I'm Living A Soap Opera!!!

I used to have such a wonderful, loving family.  I was adored by my great grandparents, grand parents and parents--well my mother at least.  Although I do have pictures, when I was little, of my Daddy holding me and smiling.  All of us saw each other almost every day--taking many meals together.  After my children were born, nothing changed.  Our families, got together every week or weekend.  We were very close, loving and affectionate, and supportive.

What happened?

I have blamed myself for these last thirty years, because of the divorce.  If my ex and I were still together, we would still be hosting Christmas Eve with the whole family.  We would still be having get together's in the summer months.  The kids would come to visit us--together.

But then I thought, none of the kids were devastated by our divorce.  Jennifer was the only kid at home, at 14, and she and her Dad never got along.  Mark, Pam and Karen were off on their own.

Susan and I talked about this on Sunday.  We both came to the same conclusion--"if Mother hadn't died."  "If the mean Daddy had died, instead of Mother.  How different everything would have been."  "If the step-mother hadn't entered the family and started playing all of us off against each other."

She did it with my sister and I, with Jennifer and I, with my kids against each other.  Telling things like, "You will never guess what your mother has done now."  Or, "You will never guess what your sister said about you," or "what your brother did, or sister........" on and on for 38 years.

Susan sees it in how her son treats her.  I see it in how my kids treat me.

It is awful and we both looked heavenward and told our Mother, "Why did YOU leave us?"  and then contemplated going to the Byron cemetery and peeing on the step-mother's grave!
<good idea, Beth?>
=========================

On a lighter and to me, amusing topic, Melissa Gilbert--Laura of Little House--is running for Congress in the District where I live.  She owes some $360,000.00 to the IRS in back taxes.  Sounds like the perfect candidate--right?  It doesn't really matter.  She doesn't have a chance in this Republican District.  

Her French Bulldog DOES have a professional stylist--I suppose that might help.  She can use her in campaign photos.  She recently had her cheek and breasts implants removed--that also might help.  AND, she just bought a HUGE home outside the town of Howell.  Apparently owing the IRS, raised her credit rating?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/actress-melissa-gilbert-to-run-for-congress-in-michigan/ar-BBlCQL1?ocid=ansentap11
============================
On a still lighter note:

Pearl came down last night for a visit.  We were talking about this and that and then she said,

"Merle and I went to the movies on Sunday."

"Oh.  What did you see?"

"It was called 'Train Wreck' ."

"I heard that was good.  Did you like it?"

"Not really.  We thought it was going to be about a run away train, or something, but it wasn't."

I started giggling and then, couldn't hold back, and let out with  huge, loud laughter.  She just looked at me.

I said, "It's not about a train getting wrecked.  Nowadays, the term train wreck, means when someone's life is a disaster.  Like, 'My life is a train wreck right now.' "

"Oh.  There wasn't a single train in the whole movie.   Well, once they were on the....oh..you know.  That train that runs underground."

"You mean a subway?"

"Yes...that's it."

"You didn't check out what the movie was about before you went?"

"Well, yes!  We saw the title and thought it would be a movie like that one years ago.  Oh what is the name.............where the bus is out of control....with that cute actress in it..............."

"You mean 'Speed'?"

"Yeah.  That one."
<Oh. My. Gosh!>
=========================================
Look who came for a porch chat this morning.

 Maisey, leading her human, John.








and, when it was time to leave, she laid at the bottom of the steps and would not move.

John said, "I'll bring her pajamas with us, when we walk tonight, and she can have a sleep-over with the cats."
================
Where shall we walk today?

Out the front door, back along my west side lawn to the shed and out to the other street.  

The Rose of Sharon to the right of my shed, needs cutting down.  Most of it is dead. 

Zinnia's finally coming on and my experiment with a Sunflower

 If I turn my back to my shed, there is John's house on Gulfstream Drive.

Out to Gulfstream, turn right and up a bit to Cypress Way. 

, the street behind me.

On the way back, I cut through an empty lot to come up to the back of my place.

These Privet bushes used to look like this:

 When I moved in. 

Then like this after I trimmed them.

Then, the winter of 2013, just about killed them. 

Then, Spring of 2014, I had my BIL come down and cut the bushes down to the ground and, they looked like this.

.

















And, now they are all coming back, fuller and healthier than they have ever been.