30 Days of Days: Day 13-A Christmas Day Memory

I had to be about 5-6.  I don't believe my brother was born yet.  I had asked Santa for a reindeer that year.

Now Christmas was always about the kids and I used to clean up, being the only kid for 7 years.  So I just knew I was getting my deer.

Of course I tried to stay up the night before and conked out and was sleeping GOOOOOOD.  When all of a sudden I heard bells.

I heard my grandfather saying "Get up! Get up! Santa is outside. Hurry up and you can see him!"  Lies I tell you, LOL.

Of course I flew out of bed and to the doorway and somehow, there were a set of footprints and then several sets of hoof prints. Now I realize there were however, no sleigh prints.

Well grandpa had these brass bells. I was much older when I found them. He used to love clanging those bells as hard as he could, to wake us up out of a dead sleep.

I'm sure you assumed that I didn't get a reindeer that year...well, you were wrong.  Somehow they found me a blow up reindeer and that was waiting for me next to the tree! LOL! I have a picture somewhere. I need to find it.

30 Days of Days: Day 12 - A Day You Wish You Could Do Differently

It was Halloween 2000.  Two of friends from college were visiting and we were sitting outside on my porch late at night.  We'd gone to a couple of parties and were just chilling because it was actually still nice out.

This couple walks past the yard and the guy speaks, stops and strikes up conversation.  I know this conversation was a good 10 minutes.  Then they go on their way, around the corner to the club.

A week later, it's early evening and I'm on the porch again, watching the kids play and he comes over and sits and we talk. Turns out he'd lost his brother earlier that morning.  A drug deal gone bad.

I listened to what he had to say and we ended up moving the conversation into the house because it got chilly. He was drinking and ended up passing out on the couch. I didn't bother waking him up. Me and the kids slept in my room (doors locked).

Well, that evening was the very beginning of the relationship from Hades. It ended nearly 2 years later with an Order of Protection.

Yep, if I could change that night, we'd have been inside instead of on the porch.

Oh and I found out later, that the girl that was with him was his WIFE.  He apparently left her after he met me.  In hindsight he was such a liar though, who knows.  She was better than me.  There would have been no conversation going on.  He was openly flirting.

30 Days of Days: Day 11- A Daydream You Have Often

The one I want to write about, I'm sure folks would try to read way more into it than they have any business doing. Hmmmm, or maybe it's just more than I want to tell...but oh how I love that daydream!

My second most favorite is more recollection than daydream. I'm at the beach in Montego Bay and I'm looking out at the beautiful unrealistically blue water and have a hard time deciding if I want to go sailing or go out on the jet ski.

Jet ski it is. I walk out into the warm, salty water and look out and enjoy this paradise in what seems to be a poverty stricken land from what I've seen.

The resort worker who took me out before is gone and the guy from the daydream I WANTED to write about helps me up on the jet ski. I slip my arms around his waist and pull close as we take off. Slowly at first and then as he sees that the waves aren't bad, we pick up speed. It seems like we are miles out from the shore, but realistically we're probably only 2 out. We don't want to get too far out, should anything happen and the motor stop. LOL Ain't nobody got time for that!

We turn and ride the length of 7 resorts along the coastline. It's 100+ degrees, yet the breeze as we speed along makes the temperature just right.



Just me and my boo... that's what we do. Just chill and enjoy.

30 Days of Days: Day 10-A Day You'd Rather Forget

Wow...I started tearing up just thinking about which days I wanted to write about...

The first day, February 7, 1998. The day my son's father died. I can't got into a whole lot of detail, but I'll say that it was heart-wrenching. He had a heart attack. I performed CPR until paramedics got there. By the time the paramedics got there, all of his sons were there.



He was never revived. Basically he died right in front of our eyes. It hurt for me, but for each child he called son, it was something they never should have had to experience.

Yeah, I'd rather forget that day.

The next day, January 24, 2012. That was the day my father died. He'd been not long before, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 6 months to a year to live. While my mind was trying to wrap around that information, his body was already letting go. I can't remember the exact number of days, but I'm pretty sure it was some time after the 1st that he told me this and he left this earth on the 24th.



3 something in the afternoon. Surrounded by me and my brothers, with my sister on the phone. Crazy thing is that he started slipping away when I was the only one there. I hurried and called my sister so she could say goodbye and by the time he took his last breath, my brothers weren't there.

The nurse kept checking for a pulse and couldn't call it until there was none. It was nearly 10 minutes later that my brothers and sons would make it up to the hospital and it was then that his heart beat no more.

That's another day I'd rather forget.

At the same time however, those are days that I hope I always remember as those were the last day that I spent with my loved ones.

