A Quarter of a Century... Nyssa Hits the Mark!!!

"In the great green room there was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of--
The cow jumping over the moon
And there were three little bears, sitting on chairs
And two little kittens and a pair of mittens
And a little toy house and a young mouse
And a comb and a brush and bowl full of mush
And a quiet old lady who was whispering "hush".

"Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon
Goodnight light and the red balloon
Goodnight bears goodnight chairs
Goodnight kittens goodnight mittens
Goodnight clocks and goodnight socks"

"Goodnight little house and goodnight mouse
Goodnight comb and goodnight brush
Goodnight nobody goodnight mush
And goodnight to the old lady whispering "hush"
Goodnight stars, goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere."
~ Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon, 1947

Twenty-five years ago today, a quarter of a century past... a girl child was born. She was loved and cherished and nurtured and taught from the beginning... even before she was born. Goodnight Moon... a simple story with bright primary color illustrations became a nightly ritual... her mom read it before she was born and every night, beginning on her first night home from the hospital. First words... mama... dada.... and "moon". She knew the words to the entire book before she could read and wore out many copies... board book, hardback, paperback... I don't remember how many we finally ended up with. I patched and taped the pages together in this cherished work for many years.

Today, she turns 25... on Easter... her birthday falling on this day for the first and likely the last time in her life. (or at least that is what she tells me). All grown up and too far away to bake a cake for, we simply celebrate over the phone and with cards and as she has also told me... with blog posts. She checked.. it wasn't up... she was disappointed... but I have been behind all my life.. all her life. When I sat down to go through some pictures and think about the past 25 years, my eyes misted.. such a long time it seems and yet it was gone in an instant...those baby smells and sounds of learning to laugh.. those funny things she said as a little toddler...the excitement of going to school and taking her first piano lesson... the joy of watching her help another and realizing that she was learning life lessons.... the harrowing job of teaching her to drive...."watch the mailboxes, watch the mailboxes!!!...the pride at seeing her graduate... from kindergarten, high school, college, master's degree and one more left for the future. All these moments and more contained in 25 years of memories.

I don't like to be in pictures or post pictures that I'm in... but I will make this one exception. Please note and then disregard the amazingly out of date glasses and the frizzed out hair... remember, I had just been through 48 hours of unsuccessful induction of labor and a C-section... so taking that into account, I didn't look half bad. At least both Nyssa and I were asleep... we needed it... we were both exhausted from the process of new life. So, this is what I was doing 25 years ago today at exactly this time of day... 5PM.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!!!!

(end of post)

Singer, Tenor, Brother, Hero

Valencia, Spain.... sculptures.

"To the outside world we all grow old.
But not to brothers and sisters.
We know each other as we always were.
We know each other's hearts.
We share private family jokes.
We remember family feuds and secrets,
family griefs and joys.
We live outside the touch of time."
~ Clara Ortega

The Tenor....

"Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago - the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider.... It doesn't seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we've traveled." ~ Jane Mersky Leder

Stephen ... My brother... Happy Birthday!

"There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother.
Oh, how I hated that little boy.
And how I love him too."
~ Anna Quindlan

Today is my brother's birthday. We are nine years and nine days apart... not by design.. just happened that way. When I became a teenager, he turned four. When I graduated from high school and left for college, he was eight and in second grade. When I got married, he was twelve and an usher at the wedding. When he graduated from high school, I was in residency. He graduated from college two years before Nyssa was born... I had been married for eleven years. He joined the original traveling company of Phantom of the Opera in Chicago in 1990, when Nyssa was four. And now he is in Europe as a heldon tenor, free lance and all grown up. Now he is my hero, helping Nyssa pay for college when we hit a hard patch, buying this wonderful home for us to live in and generally being an all around nice guy. We miss him a lot and the visits seem too short and too far between. He misses the relaxation of being home and the glamour of world travel has long since worn off.

