The next morning, I woke up to Trixie’s whining. It appeared she urgently needed to go outside. When I looked at the clock on the night stand, I was shocked to see it was after 10:00 o’clock. I grabbed my robe, picked up my little charge and rushed down the stairs. I didn’t have a leash, but something told me that Trixie wouldn’t run off.

As she looked around for the perfect spot, I took note of my surroundings. It was a beautiful day. I could see Cape Cod Bay which looked like it was about a ten minute walk from where I was standing.

I felt suddenly free…free of my worn out life. For five years I had lived where everyone’s house looked the same, we all dressed alike, and ate the same foods. I didn’t know how my new life would play out. All I knew was at this moment, I felt alive and hungry.

When we got back, we checked the kitchen door and it was unlocked. I found food for Trixie and made myself a cup of much needed coffee. I would scrounge up something for breakfast after I enjoyed my first cup. Trixie began gobbling down her food, and I took my coffee to the sunroom.

Looking out one of the windows, I noticed something I hadn’t seen earlier. There was an old broken down truck parked a short distance from my SUV. I was sure it hadn’t been there when I arrived the evening before.

About that time, I heard Trixie barking in the kitchen. I thought I caught a whiff of bacon frying. Who could be in my kitchen? When I got to the door, I saw a woman busily cooking what looked like breakfast for ten.

“You must be Kathleen,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what you liked for breakfast so I’ve prepared some of everything. Would you like more coffee?”

“You must be my mother’s nurse. You arrived early.” (For some reason, I was not looking forward to seeing my mother.)

“I’m about to take breakfast to her room, she said. “Follow me.”

“Good morning, Kathleen. Come and look. This is my favorite view of the bay.”

I dutifully walked over to the window and stood next to her wheel chair. Without looking at me, She took a tissue and blew her nose before she began to speak.

“What would you say if I told you I’ve been in a coma for the last thirty years?”

“If you think I’m going to swallow that one, you’re crazy. Besides, until I received the envelope, I had forgotten you ever existed.”

“Goodness sakes alive,” the voice behind us said rather gleefully. “Ain’t this going to be all kinds of fun?”

Here I am, once again, headed for the tea room.

I’m driving fast ’cause if I’m late, I know there might not be room.

Each month we have a birthday lunch, we laugh and eat our fill.

We made the climb and now it’s time to embrace “over the hill.”

I hear a noise and see a light…behind me is a cop.

It’s the same one I saw last month. This time I guess I’ll stop.

I roll my window down and he takes my driver’s license.

He saw me speeding last month and he said at least  twice since.

He was rather rude when he said my license wasn’t valid.

I wondered… should I call ahead and order chicken salad?

I’m getting really nervous now. I see Linda from afar.

I’m sure she must be speeding in her convertible Jaguar.

The cop gives me a warning. I drive as fast as I’m allowed.

When I turn right onto Main Street I can see there’s quite a crowd.

I’ll think of a good reason when the girls ask why I’m tardy.

I’m usually the first one there… for every birthday party.

I find a place to sit and say I can’t have more caffeine.

I had four cups this morning with the guys at Dairy Queen.

It happens every year and shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Autumn disappears like Thanksgiving’s pumpkin pies.

The orange and yellow colors of fall’s gobbledygook…

Turn into red and green scenes everywhere I look.

I put my old fake tree up and start to decorate…

There’s no time to find a new one. I’m already two weeks late.

I think about the days ahead and the gifts I need to find…

I start a list of tasks and it boggles up my mind.

Like the three wise men, I must travel near and far.

An Angel gave them great news, and they were guided by a star.

I have my car and GPS…this day should be fantastic

My list of names is pretty long. I’m thankful God made plastic.

Things have changed since Jesus’ birth…that I know for sure.

Not one person on my list wants frankincense and myrrh.

When daylight turns to darkness, I’m still shopping at the mall…

I’m going back to the first place I saw the ‘wanted’ doll.

Though I didn’t finish buying gifts, I did get quite a few.

