Almost every Wednesday for the past two months, Mary had been going on a playdate with Marley, her newest best friend from Kindergarten. I am thankful beyond words that they keep having her over and that both Mary and Marley keeps enjoying their time together outside of school. As Marley is not comfortable yet to going to other people’s houses or being with other grown-ups without her parents, Mary always goes to THEIR house, giving me at least 6 hours on Wednesday to get things done at home. Thank you, thank you so much!

It is not enough that Mary gets to play at Marley’s basement playground (her parents have furnished their basement to be one big playroom with toys galore), K (Marley’s grandma) almost always take them somewhere special – the Butterfly Museum, a hair salon… This Wednesday was to “the mall.”

If you live in Louisville and Boulder area, “the mall” refers to Flatirons Crossing Mall. And in that mall is a Build-A-Bear workshop.

So, she came home with “Husky”… on a pink leash… with a bridal costume (complete with veil, garter and bouquet)…with pink cowboy boots… with skates…with eyeglasses that matches Mary. ALL courtesy of K. Then, there is the Gap shirt (that matches with Marley). And then, there is the photo with Santa. Oh, and she had chicken teriyaki at the food court, too. ALL courtesy of K.

What a lucky girl!

Thank you so much, K.

I have expressed my thanks to K personally and she was very gracious about it— “They had fun!”

But there’s this niggling feeling of “how can I reciprocate?”

In the past, we have taken one of Mary’s friends to Elitch Gardens, another one to the mall where I did get a little treat for the two girls but nothing close to K’s generosity. The other moms always offer to pay for something which I have always refused. When Mary gets taken anywhere and given treats on playdates, I also offer to pay for something and have always been refused, as well.

I guess, we should just be thankful that Mary has found a very good friend, one that enjoys her company as much as she enjoys theirs. And they happen to be very generous with their treats? Immensely thankful.

I remember that all through high school, I ws best friends with the richest girl in class. She is the seventh of 9 kids, mom is a doctor, dad is an engineer, she always had the coveted “Ace” leather bags, latest style “Gregg” black shoes, Mills and Boon romance novel AND her family has a pool. Felt so lucky to be friends with her as I get invited often to their house .

Now, what to do about the cross-dresser Husky?

Mary has changed the name to “Huska.” Still, I do not think it is a name fit for a bride.

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On another note, this is the last post for Nablopomo.  Yay! I made it!

Thanks everyone for stopping by and reading my posts, also for your wonderful, wonderful comments. I will still be blogging everyday. Its too much fun to stop now.

Despite a late start, Mary and I got it done!

A couple of months ago, I joined the Urbandale Chapter of the Optimists Club International after Mary and I attended the Easter Egg Hunt they’ve sponsored for the Urbandale kids.  (Mary gathered at least 70 eggs, more than any kid can ever hope for gathering on an egg hunt— she had fun along with the lucky not-so-many kids who found out about the event and attended.)

Some of the members were handing out brochures about the club and I got attracted by The Optimist Creed, which starts with “Promise Yourself – To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind…..” and ends with “To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. “  I wanted to be around people who embodied the very traits I am developing within me – “To look at the sunny side of verything and make your optimism come true…”  Their Mission “By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in kids.“  is quite noble, too.

One of the Club’s fundraisers is “Avenue of Flags” where homeowners contract with the Club to have a pipe, with a cap, installed then have a flag set on it from early morning to late evening on five holidays – Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day.

Club members then volunteers to do the setting of the flags morning of the holiday and taking them back in the evening.  I jumped in to help our President on one of the routes for last Memorial Day and that went off without a hitch, I was at the place at eactly 5:45 am, got into the car that Jim has already loaded with the flags and bucket for the caps and since JIm had already done the route numerous times before, we got it done in less than the anticipated hour that it usually takes.

So, for the next holiday, Flag Day, June 14, 2009 Sunday, I volunteered to take the same route by myself and I had planned to take Mary along as I know she enjoys this sort of thing.

The week before the day, I have prepared Mary that she would have to wake up at 5:30 am and that we would be out early in the morning putting up flags.  She was ready and so was I.

