HEEERRRREEE’S PAM!

Sometimes someone tells me a story that just strikes a chord, you know what I mean?  It is almost like driving along and hearing some song on the radio and having to pull over and cry.  You do not really understand that emotion, cannot really remember a specific moment when something memorable happened while that song played, that tugs at your heart strings.  You just know that it does. 

My granddaughter, Abigail, received a stuffed dog for Christmas from my brother.  It plays songs and teaches the child things if you press its paws, feet, ears, and so on.  There is a little song that it sings when you press one paw that says, “I love you, I love you, I do love you.”  Every time that song plays, Abigail’s bottom lip starts sticking out, and she cries a heartbroken cry, almost like she’s hearing from another world we do not see or hear. 

That is the way I felt when I read Pam’s story about her life moments.  So, without any further ado, here are her words.

“Oh, wow, my most memorable moment.  Well, I'm quite sure most memorable moments are yet to come. Like watching my  children and grandchildren grow and thrive and live long happy lives.  I must say my most memorable moment to date was meeting Tim, my husband.  Because without him, none of my fondest memories would exist.  Tim is the most caring, loving, helpful and tolerant person in my world.   Together we had two beautiful daughters raised with care and love and values.   We are blessed.

And my favorite things to do as a kid?  Oh my, where do I begin?  I guess at the beginning.  I was raised in a small coal mining town in Eastern PA.  This is hard coal (Anthracite) and not that soft coal (bituminous) coal from out in the western part of PA.  I had the best parents ever.   My mother was the nurturer my Dad was the adventurer.  I lived a great childhood.  We didn't have much, but always happy, happy, happy.   We lived across the street from a school yard with a great playground and part of it was  a hard surface where they used to flood it in winter and make an ice skating thing.  Well, as you could imagine, kids flocked there.  Who wouldn't?  Kids get hurt while skating.  So, the hurt ones would come to my house and mom and dad would clean them up.  Their parents always knew where they were.  They were in good hands.  Soon after they stopped flooding the yard.

Then, almost every Sunday afternoon my Dad would take the neighborhood kids on a hike up the North Mountain; however, only in Fall when there were no snakes.  We would hike up that mountain and cook potatoes at the top and hike back down where my mom would meet us at about 4pm on the other side.  How cool was that?”

I would say that was VERY cool, Pam!  Thanks for taking the time to share with us all here at My People! 

AHHHH, MY BOYFRIEND, DON GRAMELSPACHER

One Saturday afternoon about fifteen years ago, my son and his best friend approached me while I was doing dishes.  I can remember Ian saying, “Do you still have the football tickets for next weekend?”  I said, “Yes, I do, why?”  Chris, Ian’s friend replied, “Do you know my dad?”  Again the answer was, “Yes, I do, why?”  “He likes football,” Chris said, and the boys left.

About an hour later, my phone rang, and who do you think was on the other end?  After talking for about half-an-hour, Don said, “I would like to go to that game with you, if you would ask me.” 

So I did, and the rest is history.  We have been fast friends, confidants, parents, and in love ever since.

Tonight I asked Don what his most memorable moment was.

“Well, that’s easy.  It was July 1, 1970.  I was going to school in St. Louis.  I was nineteen years old, about to turn twenty.  I had classes from six p.m. until ten p.m. every night and had just gotten home and turned on TV in time to see the second lottery draw for the draft for the Vietnam War.  While I was sitting there drinking a beer, I heard, ‘Congratulations, July ninth, you’re the winner!’ and there it was, big as life, my birthday and a big red “1” beside it.  I couldn’t believe it.  I just sat there staring at it then yelled, ‘I’ll be damned, I WON something!’”

Of course, he and I laughed at that memory, but soon became very sober when understanding exactly what that meant.  It gave me chills, the thought of being a child, practically, about to be loaded up and sent to war, thousands and thousands of miles away from family, friends, and home.

Soon, though, we were smiling again when Don told me about swimming everyday as a kid with his brothers. 

