More Magazine: "One Amazing Thing" Story Contest

For "women of style and substance", More Magazine is

the leading voice of today’s sophisticated, affluent and accomplished woman, who is enjoying the richest years of her life, sharing news and advice on beauty, fashion, health, career, travel, money and relationships from her distinct perspective.

It is a health and beauty periodical geared toward women over 40 and has been a Christmas gift for several years from my friend Kathy.  I enjoy leafing through each monthly publication as soon as it hits the mailbox.

More Magazine is having a "One Amazing Thing" story contest open to everyone with a story to tell. Here is what More Magazine says about their contest:

We all have a story.  One of my favorite stories is about the birth and subsequent decisions her father and I made about her health care in the first hours of her life.

My partial submission to the "One Amazing Thing Story Contest" (screen shot only) is this: 

 That picture on the left is of my first born (of whom I write) and me, the 20 yr. old college sophomore who was unexpectedly faced with a critical decision concerning the medical fate of this child.

This is not the entire story.  And there is yet more to write almost forty years later, but that is for another place and time.

If you would like to submit an amazing story of your own, or read and vote for others' submissions, here is the link: READ and VOTE here.

 Who knows, maybe we will get a meet-up at Barnes & Noble's  in the future.

Pictures from the Past

This week, collecting old family photos from the garage and various closets, I came up with eleven storage boxes of pictures and frames.  That is just too many if you don't have a library and/or you are not an historian.  It was time to pare down.

Beginning the process, with two sacks of miscellaneous black garbage sacks already filled with photo clutter and ready to be taken for disposal, here is the start of the editing:

Some of the photos I unearthed were sweet, evoking sentimental emotions, such as this studio shot taken in about 1935 of my mother, her mother and her sister( left to right).

The back of this photograph is in my brother's handwriting and says "Lela Hugeley Motley, married to Thomas Jefferson Motley, May 30, 1883" (my great grandmother from the paternal side of the family).  This was likely Lela's Motley's wedding portrait (born Novermber 23, 1859, Died July 22, 1921).

And, of course, there were pictures of home life and my kids at various stages of their childhood. I won't bother to show scans of some of those photos.

But I have to include this bizarre photograph of the tombstone for my great grandfather's FOOT from 100 years ago.

Now why in the world would one have a memorial to a part of one's body that was amputated?  Curious, but the proof is in the photo.  You wonder what the story was behind that foot...

The good thing is that several days later, I'm down to five boxes of pictures, and ready to further prune, scan and discard even more of these photos.  Thank g-d for digital cameras and scanners.

Howling at the Moon

Ya know when you get to know somebody pretty well?  And sometimes you quit listening to EXACTLY what they are saying because you have heard it before?

My husband, author of livingthegrandlife, a (mostly) anti-politcal blog....rants.  He told me yesterday, after I kinda tuned him out during our third cup of morning coffee... "nevermind, I was just howling at the moon."

I got a kick out of that thought/statement.  How much do we all just "howl at the moon", and who really listens?

South Carolina

Yesterday, I was in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  Here is a recorded happening there, according to The Charlotte Observer:

ROCK HILL House painter Jerry Gibson armed himself with an electric drop cord Tuesday morning and took off running after the giant bird that ran 5 feet from his disbelieving eyes.

Gibson joined a fray of dozens Tuesday as word spread about an ostrich - an emu really, but a big bird is a big bird - strolling down Chestnut Street and elsewhere in the East Town neighborhood just east of downtown.

Now that had to be quite a scene, although I was in York, SC with daughter Julie and SIL Jack and FIL John.

Julie has been on home IV therapy for seven weeks. She is scheduled for another surgery May 7, 2010. Your prayers for her well being are again appreciated.

Julie and Jack

Above is a picture of SIL Jack's father, John Heniford, Sr. (92 yr.)  Those are his roses and iris from his yard.  Until this spring, he has been solely responsible for the upkeep of both his and Jack and Julie's lawns and gardens.