30 Days of Days: Day 8 - The Day You Realized What You Wanted to Do/Be

Well anyone that knew me in high school knew I was a Home Ec fanatic.  Every type of class that was offered, I took it. Cooking, sewing, parenting, anything that had anything to do with any of those, I was there.

My junior year I took Commercial Foods at the local vocational school because I truly thought I wanted to go into catering.  Well, cooking on a large scale is A LOT different than just cooking dinner.  There are so many rules that have to be followed.  This has to be maintained at such and such degrees.  That can only sit our for x amount of minutes, etc.  Nothing like freestyling it at home. Not to mention that when we catered, we had to make so much extra in case the amount we prepared ran out or something happened to the original dish.

We also prepared all the food that was served in the cafe.  I learned fast that commercial foods was not for me (but not before participating a food fight! That was the most fun EVER, until clean-up).

It has taken years for me to learn how to scale down the amount of food I cook and sometimes my kids still look at me crazy on day 3 of leftovers.

I ended up going to a business college and getting my A.A.S. and became a secretary.  I'm pretty darn good at it, but I think I'm heading toward phase 3 in my life and looking for something different.


The desire to learn more about cake decorating did stick with me, so perhaps I'll pursue that...

30 Days of Days: Day 7 - The Day You Found Your First Best Friend

People have always acted shady with me.  I'm pretty sure I have a sign on me somewhere that says I'll be your friend til you get what you need from me, then you can go.

All my life I've attracted users.  Best friends included. Til now.

The first best friend I can remember was in middle school.  Well, 7th grade because by 8th grade she wasn't and by 9th grade she was again.

I can't remember how we met or why we fell out, but that's as much memory as I've got. I won't be putting a name out there either.

30 Days of Days: Day 6 - The day you first held a job

I have no idea what my first day of my first job was.  I could assume that it was meant the first time I worked ever and know that it was a babysitting job.

I think the earliest I can remember babysitting someone other than my siblings was for a family that we're still very close to.  I think at that time there were only two.  A newborn and a 4 year old.

That soon enough grew into 4 kids plus my brother and sister.  I kept them every Monday and every summer while their mother taught summer school.

Now they are something like 27, 29, 31 and 35 with the 35 year old having a child herself.

Dang. 

This challenge writer is olllllld! LOL

30 Days of Days: Day 5 - The Day You First Fell in Love

Well, this one is a bit tricky.  I mean each time I thought I was in love, the next relationship went a little deeper and made me wonder if I was really in love or just super strong like.

I'll go with the first person that asked me to marry him.  

I was 17.  His name was Demetrius and I was as in love as a 17 year old could be.  We went on dates, we hung out, we did nothing and it was all good.  I met him a street over from where I grew up and I thought he was so cute.  He kept staring at me and a friend at the time played the go between that eventually got us together.

He was the only guy that ever has given me a ring.  It was supposedly an engagement ring and he let me pick it out.

Being pretty non-traditional, I chose a pearl one with diamonds on either side.  I wore that ring with pride...til he cheated.  I broke up with him and before it was over and done, I gave it back.  I wanted no reminders.

Ooops!  I might have just used up a story for another day.  Oh well.

The love I'm feeling now though feels like the first time because it's deeper and stronger than anything I've ever felt.  I don't know what the future holds, but I would be perfectly satisfied if this was "The One".  

30 Days of Days: Day 2-A Day in Elementary School

This particular day I just did not want to be in school. It was recess and our school was surrounded by nature trails and had a huge school yard. Toward the back of the yard was a baseball diamond which was more likely to be used for kickball.

Well this particular day, the schoolyard was a mess. I guess it had rained the day before because there were huge puddles.

I don't know how it started, but all I remember next is play fighting with a friend of mine in a manner which could only be called mud wrestling. We were a mess!

Of course we got sent home. I think I told my parents I fell.

I don't know if they believed me or not. If they didn't, they were probably tickled because I don't remember getting in trouble.

I was literally head to toe mud! I wish I knew where the picture was that my Dad took.

30 Days of Days: Day 1 A day containing your earliest memory

The absolute earliest memory I have is from when I was probably 2 or 3. We were living in the first house my parents ever owned.

I was a single child, but there were several neighborhood children. This particular day, there were a couple over to the house. For whatever reason, we went outside. I remember running around the house with them. At the time, we had a dog. A poodle/terrier mix.

The dog's name was Chipper. Now back then you didn't have to follow your dog with a pooper scooper, so there were "mines" throughout the area. After we ran around the house, we came inside to watch tv on the gigantic floor model in the living room.

I remember looking at the metal outside door, left open, so that a breeze could blow through the screen.



We were sitting there watching H & R Pufnstuf and my mom came in the room and immediately did a shoe check. I don't remember whose shoes they ended up being, but this is the earliest memory that I can recall.