A Trip Down Memory Lane

Today I thought I would take a trip down Memory Lane and write about my mom and some of the wonderful things she did.
My mom never got her driver's license so if we anywhere without my dad we either walked, took a taxi, or got a ride from a neighbor or my siblings once they got a license and mom got passed her fear of riding with them. What stands out most is when we would walk uptown to go shopping. We lived on the last block of Broadway down by the cemetery so walking uptown when I was little was quite a fete. We would go to Penny's, Jupiter, Orr Toy, G.C. Murphy's and the newstand on the square. Oh, and the library. For lunch I would love it when we would go to Terry's Cafeteria! My mom would always give me a quarter to put on my tray for a tip for the teenager who carried my tray for me. I must say Piqua lost a treasure when Terry's Cafeteria closed. It was on one of these walks that I learned to spell my whole name "Susan Huelskamp" so that when we got to the library that day I was able to get my first library card. That was a proud day for me.
My mother always tried to make our friends feel welcome. We had 2 fairly good size hills in our backyard that were perfect for sledding. My father was a truck driver who owned his own truck so we always had plenty of access to truck inner tubes for sledding. One time my sisters and my brother had friends over to go sledding and mom made both a huge pot of chili and a huge pot of vegetable soup to feed everyone after they were done sledding. That is just the type of person my mom was.
I believe that my mom always tried to think of other's feelings even when she was very ill with cancer. If I remember the story correctly, she made sure that even though she was in bed she put her red lipstick on so my little niece would not worry about her. My niece thought that if "grandma had her red lipstick on" then she was okay but that if she didn't then she wasn't feeling good. My mom didn't want her granddaughter to worry about her.

Thank you for indulging me on this little trip down Memory Lane. It has been 22 years since mom passed but I still think about her every day.

Life's Awesome Ride

I know that I have not blogged regularly and I am going to try to change that. It has been busy the last few months. My grandson celebrated his first birthday and we found out that he is going to have a little brother or sister come May. Also, Toby and I will be celebrating 21 years of marriage on Sunday.

Right now I am trying to ready myself for another little birdie leaving the nest. Our son Ben leaves for the Navy on November 17th. Suddenly we will be left with just one child at home. While we are looking forward to the day that our children are all grown; it is just a tad bittersweet. There will always be a part of me that misses helping out in their classrooms and going on field trips with them. One thing that does not change is that they LOVE their mama's cooking. Ben has given me a list of meals that he would like me to make before he leaves. Let's just say we are working on that list. :)

I am looking forward to the future. I can't wait to see what awaits all of my children. Marah has come into her own as a mother and her son just beams when he sees her. Ben has chosen a career path in the Navy that is going to require alot of schooling and he is really looking forward to the challenge. Travis has taken the ACT test and we are waiting on his scores for that. He is looking at going to Edison for their video game designer program. I want all of my children to be happy with their chosen paths and they seem to be happy with the choices that they are making.

Toby and I are on the edge of an exciting new time for us. We were already expecting our first child when we got married so we didn't get much "newlywed" time when we got married. Now that they are almost grown there are many things we are looking forward to doing.

I can't wait to see what happens next. Check back here if you want to come along for the ride!