More Random Photos From the Thousand!!

There would be a theme here except I included one much older shot.  Here is Eliza with Noah in St. George in 1987.

 

And Dad with Noah - probably the same "photo shoot!"

 The Stoddards and the Terrills in 1971.

 I'm pretty sure this is Eliza with Noah.  Eliza and Hannah really look nothing alike, but some old photos from this vintage can be confusing.

 

When it's a photo of them together, you can of course tell them apart.

 

This was a little side trip to Zion's.  Love Harry's "Nicolas Nickleby" shirt!!

We definitely need to sort the photos into albums now - in tiny form I can't always tell what they are!!

I loved St. George vacations!!  Can I just say that??

The week winds down . . .

We always raised our children with the knowledge that we were raising them "up and away."  I knew full well that it was important for our children to make lives of their own as they grew and matured. 

 I might not have been this way on my own.  Harry was the one who kept pointing out the ways I was trying to "hang on to" our kids rather than encouraging them to become more independent.  

I would probably not have started them driving when they were 14 with turns around the Santa Anita Racetrack parking lot.  I would probably not have left a 16 year old to tend 4 of the kids while Harry and I had a weekend away - we took baby Noah, but it still was a weekend away!!  I would probably not have gotten an old station wagon for Bonny to drive so she could go to stake dances on her own.  I would probably not have given her a checking account of her own so she could shop for us.

But we did do all of those things - and I think our kids are better and more prepared for real life than some are.  They all did not respond in the same way, but they were all given opportunities to grow and maybe even make mistakes!!

I guess I did not think early on about how it would be when all the kids were grown "up and away."  It did not become obvious for quite some time. When you have 6 children whose birthdays span 17 years, you aren't suddenly in the throes of an empty nest.

As a matter of fact, Bonny got married and "left the nest," but it was 8 more years before someone else left the nest to get married anyway.  Harry left for school, then left on a mission, but returned home pretty regularly.

After Phoebe's marriage, it was 2 more years before Harry married.  Then it was another 5 years before Eliza married and left home.  Prior to that she had been gone to school and Austria, but she always returned home for summers and holidays.  That doesn't count as "leaving the nest."

Soon enough, though, Hannah and Noah were out on their own.  Hannah got married 5 years ago, and Noah essentially has lived on his own for 6 or 7 years.  (He does return often to raid the refrigerator and do laundry, but that is almost welcome in our now-quiet household!)

Everyone seems to come for the holidays though.  Over time it has evolved into a Terrill Family Celebration for New Year's, but they all come.  And a few years ago - when there were not as many as there are now - I found myself feeling very lonely and melancholy when the last car drove away after the holiday.  It was a distinctive feeling of loss and sadness, a feeling that I was not used to.

I still feel that - and I feel it at just about any ending.  Even a brief visit finds me with a twinge of sadness when it ends.  I discussed with the psychologist at my school, and she assured me it was a normal, natural kind of reaction.  And she recommended movement, any kind of movement.  She said go for a walk, go to the store and walk up and down the aisles, change the sheets, gather up the wash, fold clothes - all the kinds of things you really need to do after a visit anyway!!

So I'm leaving making up the bed in the guestroom until we come back from the airport after taking Hannah there tonight.  She has been here for over a week, and we have had a lovely time.  We have gone swimming, gone to the beach, eaten at In 'n Out and Market Grill, gone to the Hollywood Bowl, enjoyed a game at Dodger Stadium, visited Grandma Mary and Grandma Helen, visited with Harry, Dawn, and family and Bonny and family, taken over the living room and sewed up a storm.  There isn't too much we haven't packed into this week.

I'm sure to feel a bit sad to see her leave.  I do already.  Making the bed up, unloading the dishwasher, folding some laundry - I think I'll make it!!

What else can happen??

Hannah posted on Facebook that this was "the week from Hell" for some of us Terrills.  It has been a week of events we could have lived without!

In retrospect, some of the events are more unsettling than others, some have a more lasting impact on our lives than others, and some might just be annoying when you examine them closely.  But put them all together, and it's just more than we really wanted to deal with!

For me it started on Friday when my mom had a little spell and had to be hospitalized for a few hours.  Harry was leaving that day for Boston, I had funeral for a good friend to attend, and of course, there's always school and other commitments!  I made arrangements to go out to my mom's to support Mom and Donna, and spent Saturday and Sunday there.  (Mom is doing fine - age can bring some little blips to our daily lives, and she pretty much takes them in stride.)

