Quality Time and the Letter T

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “T, tea, tee.” The directions are to: “Theme your post around “tea” or “tee,” or find a word that starts with “T” and talk about that. Bonus points if you manage to incorporate all three. Enjoy!”

Taking time away from the internet has been a good thing for me. Not that I went “cold turkey” or anything.  I just cut my on-line time in half (roughly) to do more household things. And I got some writing done yesterday on a Chicken Soup story, so that was good. Speaking of writing. My book starts with the letter, T. Trust the Timing. I don’t plug it that much, but I trust you won’t mind me mentioning it today. It’s about true love standing the test of time, though it (the love) went dormant for almost four decades while me and Mr. D grew up some more. Do we ever finish growing up? I don’t think so, but we can get to a point where we know what’s important. What does that mean? Maybe in ten years, I’ll think different things are important.

Time is important. It always has been. But QUALITY time today means not being on Facebook so much. It (Facebook) pulls me some days – sucks me in. I had thought about setting a timer, but haven’t done that yet. My goal was ten minutes a day. I did that for a few days, but I think it was more like twenty yesterday. Time suck. I’d rather putter around the house, taking care of plants, getting rid of clutter, and reading BOOKS! I miss reading books for fun. Remember when that’s all we had was books? Comic books and real books, no internet! Remember that? And three channels on the TV set! ABC, CBS, and NBC. I know there are a few of us left who remember that. No cell phones, no computers…. I sound like an old geezer. What is a geezer anyway? I don’t care. I don’t have time to look it up.

What about those bonus points? I already wrote a post a while back about my ecology Tee shirt that fit me to a tee in the 7tees. 🙂

My favorite tea to drink is green tea with peach flavor. Sometimes I like to drink chai tea in the winter. Jasmine tea is nice, too. Sometime, I’m going to have a cup of tea and just sit and sip it and do nothing else. I predict that will last for two minutes. Then, I’ll go outside and talk to the trees.

Do take time to visit Linda Hill’s blog and learn more about Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness. Just click the link below:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-28-18/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

 

Make Time for Memories

“I thought I’d never see you again!”

That’s what Aunt Ruth said when we surprised her by flying to Wisconsin for her 92’d birthday.  Dad had been talking about going to see his sister for months, but at 83 he was hesitant. His war wounds from Korea and knees that need replacing make every step a challenge, even with leg braces and a cane. But with Aunt Ruth despondent about being moved into an assisted living apartment and telling us in every phone call, “I’m praying for the Lord to take me,” Dad decided he needed to go see his sister.

Working on recovery from over-dedication to my job, I decided to use some of the ample vacation time I’ve earned to accompany Dad. Maybe I’ve learned not to put things like that off, since I never got around to visiting my sister in California before she died. I thought I’d have more time.

With help from airport staff, who wheeled Dad through security, through the Atlanta airport to our connecting flight, and all the way to the rental car, we made it to Milwaukee. We stood in the hallway outside Aunt Ruth’s door and called her on the phone since she didn’t hear the buzzer or the knock. Dad didn’t want to tell her we were coming, because he didn’t want her to worry. We just told her there was a birthday surprise on the way.

Her eyes sparkled when she recognized us. As she invited us in, I saw that she moved with enough agility to dance circles around her baby brother.

Aunt Ruth usually doesn’t remember what she had for lunch a couple hours ago. Sometimes she forgets that she even had lunch. But she and Dad collaborated to recall colorful details of growing up in Wisconsin. During our three day visit, I was privileged to soak up memories of family history, especially about the grandmother I never knew.

“Our mother was full of love,” Aunt Ruth said. “She could make do with anything.” Making do was an important skill for a woman married to an alcoholic who was “always right,” — but that’s another story. They talked about how their mother, Marie, made most of their clothes, often by re-sewing hand me downs from neighbors. She raised chickens and grew vegetables to “put up” in the basement. Every Saturday she baked 12 loaves of bread, and on Sundays, she made pies and cakes and took flowers from her garden to church. She cared for her mother who lived with them and took in the orphaned children of her brother.

During our trip to Wisconsin, Dad opened up to me more about the horrors of Vietnam, something he’d stopped talking about years ago because it gave him nightmares. He talked about drinking heavily when he got back to the states to try to medicate what we now call PTSD. He told me that he though about taking his own life when I was 12 and totally clueless. But the best story he told me was about the Navy chaplain who took him under his wing and helped him give his pain and guilt to God.

Taking this quality time with my Dad and his sister blessed me with rich memories that might have otherwise been lost. It was a blessing for them to be able to share their memories after having made it through all those years. I will treasure forever the afternoon I listened to them reminisce for hours as  I drifted off to sleep on Aunt Ruth’s sofa, feeling safe and comforted by the memories of love that prevailed over all the hardships.

What memories have given you strength or comfort in difficult times?

Me and my Dad