Give Thanks...Passing Heirlooms Along

 I snapped a picture today of my son sitting with his son at a family heirloom...the spinet piano. My oldest, the first of three of our children to take piano lessons, still remembers how to play and read music. He sat on the bench, hefted his little one on his lap, and plunked out a melody or two as his son watched, and later participated.

Yes, the grandson still wore remnants of a previous meal (or two...), but it was a beautiful shot.

The piano is from my wife's side of the family. We grew up with a similar piano in our house. My mom played. My brother and sister took lessons. I took accordion lessons...similar, but different. Our piano went to my little sister after my mom passed away. I'm not sure what happened to it after my sister died, but I'm guessing it's still with her daughter.

The piano in our house will be passed down. Once my son gets a home of their own, they'll inherit it allowing for yet another generation to hopefully play it and make memories of their own. By the time it goes to another generation, my wife and I will most likely be gone.

I'm thankful for those heirlooms, for things that one generation purchased or built, that others can enjoy and cherish. I don't believe people buy pianos today like they used to. Time was every house had a piano, at least every house around here. Time changes things. You check the classifieds now and people are literally giving them away. No, we didn't play the piano as much as we could have or should have, but it's a beautiful piece of furniture that hopefully, generations will appreciate for years and years.

I loved watching my grandson watch me as I captured the moment. I'd like to think he'll sit on that bench and do the same thing with his first child. 

That's a wonderful thought.

Give Thanks...Albert Brooks's Film "Mother"

People have holiday traditions, especially when it comes to entertainment. It's tradition for some families to go see a movie on Christmas, Memorial Day, Valentines Day. This year in our house we decided to pull up Albert Brooks's incredible slice-of-life dromedy Mother, starting Brooks and Debbie Reynolds.

If you haven't seen it, you definitely should. I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Without giving too much away, newly divorced writer John Henderson (Brooks...) decides to move in with his widowed mother (Reynolds...). Together, they work side-by-side, albeit not always smoothly, to figure out life's questions and to find peace. If you're familiar with Brooks's work, you'll recognize his comedic genius in the writing, and the performances. It's a great film.

This year, Mother's Day has been different for me. It's the first year I have knowledge of my birth mother and her incredible family. We met in person last month. When I first saw pictures of my birth mother, I was shocked at how much she resembles Debbie Reynolds.

Perhaps you would agree.

I've watched Mother several times, but just as this Mother's Day is different, watching the show was different. From what I've learned about my birth mom, I doubt she and the character Reynolds portrayed on the film were similar. Still...watching the beautiful actress on film and thinking about the beautiful woman in the photos, it struck me different this year.

I'm thankful for the past six months I've had. I'm thankful I found her and her family. I'm thankful for Mr. Brooks's talent and his bravery for making the film. 

I think we have a new Mother's Day family tradition.

Some People Want To Watch The World Burn...And Others Want A Clean Garage

 From my office window, I have an excellent view of my neighbors yard. Not that I'm stalking, but I notice things from time to time. We all have our little things we do, things that may seem perfectly normal to some, strange to others. My neighbor likes to keep his garage clean, and by clean, I mean, at least once a year they unload everything in the garage, clean it, then put everything back.

I'm kind of jealous, really.

I'll bet when everything is put back into place, they know everything that's inside. I'll bet they never have to search for anything--they just go right to the thing they're looking for and pick it up. What a concept. Point is, it's important for them to do this on an annual basis. It's something they do.

We could do the same thing, clear out and clean our garage every year. It would definitely help organize our stuff. I'd love to be able to know not only what's in our garage, but where it is. It would save so much time. And if we continued that same methodology throughout the entire house?

What a concept.

Watching them work, I thought of something. When my neighbor's kids grow up, there's a good chance they'll follow their parent's example and clean out their garage. Their spouses might wonder why they're doing what they're doing as there is a good chance their spouses did not grow up with that tradition. And they'll say, "My folks cleaned out their garage every year...just something we did. I like it, because I know exactly what's in the garage and where to find it."

And the spouse will agree, it's great.

And their children will grow up following the tradition.

That's just how life is, sometimes...they just want a clean garage.

Gingerbread Buildings Built...Next Stop--The Inferno

 There are things our family does during the Christmas season. Like most families, we look forward to this time of the year when we can gather and enjoy the time we spend together. One of the things we started doing several years ago was assemble gingerbread structures. This year...

We had a competition.

Really, the only reason we had a competition is because we bought a competition kit gingerbread village.

We are not "experts" in gingerbread construction. We don't go "over the top" or "all out." No, we're simple folk and try to have fun while not putting too much pressure on ourselves to make a flawless, perfect example of a confectionary building.

We built four houses for judging, and four others for fun. We put them together on Christmas Eve morning. Later that day, my son and daughter-in-law came over and officially judged the results. The competition kit even came with a blue ribbon--no red or white for second or third place--for the winner.

Though all were good, one rose above the rest and the blue ribbon went to my artist son (none of us were surprised...). 

Another tradition our family adopted years ago was, once the buildings were finished, we wanted a fun way to dispose of them. We used to buy fireworks and literally blow them up. We stopped doing that because it became harder for us to find fireworks in December. This year, we're going to take them into the backyard, build a huge bonfire in the fire pit and throw them in. We're actually excited about that.

Yes, it's the traditions that we look forward to this time of year. Building then destroying edible structures is one we really love.