Monday I was busy teaching and managing my classes when a note came to report to the principal's office.  I thought maybe I'd made some huge error!  Instead, my principal said, "There's been a bomb explosion at the finish line.  You can use my office and my phone for as long as you need to."  Just then my phone rang - it was Harry!!  (Wanting me to contact Eliza as to where to meet him!)

In retrospect, I never had the time to "worry" about Harry since I heard from him right away.  But thinking back on what "might have been" has been nerve-wracking enough!  I heard from Eliza right away too, so I knew she and her family were okay, but the "what might have been" was at play here too.  It was good to visit with her that night and know that she was safely out of the city!

Harry got home safely, but promptly became "under the weather" with coughing and sore throat.  A planned night out Friday was cancelled, and we ended up sitting in front of the TV Friday night to watch the conclusion to the capture of the Boston suspect.  We were both feeling bad that Eliza's birthday had once again been co-opted by terrorist activity!

Then  I came home from Mom's today to encounter a sky full of smoke and flame!! 

The Monrovia brush fire is "close" to us - we are in its path anyway.  We weren't sure what we should do first.  We found out sources to tell us what was really going on, and we listened to the water-dropping planes go back and forth across our house.  We finally decided to be ready to leave - I started going through shelves and boxes and setting aside "the things money can't buy" to quote Esme!  Harry wanted to run our things down to his shop, but then we found out that the police wouldn't let us back in if we left.

So we sit here, waiting, with boxes packed, paintings leaning against walls with blankets to cushion their ride, and clothes and supplies for a few days at the ready.

As the ward Emergency Preparedness person, I write monthly newsletter articles about being prepared!!  It's easy to make the lists and give the instructions.  It is quite another thing to look at all your "stuff" and try to decide what should go with you!!

I am now truly committed to getting my "stuff" in order!  I want to be able to quickly know and get hold of just what is truly important - just what it is that "money can't buy!!'

And I hope next week is way better than this week!!  

(I should do another post of all the blessings of last week though, shouldn't I??)

On becoming a grandmother

16 years ago today, Harry and I became grandparents for the first time.  I recall how Harry announced in church that Sunday that it would be okay to call me Grandma - that I would be happy to answer to that name now!!

I was working at Wildrose School, and we'd had many calls from Bonny and Bruce as Ara took her time coming!!  It was so great to look up and see Harry heading towards me - I knew he finally had the news we'd been waiting for!!

Bonny and Bruce had not found out the gender, so that was exciting to hear.  And Ara went a few days without a name.  Of course, that's almost a Terrill tradition!!

I went and spent a few days with Bonny, Bruce, and Ara.  They had only been in their new home for a couple of months, so it was fun to discover a new place.  The weather was beautiful as only California Januarys can be, and Ara had some jaundice, so we enjoyed some infant "sunbathing!!"

All of our grandchildren are unique, wonderful children.  But the first grandchild enjoys a special place in the line up - and Ara certainly fills that place with grace and beauty!

Zim Zam!

If you're a Terrill - or related to one - you've gotta be thankful for Zim Zam - and all the good memories that go with it!!

"I've got plenty to be thankful for . . ."

As der Bingle once sang, I do indeed have "plenty to be thankful for."

The above is not even a current photo anymore - we are missing Lars and Jonah. And I am especially thankful today that even though future photos will not include Jonah, he is always and forever a part of our lives.

I was thinking that this photo represents the nuclear Terrill crew - it was soon after this that Bonny and Bruce were engaged - well, it was a few months, but the makeup of our family started changing. All the changes have been good changes - every new family member to join us made us all that much better and happier. In fact, it's hard to imagine us without Bruce, and Dawn, and David, and Matt, and Robbie, and Ara, and Ella, and Henry, and Esme, and Eve, and Annika, and Porter, and Calvin, and Harry, and Theo, and Agnes, and Ida, and Isla, and Sully, and Lars, and sweet baby Jonah.

We are not through growing.

Thank goodness for that!

20 years ago!!

It strikes me as odd that something from the 90's is 20 years ago!! I remember going to my twenty year high school reunion - that seemed "old!" The 90's still seem "new!"

Dad and I are pictured here with Lindy and Bonnie Robison - he and Dad were missionary companions twice. He and Bonnie live in Michigan - and he went to graduate school there. Their Christmas letters were always full of stories about pipes freezing or other hazards of cold weather. Or they wrote about an insomniac toddler who drove them to the point where they taught him to turn out all the lights when he finally went to bed! And then this same toddler was called to be a missionary in Utah and that letter was funny too - but I think I'd need to quote it to get it right. Something about being a stranger in a strange land!

