Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Memory Keeper

Wow, I feel like I need to give an acceptance speech. Thank you all for the warm welcome, I’m still so new I haven’t figured out how to send return comments just yet. So, please forgive me for this public thank you and Jill didn’t really pay me to keep quite.

I have some friends I’ve known for about 23 years now. We raised our kids together, worked together, had a business together, etc… This year is a big one because we all four have boys turning 21 and after all the football, baseball, basketball, paintball, soccer games, church camps, vacations, we have a lot of awesome memories. Jen called to say she had made a DVD for us because it had some very funny, specials times on it, and she wanted to share them. One of them she said has all the boys as we picked them up from church camp with bare bums showing us their itchy poison ivy backsides and all I could say is this is a good lesson on why we wash our hands before and after we visit the bathroom. I must say they may not have been so good with brushing their teeth but they did wash their hands.

I wondered why Jen was (the entire conversation) laughing uncontrollably. It turns out my daughter’s beautifully unique personality was the cause of an entire evening and morning’s hysteria. Shell was 2 years old in one of the videos and a cheerleader for her brother’s football team. She had hair bigger than her tiny body and was very outspoken (Hhhmmm, wonder were she got that from), she also had a crush on Jen’s son (whom was raised like a part of our family) and followed him all over the field.

It wasn’t the video that she was laughing at but the memory of my daughter on this particular day. Jen and I had a resale store together and one day we had been working on the storefront (before it opened) and took all the kids with us. We worked hard taking walls down, painting, etc... And Linda was helping entertain the kids.

Everyone was exhausted and starving so my precious little girl, my self and Linda (who is much older) hopped in the truck to run to the local Kroger’s for dinner. It was cold out that day, I decided to leave Linda and Shell in the car to keep warm, and I ran in to fetch some dinner.

The week before my husband had taken Shell in the truck to drop off some football equipment at the coach’s house and left our daughter sitting in the truck (running and without the emergency brake on) only a few short steps away. Shell was sitting there and wondered why her daddy had to move the stick to make the truck go, so she wiggled it. Ops, it started rolling straight into a brick wall about five feet in front. She was fine and the truck had a small dent in the front, no big deal.

Now remember Shell is in the front middle seat of this truck with the stick right next to her. She starts telling Linda about the truck hitting the wall as she’s moving the shifter (I had set the emergency brake). Linda flipped out thinking the kid is gunna do it again with her in the car. I returned to the car with dinner in hand and began to drive back to our store. Linda was red faced and breathing as if she ran a marathon. I ask her if she was OK and she then told me Shell had scared the crap out of her moving the shifter around.
After a few minutes, she calmed down and I was talking about needing a babysitter for Saturday evening. Linda suggested my mom keep the kids (notice she didn’t offer). My tiny trouble maker looked up at Linda with a burst of energy in her voice, hands on her hips and said “She’s Dead” (she had passed away very recently). Knowing my daughters unique personality it was priceless. Linda was again red faced, breathing like she ran another marathon and in total shock as if she had shattered the heart and dreams of this deceivingly cute little girl. Now that I think about it, Linda never again went to the store with the kids.

She’s one of a kind our little girl and I wouldn’t have it any other way. And the memories of all the kids are such a great part of our lives. They do grow up and that is the hard part. Keep those memories close and cherish the small things in life, because it is truly the good stuff.

Peace out until next time.
Wendall K

10 comments:

Unknown said...

oh my LOL...you are well on your to blog-star-dom!

It took me forever to figure out the bloggy world!
for example if you have your comments emaled to you-you can hit reply and email that person directly(if they have their email enabled)most do some don't no worries I have sent like a million emails to
no-replycomment@blogger.com

If you need any basic help email me....I can do basics thats it but any friend of jilly's is a friend of mine and I love to help others!

Deb said...

well, i hope your welcome you received was enough to make you want to stick around!

you're really lucky to have such great, long-lasting friends, and such fun stories. that should keep you busy with blog topics for quite a while!

Justine said...

Did you get a copy of the video? Any way you could upload at least some of it for us to watch? That'd be fun!

If you need help with anything on your blog, just drop me an email... justwaaaa@comcast.net and I'd be more than happy to help. Looks like you're doing a good job of it on your own though!

Justine :o )

Unknown said...

I knew you'd get the hang of it! Good for you! This blogging thing is so much fun! I just have to fit in time to work around the schedule.

jill jill bo bill said...

OMG I can see Shell saying "She's dead". I am rolling. call me tomorrow. I have news.

Rhonda said...

Oh my! My youngest, at four, told my co-worker that she looks a lot like Auntie Shelley. My co-worker responded with the usual, "Oh, that's nice." Then Liv follows with, "She died."

Diana just about fell out of her chair. She didn't know what to do. So I just looked at her and said, "It's okay. She's just telling you." They're just so matter-of-fact about these things!

Rhonda said...

Okay, and just for the record. I have been blogging regularly for about seven months and I have NEVER had 33 comments.

Harumph! I think Jill should recommend MY blog to people.... Hint hint Jill.... lol

careysue said...

I've never had that many comments either!!!

Rhonda-I'll comment profusely on yours, and you do the same for me!!


Kids do say the darnedest things don't they!

Ginger said...

Cute story. You will love all those pictures and the dvd of the kids when they get married and you want to do a memory lane video or something like that.
Kids say the cutest things (at times). lol.
Ginger

Debz said...

Ya gotta love the innocence of youth.
Glad to have you as part of our bloggy gang!!