A trip down memory lane.......

I’m feeling very nostalgic today. I think it may have something to do with the fact that Mo has my car and is out visiting friends and I’m sitting here thinking, “ Where has the time gone?” I’ve made myself laugh thinking about some things from the past so I thought I would share them.

The following is a list of the people I love and what comes to mind when I think of them.. Some good things, some bad things, but all a part of my life

My Momma
There are so many things I remember, not all of them lovely, as you know, but some of the best still make me smile. I remember you were the prettiest Mom in Yorktown, we were proud you were our Mom.

My brother John
I remember when we moved to Yorktown, it was raining and Danny had that damn truck that stalled all the time and he would have to get it rolling and pop the clutch to start it. You were in the back of the truck and me and Mom and the girls were in the car behind you. The truck stalled and Danny popped the clutch, you grabbed the side of the truck but it was wet from the rain and your hand slipped. You were hanging off the chain that served as a tailgate, I thought you were going to fall and die. That was the most scared I had been in my life, up to that point. I remember jumping out of Mom’s car while it was still moving and running behind the truck screaming, finally getting to you and lifting you off that chain. So thankful you were ok.
I remember when you dressed as a woman for Halloween and I was jealous because you looked better in that dress than I did!

My sister Terrie
I remember standing in Nan’s living room, singing into hairbrushes and pretending we were Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.
I remember your Rick Springfield cardboard cut out scaring me to death when I was trying to sneak in!

My sister Angie
I remember being afraid flys would fly up your nose when you were an infant and suffocate you. What? I was seven, it could happen!
I remember your little yellow coat.


My brother Tony
I remember sitting in the back of Mom’s car, holding you all the way home from the hospital, back in the days your baby didn’t have to be in a car seat. You keep looking at me with just one eye, like Popeye
I remember when you hated mashed potatoes and Angie convinced you not to eat peas by telling you there were mashed potatoes inside.

My Daddy
I remember telling you that Mommy was mad because you were drinking and you just smiled and said “Hot damn” You were the best Daddy!

My cousin Tink
I remember when you lived with us and you were making those flowers, I can’t remember how did it but it was some kind of wire and you dipped them in something, I don’t know, but I thought you were amazing and wanted to be just like you.

My cousin Janet
I remember staying with you in the summer when we were teenagers and sneaking out when Aunt Joann thought we were asleep and then having to hide so we didn’t get caught by the cops breaking curfew. Small town life.
I remember painting our nails at Grandma’s in New York, listening to Cher. Gypsy’s Tramps and Thieves.

My Dudley family
I remember trips to Indian Acres and Rosie and Kenny singing around the campfire. “Where have all the flowers gone” still makes me cry. I used to sing that to Mo when she was a baby.
I remember Grandma always working, even when I visited her in the summer, she worked at the Instant Beer Machine. I remember the tshirt she got me in Hong Kong.
I remember Uncle Sam making me mad because he refused to stop calling me Missi the summer I decided I was too old for it.

There are so many things I remember. I remember that Nanny had the softest skin ever and that she loved me, even when I was unlovable. Pop Pop knew everything, what I would give to talk to him again. Grandma Dudley, telling me she wasn’t sure if she didn’t work anymore because she was retired or because she was retarded. I remember Grandma crying because I slept with my head covered up and my feet sticking out, just like my Dad.

This could get very long. There are so many people I love and so many things that I remember about them. I’m so very blessed to have them all in my life.

I love my garden

This morning as I'm waiting patiently for it to be time to go to my sister's and eat Maryland crabs, I was wandering around my yard, thinking about how truly blessed I am.

I love my family, as crazy as they are and as crazy as we make each other, I love them, they are the roses in my garden. I tend them with care, hope they will bloom and be happy where they are planted.









My daughter, she is the light of my life, the cute little faces on pansies make me think of when she was little and we watched some animated movie, I think it might have been a Troll in Central Park, where the flowers talked.









My friend Tree, she is the African Daisy in my garden, beautiful and different.










