It was Christmas Eve 1956, in a little town called Shelby Ohio.  A small 1950's town when times were good, streets were safe, crime real crime not heard of very often, town population around 8,000 people.  I was nine years old and my little sister cathy was 6 and my big brother 14.  We lived in the downstairs of an old victorian house, our rent 19 dollars a month.  of course minimum wage then was  $1 per hour ,  Familys were close.  I had so many cousins on my moms side of the family I barely knew some of them even though we lived in the same small town.  On my Dad's side only two cousins  and we were all very close more like brother and sister than cousins.  But I regress...

My brother, and sister and I shared one bedroom.  Mom and Dad the other.  Brother had a single bed against the the far wall of the big bedroom sister and I shared a double bed together..  A livingroom dining room and a small very small kitchen made up our home.   We had our Christmas coco which was a treat because mom had bought some marshmallows for it !!! 

It had been snowing all day and outside everything was so quiet people were   in their homes not going out after dark in the now foot deep snow.  It was so quiet you could hear a slight whisper outside as the snow continued to fall.  and the wind blew softly piling it up into deep drifts.  Our town had 2 snow plows and our street had not been plowed all day as we were on the edge of town within a stones throw to the corporation limit signs.  As E. Smiley ave became East Smiley road.

It was bedtime and we were excited as we were tucked in our  beds and brother had fell asleep eariler as he had delivered his newspaper route having to walk the route which was over a mile long through the deep snow.  It was after dark when he got home around 6pm.  And he went to sleep very quickly. 

Sister and I were way too excited to fall asleep right a way.  We kept teasing each other by putting our cold feet on each others backside and then   giggling.  Daddy had to come settle us down twice.  Then we knew we just had to whisper because we needed to stay awake because we were determined to actually see santa clause when he came to our house.  At nine I only half believed in Santa but wanted to make it fun for my little sister and wanted to make it fun for me.   

But we fell asleep...  Then my brother came over and shook my shoulder and said Susie wake up.. I hear jingle bells. I opened my eyes and listened  YES I heard the bells too.  So I got a grip on my little sister and woke her up and then all three of us ran to the double windows  that faced the road.  Brother managed to get the window raise up.. and then we could really hear those bells, We were standing there with the winter wind rushing over us sending goosebumps all over us... and a spray of light snow blew in the window but we were not about to leave that spot.  Comming down the road from out in the country was 4 horses 2 white draft horses and 2 dark draft horses decked out in harness with bells on them.  And pulling a big black sleigh!!!  The two people in the front of the sleigh were covered with a big quilt and they were dressed in red. with long red stocking hats on their heads.  WE knew right then it was Santa.

And Santa and Mrs. Clause kept right on going past our house.  going toward down town.  My brother being the wise one at age `14 said.. You guys better get to sleep now because Santa will stop back here on his way back from town. and if you are still awake he won't come in with the toys. We quickly ran and jumped into bed shaking the little bit of snow that was on our nightgown off onto the floor. 

The next morning we woke up and Santa HAD stopped and left some toys under our tree. !!! 

Years later my mom told me Mr. and Mrs Clause was really Mr and Mrs katichin from a near by farm.  And it seemed that Christmas Eve They made sure they traveled up and down all the streets of Shelby.because of the deep     snow .  And when we finally went back to school in January many of us kids shared that experience of actually seeing Santa Clause for real !!!!!

My sister is now gone but my brother called me tonight to wish me a Merry Christmas..and he brought up that wonderful night.  No matter how old we get or how many miles apart He and I will continue to share that feeling of magic that night created in our hearts. forever.

Tags: Christmas Santa Eve Children Family Sisters

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I was around 8 years old, my brother 12 and my sister 5.  My mom had been a widow for 3 years.  When she first invited her co worker Jack to meet us all.  He came over after dinner one evening.  I look back and can imagine her being nervous.  We were given our orders to be nice and to mind our manners when we would meet her friend.  Jack arrived it was about 6:30 in November.  It was cold and dark outside because i remember my sister and I crawling back behind the couch so we could sort of hide b ehind the curtians infront of our two front room windows.  So we could peek to get a good look at him before he came inside.  When he knocked at our front door Mom answered it and he came in.. by then we had jumped back over the top of the couch and were sitting on it dressed in our PJ because 7:30 was bedtime.  Mom brought him into the livingroom to introduce him to all of us.  We were polite and said hello but giggle out of control. 

