I’m always encouraging people to save their family stories. Today’s video is one short suggestion how to get started.
Now look around your home and see what jogs your memory. After you find that item, write down the memory or record it like I have done today.
Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved
Something different. Today I decided to record one of my dad’s stories.
My dad told it better, but at least he wrote down some of his stories. This one was adapted in my novel Chicken Charlie’s Year. There you’ll find more action that I imagined and added to fill out this remembrance.
I hope you enjoy it.
Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved
This weekend daughter Rachel, her husband Dave, and their three children visited, camping in my backyard. This started with rain and lightening and ended with a cool drizzle.
I can’t keep them here all year, so I thought I’d capture a part to save.
This five second video is for me to use as a daily pick-me-up.
I will also take air-hugs any way I can get them.
This last video is a reminder to laugh as well as love.
Eli, Arianna, and Wyatt, thank you for making today fun and for letting me save a part for days when we can’t be together.
Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved
Tis the season for the Perseid Meteor Shower.
The shower’s peak early tomorrow, August 12th, between 2 am and sunrise. Reports also say that many meteors may be seen in the next few mornings.
Early this morning, around 2, I had to get up to go to the bathroom. I thought about going out to observe the meteor shower for a few minutes.
Things for me to consider: night critters, the cool night air, and being alone.
Did I go back to bed? No.
I put on Bob’s robe, still hanging in our bedroom, and stepped out on the upper deck of the house. There wouldn’t be any critters up there.
The waning moon was bright, but if I turned my face away from it the sky was darker and made it easier for me to watch for meteors.
The night was beautiful, calm and cool.
It wasn’t too long before I saw a flash in the sky. That meteor made me happy.
In past summers, when family camped here, we’d all stay up and look at the night sky.
I miss those days but I especially miss Bob’s company.
I also missed my friend Colleen Sutherland. Living in town meant Colleen couldn’t see the night sky well enough for the shower. One early morning, Colleen and a few others came to watch the Perseid Shower at our home.
We were bundled up for a very cool, damp morning. Hot cocoa was sipped as we settled down on our lawn chairs, chatting, and waiting.
A ground fog rolled in. I don’t remember if we saw any meteors before it arrived, but I still remember the time I spent with my friends.
This morning, I stayed up about 20 minutes and saw six meteors flash by, and then I went back to bed, happy I had made the trip out–I’ll probably go out again tonight as the weather will be about the same.
I hope you see a meteor and make a wish as it streaks across the sky.
Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved
On August 8, 1973, Bob and I were driving back from a supply run to Farm and Fleet in Kankakee, Illinois. If it was one of our usual trips, we had lunch at the Wagon wheel restaurant. They had the best fried catfish!
Bob said he wondered if we should keep dating. It kind of sounded like he was breaking up with me. After dating for two years he couldn’t see where we were going.
I don’t exactly how we got around to the word marriage, but it eventually came up.
It went something like this.
Me: Bob, I never agreed to marry you because you never asked. You’ve got to ask me.
Bob: Well, do you want to?
That was his proposal. It wasn’t until last year, when we were at a family gathering, that he admitted he’d been trying to figure out how to ask me to marry him. That was nice to hear.
At least we were both on the same page.
Four months later we had a church wedding, surrounded by all our friends and family.
Best friends forever and we meant it.
Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved