Countrymouse Posted November 2018
On My Mind
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Replacing the much lamented 'On My Mind' profile option, this thread is for musings, jottings, whimsies, preoccupations and the rest of the thesaurus for anyone to jot down anything they please.
I can't remember what the maximum character count was before, can anyone else? But anyway it wasn't very many so let's keep to that.
I will look for the movie that you mentioned.
These 55 and up senior communities are something else!
It’s interesting to see the various attitudes on aging. Some people age gracefully and have no qualms about growing old.
Others are enjoying a second adolescence! LOL 😆 Partying all of the time!
Enjoy your flowers!
My grandmother’s parents came from Norway. My other grandmother’s family came from Ireland. Both my grandfathers families came from England .
My one grandfather’s family coming here is interesting. The story that has passed down is ….Two brothers stowed away on a ship to come to America because King George III had hired someone to kill one of the brothers because he was “dating “ a Lord’s daughter My relative was dating out of his class , not allowed. He was not royalty or a Lords son . He was just a commoner . The brothers were carpenters, apparently that’s how he met the girl . He was hired to do work at her parents house where she lived. This was during the 1700’s .
Isn’t that a cool story? I’m glad that your family shared that with you. I love knowing things like that. We are able to learn about our family traits, their likes and dislikes. It’s fun to find out what they were like back then. Do you know the name of the ship and the date they arrived here?
I never knew my dad’s parents. They died before I was born. Every time we went to visit daddy’s family in Florida, my relatives would say that I looked so much like my dad’s mom.
We never know who we share our gene pool with!
I am addicted to researching my family tree!
Everyone finds a few surprises in their tree. It’s kind of sad that interesting stories get lost along the way and we never know about them.
My mother told me that my grandfather’s family name was changed.
One of grandpa’s brothers was a bootlegger during prohibition and they changed the name in case he was arrested so their family name wouldn’t be disgraced! LOL 😆 It’s a common British surname and they changed it to the shorter variation.
Sure enough, I saw my ancestors with the original surname when I researched my family tree.
I became interested in genealogy when I got older. I would have considered it to be boring when I was younger. It’s sad, because when we get older, the older family members are dying off, so we aren’t able to ask them questions any longer.
I am fortunate that I have a 100 year old cousin who is a hoot! She’s the one that I have always gone to for the scoop! She is a cousin on my mom’s father’s side from England.
The side of the family that stowed away to come to America kept a genealogy for nearly 300 years. I have a second or third cousin ( not sure) that keeps it up .Names , marriages , births are recorded
You need to get a copy of it so you can pass it down to your children. That would be a wonderful gift to them!
Mom’s dad was a carpenter. Actually, a shipbuilder. He could make anything. They were master craftsmen back then. Oh my gosh, woodworking back in the day was spectacular!
I have friends who own historical homes and it is a labor of love to maintain them. You can’t walk into a Home Depot or Lowe’s to buy something. You have to restore them to the original condition. Restoration is more costly and labor intensive than a modern renovation.
Your mom lived longer than any of ours. Did she tell you about her family history? What is the most interesting thing that she shared with you?
You know what is interesting too? How our parents met? Some of the stories are so sweet. Some are really funny too.
My dad saw my mom walking with her sister. He was smitten. He followed her home!
He was extremely handsome. He asked her for a glass of water. LOL 😆 I told him, “Dad, that was an original pick up line.”
Mom must have liked him. She gave him a drink of water. She said that she could tell that he liked her. Too cute!
If a man would be following a woman now, we would be calling them a stalker! 😆
I was surprised when my own sister rewrote my family history online.
[edited] Should have been confidential and private. imo.
My parents lived next door to each other as toddlers in Brooklyn. My father’s mother even drove my other grandmother to the hospital when she was in labor with mother . Which was odd, not many women drove in 1930. Then my father’s family moved to the suburbs on Long Island when he was 5 or 6. The two families lost touch .
My mother was still living at home at age 18 and my grandparents moved out to Long Island . My mother got a job with the billing dept . at the phone company . She made friends with another young woman there. Her friend had a boyfriend . The boyfriend’s best friend from high school was my father. My father had come home from his stint in the navy and wanted to date . This couple set up my parents on a blind date . During the date , my mother had told my father that she had just moved from Brooklyn . So they got to talking about where in Brooklyn they lived . My father thought this could be the little girl that he used to play with , he remembered the first name , and he asked her what her last name was . My father went home and asked his parents what street they lived on in Brooklyn and the last name of the little girl . My father was right . My Mom was that little girl . There are even pictures of them together as toddlers , my grandfather loved photography . My mother didn’t remember them playing as toddlers , she was 2 years younger than my Dad .
What an awesome story! I hope you shared this with your children. It’s so sweet.
Send,
That is awful. Why did your sister change the details of your family records? That’s an odd thing to do.
That used to be very common . My Great grandmother had a son out of wedlock . It was the big family secret until just before she died. Then she told her two children ( from her marriage ) that their cousin was actually their older half brother. She gave the baby to her married older sister who was not able to have children. They moved from New York to Washington DC to raise the baby as their own
Not family records, but online Legacy type accounts-her own account online.
Why? "It was careless, and the evil work of a narcissist, sociopath, and liar."
Way2,
Would not be surprised. Thanks for that info.
It is always better to attempt to get along with siblings and be civil.
This falls under the often said wisdom of:
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
Oh, I see.
That’s a shame that she would make up stuff.
Edited, yes, that was shocking, and awful.
Apologies for over-sharing.
Thanks though.
I have reconnected with family members that I haven’t seen since I was a child. One of my cousins lives in San Diego now. His mom and dad were my godparents.
