Miracle Girls

I've been lucky enough to spend two Saturdays in a row getting to know my beautiful new granddaughters. This weekend they're visiting Grandma's house for the first time. Hopefully, they'll get to meet some of their many girl cousins on my husband's side of the family. I imagine I'll hear a giggle or two.

The strange thing is to NOT hear or see siblings yelling at and fighting with each other. I've yet to hear, "She's looking at me...She's touching me", and all those other crazy things my two used to get upset about. But I think these two little girls somehow sensed that they needed to stay very close to each other. The older one is like a little mother to her little sister. She even told me that she loves her little sister more than anything else in the world. I'm amazed at their resiliency.

This weekend I plan on making some gelato, chocolate of course, for these two little miracles. I'll wait until they get there so they can see how ice cream is made. I know they'll love it. They also have two great-grandmas to meet. Last weekend the oldest asked me about my mom, then my dad. I told her about their new great-grandma, and explained that my dad died some years ago. I handed them my dad's driver's license and told them that this was their great-grandpa. Stasey said, "He still IS our great-grandpa". Hard to believe coming out of a seven-year-old. I wish Dad was still around to meet them, take them to the candy store, and tease them about little boys. He sure loved his grandbabies.

In closing, I'll just ask God for the opportunity to be as important and "teaching" as my grandmas were to me. As I've said before, I want to be as sweet as my Grandma Riley and as fiesty as my Granny Cissell. Thank you, Grandmas, for all you've done for me. Please guide me in the right path as I gladly undertake this new role in life.

The Texan Transplant

He's a life-long Hoosier, but living in Houston at this time. His entire family is back in his small hometown in southwestern Indiana waiting for him and wishing for the day when he'll get to come back home. His friends want him back home too. And he wishes that day would come real soon, but he's still not sure when that day will come. That's because my friend Kenny is staying in Texas fighting a huge battle with leukemia.

Kenny's had several rounds of this in the past. In fact, he had leukemia and went into remission before he even found out he had it. It was found during a routine pre-surgery blood test when he was about to have his shoulder worked on. After a year or so (best as I can remember), it did come back. Kenny seemed very calm about the whole thing. He'd go get his treatment and come back to work. He always looked well, too. The leukemia would go back into remission for awhile, and then surface again.

I guess the leukemia has gotten too smart for Hoosier remedies and now it's going to take a bone marrow transplant. So Kenny is staying in Houston getting treatments in preparation for his BMT, which was donated by his sister. Kenny will make the fifth person I know that has had his life saved by a bone marrow transplant. That's pretty amazing. A few years ago, I didn't know of anyone that had a BMT. Just last year a generous donor gave my 15-year-old great-nephew a new lease on life. Today he's back in school and on his high-school football team once again.

So please, if you're healthy and under 60, consider registering to be a bone marrow donor. Even if you have to open your wallet and pay for the registration, it's worth it to possibly save someone's life. If you watch, you can sometimes find blood drives that also register you for bone marrow transplantation. The Navy, pioneers of bone marrow transplants, also has a grant in place that pays around 50 percent of the cost of registration. For more information, visit www.marrow.org.

And if you're pregnant or know someone who is, look into saving the baby's cord blood. You can get information on that at the same website.

Kenny, you're still in our prayers. We love you, buddy.

My Blonde Hair

I finally got to meet my new granddaughters yesterday, and I'm already crazy about them. They call me "grandma", and I love hearing it. It's amazing how good those two little girls are, and how fast they warmed up to us.

On the way to the zoo yesterday, we had lunch at McDonald's. The youngest wanted to "sit by grandpa". My husband admitted that he nearly "lost it" when she handed her chocolate milk to him and asked, "Grandpa, can you help me open this?". Later at the zoo, "Grandpa" was about 20 feet ahead of us when she took off running and yelling for grandpa. He's so unused to hearing that name that he just kept on walking. So I yelled for "Grandpa". He stopped and turned around just in time to see her reach out her hand for him to hold.

When we'd first arrived at my daughter's, the oldest girl must've been inspecting her new grandma. She was kneeling on the couch beside me checking out my hair. Then she said it. "Grandma, your hair's so blonde that it's white"! Now that's pretty durned funny considering I'm (used to be) a natural brunette and I don't dye or bleach my hair!

I can't wait to see what's in store for us as "Grandma" and "Grandpa"!

Floater Friends

How can such good things happen in a week, and bad things happen in the same week? How are you supposed to feel? Happy and sad all at the same time? Or do you flip-flop back and forth between happy and sad? Maybe it just evens out so you're just in a "whatever" state of mind.

My neighbor of 35 years had a serious stroke a few days ago. We've spent the last 35 years tormenting and teasing each other. This afternoon I told his wife that I didn't plan on stopping either. Hopefully, he'll be able to tease me right back real soon, but it's affected his speech, and his left side is not working at all. I pray God heals him real soon.

On the other hand, visitation with my new granddaughters has begun. The new little family is having a great time together, and can't wait until the girls move in. They're already part of our family, and no one has even yet met them except for the "expectant" parents. But I did get to speak on the phone to the oldest girl last night, and it was great. This weekend I get to see them too, and take them the new clothes I bought for them.