Jack on the other hand knew just how to handle 2 little girls and a Boy who had for 3 years been the man of the house.  He had brought with him a quart of chocolate ice cream hand packed from a local dairy Isleys.. ( who as a matter of fact was the company that invented the Konldike bar a few years later)..  that broke the ice and we all went to the table and mom dished up the ice cream.  He also had brought us each a comic book.  And brought my brother 3 packs of baseball cards and a comic book too. 

From that day on Jack was our friend.  Well a few months passed and it was January and Jack and my Mom were going on a real date.  The were going to drive over to the next biggest town and go to a fancy dance with a band.  I remember my mom buying a new dress doing something like that was very unusual.. as we didnt have alot of money and a fancy dress was really something.  I can still see her in that dress.  It had a full skirt, just below her knees and the skirt was made of chiffon.. a champagne color kind of a very light pink but also a c ream color. 

I remember thinking she looked just like Cinderella... and Jack was dressed in a black suit with a black necktie and he had flowers he pinned on to her dress.  I was so excited. 

The next time Jack came over  he brought us ice cream again and would sit down at the table with us.  And my sister and I by then had fallen in love with him.. and my brother thought he was an ok guy. We liked him.  and would talk about  him when he was not there. 

While we were sitting there spooning strawberry ice cream into our mouths my sister Cathy kept trying to get into the conversation but no one was paying any attention to her we were all jibber jabbing away.  Then she screamed... EVERYONE PLEASE BE QUITE!!!!!  I WANT TO TALK. 

There she sat with her davey crockette t shirt and her jammie bottoms.  and she stood up on her chair.  She looked at all of us then she looked at Jack and said.

I want to know just when are you going to marry my mommy. !!!!   Everyone was still for a moment and then he said.  Well sweetheart I think it will be on August 19. 

Jack became our dad.  IN all ways possible he loved us so much that he even forgot that we were not his biological children.  How do I know that......because when my first child was born and I was standing at the glass with my mom and Jack my Dad.. he looked at the baby with tears in his eyes and said.. Well you look at that I think she has my chin...... Never giving a thought that she could not h ave had his chin. 

But more of Jack was in  us than any blood could transfer.. Jack lived in each one of us kids and in his grandkids too.  Jack put within each of us understanding, wisdom, kindness, unconditional love, the love of music, and art, how to be a good person, and how to live a successful life.  Jack was my Dad and I miss him so much now that he has been gone for about 8 years.  RIP Jack I  **** love you

Tags: Kids Parents Memories

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My Mom was born in 1917.  I remember her telling me that one time she got a doll.  Like most kids back then they didnt have alot of play things.  She was the oldest of what would be 7 siblings almost year after year.  As soon as she was old enough to do chores she was doing them, with her Momma being pregnant almost every year my Mom did alot of chores when young.  She told me she remember being stood u p on a kitchen chair with a scrub board and lye soap and scrubbing out diapers, socks, underwear and her mom taking them out to hang on the line to dry.  Her Mom did the heavy pieces.  And as time flew by she became the 2nd mom to the younger kids as my Grandma was not feeling well most of the time when looking at her symptoms now I think she was suffering from heart and thyroid problems but back then no one knew how to tell those things.  

I am telling you this for a back ground to this Christmas Story.

When my mom was about 8 years old she saw a doll in a window and wished and wished she would get it for Christmas and her Daddy always did his best to do what he could for his family.  He managed to get her this doll. 

Well Momma love her doll, made it clothes she sewed herself out of scraps of fabric or clothes her momma was going to use for rags. 

Well later that year.. the flu hit and people were dying.  And as kids do sometimes she decided she was going to play nurse to her doll which got the flu.  and of course her precious doll died.. so Momma wrapped her doll in a sheet and her and her brothers and sisters all played funeral.  There was pretend weeping, and her brother next to her in age ..7 was the priest who blessed the funeral.  And they laid the doll down and put dirt over her....

Well. that night it comenced to rain and rain really hard.  And back then doll heads were often made of cheap paper mache.  And the next day when momma went to get her doll its head and arms were disoloved all thtat was left was a fabric pillow that had been her body. 

She would tell us this story just about every year at Christmas time.  And told u s to always be thankful for what Santa Clause would bring and to take good care of it. 