Of course we had our differences as children who were too far apart in age, but I have it on good authority that these differences would really have not been much different even if we had been four years or less apart. There were the arguments and the pranks he played and all that tattling. But looking back, he was just trying to act older and be with the older kids and teenagers because he wanted to be accepted by his sister and her friends. When I left for college, Stephen sent me cards in the mail. Some days that was the only mail that showed up in my box. He liked to send Peanuts cards, particularly Snoopy and Woodstock ones. He was in second grade and just starting to learn cursive writing so the letters were big and there never was enough room to write everything. But they were wonderful to me... I still have them.... NO, Stephen, I don't know exactly where they are without looking, but I know I still have them... somewhere.

Today we are good friends... the best of friends... there is no finer brother on the face of the earth... and I DO MEAN THAT!

Happy Birthday Stephen!

To go to Stephen's website click here.

(end of post)

People Who Have The Most Birthdays Live The Longest

The "??th" anniversary of my 30th birthday.

"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoes and wonder what else you can do while you're down there." ~ George Burns

I was trying to get through the anniversary of my birthday with as little fanfare as possible... then Judy spilled the beans on Facebook and floods of "happy birthdays" flowed in. So.. with much gratitude at such an outpouring of well wishes.. I say "Thank You!" You notice that I don't celebrate my birthday, but rather the anniversary of my birthday... my 30th birthday. I won't reveal what anniversary we are up to now, but let's just say that in a few, a very few years I will have to start celebrating the anniversary of the anniversary of my 30th birthday. Why 30th? Oh, I don't know.. it just seems like a nice round young number.

Laziness was the theme this year. I slept through half of it, but then my cousin David was on Skype the night before and we talked about everything for a very long time and it was almost time to get up before I finally went to bed and at my age, well.. you really need those eight hours of sleep. My brother called from Vienna, jet lagged from a 14 hour flight and with a cold from rabid fans in Japan. When Daisy and I finally dragged our ragged bodies down stairs I found two beautiful arrangements... one from my baby girl, Nyssa and one from my brother. Yellow roses and sunflowers to brighten the day from Stephen and an edible arrangement of the sweetest strawberries you have ever tasted in January, bananas dipped in white and milk chocolate, sweet red grapes and mellon balls. Oh, yes... flower shaped pineapple with melon ball centers as well and in such a cute teal green vase. I took pictures of the fruit and a good thing I did too... I ate them... all of them and they were great! The roses and sunflowers are still brightening the winter days... we had a bit of sun on Saturday but now clouds and rain are on the way for this evening. Still cold.

Mom decided to take Dad and I out to a fancy restaurant, The Vintage Tavern, for our birthday celebrations. You know it is a fancy restaurant when the first thing they do is exchange the perfectly good tan napkins for black napkins because you are wearing dark skirts or pants and you might get fuzz from the napkins on your clothes. It was an amazing meal... the menu is seasonal. So we had oyster stew, salad...watercress greens with fennel, sweet grapefruit centers, blood oranges and goat cheese with a creamy pomegranate dressing..broiled flounder over soft onion spoonbread with capers and cream sauce and sauteed mushrooms. At least, that is what I had. Dad had some of their gourmet mac 'n cheese as well and Mom had scallops, special cooked spinach and her scallops were over grits and with an orange puree that I think had carrot in it. We shared a creme brulee for desert. Mom paid the bill...she said this was Dad's birthday meal too, even though his will not be until February. We left the restaurant in what could only be described as somewhere between a waddle and a roll and I was still not hungry again well into Sunday afternoon.

So, thanks to all who helped make the "??" anniversary of my 30th birthday a raging success. At this age a success means you lived through it. Now, we continue... and another 12 months before we have to face it again.

"We've reached an age that when construction workers stare at us it's because they figure we might be considering a remodeling job." ~ Susan McClellan

(end of post)

Two Sweet Girls, One Birthday...

Miss Daisy and Miss Nyssa...Who's the birthday girl?