Then on the other hand again, I made another run to the ophthalmologist due to some "sparks" I saw yesterday in my left eye. The vision has also become worse, and now my right eye is joining in the fracas. So the doctor dilated both and had a look inside. Maculas are good, lenses are clear. But there is a very small retinal hemorrhage in the left eye, plus the old blood, plus the huge floater. And she verified that the right eye was doing the same thing, but it was bound to happen. She also said that it takes about six weeks for the vitreous to detach and then my vision should get better. So I've got six weeks to "wait and see". Until then, I've got to put up with the blurry vision and the swinging floaters/distortions.

I told the doctor it was like having windshield wipers flapping back and forth. And it really does make it hard to do my job. But at least she's given me some kind of idea what to expect and how long this process takes. I really shouldn't complain. Lots of people don't have it this good and would give anything to have just some sort of vision.

...and at least I'll still be able to look at the beautiful faces of my two new granddaughters this week. Thank you, God, for eyesight! I won't take it for granted again.

God's Phone Number

Just some funny things that I used to think when I was a kid...

I remember being in first grade at St. Francis de Sales in Indy and attending mass every morning. That was back when the masses were in Latin and telephone numbers began with a word--but shortened to two characters. Our phone number in Indy was Melrose 92736, but dialed ME92736. During every mass when we said, "Et cum spiri tu tuo", I thought that was God's phone number.

Whenever I'd visit my grandparents in Newton Stewart, I'd usually go see my Uncle Carl and his family since they lived just down the road from Grandma. Although Grandma didn't have running water, Uncle Carl did. It came into the house from a location just outside their kitchen window. To insulate it, the water line came out of a large metal barrel/drum that was filled with sawdust. I'd stand at the barrel and just stare at it and try to figure out how they got water out of sawdust.

I thought I had it figured out how to keep from getting killed in a plane wreck. Just before hitting the ground, jump! I didn't see why that wouldn't work. Then years later, I heard George Carlin saying the same thing.

I've already written about the tiny little skeletons that lived in our staircase like they were little bitty coffins. They came out at night, walked up and down the stairs and made them creak. And I've already written about Mom telling me my embryonic little sister was in a sac in her stomach. I pictured a brown grocery sack.

I know there are more, but they'll have to wait until I get some sleep. Before I turn in, I think I'll give God a call.

The Magician

The magician asked for volunteers from the crowd and selected a little girl from all of the kids holding up their hands. She walked up to him and waited for instruction. He asked her name and thanked her for helping him. Then he had her turn and face the audience while standing in front of him.

As he flourished "The Magic Wand", he began to explain to her that he was going to use his magic to turn her into a rabbit and asked if that would be ok. She grinned and nodded her head. Then he began the "hocus pocus", "abra cadabra" talk while circling the top of her head with the magic wand. Just as he'd get to the point where he was going to complete the transformation, he'd stop and tell a story. One of the stories was about a little boy he had turned into a rabbit, and the rabbit ran off never to be seen again. He asked the little girl to please not run off after she was turned into a rabbit. She nodded and promised to stay put.

After about the tenth iteration of "abra cadabra", he dropped the magic wand in front of the little girl. A large sheet of paper rolled out of the wand, and the magician held the paper in front of the little girl. Painted on the paper was a rabbit with the face cut out--exactly where he positioned her face. After a round of applause, she returned to her mom.

The little girl really thought she was going to be turned into a rabbit. But I had already transformed her--my little girl--into a rabbit a few years earlier. I had made her a costume for Halloween; she's the white bunny on the right. I also turned my son into Batman. (By the way, I had no trouble getting him into the traditional "Batman Blue" (girls) tights.) Also pictured is "Robin"--my nephew Chris and the gray bunny is my nephew Pat.

All four of these "kids" love seeing the photos from that Halloween. I can't believe that I took this photo almost 30 years ago.

Enjoy the memories and the photo, kids. I love you.

I'm a "Grandma in Waiting"

Finally! I'm about to become a grandma to two very special little girls--sisters! My daughter and son-in-law are fostering, then adopting, two sweethearts. I can't wait until the first time they call me "Grandma". As far as I know, they've never had a grandma or grandpa in their lives. That's about to change.

I've already bought a pattern for some summer clothes, along with fabric. Making clothes for little girls again should jump-start my sewing. Years ago, I made nearly all of my daughter's clothes. I loved to sew, but haven't really sewn much of anything in years.

Funny thing about all of this is that God seems to have played a major role in making all of this happen. There's just no way all of this could have worked out by chance. And the oldest girl is the spitting image of my daughter.

I also need to pick up my knitting needles to make a couple of baby afghans. That's because I'm not only getting two instant grandkids, but in a few months I'll be a grandma again--to twins! My "exchange daughter" from Spain has just made the announcement, and as far as I'm concerned, the twins are also going to be my grandkids. After all, their mom was my daughter for nine months or so (and still considered my daughter).

Now if I can just talk my Indian son and daughter-in-law into this grandbaby thing, I'll have grandkids all over the world. I have plenty of hugs to go around--I've been saving them up for quite a few years.

So please, God...continue to hurry this little project along. I have cookies to bake.