We have not seen them since this time although we are in touch. I guess it's about time for another 20 year reunion!!

A month of celebration

Esme's birthday is today. So we went out to Malibu on Sunday to celebrate. Seemed a little like we'd just been there - because we had - to celebrate Ara's b-day. In the month of love, though, celebrating seems very apropos.

I don't remember ever having my grandparents to our house to celebrate birthdays. I don't know how common it might have been in other homes, but I'm pretty sure the size of our family was daunting for even the most determined grandparents. Although I do remember a few years in a row when my Grandma Stevens would bring out a birthday gift for Alice and one for me. They would sit up in the cupboard above the closet in my parent's bedroom - this was when we were in the little house. One year it was umbrellas. Another year it was lunchboxes. And another year it was fancy Sunday dresses with sheer overskirts. The one downside was that once Alice opened her gift in April, I knew just what mine would be in May. I just didn't know the color!

I love that Bonny carries on the tradition of the little number figurines that I used to do with her. I think I was sporadic with the other girls. You can see it in the corner of the photo. I had Dad take pictures because I was mending Ella's gym bag for her - and I didn't give him precise instructions!

It was a fun evening - Harry, Dawn and fam were there, as was Noah, so it was a big group. And there is nothing as good as food, family, and celebration.

Especially when the next day is a holiday and you don't have to get up early!!!

Daily Gratitude Journal

I am grateful for Harry's family.
And that it is a forever family too!

Happy Halloween!!

I guess I'm not a total Halloween Scrooge after all - looks like I dressed up one year - I think this hair was from the Santa costume.

And I've always been a willing participant in the trunk or treat activity. (But I did stay at home this year - my dogs were killin' me that night!!)

I'm thinking that Alli and Meli's kids will come trick or treating again this year - maybe I should show them this!!

This is from the last Sunday Halloween that I remember - although there have been others since this one - I just don't remember them!! Probably because I didn't have 3 little kids at home who were told they were not going trick or treating - they seemed to enjoy themselves anyway.

And of course, the all-time fave Halloween photo - Phoebe commented this year when I was telling someone about it, "I'm really amazed that quiet Linda came decked out like this." I guess Linda does have her zany side!! We "Girls of '45" are like that you know!!

I was also thinking about how Sunday trick or treating didn't exist in my day. And even 30 years ago, after we moved here, Halloween was on a Sunday - and everyone trick or treated on Saturday night.

Times have changed.

Halloween

Eliza posted about Halloween - and her supposed deficiencies as a Halloween afficionado. And it made me think about all the Halloweens over the years - there have been many, that is for sure!!

I grew up in a family where Halloween meant digging through the rag bag and coming up with either a gypsy costume or a hobo costume - depending on your gender. And if you were old enough, you dug around for an old pillowcase to bring in your trick or treating haul. Eyebrow pencil took care of the make up. And no one, absolutely no one, decorated their house for Halloween - except for Jack-o-lanterns. (A haul meant getting full-size candy bars - and trying to keep them away from my dad!)

With the advent of cheap, store-bought costumes, the get-ups changed a bit. This shot is from 1965, the year I stayed home fall semester to earn the money for Grenoble. The kids are Bobby, Leslie, Donna, and David. I think I did the honors with the eyebrow pencil. I think I took them trick or treating too. And can you find Richard, hiding in the picture??

Our children have usually been enthusiastic about dressing up. And some years I went to a lot of trouble making costumes. And for Bonny's kindergarten year, Dad made a beanbag toss wooden pumpkin that still gets used at ward Halloween parties.

But I remember one year when I made a charming gypsy costume for Bonny - she was three - and she let me dress her up and even take a photo - but she would have nothing to do with trick-or-treating - or even opening up the door for trick-or-treaters!!

Over the years, as decorating for Halloween became almost de rigeur, I was known for decorating the house. And I wore Halloween themed clothing too - and jewelry. I've toned that down over the years. I gave Halloween socks and kitchen towels as gifts. I sent - and send still - Halloween cards.

But I don't dress up - and really never have. I have a tee shirt that says, "This is my costume," and that's about it.

