One man's trash, another man's treasure?

When my mother gave me this picture of myself taken when I was three, my aunt told her to, "throw away that ugly frame, just give her the picture." But mother said she liked the frame and ignored her sister. Some months later my aunt gave me a lovely silver frame and told me to put this picture in it and throw away "that tacky thing." Obviously I listen and take suggestions as well as my mother did. ;-)

The frame doesn't "go" with anything but I couldn't bear to throw it away. I was three when the picture was taken and figure the frame is about my age. No sense in getting rid of things just because they're old, right? I do wonder where mother bought the frame though.

Mickey and Me

These pictures were taken in Florida, May 1946 - that would have been just before my sister went to Minnesota with our aunt and uncle and I went to Los Angeles with our pregnant mother.Hmmm - that is some big bow in my hair. The Flying Nun?

These pictures came from an album that Aunt Mae kept. Unfortunately, as is the case with most albums, the first pages are full of pictures that are labeled but then the pictures stop and there are only empty pages. Mae passed away before her husband and it was completely unexpected because he was the one with health problems. Does that happen more often than not or does it just seem that way? Our mother was sick, nearly died, recovered and then dad got sick and quickly passed away. When my youngest uncle Arnie passed away at 44, his wife told me - no one is promised tomorrow. I was just a kid at the time but I've always remembered that.

You never know.

There is an article in today’s paper about a 74-year old woman who was dragged down a street by a thief on a bicycle while she held onto her "shoulder bag, actually a reusable grocery bag holding five carrots, a cabbage and a bottle of water." She wasn’t fighting to hold onto her bag because of the contents but because she had written her name and address on it and she didn’t want the thief to know who she was and where she lived.

He dragged her for quite a while and because she was afraid of breaking a hip she eventually let go of the bag. Except for black and blue marks she was okay. The thief escaped on his bike.

A few years ago I had a similar situation. Two young men approached me in a super-market parking lot and told me to give them my purse. I always thought that if someone wanted my money I’d give it to them, no questions asked and if they were disappointed in the cash I’d write them a check. But I heard myself saying no as I slowly backed away from them. One with a potty mouth said he wasn’t f*&#ing with me and he’d cut me with his knife if I didn’t pony up the purse. I calculated how much damage he could do with the size of knife he had as I continued to back up and told him in a voice I hoped would attract passersby that no, I wasn’t going to give him my purse. When they realized others were starting to notice what was going on they ordered me to get into my car. Now, how stupid was that? If I wasn’t going to give up my purse I sure as heck wasn’t going to get in my car with them! Dumb. Soon it became obvious to them that a crowd was starting to gather and they took off. I filed a police report but they were never caught.

I never cared about giving up the money but was afraid of them taking my purse; they would have my name, address, and credit cards – essentially me. If they had asked only for money it might have been different. The officers taking the report told me I was lucky and I suppose I was. In retrospect it probably was foolish and I don’t know if I’d do it again but at that time, in that place it was right for me.

It also taught me one thing: no matter how you think you’ll react to a particular situation you never really know until it happens. And it took me about two weeks before I felt comfortable returning to that market.

Grandma's 21

I came across this while DH and I were sorting through a box of old photos. DGS was in the room and asked to see it. I told him it was taken the day I turned 21; he took one look at it and said, "Wow, Grandma! Those are some awesome shoulder pads!" and wondered if I had been a linebacker for the Rams! He has a wonderful sense of humor and though I'm still laughing, he doesn't get to look at any more old pictures.

When I turned 21, DH (he wasn't DH then), my parents and I went to the Sea Lion in Malibu. I ordered a whiskey sour, grasshopper and a tom collins but don't remember what I ate - probably because of what I drank. I do remember eating the olive in someone's martini which brought tears to my eyes and probably contained more alcohol than my three drinks.

The picture was taken in the apartment my sister and I shared in NoHo. After a midnight movie, DH and I would come back to the apartment, wake my sister and go out to breakfast at Dennys. She was a good sport and never minded that we woke her. Now I can't believe we kept those hours but then we were young and only needed about 3-4 hours of sleep!

And the "shoulder pads?" A family friend loaned me the detachable-fur collar from her coat. I know I was a little (?) overdressed but that night I felt like a princess.