On To The Galleria, Maybe...
Sometimes when I'm writing, memories just pop into my head, I'm pretty sure I've told you this before. Usually there is some kind of trigger, like music, a smell or something someone says. This morning as I was driving to work, I saw a lone cardinal on the side of the road. I actually have seen several of the red birds of late, but this particular one brought a face into my mind's eye's focus, Aunt Winnie.
When I was young, she was special to me. She always wore dresses with aprons tied around her waist and a bandana tied around her head. I sure loved that woman! My younger sister, Terri, and I would get to spend weekends with her often. She reminded me somewhat of Mrs. Olsen, the Folger's Coffee lady in the old commercials, except she was fluffier around the middle-you know the post menopausal look. She had an accent, or so I remember, maybe German-or not. She was the first person I ever knew that practiced xeriscaping, which is landscaping and gardening that reduces or eliminates the need for supplemental water from irrigation. Of course, I had no idea then what that practice was back then. I just knew her backyard was wilder than anyone else's around and it just thrived. Her yard was made entirely to support birds and other wild critters without much tending to. She had birdfeeders out and would put feeders of suet out in the winter. There was long grass and flowers everywhere just growing where ever they pop up.
From the kitchen window, you could watch all the going's on. She had drawings (mostly by one of us kids) taped up all over the walls of that room. My brother and older sister were pretty talented artists and owned the majority of the artwork but I wasn't too bad myself, for a youngster. When I was twelve, I sent a drawing in from the "draw me" contest in the TV Guide and won $25. They actually called my mother and wanted me to take their course, but it was too expensive for us and she said no, shucks. I also won one of the contests on one of those scary TV series back then, I was maybe nine or ten. It was like Creature Feature or Outer Limits, one of those old shows anyway, viewers could send in artwork and they would show them at the beginning of each episode. I drew a monster that looked like he was electrically charged.
Anyway, we had a blast at her place. We would get to pick out a Hamburger Helper flavor and help cook it after Sunday church service or she would make chopped beef gravy on toast. For some reason, everything always tasted better at her house. She also had a little buffet with all different kinds of juice glasses that I loved drinking from those. I was easy to please, I guess. The absolute best part was bath time! She would save her Ivory dishsoap bottles and let us squirt each other in the tub. Gosh, there would be water everywhere, but she never admonished us even once.
We didn't watch too much television at her house, she had the little rabbit ears with tin foil wrapped on them for better reception (be honest you remember...and if you don't-you missed it.) We always took turns reading from the Bible every evening before any television and we enjoyed that time also. The last time I saw her, she was only about maybe 90 pounds and on her deathbed. It was a very sad time but her memory stays with me always.
But back to the story at hand. When we last left off, we had just finished a huge meal after Cheyenne was discharged from the hospital where they removed her thyroid due to Papillary thyroid cancer. The kid was exhausted but since we were close to the Galleria, we had to stop by. Mistake! The place was packed, we couldn't find a parking place so Terri, (my sister who had driven down from Kansas City) paid for valet parking. It felt kind of weird, to be honest, I am too dang cheap to ever do that. Anyway, there was a Lamborghini parked out there and that was pretty cool. We walked around the mall for awhile, it is pretty neat, what I remember of it anyway I was pretty tired too. It seems like I intended to tell more about this adventure, but today it seems like I can't recall much about it, hmm. Instead, something Chey told me keeps buzzing around.
Chey works at Golden Chick in Dublin. The owner's, Mr. and Mrs. David Connor, are wonderful people. They take good care of my daughter and were very generous to us by holding a fundraiser to help with Cheyenne's medical expenses. Chey is kind of the acting GM right now and it is sometimes a very stressful job. This is really a good thing because it makes Chey realize, even more than she already does, how important a college education is. Even though she gets extremely frustrated at the lack of work ethic some employees have, she appreciates the others that work their butts off. A hard lesson she has learned is that many people don't really give a crap about doing a good job. They are there simply for the money and to do as little as possible, she has to stay on top of these kind of employees. Thankfully, they usually don't stay around too long because she doesn't cut them much slack. She has always been diligent in her life, but after her diagnosis, it became almost a doctrine. Sometimes though, they do surprise her. She came home the other day and told me about one of the girls at work.
"Mom, you know what happened today?"
"Nope," I responded.
"One of the girls said she forgot to get me a cake," she said it very excitedly.
"A cake, why? It's not your birthday yet," I said perplexed.
"I know, right. She said it was my anniversary."
I interjected, "Your anniversary?"
