I had just left the hospital just a half hour ago from visiting Papa Charlie and the hospital called me. Papa Charlie is gone. What do I tell the children? I can’t let them see that I’m upset because that will only make it harder on them. Papa Charlie had just become a member of our family and now he’s gone. How can that be?
He was an angel for us when we needed one. He was a grandpa to my children when they needed one. He was a kind man and I will miss him terribly. I know the children will too. So I guess I need to get myself together and let the children know that Papa Charlie isn’t suffering anymore. He’s at peace now in heaven with his family and Jesus. Hopefully that will make them feel a little less sad for losing someone that had become so dear to them.
I get them every year, those darn Christmas blues, but this year it seems worse than others. I want so much for my children and I don’t just mean ‘stuff’. I want a real home. I want a real family life. I want a real chance to be a better Mom than I have been.
Why is it that this time of year I go through this? I guess it’s because we look into the eyes of these innocent children and see the wonder of life and Christmas glowing in them. Then we go look in the mirror and see the disenchantment in our own eyes knowing that the world is not a box of cherries. I don’t know about you but I long for that love and innocence again and want it to stay in my children’s eyes.
I know that a time will come when they don’t believe in Santa anymore or the magic of Christmas but I just don’t want them to look through the eyes of disenchantment at me ever. I want them to always see the wonder of a world of possibilities for them.
This year I am doing all the cooking and have a small gathering of family for dinner on Thanksgiving. We sometimes get the whole fan-dam-ily together, but this year many of the brothers and sisters made plans to be elsewhere. So I am hosting for the ones in the area. No matter if the crowd is large or small, it will be a nice day for loved ones to share a feast. And if I am cooking they know it will be delicious.
I’m not that close to my family and am not sure how many people within my family have served in the military but today is the day to honor those that are veterans. There’s a local steak house that gives a free meal to all veterans that come in. It’s amazing to see the range of ages of these that served.
In this time of two wars, it’s easy to thank a veteran but there aren’t many left from WWII. I hope they know how much our country appreciated them. They fought one of the worst wars our country was ever in. They fought for people around the world that couldn’t fight for themselves, the Jews.
Let’s all make sure to thank a veteran today. If you don’t know one personally, it doesn’t matter, find one. Just look on their cars and you’ll see a Marine Corps sticker or maybe a ‘Retired Army’ sticker. Go up and tell them ‘Thank you for what you did for me and my family’ and shake their hand. They deserve to stand tall today and every day.
My children wanted me to put this picture on to honor the soldiers so this is from my children.
jack-o-lantern (free clip art)Today the kids and I went to a local pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin to make a Jack-o- lantern from. We found it and the darn thing cost $25 dollars. Needless to say, I couldn’t afford it. As we were walking away with one screaming and crying “I want THAT pumpkin” and the other two with long faces, a kind older man heard what was going on.
As I was getting everyone in the car, someone tapped me on my shoulder. It was the gentleman that had been near enough us to hear the children cry and me say “I just can’t afford $25 for a pumpkin.” There he stood with that pumpkin in his hands saying “Here, this pumpkin really needed to go home with your kids. It was crying when you left it so I had to get it for the kids so they all could be happy.” My children started hooting and hollering and each one gave the kind man a big hug and said thank you.
There I stood with tears in my eyes. This kind soul was my guardian angel at that moment and I could plainly see it in his eyes. I gave him a hug and told him that he had no idea how much I appreciated his selfless kindness. He told me his name was Charlie Benson, gave me his phone number and told me that if I needed anything to help with the children for Christmas, to please let him know. He didn’t have any family to spoil and would love to adopt my children as his grandchildren if that was okay. He then asked if he could call from time to time to just speak with them and hear how their day or week had been.
I’m a bit nervous about giving him my number and I hate to say it but I will check him out before I allow him to be much of a part of my children’s lives. You can’t be too careful in this day in time but my heart tells me he is what he appears to be, just a kind old man with no one who wants to help. I sure hope so because my children would love to have a ‘Grandpa’ to spoil them all.
Independence Day (free clip art)There is a local semi-pro baseball team that has the best fireworks every year. It doesn’t cost much to go watch the game either. I love taking the kids every year to see the ball game and the fireworks. It’s almost become a tradition with us. Before the game, we go to the park for a cook out with my family. We have hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad and make home-made ice cream too. By the time it’s time to go to the ball game, we’re all stuffed and so that helps save money at the game. Hot dogs are EXPENSIVE at ball games.
April 1 is always going to be a date that makes me paranoid. My family is always loving jokes and pranks, and April Fool’s Day is like the Super Bowl of practical jokes to them. Every year they try to out do each other on April Fool’s Day. The only restriction is that a person or animal cannot be physically hurt during or as a result of the prank.
Sometimes my brothers go to incredible lengths to plan out complicated pranks. I know one year my youngest brother plotted his prank for over a month and was able to get cooperation from several people outside of the family to help him pull it off.
Movie night is definitely tonight, but we are watching old movies that we haven’t seen in a very long time. The Matrix entire series is on OnDemand, so we decided to watch them all. I doubt we get through all of them tonight, but we are going to try. I forgot just how good these movies are. They have apocalyptic scenario, coupled with high tech and lots of shooting and action. They are almost perfect. The only thing missing is outer space. Obviously, you can tell that we like action and scifi type movies.
I am already thinking about the next series of movies I want to watch on our next movie night. Series movies are the best. I don’t care if it is The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or the Pirates of the Caribbean. They are all amazing partly because they don’t just end. Not for a long while in any case. Waiting for the next one to come out was a little annoying, but totally worth it in the end. The Avenger, Thor and Iron Man series are definitely awesome as well and I am glad that they are continuing, the next one of those I have to see is the new Thor. It looks like it will be even better than the first one.
When our friends or family have problems and end up in divorce court, it is always good to remind them that the children are the most important part of their lives and they need to work together to make it as easy as possible on the kids. Hiring a Child Custody Lawyer Atlanta who specializes in this field is always best for the family. They are able to mediate and keep both parties calm and working together for their mutual benefit.
It is to be hoped that people think twice before they take the drastic step of getting a divorce. Sometimes, Family Law can see that you get counseling to be sure that you cannot work your problems out before you take that final step. Counseling is definitely required for parents to help them, help their children deal with the divorce. My cousin had to go through it when she and her husband divorced and she was really happy that she did. It made things much easier for her to deal with and she was able to figure out how to answer her children’s questions. That is not always easy to do. It is hard for people without children to divorce, but for families it is so much more difficult.
My cousin Crystal is getting a divorce and is having a really bad time with it. She had to find and Alimony Lawyer Boston to help her, as she helped her husband start and maintain his own business. Apparently he doesn’t believe that she deserves anything after all of the time she put in. It is always sad when people split up and their marriage is over. I really liked her husband and it is still a bit of a shock that they are ending it.
Since they have kids she chose Amy Huff Harris who also does the alimony as well. She is doing everything she can to protect the kids, but they are still understandably upset. Family lawyers are really good at their jobs though and will make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. I will have to call Bruce and talk to him as well. No matter what he is still family and I am sure he would like some reassurance that we are not just upset for her sake. He is a good man. I wish I knew what had happened, but she just said they grew apart. It doesn’t make a lot of sense as much as they loved each other, but I suppose it happens.
