Author: janep38

I was sitting here thinking of Christmas Eves past. Troy’s mother would always spend the night with us when the children were little. So many wonderful memories tucked away. My how things have changed. The holidays are very different after you lose your spouse. They look different, feel different because they are forever changed. But I’m thankful that I can pull a memory out whenever I need some comfort. When we are children we think our lives will always be the same, but there’s so many changes we go through over the years. We lose our loved ones along the way, and when we do we go through many changes. Some are very painful. Tomorrow we will go to our daughters home for Christmas. Troy won’t be there in person but he will be in spirit. I’m thankful for Melvin to now share all those important days with. Troy would be very happy that we are spending his favorite holiday with family. Thank you God.

My brother sent me some pictures of the house we grew up in and our parents lived there after we were all gone. It looks so different in the front but I’m glad someone is fixing it up because there were a lot of things wrong with it. Inside and out. They put in a big driveway and now have a short border around the property made of stone. The person my parents rented the house from right after I was born was found on the front step of the house in a basket. He was an infant and the people who lived in the house eventually adopted him. What an incredible story, someone who gave birth to him gave him a chance at another life, possibly a better life. There was an article in the newspaper when this man died, telling the story of him being adopted by the family who found him on their doorstep. My parents eventually bought the house from the man who was adopted. I remember them telling the story often of him being found on the doorstep. What a beautiful story.

Looking forward to getting together with family that I haven’t seen since Troy passed. He will be there in spirit. 💕

I look at my life and see all the changes since Troy passed, I never thought my life would look like this. Our family is splintered now and that would make him so unhappy. People who know me have a hard time understanding it just as I do. Unfortunately there are just some people in this world that are trouble makers and aren’t happy unless they make trouble in others lives.

The holidays are creeping up, I often think of the holidays when I was a child. Things have changed so drastically. Christmas has become way too commercial, it’s seeing how many presents one can buy. Our Christmas growing up was quite different from my friends. My mother was from Germany and she wanted the holidays to be like they were for her. We got very few gifts, money was very tight. My father worked very hard to take care of us. I really miss him. I can still see him sitting on the couch every morning smoking a cigarette and scratching his head. He never said a word. He got ready for work, ate his breakfast and we usually didn’t see him till late at night. Like I said, he was a hard worker.

Talking with my brother stirred up memories of growing up in Middletown. Lots of wonderful Christmas memories of walking in the snow downtown and listening to Christmas carols coming from Bickhams 5&10 store. We always stopped on the way home and made snow angels in everyone’s yard. I love the lights that lit up all of Locust street. They still have those lights burning after all those years. We sometimes walked the streets and sang Christmas carols. Growing up in a small town was awesome. It was all for one and one for all. I’ll always treasure those memories, they are priceless. 🎄⛄️

We enjoyed a wonderful evening with my brother and his wife. We had a lot to catch up on, they were shocked at the drama occurring in my immediate family. My niece is coming here for the holidays and we are all going to get together. I haven’t seen her since Troy passed. I’m looking forward to it. This reminded me that life is way to short to be estranged from family. Family is way too important.