Flashback Friday...It's a small world after all.

I've always read Verna and Shel's blogs.

But since James, Shel and Eliza have been in Korea,  I have really enjoyed reading and watching both blogs, along with Shel's Facebook picture posts.

Shel has always done a great job posting lots of pics and since going overseas, it has made us feel like she is right next door instead of half the globe away.

When Shel came home for her visit, it was great to see their reunion posted on Verna's blog and that because of Skype, Eliza knew and remembered her Nana and reached out for her on sight.

It was even more great to see Shel and Eliza in person at Sunday dinner.

Watching Shel and James have their going away party, packing, saying goodbyes, and going on this venture has reminded me of another young kid, who took off into the wild blue yonder some 23 plus years ago.

Leaving home to go to Romania

At the airport

Saying goodbye and boarding the plane.

Watching Mike and especially Verna has made me realize even more what my Dad and especially my Mom went thru the year that their baby was an ocean away.

When I went overseas there was no email, no cell phones, no internet, and to make things worse, I was in a Communist country where we were likely to be followed, watched and listened to while calling on payphones and have our mail read. Fortunatly, one of the guys on our team was on a scholarship and we could send and receive letters that wouldn't be read thru the American Embassy.

Needless to say it was a long year.

And lots of days, Home felt a million miles away.

London, Paris, Rome......Lowell.

I know, as do all involved, that no matter how easy it is to communicate...

that when you are homesick, sick or just plain tired of being away...nothing can take the place of being HOME.

But...man...Skype, email, facebook and blogs...sure do help in easing the distance.

Just the fact that Eliza reached out to Verna, is worth it's weight in bandwidth and the cost of computer gear and the frustration of figuring it all out.

I have marveled and continue to be amazed at how crazy different the world is post internet. Turns out Disney had it right, "It is a small world afterall."

I wish for my Mom's sake, that all this technology would have been available for her.

I think it would have saved her a lot of worrying, gray hairs and weight loss.

I too, came home mid point for a break.

Before I got home, I started warning mom that I had lost a lot of weight. I flew into Midway at night and while I was still on the plane, I saw Dad thru the airport window. But as I came thru the gate, I could not believe what I saw when I looked at my Mom. I had thought they would be worried about the weight I lost, no one warned me about how much weight Mom had lost! I know it was a hard year for her and I regret the time away from her and the hours she must have spent worrying. 

I learned a lot during my time overseas. I am a different person for having lived in a different culture.

I'm still glad I did it, but there is nothing that can replace the time that is lost from not being with the ones you love. I wish I had that time back with my parents.

I am glad James and Shel are getting this experience and they too, will be different people for having living overseas. 

But I am sure glad that the world has gotten smaller and that all this amazing technology is letting them be where they need to be and serve where they need to serve, and yet, be "Home" with us at the same time. (even if it is just on our computer screens : )

the things we do for love

justagirlon105 in or around 1976

Yes.

It is what you think it is.

No.

I'm not a Packers fan.

My relationship with professional baseball is simple.

I am a Cubs fan.

My relationship to professional football is and always has been a bit more complicated.
My young life and choice of colors was influenced by having a crush on a Packers fan and feeling the need to dress to impress.
Hence, the Packers gear, which my mom (or someone) bought for me without questioning my choices (that I remember, anyway).
It was puppy love and all my efforts got me nowhere with the aforementioned Packer Fan.

My current life is filled with walking (or really driving) a tightrope that is stretched between a city and BOSS that are Colts fans and a Home and Family that are Bears fans.
I usually cheer accordingly, based on which direction the car is pointed.
But I will have you know, when it came down to that one Super game...I said

"Go Bears."

There is my photo confession.
Please forgive my folly.

Bear Down...until next year!

Directions to here:
It IS quite possible that this is a Steeler's jacket. But, I'm pretty sure it was Packers...but the pic looks sort of black and gold. Can't make out the logo, to be sure.