The rest of my friends are the daisies. They are solid and dependable, and I love them all.










When I was growing up my grandparents were such an important part of my life. I remember a little poem that my grandmother used to tell us.

I used to love my garden
But now my love is dead
For I found a bachelor’s button
In black-eyed Susan’s bed.

This is for you Nan and Pop, I love you and still miss you every day.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Lunatics

Ahhhhhhhh, vacation. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Four days, no work, no chores, just relaxing with my family. What could be better?

I don’t want to give you the impression that the trip wasn’t wonderful, it was, it’s just that twenty eight hours in a car with two PMS’ing girls, really, not at the top of anyone’s list of a good time!

We left on Friday, as soon as Kay got home and Mo got out of school. That was the plan, Ned and I watched the clock and paced, come on, come on, we wanna get out of here!

We were waiting for Kay, who called us in somewhat of a panic, she was trying to cash her paycheck and it was unreadable. She was panicking because she needed money for the trip. So, after Ang talked her down off the ledge, we waited for her to come home.

Ok. Girls are accounted for, and we are off. I won’t bore you with the details of the trip but I laughed so hard that my sides still ache. Who knew knock knock jokes were still so funny? We laughed until we cried, we were tired and giggly a lot of the trip, so everything was funny. Like Kay walking into a motel in Gallup with her bag and a lemon cake, at two in the morning. Or Ang talking to me on the phone and asking Kyle if he took her phone again because she can’t find it.

We had to stand on the hotel bed to take pictures because the room was so small there wasn’t anywhere else for all of us to stand, and there were eight of us. We tried to make Kyle do the Zoolander face, he didn’t want any part of it, but we laughed anyway. We went to dinner at the casino and Kyle’s uncle ate on a little plate and broke his chair while his girlfriend danced with her ice cream. Doesn’t sound that funny but trust me, it was.

They sell actual alcohol in Walmart in New Mexico. We looked like a bunch of Mormon’s let out on a weekend pass. We were amazed at what you could buy in Walmart. We bought box wine and paper cups, nothing but the best for us!

Kyle’s graduation was wonderful, his graduating class had around 100 kids in it, small town life at it’s best. Since we are not very good at organizing what comes next, we left when the last speaker was droning on. Poor Kyle had to call us at the hotel and ask for a ride, there were fourteen people at his graduation and we had all abandoned him, thinking someone else was giving him a ride.

My beautiful Mo, why do boys check you out everywhere we stop? Tell them you are too little, tell them your Daddy will kick their butts, tell them anything so they stop looking. Oh wait, you are checking them out too.

Kay had two Native American’s comment on her tattoo in Gallup, if you read her blog it’s very funny, she calls them Gallupians. Kay is the only person I know that can make chubby Indian men take their shirts off at 8am in a McDonalds.

Mo told me gullible isn’t in the dictionary, guess who’s gullible enough to believe that?

No trip is complete without poop talk. I don’t know what it is, but even now that our girls are grown, that’s still the first thing we say when they don’t feel good “ Did you try to poop?” “ Mom, I don’t’ have to poop!” “ Go try, you’ll feel better.”


I spent time with my ex husbands family as well, my sister and I married and divorced brothers, so our families are still intertwined with theirs. I was grateful that I have a good relationship with my ex husband and his girlfriend, that we are able to stand together and provide a united front and lots of support to Mo, that I am able to continue to have a relationship with people who were part of my life for so long.

It was a sad time as well, my ex brother in law has Lou Gehrigs disease and is now in a wheelchair, it will probably be the last time I see him. My heart broke for his wife, she is such a wonderful person, and they have been so happy together after taking so long to find each other.


I had the time of my life. I love these people more than air. Waking up in the morning to my sister, my niece, and my daughter, hearing their laughter, juggling showers and hairdryers and teeth brushing. Sharing a bed with my daughter, peeing on the side of the road when the next services are just too far away. So many moments we wouldn’t have had together without this trip.

It was the best twenty eight hours I’ve spent in a long time.