monique

Assorted

Oh, dear! John forgot to mail his mother's birthday card!
I just found it mixed up with some bills that need to be
paid. I used to pick out the cards to send to his family
and mail them, after getting John to sign them, but
starting last year, I've made it all his responsibility. I
still have to remind him, though. I'll make sure the card is
mailed today.
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I put a photo up on my webpage of me and Marc when he lived
in Washington State. It was taken in February, 1972. Steven
was at Fort Lewis and had a week-end pass and when that
ended I went to visit Marc. Marc was the brother closest to
me in age and we shared a lot of memories. I miss him.

My other brother is five years younger and my sister is
eight years younger. We had very different lives and aren't
close at all. One reason John and I had our children close
together in age was because we thought it would be more
likely that they would be close as adults and to a great
extent that's turned out to be true. They often email and
phone each other and spend a lot of time together when
they're home. Of course, we started our family late and as
John had originally wanted six children (!) we couldn't
dawdle. It isn't always true, though, that when children
are close in age they'll also be close as adults. John, for
example, doesn't care to spend time with his sister and
they're only about a year and a half apart in age.
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I was talking to Lucille this morning and she told me that a
friend of her son's is planning his wedding and the cost is
now approaching $10,000! Wow! I asked if their families
were wealthy and she said no, they were very much middle
class. I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a
wedding!

Steven and I had a small church wedding with family and
close friends only. My wedding dress was a white wool,
long-sleeved, fitted sheath dress I'd sewn and I wore a
white lace mantilla instead of a veil. I also wore a strand
of pearls and pearl earrings that my grandmother had given
me and a pearl and diamond ring Steven gave me. He wore his
dress uniform. We had white carnations and white roses
(which is why I send a bouquet of these flowers to his grave
every Memorial Day) and a small cake and champagne at our
reception. John and I eloped and married at the courthouse
and we spent even less. I wore the traditional blue dress of
second-time brides which I bought on sale and we didn't even
bother with a reception. You'd think people would be wiser
and save their money for a house.