BACK IN TIME PART 1

I have tried to decide how to best handle going about writing an account of my life (to a degree of course) for my kids and grandkids to have some day in these "blog" books I am creating for them, and I have decided that one day a week (or so depending on how I do, haha) I will travel back in time to somewhere in my past, and just write about what I remember. It won't always be in order (though I am going to try) as that would be stressful and then this would become a chore instead of the pleasure that I want it to be. I will name all of the posts....BACK IN TIME..PART 1 OR 2 etc., so you will know in advance it's "one of those posts" haha, and then you could just skip it if you want to, haha.


I am not sure where to start, so I guess I will just start at the beginning. I was born in Lincoln Nebraska on Sept. 28, l954 to Greta and Albert Merrick, the second of what would later become 6 children. My older sister Diane is only 18 months older than I am, so ALL of my early childhood memories involve her. There really isn't a lot I remember about living in Nebraska, as I was only 4 years old when we moved to California. I do remember a few things. We must have had a front door with a glass window on it as I remember looking out at that window during a snow storm once, and watching the snow fall on trees with no leaves on them at all. It was early evening I am thinking as it was still light enough to see outside, but it was somewhat dark and kind of dreary looking at the same time, and yet I distinctly remembering thinking it was beautiful. It seems like a strange thing for a little kid to remember, but I remember it pretty vividly. I remember also loving to spend time with my grandmother on my dad's side. She was probably around 50 or so at the time and worked at the University of Nebraska at the training table for the athletes there on scholarship. This would later become even more significant as my husband Jeff ate at that very table when he attended there many years later, (by then my grandmother had recently retired) and knew and loved several of the women she called friends; such a small world. But anyway, she was widowed and I never knew my grandfather on that side. Her name was Ruby and though I don't remember much of what we did, I do remember loving to go to her house and always asking her if she had two days off in a row, haha. She had told me that I could spend the night at her house when she did, and so I was always checking. My dad's younger brother Bert lived with her still, as he was much younger than my dad. One day he was babysitting both my sister and myself while the others were all out Christmas shopping. My sister and I were apparently giving him quite the hard time about taking a nap, as I recall him finally telling us that he had called up Santa
Claus and told him personally how naughty we were being, and that he said he would just have to skip coming to our house that year. How horrified I was! haha...Later after we woke up I also remember him telling us that Santa had called while we were sleeping to see how we were doing and he had reported we were asleep, so he had said we had another chance to "be good". I remember dwelling on that ALOT after that and trying as hard as I could. How funny the things you remember huh? My brother David was born when I was 3 years old. This meant my mom now had 3 children under 4. Quite the handful I am very sure. One day when David was just a new baby, she had gone into the kitchen to get his bottle (few breastfeed in those particular days) and had left him laying on the coach in the living room telling me to stand by him till she got back and NOT under any circumstance to pick him up. Well, the minute she left the room, it was the first thing I did. He VERY quickly slipped right out of my hands and onto the floor! Now he was already crying so my mom never noticed the difference. Somehow I got that baby up off of the floor and back onto the coach with my little heart pounding out of my chest before she came back into the room. I of course NEVER told my mom (until just recently anyway) what had happened, and he must have been unhurt as he immediately stopped crying when she put the bottle into his mouth. Now we were on carpeting and my little 3 year old body couldn't have been far from the floor, but still! How wild was that?? haha...I don't think I ever told my brother I dropped him on his head as a baby. Too bad. Could have been a good one to use when he was annoying me when we were growing up, haha. I remember the swing set in the back yard, the neighbor’s tulips that my sister and I picked ALL the blooms off one day and gave to my mother as a surprise, much to EVERYONE'S horror, and the fact that there were no fences separating any of the yards. Something that in California was unheard of. I remember my mother teaching us to pray at night. Unfornately I don't remember a lot about my dad, except for the fact that I was very afraid of him. Sad really. I think I will end this here for today and pick this story up again next week.

I don't have much more to report other than I did lose another 1.2 pounds. Funny how important those little tenths of pounds are now. 1.2 sounds much better than just 1, haha. My total is 13 and I am feeling pretty good about it I guess. I have finished the book Made to Crave, but I am going to go back through it now reading MUCH slower and gleen as much as I can from it, and I have purchased the work book as well so hopefully that will be good too. We are going down to San Diego this week-end to help my son with the kids as Larissa is going to New Jersey to be in her girlfriend’s wedding, and James is doing not only the Sun. evening services at his church this week, but the Sat. evening and Sunday morning services as well as the senior pastor is away. I am looking forward to it. I will admit it will be a challenge to get us all fed and ready and have the kids checked into their various Sunday school rooms and still be on time in church as well; been a while since I did that, haha.  But I am sure between Grandpa and I we will get it done.  Hope you all have a wonderful week-end.