A Note Sent From A Friend...

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will.
You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken.
You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did.
You'll cry because time is passing too fast and you'll eventually lose someone you love.
So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

57 Years of Role Modeling

Not only was it my birthday today, but it was also Mom and Dad's 57th wedding anniversary. I was born on their first wedding anniversary and always told Mom I knew I was the best anniversary present she'd ever gotten. For some reason, she tends to roll her eyes when I say that. Anyway, here is my parent's story of how they met, fell in love and eventually married...

Dad was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida in 1952 and was friends with Calvin Padget who was a friend of Alice McGhee. She invited them to come to Georgia for a family birthday part and that is where Mom and Dad met each other. They started writing each other and he was invited to Georgia again and soon began spending more time with Mom. They soon fell in love (though Mom always said it was love at first sight for her).

They made plans to marry in August. Aunt Alice had married Calvin Padgett in June and came to visit in July. Mom and Dad wanted them to be their matron of honor and best man, so they decided to get married immediately.
Mom and Dad were married on July 28, 1951 at the home of the Justice of the Peace. Uncle Calvin and Aunt Alice drove them to their wedding after borrowing Granddaddy McGhee's car. They spent their honeymoon at the home of Uncle Grady which was next door to Grandmother and Granddaddy McGhee's home. They left the next day on Sunday for MacDill AFB for their new home on the bus. (They didn't get a car until September 1953 when I was a baby and Dad had come back from TDY in England. It was a 1946 Dodge). When they got to Tampa, they went out to the base Sunday afternoon to look around and to see where Dad worked.

They spent their first night in the Hillsborough Hotel for $13.00 a night. Mom stayed in bed and slept while Dad went to work. When he got off work, he borrowed a car and they went looking for an apartment. They found and rented a furnished apartment for $33.40 a month at 214 W. Platt. Mom had brought mainly her clothes, a skillet that had a handle "two times too long", a couple of pans, towels, etc. Thankfully payday was on Monday, so they went and brought some groceries and other necessities. Dad's paycheck had been $76.00 per month, but it went up to $135.00 after they got married.

Love Notes From Joe

One of the things that is so special about Joe is that he writes me love notes. They aren't poems, but rather thoughts about his feelings for me. He's done this randomly for me since we first met and they literally melt my heart since I'd never had anyone write a "poem" for me that I can remember. I have come home from work and found them under my pillow, laying on the kitchen table or somewhere he knows that I'll find them. So, I decided to share some of them and I'll also have a copy in case I happen to lose the originals.

Carol, For You

I love being with you. Your presence brings a smile to my heart.

I love being apart if only to long for your return and your embrace and kiss.

Being apart gives me a chance to listen to your smile on the phone, to know you from afar.

And to look forward to your closeness. For me this is all new. Although I've been in these circumstances before,

No one has ever loved or cared for me as much as you.

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Happy Valentine's Day 2007

Years are beginning to pass and our differences are getting smaller.

Funny how living together brings us closer.

Thoughts and actions of one are are predestinedto be that of the other.

As our differences grow smaller, our love is getting deeper and genuine.

Have no doubt of my love, my love.

I'm committed to you as I know, you're committed to me.

Life's uncertainties will be overcome by our committment to what is important - us.

So uncertainty will soon bloom into new opportunity.

So let's look forward, hand in hand, with eager anticipation of the future.

Our love will sustain and guide us if we let it.

The future may bring something old, or something completely new.

But being together, and in love, will overcome any obstacles.

To that end, I pledge my love.

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More love notes later...