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. ~ Virginia Woolf

I have two sweet girls... Miss Daisy Doodlebug and Miss Nyssa Sweet Pea. Today is a special birthday for one of these lovely creatures, can you guess who? If I tell you her age you can surely guess but at what age does it become inappropriate to divulge a woman's age? OK, probably not before 30 so that lets Miss Daisy out since in dog years she has to be older than 30. Today Nyssa turns 24. The night before her birth I stayed in the hospital and had Red Lobster and strawberry pie brought in. Two days of induction will make you hungry. Still she would not cooperate, even then she knew her own mind and showed she had inherited that stubborn streak that is so strong in her family.

I have to celebrate this birthday long distance and know that this will be the case for many years to come. So even though I couldn't bake a cake or make cookies or see her friends giving her hearty wishes all around, I looked back and thought about a few of the birthdays we were together. And I wish her a very, very happy 24th birthday!! (I am you mother, I can tell people your age and you can't do anything about it! ♥) And if I were there I would bake you a cake.... or cookies... any favorites!?

Birthday cakes and cookies... a selection.

(end of post)

I Am Still Older Than You.... Not So Much A Good Thing Anymore

My brother.... knows my heart.

"To the outside world we all grow old.
But not to brothers and sisters.
We know each other as we always were.
We know each other's hearts.
We share private family jokes.
We remember family feuds and secrets,
family griefs and joys.
We live outside the touch of time."
~ Clara Ortega

I am older than this fellow. I will ALWAYS be older than he is. While this was a major sticking point as children and the source of much jealousy and ire on both parts... he always thinking I was mean and I thinking he had Mom and Dad wrapped around his little finger.... it doesn't matter much anymore. In fact, I would be more than willing to switch ages with him now. He really did have Mom and Dad snowed about many of the things he did as a child... quite devious... too bad I inherited the "see through" face that could never devise anything that ever came close to a lie without it being written all over my face for all to see.

Anyway, Stephen works hard at his craft... all over the world. This may seem like a glamorous life, but it is often filled with difficult travel conditions, lonely apartments and much time away from his home here. He is a reluctant gypsy; but with such a vocal gift from God, how could we keep him all to ourselves. Today he is performing, probably in the middle of "The Flying Dutchman" as we speak. Singing on his birthday... just as he sang the day he was born all those years ago... just with words and a greater grasp of tune.

Happy Birthday Stephen! I love you!!!!!

PS: His website has been overhauled.... Stephen Gould.

(end of post)

It's The Birthday Girl!!!!

"A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future." ~ Author Unknown

Sweet Nyssa memories from years gone by...
(Click pictures to enlarge)

Twenty three years ago today, my baby was born... a beautiful, round headed little girl with ten fingers and ten toes and big round eyes. She grew and grew... into an outgoing little southern belle who seemed to be known and loved by everyone she met. I became known as "Nyssa's Mom" and this was fine by me. She excelled in her music and her studies and tried everything.. cheerleading, basketball and softball. Braces saved a couple of teeth during softball and basketball opponents were thrown off by her tactic of "defensive screaming". (Many in the bleachers were also startled.) Then came those pesky boys and formals and make-up... oh, yes.. and learning to drive. I lived through the learning to drive!

Three graduations... and counting...

So far, we have made it through three graduations... kindergarten... that was a breeze and very sweet... she was so proud! Then high school graduation in 2004 and that wonderful tradition... just last year... from The College of William and Mary! Now, Nyssa is fifteen hours away, back in Mississippi... on her own, in graduate school and chasing hurricanes and tornadoes. Her future awaits!

A funny face fanatic....

"A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart." ~ Author Unknown

I couldn't forget some of the strange faces that come out when Nyssa is making a point, or eating or giving herself a facial... at least I left out the really embarrassing ones!

So, on this day... Nyssa's 23rd birthday... I am thinking of you Sweet Pea and wishing you the happiest of days! It would be perfect.. at least for me.. if I could be with you... but know you are always in my heart! I LOVE YOU!