What I do know for sure is I loved that dog, prolly more than I loved the Packer Fan : )

Flashback Friday...Who was Chuck?

Here is why I accomplish and complete

NOTHING.

On the Fixing Vandercar front, Sandy gives me a new assignment for my apartment (long story there), to start in my storage space downstairs.

I grab the first box and it is full of slide trays:

This SHOULD be an easy box to get rid of, because they are not my slides.
They are not mom and dad's slides.
They are not your slides.

They are Chuck and Ruth Benbow's slides.

Several days later (since I brought the box upstairs),
and a couple (ahem, four) hours later (that I spent looking at the slides),
and a google search and 100 sites and more hours later,
I found what I think is an address for Chuck and Ruth's son.

But, in all this meandering (and NOT working on the storage space)...
I have more questions than answers.

Mainly...

Who was Chuck Benbow?

Here's what I do know about Chuck.

1. He was a friend of my dads
2. He and my dad could have passed for twins, having the same haircut, body build and wardrobe.

3. He was married to Ruth.

4. He hung out at the Log Cabin
5. He lived in the small house next to Ellis' house.
6. He seemed to care about us kids a lot (from all the pics I can gather).

7. He had a great smile, a sense of humor and a ready laugh.
8. He was a good golf teacher.
9. He and Ruth moved to Florida.

10. According to Ruth's obituary, they had a son Bruce of Naperville and a daughter, Dorothy Gergely of Crown Point.

My main memories of Chuck are of him teaching me to golf.

I am still unclear as to what possessed my dad to by a thirteen year old girl a set of golf clubs, even tho she never expressed an interest in golf. I remember mom smiling and saying..."they are from your dad" and coaxing me out of my bewilderment (I'm sure all I wanted was a Fleetwood Mac record) and on to saying "thank you." I now realize that he was retiring and was making an effort to spend time with me (which now, breaks my heart a little, especially to know, how I scoffed at the idea of golfing).

When it came time to the actual golf outing, it was Chuck that took the lead. He was a member at Curtis Creek in Rensselaer and I can remember looking to dad for instructions and he said Chuck's gonna teach you...cause all I'll do is teach you how to slice it to the right.

And Chuck taught. He seemed to absolutely not mind having a kid who never held a golf club in her life. I'm sure I slowed down his game and enjoyment of the outing, but he never seemed to mind at all. I would give the world to be back on that golf course again, between those two friends. But this silly girl was more interested in driving the cart, then listening what those two had to say, let alone asking the questions that I didn't know then that I would have now.

The other main memory is Dad showing up with several boxes of darkroom equipment. Apparently Chuck and Ruth had found out that I was taking an interest in photography. Chuck showed up with an enlarger, timer, easels and all kinds of darkroom stuff. All they asked was that I use it and enjoy it. He said that Ruth always wanted to have a darkroom, but that the chemicals weren't good for their septic system. I set up a darkroom "behind the shelves" in the basement and spent hours down there. I used it for several years. Some of that equipment is in that storage space.

Which brings me back to the slides.
I am 90% sure that with the darkroom equipment, they gave me a slide projector and this box of slides.
But looking thru the slides, I don't see them in any of them. There are slides labeled "Charlie" with a man that could be Chuck's dad?? and there is one slide of an older lady that looks a little like Ruth. The slides themselves are pretty retro fantastic. Imagine my gasp of delight when I realized that "our trip from our place to utah to..." was taken in a Gold Station Wagon pulling a silver Airstream!

But, not seeing Chuck and Ruth in any of the slides, I'm not sure if they came from The Benbow's or if they came from Dad's "junkyard job." (which is another basement/garage story in and of itself).

I found a listing for Bruce Benbow in Naperville and am thinking of writing to see if he is Chuck's son and if he can confirm the names on the slides as relations. And to see if he is interested in the slides (see Sandy...I'm getting rid of things in my storage space).

But this brings me back to my question.

Who was Chuck Benbow?

