27 years ago today!

Twenty Seven years ago... a 2 year old Brad and a 5 year old Amy and I flew from Huntington, West Virginia... to Seatlle, Washington to meet Jeff. He had moved to Seattle just 2 months earlier. We waited until he found a job before we moved here with him. I remember it was the longest 2 months of our marriage. So grateful that we decided to come here. It truly was one of the best decisons of our lives! We love Seattle and have never looked back. Living here has changed our lives forever!

I think that because we moved here and raised our children here...that all our lives have been changed for the better!
Lee and Lauren were born here... so they are Seattlites!

We love Seattle and have been grateful for that for the last 27 years!

Good Night dear friends!

Flash from the past!

When I was a kid, I lived in West Virginia and I think that was one of the hottest places around. When my grandkids came over the other day and it was 90 degrees out, the kids were teasing me saying that we should all go out and get a Slurpees 7 Eleven...everyone just smiled and I said "no thanks for me" then they asked me how long it has been since I had one... I couldn't remember how many years ago and only had one or two. Then Angie said " But Nana, you can get slurpees free on your Birthday since it is July 11th ". I smiled and said " too bad Trader Joes doesn't give away something free for my birthday :)


It made me think of a Flash from the past, when we used to go to a Rootbeer and Hotdog place called Frostop, it still looks like it did all those years ago. I know that my grandkids would be surprised to know that their Nana was raised on Hot Dogs and Rootbeer most of my childhood! All they have ever known is a Natural Nana :)

Funny that I thought of that today when I went to Costco and passed a 7 Eleven store and it was 90 some degrees again :) Great day for a Slurpee right? Or just a cold nectarine or grapes... I think! :)
Have I told you lately...how much I love living here? I do, really do!
Good Night dear friends!

Where are you from?

When I was at Brad and Krystal's house, they had me do a survey to see where I was born. It was fun but I think I have been away from West Virginia long enough, to really trip me up... however Brad and Krystal's was right on. It was fun... you can try it yourself  HERE:

Plus, here are the highlights of our 1 Day sleepover with the girls. We are trying to make up for lost time! :)
Need to keep sewing, class tomorrow!
Night dear friends!

Quote for the Day..." Stay close to what keeps you feeling ALIVE!"

Be Happy Where You Are!

I was born and raised in West Virginia, after Jeff and I were married and already had Amy and Brad, we headed for Seattle. We heard all the rumors about the gray days and the rain, but still when we arrived on the 4th of July weekend to gray skies and rain...we fell in love! We had just left West Virginia with its HOT and HUMID weather and after so many years of that ...we were excited for a different climate all together. We have lived in Seattle now for 25 years and have NEVER looked back!

So does it rain a lot in Seattle? Yes, but still I love it here! I don't mind the gray, to me it just feels cozy in our home and it even makes me want to be more creative! Don't get me wrong, I love the sun but I do realize that in order to live in a beautiful green place like this...you have to have some rain! I do love it here and for that I am grateful. I hear many people complain about it a lot. I hear how it makes them depressed, so I am very thankful that is NOT something I struggle with. Being Happy Where You Are is a big deal, I am just grateful that I can live here, a place where I want to be!

Good night dear friends!

Found the photo here:

Residual?

I was talking to Jeff the other night on our walk about some struggles I am still having with my self image. Even though I have lost 19 pounds with Weight Watchers and have kept that off for 5 weeks during my maintenance, still because I am no longer losing, I am struggling with what I see in the mirror. I talked to my Weight Watchers teacher about it, and she gave me some ideas on how to work on that. But I think that Jeff said it the best when he said " Lynn, you have come so far from your past and childhood, but still I think it is only natural to have some left over RESIDUAL... that you will have to keep working on from time to time." After looking up the word...

What does Residual mean?

Something left after other parts have been taken away

 I believe it is so true, these photos that I took while back in West Virginia prove that...

 This is a photo of my home where I lived from the time I was born till the age of 10.
 

 The good memories... that was my Aunt Ina's home, we lived with her. She was really like a Mother to me, she protected me as much as she could. I spent a lot of time in the attic apartment where she lived. My grandmother Johnson lived right across the street a few doors down and her home was a safe place for me.
Bad memories... That was the home where my other grandparents came and visited a lot. My grandfather picked me up from this home. There was also a lot of racial conflict at the time 1960's and so there were riots and a lot of things like that going on, especially at night.

 This is a photo of the building that used to be my Elementary School



 
Good memories...my best friend Kathy and I had a lot of fun together
Bad memories... I didn't do well at school and because of my abuse, paying attention to school was the last thing on my mind. So it was a place of huge stress! I seemed to survive in Art and Gym and that was about it. It also had a lot of racial problems in the school between the kids too, so daily I seemed to be in a fight before, during or after school.

  Ritter park, a park near our home.

 
Good memories...Jeff and I spent a lot of time here on our dates! We came here as college students and hung out and played tennis. After Jeff and I were married and Amy was born. We had her Birthday party here.
Bad memories...this is the park where we had my Grandfather's family reunions some time, not fun!

 This is a Root Beer and Hot dog place that we went to, it is a Drive In.

Good memories...it was always fun and I remembered how good the Root beer was. I especially remember how fun it was being in the car together as a family and doing something fun.

Bad memories...none really other than it was in West Virginia!
So I guess it it true, life is full of thoughts, memories, fears and concerns. I am grateful that I have lost the extra weight, and I do sometimes look in the morning and see a healthier Lynn and one who looks more accepting. Still there are days that I look in the mirror and see someone opposite of that. So, I guess that means I still have some residual left and so I will continue to work on that each day! Life is hard but I do personally know, it is worth it! Thanks for going down MEMORY LANE with me tonight! :)

"Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough. " Charles Dudley Warner

Time

Jeff and I went out last night for our Date Night and remembered that 23 years ago we moved from West Virginia to Washington. We didn’t have a clue how we were going to make it here, we just knew we needed to leave West Virginia and that Washington was the place we wanted to live and raise our family. We have never looked back, it was one of the best decisions ever and still is! But how could that have been 23 years ago? Brad was two and Amy was five, yikes …time doe have a way of flying by.

Then I look at this photo of Angie ( our granddaughter ) and realized that time once again has flown by. How could my little granddaughter who was just in my arms not that long ago, be  old enough to start school already? It has been a blessing having them close enough to enjoy all these years with them. Just today Angie asked me to do something, I told her I didn’t know if we would have enough time to do that, and her reply was “ Don’t worry Nana, here…..( then she did some magical looking thing with her hands and then made a sound ) …now you have more time!”  I wondered why I didn’t think of that earlier?

Speaking of time, it is almost the Sabbath and I need to get to bed. Good night dear friends!

 

Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day.
Rich people can't buy more time. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend on another day.
Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.
Success depends upon using it wisely - - by planning and setting priorities. Time is worth more than money, and by killing time, we are killing our own chances of success.

--- Author Unknown ---