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There are just too many of them for me to list them on my profile page.  Going to bed at night knowing I'll get up only when my body
decides to, not by the sound of an alarm clock.
Hearing the howling wind and rain beating on the windows while I am inside sitting on
the couch, warm and cozy, in flannel pajamas.
A bubble bath by candle light.
A phone call from someone I was just thinking about.
Receiving the first Christmas card of the season.
Spending the day cleaning the house from top to bottom, and then going out to a really nice dinner.
Having my grandchildren slip their hand into mine to cross the street.
Finding my favorite perfume on sale.
Going to a wedding and remembering the bride or groom as a child.
Buying ice cream from the "ice cream man".
Remembering the "good old days" with friends.
Young people who want to hear about the "good old days".
Shopping for Christmas presents.
Beginning the day with a freshly brewed pot.
The smell of pipe tobacco or new leather.
Watching snow fall under a street light.
Cuddling on the sofa to watch television with my grandchildren.
Getting dressed up for a party.
Saying something funny and making someone laugh.
A day all by myself at the mall.
Finding five garage sales all on the same block.
The smell of a freshly painted room.
The first few hours after leaving the hairdresser.
An evening without phone calls.
Everything to do with preparing for the holidays.
Long quiet times alone with my three children just talking and sharing thoughts.
And hearing the most beautiful words I can think of, which are ........................
"That's alright, take your time!!"
Which one of us really knows what "love" is. Song writers and poets will tell you one thing. Everyone from philosphers to doctors have a theory. But, in the end, it is whatever each one of us believes in our heart it is. What I think of as "love" today is not what I thought as a young girl. I hope this little story I wrote might explain how I see "love" today..........
They met in the park in mid October.The air was cold and brisk.The sunlight was sweeping over the trees ~ ~ their leaves of gold and crimson were aglow that afternoon.He never saw anyone quite so beautiful. He stopped to talk to her and ask her about her puppy.He found himself going back there the next day to look for her. She was there with her little brown puppy. They each had hoped for this.They sat on a bench and chatted for awhile. He saw the glimmer in her eyes ~ ~ He asked her to have dinner with him......................Was this love??
One year later they were back in the park. The sun was warm and the trees were fragrant, dressed in their springtime splendor. Every little bud in the flower bed was bursting forth in bright colors.There they stood on the small wooden bridge that crossed the pond.They were holding hands as he smiled tenderly at her. She was in a gown of white, all silk and lace.The photographer snapped his last shot ~ ~ He caught the glimmer in her eyes.. They drove off in a long white limo......Was this love??
A decade came and went, but time stood still in the park. They came with a picnic basket and two rosey cheeked children helped to spread a blanket in the grass.He took the crying baby from her and rocked him to sleep while an old brown dog snoozed by his side......Was this love??
The park was still there. In two decades the trees has surely grown much taller. But the flower beds had vanished. The bench was splintered and wearing graffeti. The small wooden bridge across the pond was crumpled, yet the birds were still singing their song ~ ~ He walked along beside her, but she would not hold his hand. She cried about so many things he failed to understand! The children were all grown, each one following their own dream. Their house was empty now and rarely full of laughter and joy. She feared to look in the mirror ... where had her beauty gone? This was not the young girl he found so long ago! Still he reached to take her hand as she wiped away her tears.She gave him a tiny smile, but with a glimmer in her eye.........Was this love??
It wasn't all that long ago, on a bright and sunny day that he was seen crossing the park at noon.His steps were slow, his breathing heavy as he sat down on the bench.He wheeled her chair up close to him and gently took her hand. He gave her pieces of fruit and then he had some too. He straightened the blanket on her knees as he prepared to leave. They couldn't stay too much more ~ ~ It was a very long walk home. ............Was this love??
This story is ending now on a cool and crisp autumn day ..... much like the day it all started. He's standing all alone in the park today. He really cannot see beyond the trees, for his eyes are filled with tears. She was laid to rest just last week and he hasn't been the same. He never had to walk alone. He knows the angels are with her now ~ ~ but he is frail and tired and cannot understand. ~ ~ ~ He doesn't need to worry though, and I will tell you why. A little girl with hair of gold has come to take his hand. She gives him candy and smiles to him with a glimmer in her eye. "Grandpa, let's go home now, so we can have our lunch." ..................This Was Love !!