Dad used to dress up - and the two of us wore Julius Caesar costumes a couple of years ago - but no one could tell what we were - that was disappointing! Dad also has some famous Halloween moments - probably the most notable being the time he came as a housewife!!




Maybe you have a Halloween memory you'd like to share. But it's okay if you don't. And it's okay if you don't go to incredible lengths to outfit yourselves or your kids. And it's even okay if you are Halloween Scrooge.

Be sure to save me the candy corn and the circus peanuts though!!

Father's Day Re-cap

It was a quiet day in Monrovia - Harry had to go to work at 4:30, so we ate at 4, and he joined us briefly. Greg had gone to the High Sierras - but got back a couple of hours after we'd started, but he joined us because there was plenty of food!! (Dawn did babyback ribs, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and Symphony Bar Brownies for dessert. Greg contributed some great sourdough from Lone Pine. I brought fruit!! It was a tasty meal.)

Miss Isla rolls all over the floor and generally is very charming.

Eve did a little "walking like an Egyptian" for us.

Porter went outside and got wet - and seemed to be enjoying it immensely! (Dad rode his bike over to Harry and Dawn's - we are becoming regular cyclists around here!!) (Don't watch for me anywhere but on the bike trail though!)

Harry W. was a tad under the weather - but a good sport about it.

Dawn and kids made Father's Day t-shirts once again - always a big hit. Noah gave Dad a Coaster's CD - some good tunes. Dad is loving the apricot tree - unfortunately so are the deer. We are working on it.

A nice start to the hazy, lazy days of summer!!

Birthday Girls!!

This is my 60th birthday. Just exactly where did 5 years go??

And this was my 22nd birthday. I don't even want to ask where 43 years have gone!!

This was 1979 - I was 34 years old. Close to Phoebe's age. It seems strange when I compare it to my kids.

Rose Ann and I share a birth date and a birth year. This was our 23rd birthday. That's how old Noah is!!

There is not a birthday photo extant of any of my childhood birthdays. They were not an extremely big deal - at least when I was growing up. My friends had parties and I always got invited. But I only ever had one birthday party - on my 8th birthday. It was somewhat bittersweet, however, because it was the year my best friend died - in March of that year - and her mother came to the party and brought me a gift - days of the week underwear - something I had truly coveted. Maybe Barbara's mom knew that and that's why she brought them. (My friend was named Barbara also - when we were littler than 8, we both were sure we were related because we had the same name!! We also used to sit in the hammock and speak gibberish and think we were speaking Spanish!)

The big deal when I was a kid was the fact that you didn't have to do your chores, you got your hair curled in the middle of the week - if your birthday occurred in the middle of the week that is - and you got to choose the menu for dinner. It wasn't much, I guess, but it always made me happy. In later years, my mom would often make me a dress for my birthday. One year I was a bit upset because I had to use up my birthday dress requisition on a prom dress!! (I wasn't keen on the boy who asked me and wanted to go camping with my friends instead!!)

I have had memorable birthdays - I'm sure - I would tell you about them if I could remember the details!!

One year Dad had everyone send me birthday cards - I got almost 60 that year - I think he did it for my 60th birthday. In college my friends and Alice did a surprise birthday party for me. One year Dad took me on a day trip - we took Hannah along since she was baby - and we went to Palm Springs - rode the tram. I turned 21 in Paris and my friends all gave me goofy gifts.

I can't complain about birthdays - as President McKay used to say, "Birthdays are better than the alternative!"

Grandpa's Girl

Dawn's birthday was last Thursday - but it was a Relief Society Dinner and Activity in our ward - and Dawn is the new Relief Society Activities Co-ordinator. The night before had been Noah's birthday - and Dawn was working. Friday night was Father and Sons - Harry took off work for that, but then he had to work Saturday night. Sunday I had my Stake Young Women Transition to Relief Society event - and then Dad and I drove Ara home. So I was beginning to think we'd never be able to give Dawn a proper celebration, since they were planning to take the kids to a Dodger game tonight - and I have my book group tomorrow night - you get the picture!!

But the gray, drizzly weather caused them to re-think going to Chavez Ravine, so they took us up on our offer to tend the kids while Harry took Dawn out. I thought they'd go out to dinner, but Harry said, "We can always go out to dinner, but we can't always watch a movie in peace," so they went to the show - I think they saw Ironman 2.

Dad was sort of into the Laker's game, so I suggested he have Miss Isla join him while I engaged the other kids in a rousing game of Slap Jack. Then I got the great idea to settle them into the guest room with my portable DVD player.

