(The Farmer and His Wife made breath-taking children.)
(Because they are so awesome and hard too and their mother is learning while on the job.)

The Farmer was out... farming. The feeding cattle late part of farming because earlier we had been at a friend's house for dinner.

That's a tiny peek into what was going on in my life when I first heard the news.

Where were you? What were you doing?

Crazy as this may sound,
with the birth of William and Kate's son,
there is a fresh ache again, over all that was so unfair for Diana.
Because I wish that we could see her enjoying her family and grandbaby.

As a kid, I read, scrapbooked and collected everything I could get my hands on about Diana.
The closest that we ever came to crossing paths was when we were both on Martha's Vineyard at the same time. And I saw her yacht.

So. not close. at all. And I'm disappointed to this very day.  I think I've been reacting ever since. ;)

My teenaged-heart-prized Princess Diana memorabilia included a little plate commemorating the birth of Prince Harry, bought for me by our bishop's wife, Mrs. Delp, in the gift shop at St. Paul's Cathedral, London. I also have a stamp set that had been a present from my friend and Sunday School teacher, Ethel. You can tell, I know, that I really went to one of the coolest Mennonite churches with The Nicest People.

Did you have a childhood hero? heroine?
I liked Ronald Reagan too. :)

Which is why my children, I had three at the time, went to D.C. just to observe his funeral procession.

I've started a mental list, to transcribe later in my journal,
of those people who were really in my life when I was a kid.

Truly caring.
Spending time.
Investing.
Living out the love.

Heroines for sure.





Maybe it's time to tell them. They might not know.
How much they meant to me.

Want to join me this week?
In writing a thank you note
to a real- in- your- life person of influence,
a heroine,
from your past?

Remembering Diana, Princess of Wales.
I still miss her. Don't we all?
"Go. Be. Love. The world needs you."

[this moment]

 

~from our visit to the Holocaust Museum's 20th Anniversary Event, April 29th. [this moment] - inspired by soulmama.

Looked Like

Back in the year 1900, our farmhouse looked like this...


I say "our" in that we've lived here for 20 years, it's home. as renters though. not owners.
It had already celebrated 96 birthdays when this picture was taken.
The front porch was added shortly thereafter.

I recently heard firsthand from the man who had spoken with Anna Hershey herself.
Anna lived in our circa 1804 farmhouse in the 1860's and remembered Civil War Soldiers stopping here for bread. 
Her great-grandfather was Daniel Boone.

So if you stop by, you can stay in our Daniel Boone room.

He slept here!!!

Maybe.
Like I told my friend Kristy on fb, I've moved quickly from hoping for authentification of this house's history... to inventing it. :)



Jared's 18th birthday present looked like...



Skydiving. The Farmer and his genetically-compelled-to-want-to-son loved their first solo jumps.
First. Which means there's a next. Because they both said it was that much fun.



Philadelphia and George Washington's 281st Birthday back in February looked like this...






Benjamin's 16th Birthday and party looked like this...



Another one of my babies is legally allowed to operate a vehicle.
Ben's party included a clay bird shoot... someone called 911 about all of the gunfire.
So we even had the cops, yes plural, showing up.
(We have the best hick parties.)
And it's hard to get a mother/son birthday photo without her talking.




A new paint job and some travel mementos in our downstairs bathroom looks like this...



Postcard from a D.C. museum, and a pic of Jared and Ben's 2nd Presidential Inauguration with George Bush in 2005.
Jacob's rock collection from Pike's Peak last summer.
Maps and brochures. Coke bottle from Jerusalem, 1988. My heart still pounds just remembering. :)
Ben's snapshot from Australia back in 2008.
Our keychain collection for our special travel memories tree at Christmas.


A mom's recent "game on" looked like this...

When your son tells you that he wants to get a tattoo like this guy's shirt (it really IS a shirt,)
you enthusiastically agree. and say, come on! let's get a snapshot!


Sarah's abstract/realistic self portrait from art class looked like this...




Living with many boys and finding a way to keep a mom's tools where she needs them looks like...

Pink paint. It's been working. :)



Great times with friends, including Jared, looked like this...




Fun snail mail looked like this...
 


My grandparents wedding picture looks like this...

I love old photos.



Cooperation yesterday for Last Day of School pictures looked like this...


Next year at this time, I will be the young mother of a high school graduate. 
The neighborhood around here on Xanga looks like...
it's changing. and fast.

And with so many people moving in different directions,
I need some advice. pretty please.
I am wanting to continue to keep in touch. I love you guys! You all have been a great group of friends!
But here's me, finding it harder to keep up,
partly because instead of hanging over the backyard fence together,
I am needing to actually drive to other communities.

What do you use to organize everything on one page? I need to do that.
And what are the benefits of buying a domain name through say bluehost vs. setting up on blogger or wordpress?
I am so not techy. not at all. at all. I like my crockpot, easy to understand. simple, with an off, lo, and high knob. sigh.
So any recs, experiences and wisdom would be greatly appreciated. :) thanks.



A quick snapshot of the kids in Fredericksburg, Va looks like this...

Immediately after which the alarmed tour guide said stop! get down!
ooops.It's our first day of summer vacation.
So it's looking like...
a great day!


Happy Friday to you all!