Handel Messiah II-44 Hallelujah! (+playlist)

The Pearl of Great Price

    While still going through the things that belong to mom I have found a treasure. Mom had lots and lots and lots of jewelry. Lots. Many years ago when Dad was stationed in the Azores, we stayed with Grandmother in Roff Oklahoma.

    While in the Azores Dad sent home a pearl for me and one for Mom. Mine was a single pearl on a chain but Mothers was a pearl encased in a gold "cage" so to speak. Many years ago mom decided that she had lost her pearl. Dad and I search over the years and we never found that pearl. It was decided that it was lost forever.

  I have been going through moms things over the past couple of years and this past week I am dealing with her jewelry boxes. One of the boxes is the one that I sent to her from the Philippines. It is carved on the top and the front of the draws and it is chocked full of pieces of old jewelry and chains. While unraveling the many pieces of broken chains I found THIS! 

 It is mothers pearl. It is dull and worn and needs some TLC........ but after a little soap and water and some cleaning, it will look just like it did 50 years ago......... It is truly a pearl of great price.  I will show you what it looks like after some TLC and a new chain.... I will wear it with great pride.

 

More of the Past

  I am still going through the pictures and there are times that I have to stop and take a break from the pictures. Some days it is overwhelming......... Where did life go, I turn 66 tomorrow and going through these pictures is turning out not to be the best birthday present for me....... Reality checks are not always good for the soul......... 

 Newmarket England...  1966 I think. I was writing a letter to my mom and dad. I left when I was 17 and flew to England and was gone 3 years. I think in this picture I was home sick and words were not coming easy.

    This one is of me and my brother Larry. Were were in mom and dads kitchen in Roff Oklahoma. I have no idea of why the face but I was the family clown and making people laugh was always something that brought me joy. The year must have been around 1976 give or take a year.

   This one brings great joy to my heart. It is me and my mom and my son Darryl in the blue and son Chris in the red. In 1977 me and my Dad built a green house that was 50 x 100 feet and we were going to start a business. My Dad was a grower for years and he had a very green thumb.  It was a beautiful thing and my days were filled with fun and laughter and playing in the dirt. It is my passion, always has been. Had I not been married to the son of satin it would have been a life long business but sadly it ended all too soon. Anyway, I have no idea who was behind the camera and what they were saying but I think I was busy and did not want to mess with them... hahahahah

  There are many many more pictures. I do not know if I will get through them all. It is really breaking my heart.

What Triggers a Memory

      I have been scanning hundreds of pictures from photo albums that belonged to Mom and Dad. There are hundreds of pictures. While living with my grandmother in 1994 her house caught fire and although it did not burn down the fire started on the back of the house right by my room.

 I lost everything in my closet along with all my pictures of life from 1964 when I flew to England up until 1994. I traveled around the world from 1964 traveling to England and Philippines and Taiwan. We traveled all around Europe and saw Japan and many things in-between.  All those pictures of me and my boys and places that we had seen were lost, along with my jewelry box with precious personal jewels from around the world. I never really gave it any thought until we were going through Mom and Dad's stuff and I discovered that there were a lot of pictures from those years. 

     So, I am scanning them in and making photo albums for my boys. HOWEVER... it is amazing what triggers a memory. In a pictures is a thousand words, and unspoken emotions. 

     In 1957 or so Dad was stationed in the Azores ( Lodge Islands) Mom decided not to go with him so we stayed with Grandmother in Roff, Oklahoma.  They (Mom and Dad) decided that with Dad nearing retirement it was time they built a home. Grandmother had 5 acres just north of town and years before they had divided the property with Mom and Uncle Ed. it was on that land that they decided to build.

      I remember playing outside between grand moms and the new house being built. It was bitter sweet memories. I remember me and my two brothers coming home from school and seeing what the day had brought. This picture is of me standing in the living room looking out the  picture window. You can see that the door is still not installed and the concrete blocks still sitting in the front of the house.

     It is amazing at the emotions a black and white photo can resurrect. The most important thing to me in those days was playing at the creek with PE and Larry. The things I have learned these past 50 something years and the wisdom that is greater now unctions me back to a simpler way of life.  A picture is worth a thousand words and a plethera of emotions. 






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