Day's Gone By

Gregg and I are traveling down to spend the weekend with Gregg's Dad Gully and his wife Celia. To recap, Gully and Celia have been married for about about 14 months. Celia has become a good friend and the four of us try to get together as much as we can, which isn't as often as we would like. We had our holiday together back in December and spent such a long time together enjoying each other's company, that it felt very strange when we all went our separate ways. We are very happy to be visiting this weekend so that we can catch up.

Our son by the way is spending the weekend in New York with his friends. This is an all guys weekend and I am not sure what they planned on doing up there, but am looking forward to hearing all about it when we get together the next time. He is like us in that he takes loads of photographs. Can't wait to see those. I have never spent any length of time in the city of New York apart from when, in our second year of marriage whilst living in Alexandria, Virginia, Gregg and I drove through Manhattan and ended up on Governor's Island. We spent the night at the Lodge located at the Coast Guard Station. Gregg was in the Navy back then and allowed to stay there. I do remember looking at the city skyline and being in awe of seeing Miss Liberty in the distance, but my mind was more on the fact that we were picking my parents up early the next morning from JFK. It had been a long time since I had seen them and I couldn't focus on anything else. We arrived in NY late at night and picked my parents up first thing the following morning and left for home soon after. We always intended to go back and do a little site-seeing but never did, always saying "One of these days!" It is still on our list of things to do.

On Sunday we are going to another gathering. Our friends are throwing a 'Jack and Jill' Baby Shower where we have both been invited. They live in the same neighborhood as Gully and Celia, just down the road in fact, and have been friends with Gully and Gregg's Mom Bea for about 40 years or so. Bea passed away over three years ago. These friends of theirs are the dearest people you could ever wish to meet and I love them not only for the fact that they welcomed me into the family, but because they have also been our dearest friends for 33 years for me and a lot longer for Gregg. He was a youngster when he first met them, their dads being stationed on the same ship together (Gregg's Dad is retired navy too). The first time I met their son - Ron - he was 13 years' old and we all went to his wedding three years ago. Their son and his wife are now expecting twins and to say we are excited and thrilled for them would be putting it mildly.

The old photos I am sharing today are from the days when my father-in-law was a young boy, growing up on the homestead in North Dakota.

He is in the middle of the picture above. You can understand why his nickname was Cottontop. His brother Orville is on the left-hand side and the little girl is his oldest sister Elsie. Elsie passed away several years ago. She and I only met the one time but we had started writing to each other and I got to know her very well. When we finally got together we hit it off like a house on fire. She was a wonderful lady.

This time father-in-law is the young boy on the left-hand side, his little brother Ole is in the middle and brother Orville is on the right.

Here is the house Gully grew up in. To the unknowing eye who just sees it for the first time it might look like it has seen better days, but because I had been listening to Gully's wonderful tales of his childhood, all I saw was a beautiful old house that had a lot of history within its walls. He was one of nine brothers and sisters and I have heard many a story from his early days. Those stories would make a wonderful movie. I have a lot of respect for the mothers who brought up their children in those days, and Gully certainly reveres his. She was an incredible lady. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet her but I feel I know her through him. The old house was made of railroad ties and is long gone and I felt blessed to have seen it. Out front is the old hitching post where they used to tie up their horses.