(end of post)

The Birthday Party: Part 2

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest." ~ Larry Lorenzoni

Mom had them put these pictures on the cake
and I thought it turned out spectacularly.

The day of the party arrived. We had enough food to feed a small army.... all put into place in the dining room and in the butler's pantry. The wonderful ladies who volunteered to serve were ready, the house was ready, the party sign out front was festive with balloons. The weather was great with sun and moderate temps... not all that uncommon here in February. Then the doorbell rang....

We had guests here... and there....

...and the party began! Friends and family from near and far arrived and I was totally amazed! It was orderly and things flowed well...some wanted to try the food first, while others wanted a tour of the house. Friends from as far as Roanoke and Richmond came and family from Illinois. Nyssa met a great aunt and uncle and a second cousin she had never seen. People renewed friendships from years past and exchanged wonderful memories.

... and everywhere!

Everyone had a great time.. mingled well and best of all... THE PARKING WAS FINE!!!! At least I think it was! I never had a chance to actually look out at the street. Our neighbors didn't complain... but they came to the party too! All in all we counted 75 guests showed up out of the 100 planned for. (We learned later that at least another 15 - 20 people were on their way to the party, but got caught in a bad traffic jam on the interstate.)

And here is the happy birthday boy!!!

About half-way through the afternoon, Stephen led everyone in a very, very energetic rendition of "Happy Birthday"! All in all it really DID turn out to be a good party! Most of all, the "birthday boy" seemed to have a great time... and that was the whole point, wasn't it?

"I am thankful for the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends." ~ Nancie J. Carmody

By the way, it has been a whirlwind eight or so weeks and I do have many stories to tell... still trying to get back in a grove here... looking ahead to stories of manual labor and surprise packages. Yes... I am cryptic!

(end of post)

The Party (Part 1)

"Giving a party is like having a baby --- its conception is more fun than its completion, and once you've begun it's impossible to stop." ~ Jan Struther

We had a lot of food..... vegetable tray, fruit tray,
olives, pizza, hot cheese dip, hot meatballs...

Mom wanted to have a party for Dad's 80th birthday. Stephen and I thought this would be a great idea and he said he could come home for it, if we moved it up a week before Dad's actual birthday. So it was agreed that the party would be February 9th, and then Stephen left. This was thought up and decided upon back in November of last year.

With Stephen gone and me busy with the garage and furniture and steps, the party conception was left to Mom. She poured over her cookbooks to pick all the things she was going to make and had ideas for the cake and even the tablecloths and punch.

Stephen and I both thought she would want it limited to the people in their Sunday School class and a few of the new neighbors. Nyssa worked with Mom to compose a short poem for the invitation and I made a mock-up on the computer.

Ah, the invitations! This is where it started to go astray and get out of hand.

..pimento cheese and crackers, pinwheels, chicken salad sandwiches,
and bacon wrapped dates.......

I printed up 30 invitations, thinking this would be plenty. Mom started off fine, but then she got into her.... "we must invite this couple, even if I know they can't come" and she completely forgot what happened at their 50th anniversary party. Then she had over three hundred on the guest list because she just KNEW that "no one will be able to come". What happened? We had over 275 RSVP's in the affirmative and ended up with almost 250 people at the dinner!

So, I printed invitations and printed invitations and ran out of ink and after getting more ink.... I printed even MORE invitations! After she was finally finished and secure in the knowledge that no one had been left out... we had 135 invitations! I reminded her that these were mostly addressed to couples, so that meant 270 possible guests. I reminded her that the usual rule of "only 1/2 of invited guests usually show up" did not work in our family. But all to no avail... and 135 invitations were mailed. It was only when I reminded her that the 50th anniversary party was held at a large church with a LARGE PARKING LOT and that this party was being held in a subdivision, with limited parking on the street, that she finally became concerned. But, it was too late... the invitations were in the mail... the die was cast!

