Life gives us brief moments with another...but sometimes in those brief moment we get memories that last a life time...” ~ Author Unknown

I have been reorganizing my office. This is a huge chore considering that when we moved into this house just over a year ago, everything we didn't know what to do with was dumped in there "temporarily."

Our office is a bedroom; the middle bedroom, to be exact. Like the rest of the living area, the floors are "stained" concrete. Here's the real deal. From what we've been able to determine, there was a water accident in this house prior to when it was put on the market last year. It was probably a hot water heater failure because the one installed now looks fairly new. Anyway, after the accident, rather than replace the carpet, the prior owner stripped the floor of all of the carpet (living room, den, hallway and bedrooms) revealing the concrete slab and thought it would be nice to "stain" it. The problem is she didn't use concrete stain. She used wood stain and a sponge. The floor is brown and splotchy. But, I can live with brown and splotchy until I get hardwood and carpet.

Though I have yet to tackle the closet (full of boxes of files and other sundry stuff), I'm finally getting down to the bottom of the stacks and assorted containers. In a basket, I found a large brown envelope addressed to Tom and me from his mom. The envelope contained a letter from my mother-in-law written on the paper she'd picked up at Caesar's Palace and saved for 33 years, since their 25th anniversary trip to Las Vegas:



In 2002, my in-laws sold their home and moved into a retirement apartment that is affiliated with the university here. In preparation for their downsized move, my mother-in-law was sorting through and sending off to loved ones nearly all of the stuff she had accumulated throughout the years. In her letter she called it "unnecessary clutter." For me it was an envelope full of memories. She included photographs from different decades; some when Tom was a boy; one of Tom in his Air Force uniform; several of Mike and Chris in the early 70's; and several of Zak, our first grandchild. When I came to these, it brought tears to my eyes...

Baby Zak; his mom, Kathy (seated); his aunt Kelly (standing in back); his great grandmother, Helen (left); and his grandmother, me (right)


Baby Zak; his dad, Mike (seated); his Uncle Chris (in the back); his great grandfather, Milt (left); and his grandfather, Tom (right)


Baby Zak
May 1991

Zak will be 17 years old in April. Time passes much too quickly.

And, you know what? I still have those earrings.