Why didn't we know his kids or did we?
How did he know dad?
What did he do for a living?
Where was he from?
Who are his parents?

I would have asked him myself while we were golfing, but I was too busy being a thirteen year old teenager.

Please send answers if you can.

Survey

I am having fun with the new 365 project...which I've started calling

Today's yesterday 

Have you had a look?

Scanning film takes FOREVER and at this rate, I'll be done scanning 30 years of film when I'm 101.

Here's my question.

I like the photoblog site, because it puts everything in calender  format.
I had no problem posting pics when I was doing my picture a day project cause most of the pics were random shots.

I'm feeling a little uncomfortable putting these more personal shots up there everyday tho because of stories like THIS , where a family ended up having their faces spread across a grocery store ad without them knowing it.

I've thought of moving the project over to this blog, but there will be other stuff that breaks up the "continuity" of the 365 project.
I don't want to "lock" the site down, cause I want you be able to see them without registering to  yet another site.

I don't like facebook, cause I like pictures on a black background. (I'm picky like that).

What say you all?
They are pictures of you and your kids. Do you fret over this as much as I do?
I guess if you put them online they are public.

Susie says I'm over thinking.
who me, overthink?

Any suggestions?

What does the survey say?

Flashback Friday...Sons of Worley

I was sad to hear that the Moore family lost another member this week.

Terry Moore was Junior's youngest brother.

I mostly got to know him thru shared events that focused around Janet, Junior and Darold's life. I saw him mostly at birthday parties, car shows, races and later on, visiting Junior in the hospital.

I remember Terry as a kind man who liked to tease Janet's shy baby sister.
Even tho I was just a kid, he always took the time to talk to me or try to get me to smile or laugh. As I grew up, I enjoyed his stories and watching him interact with his family.

He was a character in his own right, but what I remember most, is the way that these brothers played off of each other when they were all together.
Each of the Moore men are very unique people, but put them together and you have

The Sons of Worley

It would be a great sitcom or at least a very amusing radio talk show that would run the gambit of such topics as cars, beer, cars, truck driving, cars, family, cars, traveling, cars, kids, cars, drag racing, cars, motorcycles, cars, unions, cars, home improvement projects, cars, pets, cars, wives, cars, grandkids, cars, memories of Lydia and Worley, cars and more cars. (can you tell these guys liked cars? : )

 Wilcus had already moved to Texas by the time I came along...so most of my memories are of a combination of two or three of the brothers together.

What I liked most was just listening in on their animated chats, as Mick brings up the topic, Junior asks questions, Terry talks fast;  Mick raises the bar or plays the devil's advocate by contradicting, Junior talks louder, Terry talks faster...repeat this cycle until the case of beer is gone or the race is finished or the car show is over...

I will miss the above "movie moments" when they were all together "shooting the bull" like that,  the
most.

Thanks Terry, for always being kind to me and for being a good guy.

Love,
Janet's baby sister.

Flashback Friday...Memory Keeping.

The New Year.

Lots of buzz about resolutions and projects.

Several people asked if I was going to do the 365 project (take one photo everyday) again.

I contemplated it and am not against it, it's just that I have SO MANY pictures already and haven't done anything with them.

I am a memory hoarder.

I do not apologize for this. I am not ashamed.

I love being a Memory Keeper.

I like being able to match a face to a name. A picture to a dot on a map. An item to a word in the dictionary. Even better, if said item has a sentimental value attached to it. Each snapshot is a movie in my head. A paragraph in a book. A link to the past and gives hope and meaning to the future.

I have thousands of pictures from the days of film. Not to mention the photos from our family's archive, dating back to the 1800's. These need to be seen. To be shared. To be marveled upon and enjoyed.

So, I'm back with a 365 project.

It will be 365 scans to be (where able) paired with 365 digital shots.

The goal is to stir up the stories. So feel free to comment and share your memory.

Directions to here:

Won't promise that they go up on a daily basis...but here's where they will be posted:

365 memories