I really should stop buying one for me and one for you.

It happens every year and shouldn’t come as a surprise

Something gets my attention and I begin to realize…

Instead of looking down at all the earthly things I do…

I look up toward the heavens and take in the beautiful view.

The wise men saw the same stars two thousand years ago…

They brought gifts to baby Jesus, because they loved him so.

I’ll finish up my shopping with my lesson from above.

You can find the perfect gift when your heart is filled with love.

When Kip and I got married, we were surprised by the many similarities in our families. His dad was born two months before mine. His mother was born ten months after mine. I was born two weeks after Kip’s youngest sister. My Brother, Billy was born on July 28, 1944 and Kip was born two weeks later on August 12, 1944.

Mom with baby Billy and Irma and Jeff Sanderson.

Our father’s were both in WWII, both in the Army, both in the Army Corps of Engineers, and served in the Central Pacific.

Dad served from June of 1942 until December of 1946. He went overseas September 20th 1944… two months after my brother, Billy was born and didn’t come back to the states until January 4th of 1946. That means Billy was almost a year and a half when Dad got back.

Dad was a sharpshooter (M-1 rifle). His occupation is listed on his discharge papers as a Construction Foreman.

Kip’s dad enlisted for four years and then reenlisted. He served in Guam and then Italy. He went overseas, but was able to come back for a brief time when Kip was born in August of 1944. Kip has an older sister that was born on the 4th of July 1942.

Mack with a friend, Kip’s dad is on the right, Mack and Naomi dancing, Naomi, Karen and Kip at her mother’s house.

Kip’s mother was one of the wives who got the dreaded knock on the door. At the age of twenty-seven, her husband Mack, was killed in an accident in Italy.

It was over two months before his body was returned to Laramie, WY. Kip’s mother insisted they open the casket. I can understand her need to make sure it was really him.

I also want to honor my second father, Gus for his years of service. He served during the Korean conflict. I read that thirty-six thousand Americans died there. Gus was only nineteen in 1950 when the war started. I don’t think he had to go overseas. He’s a proud veteran and has done a lot with, and for, the American Legion.

It’s amazing how wars change the course of so many lives. A friend of mine said she thinks we’re starting to appreciate our veterans more than we used to. Their families deserve our greatest respect and appreciation, too.

The picture below was posted by another friend of mine.

God Bless the United States of America!

I was looking at my dad’s discharge from the Army and my Uncle Chuck Francis’ book which among other things, covers his years in the Army. I discovered a lot of interesting information I either never knew or had forgotten.

Uncle Chuck was five years younger than Dad who was inducted into the service June 30, 1942. Uncle Chuck was drafted in early 1943. This story is about my Uncle Chuck Francis who was my dad’s brother.

He said he learned his first military lesson at Ft. Levenworth. One day they were all lined up by a sergeant who asked, “Will all of you who have attended college please raise your hands?” Uncle Chuck quickly held up his hand. “Okay, the sergeant said. “All of you college fellows follow me. We’re going to wash some officers’ cars.” The important military lesson: NEVER VOLUNTEER!

He was sent to Camp Crowder where he was interviewed so they could determine where to put him. They asked if he wanted to be a radio operator. He said, “No.” Would he like to string wire by climbing poles like a telephone man, or would he like to drive a truck? He said, “No.” In an attempt to get him slotted into something, they asked if he would like to be a messenger. “You will have your own jeep and everything.” He was glad he said no to that one because later he learned messengers lasted about ten minutes in combat. They sent messengers in when the carrier pigeons couldn’t get through. Finally, the interviewer asked if he wanted to be a cryptographic technician. “What is that?” He asked. They said it was dealing with secret codes. That sounded good to Uncle Chuck because he had a secret code ring when he listened to “Little Orphan Annie” programs on the radio. (Remember most of these guys were teenagers when they were drafted.)

