40 years ago

I would like to start my story with a little disclaimer. These recollections are from a long time ago. I was just a wee lassie. So keep in mind Jim especially is way older than me, so his memories might be a little different.

Once upon a time back in the late 60’s, Jim and Eileen’s hippie stage. Long hair, thick mustache, wide jeans what on earth Eileen saw in my brother I had no idea. But one day I come in the door and mom and dad are having this great discussion on whether they had just seen their good friends Jean and Jimmy Austin's daughter walking down the street. “NO they said it couldn't be”. “Why on earth would she be down in this neighborhood”. And then they glance over at Jim. Jim moves into his normal evasion mode. Which usually means see you going to Stuie’s. Well shortly after that the phone calls started.

Back then there was one phone and it was attached to the wall so you sat and talked where the phone was. So there was Jim having these long conversations which mom and dad thought was so strange. How could you talk for so long. And the fact that my dad couldn't hear a word he was saying irritated him like crazy. He always said Jim was just pretending to be on the phone and he was just going pss pss pss. Well it didn't take long for Jim to get tired of my dad trying to listen to his conversation and lucky me Jim had his own phone installed and he gave me an extension. Only rule being when he wanted to use it I had to get off.

Deal. This was awesome.

Life went on and I seemed to have almost exclusive use of the phone. Jim just didn't seem to be home very much. Well when Jim gets his mind set on something chances are he is going to get it and his mind was all about Eileen. Without anyone knowing he had gone out and rented an apartment. He was 19.

A couple of months go by and it's getting close to Christmas, my dad leaves for work and I hear Jim call my mom and say he needs to talk. My ears perk up. And I can't make out a thing all I could make out was. It's ok we'll deal with it when dad gets home. Omg how am I going to wait all day. Jim never gets in trouble. This is awesome.

It's a Friday night. I can't go out I have to find out what is going on. My dad comes home. Mom and dad and Jim go out. I'm dying. What is happening. You can probably guess Jim had made up his mind and he was getting married on Saturday. And a beautiful wedding it was, Eileen had on a beautiful blue dress with a circle of flowers in her hair, it was enchanting. Jim still looked like a very hairy Prince Charming. Off we all went to a great party at Jimmy and Jeans that went to the wee hours of the morning, where they were surrounded by their loving family and friends, who got more loving the more rum they drank.

Soon after this I got to see my cool brother’s apartment and sitting on their dresser was a cute little plastic figurine of a couple on a park bench with their heads touching. The saying at the bottom said

Me and you
You and me
That's the way
It will always be

The love that resonated through that apartment 40 years ago is even stronger today. Their love for each other reaches out and embraces their family and friends. And we are all very lucky to have shared in their life together. Congratulations and cheers. Love you both

It seemed like a good idea at the time?

Can't help but remember the year that my daughter Rachel really learned how to count. All of a sudden she was under the tree counting how many presents she had compared to the boys. Needless to say this became a huge issue as we all liking have presents under the tree from December first. (Santa brought his special presents on Christmas Eve). But having tears flowing because David had more presents was becoming a real issue. There wasn't anything I could do for this year (around 1994) but I was fixing it for the next year.

So Christmas 1995 comes around and in my infinite wisdom I figure I will code the presents with numbers. Everyone was so excited, there were break the code meetings. This must be a Barbie so that code must mean Rachel. And then the counting started again. By Christmas day I was at my wits end with them. We sort all the presents and as usual everyone has the same number of presents. So "mom what's the code". I go to my desk drawer to get the code breaking sheet and it is gone. Pandemonium breaks out. Luckily Rachel's presents held no interest for the boys, but there were definitely a few issues with the boys. LOL. That code was thrown out the window now I had to thnik up another idea for the next year. O:)