Skip to main content

Flashback Friday






Last week while sitting for both Alfred and Norah, I was lucky enough to have a few minutes with Norah in my room watching cartoons and Alfred and I in the main room.  This afforded me a little time to just deal with one - a luxury in the Manny business. 

 When I checked in on Norah she was on my bed sobbing.  When I asked her what was wrong she showed me this picture, that had been lying on the desk waiting to find its new home after the move.  She found it and seemed to be overcome by some emotion.  I asked her why she was crying and she pointed to me and said "Because I love you."  And then she pointed to her mother and said she loved her Mommy, and then she pointed to the present Mrs. Blythe and said she loved grandma and travelled on down and finished off by saying she loved Unkie Brendan.  

 As you can tell by now I suppose, Norah is no tomboy, or a rough and tumble girl.  She is all princess, given to drama and quick to tears when it suits her.  Whatever it was about the picture that brought on the waterworks I haven't a clue, other than the simple act of seeing most of her universe in one picture, in a strange habitat, all looking wonderfully younger.  Her world will expand starting this week as she enters kindergarten at a new school.  My babysitting job will decrease by one.  Such is life.  The young expand, the old recede.  Suits me just fine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me,  they came right from the MDH website.  I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access.  After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances.  But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs.  I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered.  The original MDH at this site was just the front part.  The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library.  It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place.   He passed away around 2002, I think.  Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town.  The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice.  This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly.     These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city.  Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city.  He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets.  He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth.  Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times.  He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto.  He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky.  I wo...
Post a Comment
Read more