That lasted a few months before he was notified his step-father, Dad Bowers as he called him, had died in his sleep. Uncle Chuck went back to Murdo for the funeral and when he returned to Camp Crowder, he found his records had been lost. They put him through basic training a second time. He pulled KP frequently, and scrubbed barracks that didn’t need scrubbing. He managed to get a temporary job in the supply room and was busy sorting socks one day when someone came in and said, “Francis, you are going to Washington for two months training and then you are going overseas. He went to Washington, but didn’t end up going overseas.

I’ll tell you another of his Army life stories. For at least two weeks they were fed boiled, not broiled, spare ribs for both the noon and evening meals. The ribs were a lifeless cold grey color. When they asked why they never had anything different, the answer was that someone had over-ordered. Camp Crowder had 80,000 men in it. That must have been some over-order. They called the mess hall cook, “Spare Ribs Wilson.”

That story makes me think of the time my brother told me that if I ate pork that wasn’t fully cooked, worms would come out of my legs.

So that’s my veteran’s story for tonight. I’ll tell more about Dad, Gus, (Korean War), and Kip’s Dad in another blog. I do believe his Grandpa McNinch served in WWI.

BILL FRANCIS, OVERSEAS DURING WWII

WWII and others changed the course of so many lives. Did you know that 7.6 million Americans went overseas during WWII?

I had a full day yesterday. First, was the library program where we took three and four year olds through three activities…thirty kids at a time at each station. A volunteer read them a story, and then they played a game. The last activity was the crafts. That’s where I helped. I kept my Cherrios necklace. It will go with everything. The kids did great until the last group came through. It was getting close to lunchtime and they were getting hungry. Most of them ate their necklaces before they left. Anyway, they were all good and a lot of fun.

Later, I went with a friend to the Tri County Library in Mabank to listen to a local history buff talk as we watched a slide presentation about the history of Mabank. It was really interesting. We enjoyed seeing the old photographs, looking at displays, and listening to the comments of the people raised here in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.

Cattle drive through Mabank…

Murdo McKenzie…the famous cattleman who Murdo was named after.

Like my hometown of Murdo, SD, Mabank started out as a cattle town. The RR came through here and cattle drives came right through downtown Mabank’s Main Street. The community was very close knit and as one gentleman said, “I was friends with him all my life until he died.”

The men, or I should say, kids, went off to war after high school and some didn’t come back. The speaker told of a young man who suffered a fatal injury at Mabank’s first home football game. It was heartwarming to learn that just a few years ago, a group of his fellow teammates and friends came up with almost $3000.00 to erect a memorial for him at the football field. We also saw a picture of the man who came up with the idea of having the school mascot be the Panthers.

Several things brought back old memories. There was a slide of an old roller skate key. It reminded me of the times we used to beg our parents to drive us to Draper, which was about nine miles from Murdo, so we could roller skate in their auditorium. On the weekends, a local man opened it up for an afternoon or evening of fun. All the kids could either bring their own skates or rent the kind that needed a key. I remember sitting on the bottom of the bleachers while I waited for, I believe it was Mr. Horsley, to fit me with a pair of roller skates. He sat on a bench that slanted like those they used at shoe stores when the salesperson measured your feet and helped you try on shoes that were the right size…with enough room in the toe of course.

It was organized skating. Music played as we had free skating, couples skating, three at a time and other more challenging formations. It was a whole lot of fun, but it wasn’t that easy to get rides. Even though Draper was only nine miles away, the parent who took us, had to drop us off and then come all the way back a few hours later, and pick us up. The place was always full of kids having a good time.

How could I have forgotten about that?

I’m getting hungry…guess I’ll get some milk and eat my necklace.

I wish I was a dancing dragon. Don’t you think it looks like fun?

This one has some really cool moves, though I’m sure he weighs a ton.

I wish I was a Yoga Bear. I would do the mountain pose. Did yoga moves make this bear stronger? Will he really scare his foes?

I wish I was a hopping rabbit. I would hop a country mile.

This one looks like a Beasterhop. When he hops by people smile.

Instead I’m just a lazy lion. Though I’m not in shape, I’m cute. I just lounge around all day in my lazy lion suit.