This was a glimpse of Winter in Upstate New York. A perfect time to share this with you:
You might be an Upstate New Yorker .....
If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 36
inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Upstate New York.
If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Saranac Lake is the coldest spot in the nation,you might live in Upstate New York.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you might live in Upstate New York
If you instinctively walk like a penguin for six months out of theyear, you might live in Upstate New York.
If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Upstate New York.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Upstate New York.
YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE UPSTATE NEW YORKER WHEN:
1. "Vacation" means going South past Albany for the weekend.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard,
without flinching.
6. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
7. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with
snow.
8. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road
construction.
9. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
10. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
11. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."
12. You actually understand all this
Each year that passes, it seems to me Christmas gets more and more complicated and different from what I experienced as a child. Yes, I know that this is what we call progress. It is not good to live in the past.
But sometimes,, just for one brief moment, it is refreshing to go there again ~ ~
It all kind of started right after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Santa had arrived and it was now officially the "Christmas Season" For some strange reason today it starts right around Halloween!
My Mom and I spent many happy hours walking around on 34th Street. And, believe me, it was a Miracle!! There were pushcarts in the street selling hot chestnuts and a Salvation Army Santa on every corner ringing his bell. Shoppers darted about carrying huge gaily decorated paper shopping bags. I got to go and Meet Santa upstairs in Macy's, ride the carousel and get a present to take home. Many days it was bitter cold but we were all bundled up and happy.
Today we shop in climatically controlled malls and our merchandise is thrown in flimsy plastic bags.
Nearer to the big day we watched "live" Christmas specials with Perry Como and Andy Williams. Everyone had a real tree. Ours was decorated with an assortment of glass balls that had been collected over the years by my grandmother. They were all different sizes and no two matched. Some were scratched and worn, others were a bit newer. We draped aluminum tinsel all over the tree and hung different color lights through it. They were huge. They did not blink on and off and they did not "chase" each other.
I guess nobody had thought of a "theme tree" just yet. The focal point of the room was the nativity scene created by my grandmother. It had all different size shepherds and animals. Some were very old and broken down. It was fun to move them from place to place. The baby Jesus was surrounded by any kind of religious artifact my grandmother saw fit to place next to him. But I would sit and stare at all those people in that little stable and felt that they were actually with me and blessing me.
On one very special night we would sit down with an old worn address book and write out Christmas cards. There was no doubt you would have wriiter's cramp when you were done. Everyone wrote their return address up in the corner by hand. I knew no one who had little stickers with their name and address already printed on them. When we began to receive cards we strung them across the room and over the doorways. They were part of the decorating theme.
Nobody had even dreamt of an "E-card" just yet.
Christmas Eve for me was spent with my Italian family. That meant eating a feast of sea food. We sang Christmas Carols with the neighbors in the backyard. At midnight it became wonderful! The whole family gathered around the tree and the exchange of presents began. There was wrapping paper everywhere and my cousins and I were the happiest children alive on that night. After more feasting on homemade goodies we went to bed while the adults stayed up and usually played cards. The next morning we went to Christmas Mass and then had another family gathering for the dinner.
This happened every year of my childhood. How was it possible .......
No one in the family lived more than a thirty minuet car ride away!!
I suppose not many children today would be so thrilled to receive a pair of metal roller skates, or a cowboy gun and holster, a doll that did absolutely nothing, a tin of tinker toys, some paper dolls and a new pair of flannel pajamas.
Today's children live in a world of CD's, DVD's, Game Boys, and laptops.
They know what "fiber optic" Christmas trees are. There houses are often decorated with neat rows of little white icicle lights. They might not be able to visit Grandma, but they can have an "online chat" with her.
I will never forget the sights and feelings of Christmas for me as a child. Last year my family and I spent a magical evening in New York City. We went to see the tree and ice skaters at Rockafella Center. It was on that night that I was able to step back into my childhood and for a brief moment bring my grandchildren with me ~
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