So, Monday, I had it in my mind that we had to wake up very early the following Sunday.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, still the early Sunday morning plan was in my head.  Friday, Mary had a sleepover with her Brownie troop and Saturday, Mary and I got to spend the day together by going to the mall.  Seemingly, the early Sunday morning adventure had left my brain by then…

Sunday morning, my internal alarm clock got me up at my usual time between 6-6:30 am.  I glanced at the clock, 6:26 am.  “Thank you, God for this beautiful day!” was my usual first thought and then I think about whether I have time to snooze.  That morning I thought, “Well, Mary does not have camp, I don’t have to be at work till 9:50 am… I can catch some more winks—– Oh, NO! FLAGS!!!!!!”

Adrenaline pumping, I jumped out of bed, went and shook Mary awake, “Mary, we’re late, we gotta put up flags!!!”

And the little trouper that she is, Mary snapped her eyes open, got out of bed and followed me to the bathroom.

We got out of the house less than 10 minutes later and were off to pick up the flags for our route.

Then, I could not remember what street the house to pick up the flags at.  The last time, I had googled and printed out a map of the address and had brought along the address as well as the phone number in case I got lost, which I did not, at that time.  This time, no map, no address, no phone number (or so, I thought).  Mary was doing her best to help ,”Who do you know that knows the number that we can call?.” she asks.

Luckily, I had my cell phone and I was about to call Jack when I noticed that I had a missed call from Jim and Judy (wondering where I was at 6:30 am…) and so I just pushed send and got Jim on the line and he gave me the address.

Then, I had to figure out how to get the flags into the back of my Volvo station wagon.  They were longer than I thought!  Finally, I just pushed them up all the way to the windshield, in between the front seats and drove with the back door unlocked.

Mary and I got going on the route and Mary proved to be such an able helper.  She was the Navigator, read out the route directions to me as I drove.  She help carried the flags, looked for the caps along with me and helped set them in. Though, after she got splashed she let ME do that last task.

I got boinked on the head once when Mary let go of the flag, Mary and I got our feet all wet from the morning dew on the grass but those were just minor mishaps. All in all, we took our time, enjoyed the moments, shared the experience together— “We are doing this for the community, Mary!” “Do you get paid?” “No.”

Mary would do it again and we thought about volunteering for Fourth of July Independence Day but then, I remembered the Volvo will be in the shop sometime that week. As it was, I was fortunate to get it started that morning as it was already having problems.

Maybe for Labor Day….

At her very own blogger blog.

Really.

Go check it out.

Fun with the Cat Dudes

I did help with getting her set-up in Blogger and I always have to get her logged in. But, Mary is doing the writing herself. We bounce off ideas with each other and most of the time, she would ignore whatever I said and she would write what she wanted. I encourage her to spell it out herself, just like they do in first grade. As time goes on, I would correct her spelling but for now, I would ONLY spell for her if she asks me directly.

So far, I am very pleased and proud of what she had posted. Not bad for a 6-year-old!

February 3rd, fifty years ago, a country lass  and a city boy  stood in front of a Justice of the Peace and said vows to each other that will bind them to a lifetime together.  The lass, at 22, was rescued from the throes of spinsterhood.  The boy, at 21, was taking over the family business and now ready to take on the responsibility of his own family.

With help from his parents, the city boy and the country lass  settled in the growing industrial/commercial section of Caloocan City, a suburb just outside of Manila, Philippines.   The city boy started his own business, a repair shop, which later on turned into Simplex Engineering, a thriving machine shop that provided apprenticeships and jobs to 20-30 young men.  (To the city boy’s credit, a few of these young men had gone on and opened their own successful machine shop businesses.)

As he was growing his business, the city boy was also growing his family.  Nine months after they were married, the country lass gave birth to Virgilio.  Less than two years later, Gracia.  Almost two years later again, Victor.  Then, Vilma, 21 months later after that.  And finally, Virginia, another 21 months after.  Five kids was what they planned on and five kids was what they had.

For eleven years.

Then came Valerie.

Family was complete.

For this generation.  And then…

Virgilio begot Eleanor and Vince.  Eleanor begot Ajdin. Vince begot Tyler.

Gracia begot Giuseppe and Anamaria.

Victor begot Judith and Joshua.

Vilma begot Mary.

Virginia begot Richard and Dianne.

50 Years begot Six Children, Nine Grandchildren, Two Great-grandchildren and a lifetime of memories.

And Counting…