Well one year when I was about 9 I decided i would take the pennies and dimes I had saved. And my grandma always gave us 1.00 each to buy gifts for people we loved.  Well I decided that I was going to spend my whole dollar on a dime store doll.  And some fabric with which I made a simple dress.  And put it under the tree for my Mom.  On Christmas morning that year I remember my mom opening that gift and  she had tears in her eyes after unwrapping it.. as she said thank you Susie. 

 My mom kept that doll for years.. and then I dont know what happened to it.. I suppose it got lost in the shuffle of moving  several times.

But that is the Christmas Morning I remember the most vividly.  It was that year that I found out that Giving gifts to someone else was much more fun than getting them. 

Tags: Children Doll Giving Loosing Finding Out Whats Important

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I am starting a series of blogs today called Crossing my path.  They will be about people who have crossed my path during my life:  The first one I will Call Sam year:1995

I had a young man working for us in one of the department stores I managed.  He was always coming up with his own ideas about how to make things better for the customer.  I did appreciate his willingness to improve customer service but his ideas were not always the best ones.  One time I had him working the Electronics department which was at the rear of the store, He had moved a futon from the furniture department into Electronics so kids would have something to sit on when trying out our xbox games.. or for adults to sit on when testing out televisions.......

Another time when         he was working at our snack bar.  on a busy Saturday afternoon he decided since we were selling so many glasses of soda that the soda machine must be getting dirty so he took it apart to clean it.. totally shutting down the soda sales.         It took me 20 minutes to put it back together again.   He really was a good kid and from then on I would always find him a place to work that did not need his 'special' kind of customer service.   He was a good kid did not have a father figure in his life, and did not know how to shave properly his face always had razor burn and knicks from shaving.  I had one of the older men that worked for us show him how to shave the right way.. greatly improving his shaving skills.  Like many people in that kind of work they move on to other things.. he left us and I have occasionally thought of him and wonder what ever became of him. I think many of us have had Sams in our life young people who just do not seem to fit into the normal routines of life. Sam was not intellecturally slow but I would say he was common sense deprived.

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COME TO A DANCE i BECONDYOU...THE TUNE SEEMS MEXMERIIJG BUT ITS NEVER TRU

Has yor head ever rested on your pillow
as you begin to think
and thoughts come to haunt you
and your heart begins to sink?
You begin to toss and turn
as the clock ticks on in time
and you dance with the demons
hidden in your mind.
The demons can be simple
or dressed in disguise
They can be real memories
Or something we surmise.
They entice us with a music
of happenings long ago
The tune they play comes softly
and the dance is often slow.
The demons are our feelings
we keep hidden in our souls
Hurts, and disappointments
Most we've never told.
We tell ourselves its finished
Why do we bring them out again
but these kinds of demons often
have no end.
We lay in silent darkness
as the long night turns to day
Another sleepless evening
as the demons came to play
The demon of a love gone wrong
or one of childhood's pain
The demon of a past mistake
but no one is to blame
But as we dance with the demons
hidden in our minds
We begin to realize
that if we give them time
They will either haunt us
Or they will disappear
Exposed in the sunlight
often makes them very clear.
So when you hear the music
on a sleepless night
Its you who choose to listen or
you who choose to fight
Oh they will come to beckon you
those demons in your mind<BR

Tags: Memories Pride Feel Sorrys

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Early Monday morning a man from the gas company knocked on a door of a home about 1/2 mile from me.  He was met at the door by a man around 50 years old with a rifle and told to get off property.  ... The Gas man went to his truck and called the police.

That is what began a 29 hour stand off with our police department and a mentally ill former soilder who was what they call a "doomsday prepper.  what is that you say.. it is someone who heavely arms himself with supplies, weapons, and amunition.thinking one day our government would try to take away our freedoms and establish a new nation.

 The negotiations began.  4  armored swat trucks, and specially trained policemen from several countys, and the state capitol.  Over the next 28 hours the man fired at the police to try to kill as many as he could 70 plus times.  he injured no one. He was using armor piercing bullets. and shot up several police cars.  and some bullet holes in the armored swat trucks.  The police talked to him begging him to come out, then they used fire hose to flood his basement where he was and had previously built a bunker..  Through out this time they would send off flash bangs so loud they could be heard for about a mile.  The near by residents that were home were evacuated.  Helicoptors over head, media tv , newspapers FBI Homeland Security.etc camped out. giving the man room yet no room to escape.  Constantly talking to him.. this continued on throughout the night.  