Happy Birthday, Mom...

Today, if my mom were with us, she would have turned ninety-one years old.

Ninety-one.

She was born on this date in 1931. She was born into a home without running water, without electricity. She grew up during the Great Depression and before that nightmare could come to an end, the world engaged in yet another global war.

She survived, married a WWII vet, adopted three children, lost her husband six years after adopting the last child, and raised her family alone.

She is, in a word, my hero.

Normally, on this day, I would take a carved pumpkin to the cemetery and place it on my parent's headstone. I won't make it today, but will tomorrow. We no longer live within walking distance. It's okay--I think she won't mind her birthday gesture being a day late.

I hope when my time comes I can look back at a legacy half as incredible as hers. I still miss her--a pain I pray never stops. Happy 91st, mom. Sorry the pumpkin's a little late.

Where's Your Home's..."Chamber Of Secrets?"

 Even though the term became famous from a second book in the most successful literary series of all time, in our house we have our own Chamber of Secrets. 

It's the master bedroom closet.

Of course, everyone living in our house knows it's where our Chamber of Secrets can be found. The location of the room is not "secret," but what it contains, is...

Or at least, some of it is.

But, is it good to have secrets, any secrets? Some say yes, others, no. Personally, I believe there's a time for truth and a time for that truth to be revealed later. Secrets can be good or bad, depending on the circumstances. Normally, there's pretty much nothing in our Chamber of Secrets that can't be known by anyone in the house. This is, however, a special time of year.

Growing up, I found the Chamber of Secrets in various places in my childhood home. The first one I remembered was an unfinished half-bath on the main floor of the home my father never got to finish. It was a good choice, but once the secret was out, it was no longer technically a "Chamber of Secrets."

It moved to different locations, and I believe, during the final years I lived at that house as a teenager, the chamber became mobile, then was located off-site. There might have been a sub-chamber somewhere--I'm not sure. If so, it truly was a secret chamber.

One day my kids will have their own homes where their family will work and play, eat and sleep...and they'll have Chambers of Secrets, too. 

I wonder if I'll ever find them...

Time will tell.

Give Thanks...Family Traditions

 If, in the next couple of days, you find yourself meandering around the Farmington Utah Cemetery, you may come across a humble pumpkin sitting atop a headstone. Of all the headstones in that particular cemetery, that particular one means the most to me, and of all the pumpkins in the world, that one sitting alone on the cold earth means the most to me.

This morning, I picked up the pre-selected pumpkin, hollowed it out, and carved into it three words and a tiny spider. Some say I was preparing for Halloween, but actually, I was carrying on a family tradition, one I've kept alive or decades. It's the Jack-O-Lantern I carved for my mom before her birthday.

I am thankful for family traditions. I don't know if we have more or less than other families when it comes to traditions. I've only been associated with mine, and my wife's. Most of our traditions center around holidays, and I suppose the Happy Birthday pumpkin falls in that category. I'd like to think I'd do something similar even if it weren't close to Halloween.

Yes, the headstone means the most, the pumpkin means the most, and one of the three words I carved earlier today is one of the most important words I've ever known...

Mom.

Happy birthday, Mom (in a few days...). Same time next year.

Linda's Stories...Something Wonderful

A neighbor and good friend has been one of the biggest fans of my novel Chaser. She's bought multiple copies and given them to her family. She's told me how much they've enjoyed reading my little story.

She's also told me of a little book she wrote, one that was written for her family, a book that binds her family together. She brought it over on one of her visits and I had the amazing opportunity to read it. It is a treasure.

Linda, for whom the book is named, told me how the book came to be. The stories are hers, the illustrations were provided by children and grandchildren. The combination makes a beautiful book. The back cover includes the following explanation:

An illustrated collection of nine stories written by a mother to teach her children important life lessons. Lessons of love, trust, obedience, forgiveness, hope, self-esteem, peer pressure and abuse are discussed in beautiful ways that make these difficult subjects easy to teach. The stories are fantastical and each contains a special meaning.

Each story is then summarized, nine stories, nine lessons, nine modern-day fairy tales a loving parent created for her family, stories to last for generations and beyond. In addition to the illustrations, a quilt was created from the stories, each tale has it's own quilt block, the finished product a tapestry of love.

I'm glad Linda loved my book. I'm glad she bought copies for her family and promoted it to the extent she did. I'm also glad she trusted me with her book. It's really something wonderful.

Another Family Tradition...

Years ago, I cannot recall how many, we decided the kids needed a system, a system to prevent arguments. We came up with a plan.

From the picture of the calendar, it's difficult to understand exactly what's going on. Each initial represents one of my children. Back before the system was devised, the kids fought. "What are we going to do tonight?" "What are we going to watch?" Having several strongly opinionated children living under the same roof is a recipe for active and lively discussions when it comes to which child's will will be appeased. 

And so we came upon an idea. There are two days each week when the kids get to choose what they do. We decided that the kids will take turns where they will be in charge. If they want to watch a DVD, the child in charge will choose. It's made life in the home much more enjoyable and we've kept the tradition for years.

A funny thing will take place next month. The oldest child will be leaving and so his turn every other week will be taken by another. I don't think, when he returns, he will participate in this tradition, the same way my wife and I don't participate.

This is just one change that will take place next month, one of many. I suppose we should get ready because, ready or not, next month's coming fast.