...meat and cheese trays and bread for making sandwiches, zesty pastrami
roll-ups, spinach dip and chips, punch and.....

Mom thought that most of those out-of-town invites wouldn't come, but when two of Dad's brothers and their wives decided to fly here from Illinois... well, I knew it was beginning again. The phone started ringing and the guest list started growing and growing and growing... until we had 100 guests expected. Yes, it was a come and go party... but still. One hundred people over three hours is still 33 people an hour and many would see friends they hadn't seen in a long time and would stay and where would we seat them? Finger food recipes that feed 16 just weren't going to do and where would we put the extra food and the ingredients of all that punch? (We broke down and got an additional "refrigerator only" fridge to go in the laundry room for the overflow food.) Who was going to make all this food? Who was going to keep all this food on the table and the punch poured and served? (Thank goodness we have three very sweet and wonderful ladies who were absolutely magnificent with this!!)

But the BIGGEST question..... WHERE ARE WE GOING TO PARK ALL THESE CARS AND HOW FAR ARE SOME OF THESE ELDERLY GUESTS GOING TO HAVE TO WALK??

(To Be Continued)

Another January Baby

1963 - First birthday, just after first haircut!

"Age doesn't matter, unless you're cheese." ~ John Paul Getty

I sat playing checkers with my great-uncle the day he was born. I wanted a sister desperately, but now I can see that this would have never worked out. We didn't know what we were going to get... no ultrasound pictures way back then. I saved all my allowance to buy a cute little stretchy sleeper and made sure to get it in a red and white stripe, so it would go with either a girl or a boy. And then he was here.... Stephen... all 10lb.8oz. of him. He was already the weight and length of a 3 to 6 month baby when he got here and that poor little newborn suit wouldn't snap and it scrunched his knees up.

1968 - 1969: A budding chef

We had our ups and downs when he was young.... I say "young" because he was never really "small" or "little". Stephen always stood at least a foot taller than anyone else in his class. By the time he was twelve, he stretched up on past me. He loved to put a sack on his head and cook like a chef. Nowadays, he still cooks, loves to do gourmet items, but we have no chef hat.... hmmm... item to remember for Christmas present!

2006 - Tokyo production of Fidelio

When I left for college, we began to become better friends. Stephen actually missed me! As the years have progressed we have become closer and closer. He is talented (and high strung), hysterically funny (and high strung), opinionated (and high strung)..... and a very loving and loyal friend through the good and bad times. OH! Did I mention that he is high strung? I rate our mother as a type A personality and our father as a type B personality. I fall in there at a type A-, with rare bouts of B- and even more rare episodes of A+ type mixed in. Stephen, on the other hand, is an A+++++!!! In his business, this is a good thing!

2007 - The birthday boy!

In only 8 days he will be here and his mother and father and niece are excited. His sister is ecstatic!!! While we have to wish him a long distance... "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" today, we will celebrate later....so..

To my brother, Stephen.... I love you, be safe.... have a great performance... happy, happy birthday and ........

break a leg!

(end of post)

A New Senior Citizen

Sunflowers and roses to brighten the day!

"It is lovely, when I forget all birthdays, including my own, to find that somebody remembers me." ~ Ellen Glasgow (American Novelist, 1873-1945)

My birthday is always the same day of the week as Christmas Day and New Year's Day. It is nine days before my brother's birthday and one month before my dad's. I try to forget about it, but now they've made it a national holiday, although this year the observance isn't on the actual date. As the years relentlessly progress, each one seems to pass more quickly than the last and I try to simply treat the day as just another day. But my brother remembered and not five minutes after hanging up the phone after his call from Vienna, the doorbell rang and these beautiful sunflowers and roses arrived!

Thank you Stephen!! They are gorgeous... and they look really good with your new dining room furniture! I guess it is OK to be reminded of my birthday... especially this one.... since, now I can get the senior citizen pricing at a LOT of restaurants! I'm bracing myself for the onslaught of AARP literature!