We have a little gal about 24 years old who is a reporter for our small town newspaper.  She kept us the public informed with the goings on through her twitter phone account. Sending out quick reports of what was happening some times seconds apart somtimes every 10 minutes. Very professional.  I hope she gets an award she did an excellent job of reporting and also stopping rumors that were traveling the facebook and other news sources.  I must say our police did everything that could be done to talk this man down and out of his home.  He would not listen. 

Finally about 11:30 am this morning it was decided they would have to go in after him. So they rammed the house side wall.  and a military sniper was called upon to shoot the man.  He was shot in the head and is now dead...

I have seen such things on tv programs and on the news.  But never thought about it happening here.  We just never know who is living around us, I thank God none of our policemen were injured and I ask for prayers for them for healing from the trama they faced these officers cared what was going to happen to this fella... They two didn't want it to end this way... But they did their job and did it well while facing the chance that they might be hurt or die.  Well done officers..

Tags: Crime Shooting Police News

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HERMITS ....sechandler 8 24 14
 
What is a hermit?  Usually it is someone who chooses to close themselves off from society as much as they can.  Only associating with people to buy necessities. 

Today in my local paper there was an article about two Hermits that lived near by my town, They lived in Plymouth Ohio even today it's a small sleepy country town with not much action. Except when the flyer comes out on Tuesdays for the local grocery store then the pick ups and vans line the parking lot to pick up supplies. But that's not what I'm writing about today,
 
The two hermits she wrote about made their homes in two different small caves near Plymouth.  Each also had a small lean-to cabin built at the entrance where they could have a fire place to keep warm in winter.  The years were the 1830-1850. 
 
It was well known that Bill, was from a wealthy Boston family and they came to Plymouth twice to try to get him to return home.  He would not listen and lived in his cave for over 20 years. There are historic descriptions about Crazy Bill in some of the history records of the town

 He was unusually tall. Way over 6 foot and very skinny.  He made money by trapping and hunting selling the pelts or trading them for flour sugar and such things a person cannot find in the wild or make on their own.  Bill could talk, but most of the time a silent man He knew the Bible forward and backwards but did not often share a word with anyone.  He would come in pay for his wares and then walk with very long strides out the 4 or 5 miles to his cave.  One day someone noticed that Bill had not been to town all winter so someone rode out to his cave where they found him wrapped in a blanket dead for some time.  The comment was also made in the county record that Bill was much like a woman in many ways.  More likely Bill was gay and not being accepted either in Boston or in early Ohio he choose to be a hermit. 

They also found 10,000 dollars in gold coins in 3 fence posts.  Old Bill had hollowed out those fence posts and put a slit in the top in which he dropped the coins.  He left a letter leaving the 10,000 to take care of poor women in the township single ladies, and widows who found themselves in dire straights, paupers when they need someone to help them out.
Bill was not a bad character I would say misunderstood and probablly a lonely man forced by his nature to not fit in with society.  I am glad things have changed in our present world but it took way to long for it to happen.  
I will with in the next few days share the story of the 2nd Hermit from Plymouth.

Tags: History Gay Alone Loner Etcentric Tales Of Life

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Today is a gray day, the air is muggy, and if you go outside it feels as if your oxygen is being supressed.  I don't go outside on days like this because I have breathing problems.  And although it's only in the low 70's I have the A/C turned on.  But I do enjoy sitting in the chair at my bedroom window and looking outside. 

I see so many things, the leaves are turning bottom up waiting on the rain to come.  A mourning dove waddles around in the grass underneath the small tree in the front yard.  I only see one dove his mate is not with him, they most always appear in pairs so I wonder if she has passed away  and he is left behind to exist by himself for they mate for life.  He looks lonely just bobbing his head and slowly walking around then he flys off.  A golden finch comes and sits on a branch, I  have had a finch feeder out all summer but its still full of thistle seeds I wait to see if he will fly down and sit on the feeder but he just looks and flys away.  Then the tree begins to stir, and the raindrops come falling down.  The earth that is nothing but dust where the grass will not grow soon turns a dark black, and the breeze is blowing harder into a wind. 

No more birds are out, the squirel across the way has darted into the large oak tree.  And I decide to get up and make a cup of tea.  Fall will be here before I know it. 

I will miss the summer, yet let the colors come and delight me once more.

Tags: Rain Gloomy Summer Thoughts

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Tags: Childhood Memories People I Knew Growing Up

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