Sunday, September 27, 2009

Roots


The bike trail in my home town of Glen Dale, W.Va., tools along the Ohio River for about 3 miles to Moundsville, W.Va., the town where my mother and father both grew up. The trail ends at a boat launch under a highway bridge, construction of which took my father's childhood home.

It was a grand old home with 12-foot-high ceilings, pocket doors into the parlor and dining rooms, a built-in china cabinet that extended from floor to ceiling, a large main stairway, a narrow back stairway out of the kitchen, built-in benches and fully paneled walls in the entry and a wooden mantlepiece around the parlor fireplace.

Every time my husband and I ride the trail, I bemoan the loss of my grandmother's and grandfather's home. I wish I could have shared it with my husband and son, even moreso, I wish they could have met my grandmother.

On this summer's trip to West Virginia, I learned something new about my family history, thanks to my brother's presence. He had taken his wife for a tour around Moundsville to show her the sights, which included the home of my grandfather's parents. My great-grandparents lived two blocks down from my grandparents in an even older home that still stands.

The next time we biked the trail, my husband and I stopped to take photos of the home on the corner of 14th Street and Lockwood Avenue. I wondered what it was like when Michael and Mary Novel lived there.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Happy anniversary

My layoff buddy and I celebrated the first anniversary of our unemployment from the DNT yesterday. We were a few days late as the actual one-year mark occurred last Thursday.

A friend of ours, one of the few former colleagues who has kept in touch with us, took us out to lunch at Lake Avenue Cafe. (The salmon wild rice soup and three-variety mushroom pizza were delicious, by the way.)

Afterward, we poked our head into Grandma's Marketplace, a gift shop that's headed out of business where everything is 50 percent off. (I managed to buy three Hanukkah presents and a gift for my mother-in-law for under $12.)

While there, we offered advice on navigating the world of unemployment to the store's sales personnel who soon will be losing their jobs. Unfortunately, our newly acquired expertise is in demand.

Happy anniversary Karen, Bente, Tracy, Ann, Ryan, Matt and Steve.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Warning

I took my son to the doctor for his annual check-up on Friday. He got a clean bill of health, a lollipop and a flu shot.

I got the flu.

It literally laid me flat for the extended Labor Day weekend. My accomplishments over those three days: filled three plastic grocery bags full of used tissues, read the fifth Harry Potter book, took a shower, managed to croak out one chapter of Charlotte's Web to my son.

My advice this flu season: Stay away from those doctor's offices. And a special thanks to my husband for being Mommy and Daddy the entire weekend.

Friday, September 4, 2009

The things kids say: X-ray vision

On the 1,000-mile drive home from West Virginia, my husband, trying to monitor traffic in the rearview mirror, asked our son to lower the Life is Good baseball cap he was waving high over his head.

The invariable "Why?" response came, to which my husband said, "I don't have X-ray vision. I can't see through your head."

Thinking about a favorite super hero who has X-ray vision, my son's response was quick: "If you had X-ray vision Dad, you could melt my head."