Thursday, March 30, 2017

Stuff I Miss




Tie-dye when it was new. I thought it was the most amazing artistic thing in the world. I tie-dyed a pair of pajamas that my brother had. They were plain cotton and cream colored. Very boring. He wanted a design in green. I don’t remember much about them now but Albert seemed very pleased with them.

Go-go boots. I would have KILLED for a pair of those. They were SO GROOVY!! But no, I had to have sensible shoes. Blah. Now I can’t wear any kind of shoe with a heel more than an inch or inch and a half.

The Flying Nun. Loved that show. Watched it every week. I remember the episode where the nuns were considering a new style habit. The only problem was that the new head-gear thing wouldn’t allow Sister Bertril to fly anymore. So even though all the nuns loved the new habit, they decided against it.

Box Tops and Battle Creek. LOVED getting those little packages from Battle Creek! I would bundle up those box tops and tape a quarter to one of them and send them off. I got some pretty cool things. I also loved the neat prizes that came in the cereal. A few of the goodies:
Batman rubber stamp set.
Capt’n Crunch stamp set (still have that).
Alphabet stamp set (still have that).
Garfield bike reflectors
Glow-in-the-dark acrobat figure on a pole
A little submarine that you put a tiny bit of baking soda in, put it in water and watch it dive and rise, dive and rise.

Comic books. I’m talking about more than Superman, Batman, etc which I think are still published today. I loved those as well when I was growing up, but I also loved Little Lulu, Nancy, Deputy Dawg, Richie Rich and so many more. I read those things until they fell apart. When Paul and Sarah were little, I tried to find comic books for them to read. I found very few, and what I did find was mostly all advertising. And neither of them was really interested.

Getting old sucks…*sigh*


Thursday, March 23, 2017

A Look Inside



This is a poem from many years ago, long before I was on meds. I wrote a lot of very dark stuff during those years, and was quite prolific. Interestingly, once my mind was on a more even keel, the writing tapered off. And I’m fine with that.


Despair


The rain and wind
only make my feet cold.
What is it
that turns my heart
to ice?
I’m a lost soul.
Who will find me?
----
Hello!
Are you lost too?

It’s only a mirror.
----
I’m surrounded
by panes of cold glass.

Some one!
Break them!
----
My spirit is gone.
Only an empty shell
is left behind.

Some day, someone may find it
and say,

“This must have been a person, once.”
----
dljbinder2003


Thursday, March 16, 2017

A Painful Trip Down Memory Lane





We’ve all indulged in a bit of nostalgia when we’ve seen those posts on Facebook pertaining to TV shows from our youth, or pictures of things that are no longer made or used. And it can be fun. There might be a twinge or two remembering these things and realizing just how fast time has gone by, but it’s usually a pleasant memory.

Sometimes there is also pain along that memory path.

It’s going on 3 years now that Marv’s mom passed away at the age of 93. She was absolutely the best! Going through her things afterward was painful, but not too bad. She had a full life, she was confident that she was going to meet her Lord, and she left a lot of wonderful memories for the rest of us. Her craft stuff, however, got stuck in the abyss I call my craft room. I couldn’t go through that right away. Mom was an ardent crafter. Always busy with 2 or 3 projects at any given time. The picture above was taken at Christmas 2012, and Mom had crocheted hats for me, Lia and Sarah. We’re sitting on the couch with Mom, wearing them. In the upper left, you can see a bit of the Christmas wall hanging she made many years ago.

I have finally started tackling the above mentioned abyss and getting it to the point where I can actually use it. Today I came across the bags with Mom’s craft stuff…here’s what I found…

More pony beads than a normal human should have. She made LOTS of stuff with them, and there are plenty left over for me to share with Sarah and Lia.
Pins made with something like clay or fimo, but it doesn’t have to be baked. Don’t know what it’s called.
Christmas ornaments she’d made.
Potato beads!!! OMG, she made a TON of these when they were making potato bead necklaces to sell at the Christmas bazaar. We ALL got necklaces that Christmas!
Some costume jewelry that I remember her wearing all the time. She always was dressed nicely like she was going out to dinner. Always.
Her paint brushes, markers, crochet hooks.

As I came across these things, I could see her using all these tools, making all these projects. And the feeling of loss was fresh. But after the tears were dried, I felt like I’d just had a little visit with her. And it was nice. And I remember this:

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”  1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Amen. Come Lord Jesus!