It’s interesting how we are able to instantly recognize someone who doesn’t change much. As soon as my cousin’s name pop up on my app and I saw his profile picture I knew it was him. He hasn’t changed a whole lot from when he was younger. He looks like his dad’s side of the family.
You don’t have to apologize. I am happy to listen.
My friend called me and we were catching up. I hadn’t had the chance to proofread my posts and yet again I see messages with typos! I am thinking about disabling autocorrect! It is annoying at times.
Once, I tried telling Siri to text a message to my daughter when I was driving. What a mess that was! 😆
My daughter got the text and asked me if I had been drinking! I looked at the text and it was pure gibberish. I never asked Siri to send a text message to anyone else again.
Did you watch it? The Villages is a huge retirement community in Florida. Not my cup of tea but I guess some people like that kind of atmosphere.
What can I say?
So much more that I won't say.
At least now I know what to avoid in my old age.
Out of 130,000 residents, the producers chose that set of people?
So true! LOL 😆 Great answer! Thanks for the chuckle.
I wonder what it is like to live in a place like that.
That Reggie guy! And the guy from California living out of his van, trying to hook up with a woman to live with.
The old lady by the pool was smart enough not to get interested when he said that he was a handyman to the stars in California! Hahaha, she says, “I don’t care!” LOL 😆
I am praying that everything is going well for him. I’m forever grateful that he caught his prostate cancer early. Early detection is key in treating cancer.
My husband and I truly neglected our own health due to caregiving for my mom. I spent so many years taking her back and forth to the doctor that I didn’t even wish to step foot in a doctor’s office for myself.
One Saturday afternoon, my friend called me and asked if I would like to go see a movie. My sweet husband said, “I think you should go and I will be here with your mom. Go ahead to the movie theater and enjoy yourself.
My friend and I were sitting in the theater watching the movie and my friend, who happens to be a nurse, heard me wheezing.
She turned to me and said, “I can hear you wheezing and you don’t sound well. I’m taking you to the hospital.” I told her, “No, I can’t because I have to get home after the movie to care for my mom.”
My friend came inside and told my husband about my wheezing. She said that if my wheezing continued that I needed to go to the hospital.
I was fine for a little while. My wheezing started again and my daughter got home from her friend’s house and she heard me wheezing. She said, “Mom, you don’t sound well.”
I wasn’t well. I was having a horrible asthma attack. My husband took me to the hospital and I nearly died. They kept me in the hospital for just about a week. I had continual breathing treatments and they sent me home with a nebulizer.
The hospitalist told me that my blood pressure was too high and I needed meds for asthma and my blood pressure.
She told me that she wasn’t going to release me unless I scheduled an appointment with my doctor.
I did schedule an appointment. After that hospitalization I didn’t skip any more doctor appointments.
My husband neglected himself too.
When he was showering he saw this awful rash. He showed it to me and said, “What is this?” It kind of freaked him out and he was in a lot of pain.
He isn’t someone who complains a lot, so I knew that he was hurting. He went to the doctor and found out that he had shingles.
That was the first time he had gone to the doctor in years! They took routine labs and they saw unusual numbers and sent him to a couple of doctors, urologist and oncologist.
That is how he discovered his prostate cancer. I’m really grateful that he got shingles because he was able to catch the cancer early.
How many people neglect themselves as a caregiver? How many caregivers become seriously ill? I wonder…
Gosh, I went years, skipping gynecology exams, mammograms, etc. It frightens me to think about how I could have been a person who might have missed early detection of a cancer.
Routine exams are very important! We cannot neglect ourselves while we are caring for our parents, spouses, etc.
I appreciate it.
So, he couldn’t visit me in the hospital. My daughter was a senior in high school and I remember praying to God to please let me live to attend her graduation, be with my husband and daughters, plus take care of my mom.
My husband was in bed with the flu. My mom and my younger daughter were pretty much fending for themselves. My older daughter came over and helped out as much as she could. Thank God, mom could still do some things on her own then.
It just becomes too much at times when we are caregiving at home. It can all be avoided if we have additional help or better still, if our parents are in a facility!
Then we can live our lives without the additional stress of being a full time caregiver. It’s unnerving not knowing who will care for our loved ones when we aren’t able to.
If you need something to watch, Our America w/Lisa Ling S2 Ep20(The secret lives of seniors)It's an old episode but pretty interesting
I may have seen that episode. I love Lisa Ling. She’s a great reporter. I have watched Our America. Good show.
Thanks for reminding me about those.
I want to say I couldn't agree with you more about caregiving for a parent.
It can be like a bottomless pit and literally can cost a person their life.
I can say honestly for myself that I'd rather have every negative emotion there is (guilt, regret, sadness, etc...) about putting someone into managed care then live with the constant stress and anxiety about who will take care of them if I can't. No way.
What happens - happens. I've known people who were caregivers to a parent that dropped dead suddenly or like you required hospitalization. Their parent ended up care facilty and lived out their lives.
No one should have to be living in such a situation that their entire life has to center around taking care of an elderly parent or loved one who's already lived their life.
Everyone gets one life. No one has a right to use up another person's. That's not love. That's selfishness.
Whenever I hear about a person being forced to promise that they will never put mom or dad in a "home" it makes me sick. To me that kind of extortion selfish narcissisism at it's very purest. Truly, it makes me sick.
I know so many people who've paid dearly because they were forced to make that heinous "promise". Marriages and families broken up, kids robbed of their childhoods, caregivers getting sick because they neglect their own health.
When there is real love in a family, the parents don't ask this of their children. When it's real love in a marriage, spouses don't either.