Journal entry 169--Passionate 6

Write about something you are passionate about.

I love to travel with my family. My kids are older now so it makes traveling a lot easier and they can do more things with us. For instance last year we went on a cruise with my brother-in-law's family. It was the best vacation I've ever had! We had a great time with the kids--snorkeling, seeing Mayan ruins and going down river in the Belize jungle. Traveling always brings our family closer. My kids get along with each other better, they enjoy being around us and everyone is a little more relaxed. Hmmm...maybe I'd better start planning our next vacation!

Journal entry 118--Thanksgiving

Describe a memory you have from Thanksgiving past.


Every year for Thanksgiving, my family would go to my grandparent's house for dinner. All my cousins were there and aunts and uncles. The house was filled with children running around in and out of the adult's legs. I loved going to my grandparent's house each year. My grandma was a wonderful cook and made the best lemon meringue pie using her fresh lemons off the tree. Each year, (before there was cable TV) a Christmas movie called, "Santa and the three bears" was shown. To me, it signified the start of the Christmas season. I remember looking forward to that movie each year. Now you can watch it in July!

Journal entry 107--Grandparent's house

What are reminded of when you think of your grandparent's house.


I think the color blue because they had light blue carpet everywhere. Even the kitchen had carpet only it was the kind especially made for kitchens. I wanted carpet in my kitchen when I grew up because of grandma's house. Their bathroom had a sunken shower. You had to walk down 3 steps to get to the shower. One of my childhood wishes was to fill it up with water and swim in it. My grandmother also had an oil lamp in her bathroom. The kind of lamp that looks like it's raining but it's oil drops sliding down wires. My grandparent's house was such a fun place to play as a child. She had a rose garden with probably 50 bushes that smelled like heaven along with two lemon trees. Those lemons were in her wonderful lemon meringue pie, which we ate at every family get together. My grandma was an organists so she had two beautiful organs and a baby grand piano. She would teach me some organ techniques and I loved to play on the organs. When I think of my grandparent's house, I think of togetherness, love and security.

Journal entry 106--Rules

How do you feel about rules? Do you willingly follow them or fight against them as you go?


I've always struggled with being told what to do. Of course I follow rules, otherwise I would be in jail. I'm happy to obey the laws of the land and follow the guidelines of my church but it is difficult to obey when I've been ordered to do something. Fortunately this doesn't happen often but it did as a child. I have to continually remind myself of how I felt when I was ordered to do something and not repeat that with my children. I guess I would have been a terrible soldier in the military.

Journal entry 105--Forgiveness

Who has been the hardest person in your life to forgive? Why can't you forgive this person?


My entire life, I've had difficulty forgiving my father for not being in my life. It has always upset me that he was an alcoholic and chose to love drinking more than his children. One of the two people in life that are suppose to love their children unconditionally and my own father couldn't even handle that. I've tried to understand his childhood and where he was coming from but it's still very difficult because I have felt cheated out of a father all my life. Before I wasn't quite sure exactly what I had missed out on but then after I got married and met my father-in-law, I knew. He is the polar opposite of what my father was and I'm grateful he's in my life. I don't know if I've forgiven my father. I still have a lot of anger toward him but I'm working on forgiving.

Journal entry 100--Luxury

What is a luxury item you can't possibly live without and why?

I'm thinking a computer should be listed as a necessity item since most people have one. If this is the case, then I would have to choose a piano as my luxury item I can't live without. I love music and playing the piano so I can't imagine my life without one. My entire childhood always involved a piano in it and now that my kids play as well I enjoy listening to them. The piano is a beautiful instrument although it's a heavy instrument! It certainly would be difficult to carry with me.

Journal entry 99-Voting

Please take a moment to describe your first time voting in an election. What year was it and did your candidate win?

The first year I voted in an election was when George Bush Sr. ran against Dukakus. I really had no idea about either candidate but was just voting the same way as my mother, who was a Democrat. I remember going to work and hearing my boss and coworker talking about Bush and why I was wrong to want to vote for Dukakus. Looking back I realized I should not have even voted in that election in the first place because I did not fully understand each candidate's position. I was influenced by my mother which is what so many young people are today--influenced by parents or peers. Should we raise the legal voting age?!?

Journal entry 98--Birds and Bees

How and when did you first learn about the birds and the bees? Were your parents able to teach you before school friends did?

I was taught about the birds and the bees when I was only 8 years old, and unfortunately it wasn't by my mother. I learned about it from my best friend and her brother. Their father was a plastic hand surgeon and had a library full of medical books with many graphic pictures. When my friend and her brother found out how I thought babies were made they just laughed and took me to their father's library. I got an eye full and ear full that day and had a very difficult time looking at my mother for the next few weeks.

Journal entry 96--Childhood

Write about something you did as I child that you would never think of letting your child do now.

There were several things I could do as a child that my children now can't. For example, I use to walk to school and I lived a good distance from my school. Now I don't let my kids walk to school because of safety issues. The biggest thing I did as a child was go to the mall with just my friend. We were only 9 years-old! I can' t even imagine letting my kids do that in today's world. It's sad that our children have lost so much potential for freedom because of predators.

Journal entry 93--Hair

As I was running my hands through my hair trying to think of a topic, I came up with this. Describe how you wore your hair as a child.

I had long hair that went down to my waist with bangs. My hair was completely straight and would not hold any type of curl. My mother would put my hair in curlers at night. The next day when my hair was curly, my mom would put it into two pony tails and make ringlets. Each pony tail had about 5 long ringlets on it. I looked like Shirley Temple! As I got older the hair got shorter and bigger as the 80's approached.

Journal entry 90--Momisms

Describe a momism which is something funny your mother believed and made you believe until you found out differently.

My mother thought that for sure, a child was suppose to have the same blood type as their father. This is only halfway true. The child should have the same blood type as their father AND their mother. I have the same type as my mother but she was not happy when I told her that. She thought I was accusing her of having an affair with another man! I first found out my blood type in High School human physiology and I know I was right because my teacher gave me an A on the project. But, my mother would have none of it and refused to acknowledge that I had a different blood type than my father even though it was the same as hers.