"Yup, she said it had been two years to the day since I was diagnosed with cancer and I was still alive and breathing so we should have had a cake. Isn't that neat?"
I could see in my daughter's eyes that this had moved her very much. The idea that one of her work peers had remembered such a milestone and genuinely seemed pleased that she was here touched her at her core. Most of the kids in Dublin, (that were her "friends") don't know and really don't care about this wonderful realization. What is even sadder, is that she knows that most the adults don't either. Our problem with the school district had allowed the monster side of many people to emerge en mass. Even though I believe many regret their actions, at that time, I feel they are incapable of admitting that to anyone, mainly themselves. It seems to be much easier to ignore her (or our) presence on the planet than to admit their prejudice and ensuing actions.
This one little action of this young lady, who wasn't looking for any accolades, had simply made my daughter's day. To be honest, it made mine too! Kindness is at it's best when you aren't looking for it.
Next time, Home,
XXOO Make Everyday Count
Bonnie
Anyway, we had a blast at her place. We would get to pick out a Hamburger Helper flavor and help cook it after Sunday church service or she would make chopped beef gravy on toast. For some reason, everything always tasted better at her house. She also had a little buffet with all different kinds of juice glasses that I loved drinking from those. I was easy to please, I guess. The absolute best part was bath time! She would save her Ivory dishsoap bottles and let us squirt each other in the tub. Gosh, there would be water everywhere, but she never admonished us even once.
We didn't watch too much television at her house, she had the little rabbit ears with tin foil wrapped on them for better reception (be honest you remember...and if you don't-you missed it.) We always took turns reading from the Bible every evening before any television and we enjoyed that time also. The last time I saw her, she was only about maybe 90 pounds and on her deathbed. It was a very sad time but her memory stays with me always.
But back to the story at hand. When we last left off, we had just finished a huge meal after Cheyenne was discharged from the hospital where they removed her thyroid due to Papillary thyroid cancer. The kid was exhausted but since we were close to the Galleria, we had to stop by. Mistake! The place was packed, we couldn't find a parking place so Terri, (my sister who had driven down from Kansas City) paid for valet parking. It felt kind of weird, to be honest, I am too dang cheap to ever do that. Anyway, there was a Lamborghini parked out there and that was pretty cool. We walked around the mall for awhile, it is pretty neat, what I remember of it anyway I was pretty tired too. It seems like I intended to tell more about this adventure, but today it seems like I can't recall much about it, hmm. Instead, something Chey told me keeps buzzing around.
Chey works at Golden Chick in Dublin. The owner's, Mr. and Mrs. David Connor, are wonderful people. They take good care of my daughter and were very generous to us by holding a fundraiser to help with Cheyenne's medical expenses. Chey is kind of the acting GM right now and it is sometimes a very stressful job. This is really a good thing because it makes Chey realize, even more than she already does, how important a college education is. Even though she gets extremely frustrated at the lack of work ethic some employees have, she appreciates the others that work their butts off. A hard lesson she has learned is that many people don't really give a crap about doing a good job. They are there simply for the money and to do as little as possible, she has to stay on top of these kind of employees. Thankfully, they usually don't stay around too long because she doesn't cut them much slack. She has always been diligent in her life, but after her diagnosis, it became almost a doctrine. Sometimes though, they do surprise her. She came home the other day and told me about one of the girls at work.
"Mom, you know what happened today?"
"Nope," I responded.
"One of the girls said she forgot to get me a cake," she said it very excitedly.
"A cake, why? It's not your birthday yet," I said perplexed.
"I know, right. She said it was my anniversary."
I interjected, "Your anniversary?"
"Yup, she said it had been two years to the day since I was diagnosed with cancer and I was still alive and breathing so we should have had a cake. Isn't that neat?"
I could see in my daughter's eyes that this had moved her very much. The idea that one of her work peers had remembered such a milestone and genuinely seemed pleased that she was here touched her at her core. Most of the kids in Dublin, (that were her "friends") don't know and really don't care about this wonderful realization. What is even sadder, is that she knows that most the adults don't either. Our problem with the school district had allowed the monster side of many people to emerge en mass. Even though I believe many regret their actions, at that time, I feel they are incapable of admitting that to anyone, mainly themselves. It seems to be much easier to ignore her (or our) presence on the planet than to admit their prejudice and ensuing actions.
This one little action of this young lady, who wasn't looking for any accolades, had simply made my daughter's day. To be honest, it made mine too! Kindness is at it's best when you aren't looking for it.
Next time, Home,
XXOO Make Everyday Count
Bonnie
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