So we lined up pillows and wedges against the wall, put on our jammies, snuggled up in blankets, and watched Angels in the Outfield, which they found funny at times - and at other times they would say, "Is it going to be funny again now?" (They were mostly in love with the slapstick and broad humor - which is what makes it such a great kids' movie I think.)

When Harry and Dawn got back, we surprised Dawn with a tray full of cupcakes with lit candles - which the kids dutifully and somewhat precipitously extinguished for her!!

After rifling through the Grandma's Treasure Box, they all headed for home - with the unfinished DVD safely in their possession.

Dad and I lived away from our families for 12 years. We usually came down to California once a year. I didn't especially feel that we were deprived, but having the experience of family living close by has shown me just why those women in Centerville would lament so loudly when their kids married and moved away.

Fortunately for us, technology and improvements in travel allow us to see our kids and grandkids fairly often. And we can keep up on just what life is like via blogs and email and Skype, so we still feel a part of things. But there is something about being close by.

Tonight was a pretty good example of that something.

(I think I need to get my reservations for the summer visits to Oregon and Virginia that I am so looking forward to!)

Where's the clue??

Copies of these two photos hang on the wall in the hallway. We took all the photos down when the floor guys came - and then rehung them. As we were putting them back up, Dad commented,

"I think these two photos were taken on the same day." Since it looked like it was Phoebe's birthday that was being celebrated, and since there were 10 candles on the cake,
and since we knew that the second photo had been taken at church for a directory or something, we Googled to see if October 11th had been a Sunday in 1987.


And indeed it had been a Sunday!! (Don't you love solving mysteries - or even just finding bits of trivia here and there!?)

I mostly just thought it was kind of remarkable that no one had ever pointed that out before.

Maybe you can't go home again, but you can look at an old photo and take a trip down Memory Lane!

I honestly sometimes just pull down a box of photos and browse through them. Sometimes nothing comes up of any interest. Other times a whole train of thought emerges.

This rather poor-quality photo is dated May 1982. That would be Leslie walking with Bonny and Phoebe - and Harry is in front. I say it would be Leslie, because I'm probably taking the picture - and I'm not that tall or that long-legged.

They are walking towards the beach house in Oxnard. I'm not sure why we were there in May - maybe for Memorial Day - or maybe just some random weekend. Maybe Leslie would be just back from her mission? Maybe the date on the back is wrong?

The possibilities are endless.

What I do know for sure is that we went up there many times after we moved down here. And my kids always loved being with their Aunt Leslie. And it was always fun to get away - even to Oxnard!

"The Way We Were"

All this talk about decades makes me realize that I don't really think in decades. People talk about clothes and music and hairdos and movies and TV shows and frankly, it all kind of blurs for me. I navigate decades the way I navigate period - with landmarks.

For me, clothing is a landmark, not a description of how people dressed. For example, I found this old, rather bad photo in a box of other photos. It has no real markers as to where it was taken. Dad said, "Well, those were my first glasses. That's why they are so big and shiny. And that would be Centerville."

And the salmon-colored dress is one I made at Margaret's School of Custom Dressmaking - also in Centerville. I loved that dress. I loved making it. I loved wearing it. I loved how it made me feel. And I have no idea what I did with it when it quit fitting me - or when I quit wearing it. I was pretty thin until I got pregnant with Eliza. But all my memories of wearing this dress are from Centerville.

And that would be the 70's.

And I usually didn't wear it with this jacket. I had made a lovely floral quilted vest that I usually wore with it. And I don't know what happened to that vest either. What I do know is that I loved how that vest looked so much that I keep trying out wearing vests. Even though they really don't "work" for me anymore.

All this info from one rather bad photo.

The power of the visual!

35 years ago

I was just thinking how much I love the SoCal winter experience. I lived in snow country for 17 years - and thought I didn't mind it. But when we came back here in '79, one winter passed and I realized I didn't miss the snow and cold at all.

Bonny and Harry at the Rock House - winter 1974.

I enjoy pictures of folks enjoying the snow - more than I enjoy snow!

Happy Holidays to You!!

If nothing else, this is certainly good for a smile!!

Season's Best to one and all!!

And to all a good night!

Fashionistas Extraordinaire

The setting: Bonny and Bruce's unfinished house.

The year: 1996

The object: Take a fashion foto!!

The result: A couple of cute teens bring a smile to their old mom's face whenever she runs across said fotographias!!