(end of post)

The Birthday Child

Nyssa and Baby Miss Priss ~ five months old.

The Birthday Child
Everything's been different
All the day long,
Lovely things have happened,
Nothing has gone wrong.

Nobody has scolded me,
Everyone has smiled.
Isn't it delicious
To be a birthday child?
~ Rose Fyleman

On Friday, Little Miss M (Miss Priss or Stinkerbell) turned eight. I missed it. It's one of my shortcomings, I have trouble remembering birthdays. So Stinkerbell, this is for you.

When we moved to Mississippi, Nyssa was three and started at the pre-school and daycare run by the First United Methodist Church. Big Miss M was just a senior in high school attending Immanuel High School. She worked after school at the daycare and that is how we met. Big Miss M (heretofore known as "Momma M"), born and raised in Mississippi is a true Southern Belle and with long blond curly hair, she looked more like Nyssa than I did. She became my occasional baby sitter, house sitter, cat sitter and the first love of our "Babe Magnet", Mr. Rhett. After graduation, she also started working as one of our medical transcriptionists, so we developed a great friendship. She and her family consider Nyssa their firstborn. Her hubby, Mr. M even helped teach Nyssa to drive... brave man.

Baby Miss Priss and Nyssa ~ ten months old
Love those braces!

Fast forward ten years to 1999 and the birth of Miss Priss. Now, Nyssa becomes baby sitter and all around big sister friend to the little one who was born a Southern Belle. They share much including hand-me-down clothes and Halloween costumes; and the love of the water. Both had bikinis before they turned one and both broke the little boys hearts in kindergarten.

Miss Priss and the Little Mermaid (aka Nyssa) ~ third birthday (2002)

Miss Priss is smart and although demure as all full-blooded belles, she still has a streak of Scarlet O'Hara in her. She has had her run ins with the Hallmark frogs but this is no worse than her mother's "candy bars hidden on the ceiling fan blades" episode. That story is best saved for Momma M's birthday! By three, Miss Priss had become a big fan of The Little Mermaid, so we dug out the decorations from Nyssa's third birthday (also The Little Mermaid) and had a big party, with bowling, fishing for prizes, a Little Tykes train ride and....(trumpets here)... a visit from the Little Mermaid herself.

Soft glove boxing match ~ 2004, age five

Nyssa attended the same school as Momma M until her junior year and then graduated from the Mississippi School for Math and Science in 2004. A week later we moved to Virginia. It was sad to leave Momma M, Papa M and Miss Priss, but Nyssa visited several times while in her freshman year at Sewanee and I went back to finalize things when the house sold. Miss Priss started 4 year old kindergarten that year; at Immanuel, of course. She has blossomed into a bright student and an outgoing social butterfly. I expect to see her as a Junior Varsity Cheerleader in a few years.

But on Friday, Miss Priss turned eight... Momma M, it is definitely time to get started on that brother or sister now.... It is hard to believe that this time has passed so quickly; just yesterday she was a baby and just yesterday Nyssa was in second grade as well, just getting started. Oh, make the time spin more slowly if it can't be stopped.

Happy Birthday Stinkerbell! I know your mommy and daddy and grandparents are so proud of you; so are Miss Nyssa and I. You are so sweet and kind and smart; and if you want to know how to do the candy bar bombs, just call me in a few years... shhhh! Don't tell your mom I said anything! Have a great year to come!

Miss Priss(Stinkerbell) ~ Christmas 2006

By the way, when Miss Priss was just three, the lab had a baby picture contest. All employees and docs brought their baby pictures to be placed on the bulletin board. Then the others had to guess who each picture belonged to. Momma M brought one of herself at age two, with her dad. She had no chance... one look at the picture and everyone thought it was a mistake... that was Miss Priss. The resemblance is uncanny... they could have been twins at that age.

Happy 8th Birthday, Stinkerbell!

(end of post)