Nana Mama's Joy

  The number of people who “know me” is dwindling. Every year I say goodbye to friends and loved ones who pass away from the Earth. Of course, I continue to meet and become acquainted with new people, but they only know me as the senior citizen I have become…. not the evolution of ‘me’ (good, bad, ugly) over seven decades.   Self-described, I am a God fearing, people loving, decision challenged, picture taking, deal finding, number nerd who likes to write. The thoughts in my head continually collide with one another and writing sometimes allow them to exit (at least temporarily).   Today's thought: 25,263 Days.   Just a few years ago, one of my sons said, “I wanted to figure out when I’d be exactly as old as Dad was when I was born.” Say what?  He continues… “November 13, 2020. That’s the day.” Hmmm. I never thought about that. Little did we know, just 33 days later, his dad would succumb to COVID.   That conversation came back to me this past November (202...

  January 20, 1993 … a day that will live in infamy. Iowa basketball star Chris Street had died tragically the evening before, and the accident was the topic of conversation at work that morning. We barely gave a thought to the weather; however, as noon approached, the talk had turned to words like, “warnings,” “ice” and those two words every working mother dreads to hear, “early dismissal.” At that time in my life at Cornell, I only worked until noon – and as the Chapel bell chimed twelve, I was on my way to a very interesting trip to my Mount Vernon home, nine tenths of a mile from campus. I believe school had let out at 11:30, so I was a bit surprised to see a Mount Vernon school bus at the bottom of 5th Ave. and College Blvd. obviously not going anywhere. I took the opportunity to dodge that obstacle by turning left (east) onto 3rd Street. Immediately I realized that my Aerostar van was no match for the ice-covered pavement beneath it. I slid one way and then another, fortunat...