Summertime 1975

 I looked closer at one of these photos recently and noticed that I am holding 2 small American flags so this summer family party must be a 4th of July one

                                               

The last photo is of Mark and me with our uncle and his girlfriend. I am holding one of my Raggedy Ann dolls. I still have them. My brother has the Raggedy Andy ones.

March 20, 2016- My Brother’s Memories

When we were watching a commercial for a violent video game, Mike mentioned how the ones that we played as kids were never this way. He told me that Cindy and Jessica had given him a game called Gopher. I hadn’t even remembered that it even existed.

   He has been strolling down memory lane lately. He hadn’t really been doing so that much before this. Of course, he seems to bring up the bad ones more than the good, like incidents in which his classmates picked on him. I knew about some of them but not others.

   He said that he was punched on the shoulder once. Another time, kids dared him to beat up another classmate but he didn’t do so. He told me about additional incidents that I can’t really recall right now. It is terrible that kids can be so cruel to one another.

   Mike was also a member of the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) in grade school. I hadn’t remembered this until he recently mentioned that they went to a Yankees vs. Red Sox game and also a NJ Nets one.

   He said that we celebrated New Year’s Eve at the Bailey’s (our family friends) house in the 1970s. He mentioned that we popped balloons then. This definitely is not in my memory bank. I wish that I had more such happy times in there. The unpleasant things seem more abundant and vivid, unfortunately.

   One of these that he reminded of me was a 4^th of July incident. We were at our friend’s house for the traditional celebration when Mom’s migraine headache was so bad that Dad had to take her to the ER. After they returned, Mom had to take a nap. She was so out of it from the shot that they gave her. This was very upsetting.

     When I tell him about some of my childhood memories, he says that he can’t remember those. I guess that even though we shared experiences, there will be some that we can’t recall or we will recollect different aspects about them.

   Maybe in the afterlife, our spirits will be able to revisit our past and witness these moments. That is just a part of my somewhat crazy afterlife fantasy. I don’t talk to my brother about such things because he might think that this is foolish. I share them with Sharon who always says that she likes them and hopes that they will be a reality then.

My Holiday Shirt

I'll be wearing this shirt today. I got it in Kohl's about 3 years ago. I forgot to wear it last July 4th. My brother mentioned the holiday shirts with the bear on them that my aunt made for him, mom and I. I know that mom still has hers but we don't have ours. I usually keep everything that she made for me and feel bad that I got rid of that.

Happy 4th of July

Here are my Star Spangled spaniel Buffy and Yankee Doodle Mookie in pictures from the early 2000s. Mom made their holiday bandanas. I can't believe that it has been 6 years without Mookie and nearly 8 months without our Buffy. I think about them everyday.

My 4th of July memories are of going over to our family friend's house in Elizabeth for a barbecue/pool party then watching the fireworks in a park nearby throughout the 70's and 80's. We did so only once in the early 90's. I was living in Pittsburgh during the summer of 1989 and saw a nice fireworks dislplay set to music. The last time that I went to one of those was either in 1999 or 2000 with my boyfriend somewhere in Central-west Jersey.

I can't remember the last time that we actually put out our flag for this holiday. Probably the late 1980's. We still have our old one from the early 70's. It's in a box in the basement behind our storage totes. I have a patriotic t-shirt with a flag and golden retreiver puppies on it that I probably will wear this year. I wish that I still had the bear one that my aunt made me in the late 80's though.

I hope that everyone has a very Happy 4th of July.