What A Wonderful Life

Well good afternoon and welcome Through My Back Door. What a wonderful week I have had and just cannot wait to share it with you. Get a cup of coffee and a cookie and come sit down. I have said it before and I will say it again. My life has not been the way I expected. Curtis was always healthy and I expected he and I to grow old together doing the things we said we would. That however didn't happen, and I have shed many tears about that. With that said, I firmly believe that whatever life God gives us we need to live the fullest, as it is a gift. Don't you agree? So this isn't the life I expected, but I am contented. My children are always there for me and I am blessed with wonderful grands and now greats. It is a wonderful life and I thank God for it.
You know Olivia is in DC doing an internship with Senator Corker. She asked us to come up and to bring Andrew, especially. He is a sponge and absorbs everything. Her Mom and Dad weren't going but between Olivia and myself,(nagging) they did. What a fantastic time we had. It is so neat to be given a tour of your Nations Capitol by your own granddaughter. She  knows her history and that is a wonderful thing. (Her Dad teaches American History, so she better)

(This picture was made while we were in Hershey last month) We were to have breakfast with the Senators and pictures, but we got there too late that  morning for the picture taking. We did get the breakfast, then the tour. Andrew was mesmerized by it all. He answered many questions we were surprised he could answer. We rode in the subway carts and had lunch in the cafeteria. If you have never taken a tour of our Nations Capitol, I suggest you do it. It doesn't matter your politics, or what you think of those in  power, it is OUR country, OUR Capitol, and it is just wonderful to see. We were able to watch Marine One swoop in and leave the White House. We saw the Veterans being honored at the Memorials. That was just one of the most touching things. Andrew would shake their hand and say Thank You. We toured all the museums we had time for, and visited the monuments. I must say the Vietnam Wall brought me to tears. As I read the names, I thought of all the broken hearts each name was responsible for. I said a prayer for the families and friends, and yes, I cried.

You can see we had a wonderful time. I loved every minute of it and I will do another blog with more pictures soon. You see I didn't take a camera and I am waiting on Deb and Amanda to send me pics.lol

This was after the Capitol tour and Senators breakfast. Actually this was the warmest day we had.

I am so glad you are going on this tour with us. I am glad you came Through My Back door where life is good.
betty
PS: More pictures and stories to follow
PSS: We met the nicest people and the cab drivers were just so pleasant. Totally unexpected to me
PSSS: Andrew and Mollie were real troopers. Being drug from 8:30 in the morning until 7 or later every evening.

Too Old for Life In the Fast Lane, But Driving In It Anyway

Good evening and welcome Through My Back Door. It has been a while since you visited and it is so nice to see you. Help yourself to a cup of coffee and come sit and visit. It is Kona, can you tell? I have been very busy and enjoying every minute of it. Last Tuesday my cousins, Verleen and Carol Sue came here from Michigan. We spent the night here and got up Wednesday and headed to Charlottesville, Va, to our Aunt Jeans and cousin Katrina's. Remember the Aunts birthday in September?

This is Carol Sue, Katrina, and Verleen in our grandparents porch swing. All of us grandchildren have happy memories of this swing. Katrina is the guardian of it now.

It hung on our grandparents porch as long as any of us can remember and I got in trouble more than once for swinging it so high it would turn over.
Katrina has a beautiful home with lots of land.

This is the view out her back door. she has horses, but they don't show up in this picture. We had such a good time laughing, sharing memories, making new ones, and of course eating.
We went to Monticello on Thursday and took the behind the scenes tour. What a joy! Getting to go up and see the bedrooms and actually walk into the Rotunda was just wonderful. Spending time with my Aunt Jean is always a pleasure. I am named after her and love her to pieces. We got to meet Katrina's grandson Tripp and see his Mama and Daddy. He was such a joy and I got no pictures.
We came home on Friday and spent the night here. Verleen got sick and couldn't go, but Carol Sue and I went to a friends house for supper. Mary Ann and Donnie Keck. Donnie grew up with us girls and was like a brother to me. When Verleen and Carol Sue come into town we always try to see him. His health isn't good, but Mary Ann had us for supper anyway.
On Saturday we left for Nashville to spend the night. Carol Sue has a daughter who lives there and we went to visit her. After checking into the hotel we drove over and had dinner with Dayna and Ben.
Came back here on Sunday and and they stayed until yesterday.Very quiet at my house now. I really enjoyed my time with my cousins. We all are so similar and have so many memories of our grandparents, our aunts and uncles, it was wonderful to share. We know we are blessed to have their influence in our lives, and we know they would be proud to see how their great grandchildren, as well as us, have turned out. One more thing before I end this part of our visit. This is an important bush.

This lilac bush is one from Nannies yard. My Aunt Annie gave the starting to Katrina. Do you see why we are so blessed?
Today was a special day too. You know there are 4 of my high school friends that get together regularly. Well today a friend was here from Atlanta and Patsy has a luncheon at her house. for us. there were 7 of us there. What a fun time. Kathleen brought some high school memorabilia and we all enjoyed seeing that. It was a bit bittersweet as one of the newspapers had Curtis picture when he was elected class president. We got a lot of laughs from the Class Prophecy from our senior year. I will share that Alice and I were to be running a very successful restaurant and were too big to be photographed. (Don't know if that was too big as celebs, or too big in size,lol) Patsy was teaching Agriculture and Kathleen was a successful house wife.lol That was the only one that came to be. Patsy is about as far removed from agriculture as anyone could be.

Not too good, but a few of the girls today. Several of us have grey hair.lol
Life has really been busy for me and I have enjoyed every minute of it.I am so thankful for all of my family and friends. I don't deserve it but God has certainly blessed me. I am blessed when you come Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: I have one more trip coming up in a bit. We are going to DC to see Olivia and tour the Capitol. She is doing her internship in Sen Corkers office and can give us the tour. I am so pleased it will be my granddaughter giving me the tour.
Now do you get my reason for the title?lol

Gotta love this girl
PSS: I hope to be a better blogger in the future. I have been horrible lately.
PSSS: Debbie and Michael are back from their trip to Hawaii. They had a wonderful time and the pictures were just beautiful We found out there was a Crowe on the Arizona as well as a couple of Summers.(My maiden name) We are going to try to find out if we were related. She was in awe of Pearl Harbor