“We would walk to the pool absolutely everyday!  There were six of us boys, and we would get there when it opened and go home for dinner when it closed.  Back then if you had a big family, you could get a patch sewn on your swimming trunks so you could get in everyday without paying, and we took advantage of that!  Boy, did we ever have a great time!”

So if you would, salute a wonderful man for serving his Country and for loving ME, neither of which has been an easy road!  S A L U T E, Don…and at ease! 

I love you, Mr. Gramelspacher!

 

THERE ARE ANGELS AMONG US – EILEEN O’BRIEN

In my life I am so blessed to have people surrounding me who are such loving, generous, kind, and caring folks. 

One, however, is honestly, I believe, an angel on earth. 

Eileen works tirelessly and endlessly to help find shelter and services for the homeless in Boston.  And as difficult, stressful, and tiring as that is, she still finds room in her heart for her friends. 

Say hi to Eileen O’Brien.  Words really cannot describe the capacity of her heart, so I am just going to publish her story here and let you all meet her and enjoy her words.

God bless ya, Eileen!

“I have two extremely memorable moments. The first has been mentioned by a few others, and that is seeing and hearing The Cowsills in 2000 at TORI. I remember sitting there before the music started, wondering will it be as good as I remember? How could it be? And then hearing those beautiful voices singing together again, realizing it was better than I remembered, and just feeling pure joy. And at the end of the Saturday show, when everyone was cheering wildly, having Billy come back to the front of the stage and say, "we really love you guys, too, and that ain't no bullshit!" It was such a lovely moment.

The second was watching the Boston Red Sox win the 2004 World Series, the first championship for the team in eighty-six years, with my dad. Earlier that evening I had received an award for my work, so my parents were in town. After the ceremony, we went back to their hotel to watch the game in the bar. Seeing this long awaited victory would have been sweet under any circumstances, but to be able to experience it with my dad, who had taught me about baseball, and more importantly, about how to be a Red Sox fan, was a moment I will hold in my heart forever.

As for childhood activities, I grew up in a semi-rural part of town with lots of wide open spaces. In the neighborhood there were five other families with kids all around the same ages and we often played all together as a group. Sometimes we played regular organized games, like baseball or tag, but much of the time we played games that we made up together. There was a big overgrown field behind were our houses were, and we would go into the field and set up camps and create our own adventures. There was a little brook running through the field, and we would hike the brook in the summer, and ice skate there in the winter. Our mothers knew we were together, so they pretty much left us to our own devices, knowing that we were safe together.  We often pretended we were all brothers and sisters; in retrospect I realize that we were a tribe. We spent as much time as we could outside--with no sunblock or bug spray!

My other favorite activity was reading. I have always loved to read and still do. I can remember waking up very early on Saturday mornings so I could read for as long as possible until I had to start doing my chores. My paternal grandmother gave me boxes and boxes of books when her cousin passed away, so I read a lot of novels that took place in the 1940s and 1950s. I still have some of those books today. Classics!”

AND NOW, FROM RHODE ISLAND, COLLEEN LONG!

Another cowsill.com friend of mine is from the original Cowsillland, Rhode Island.  It’s a tiny little state that has a huge personality!  The people there are just all genuinely nice East Coast folks who love their state and prove it by leaving nice, cozy, warm, Southern California and returning there time and time again. 

I love Rhode Island, too, and a lot of friendships have been formed and bonded on its beautiful shores. 

Colleen used to work for Continental Airlines and we nicknamed her Continental Colleen.  Having a pal behind that desk has been a lifesaver for people traveling to Cowsill events out there now and again.  If it wasn’t for Colleen, some of us might still be living in Rhode Island, whether we wanted to or not! 

So I’m introducing my friend, Colleen Long, here, by asking her to answer a couple of questions.  I was warmed by her answers, and I think you will be, too. 

When asked about her most memorable moment, this one sprang to mind for her with no thought having to go into it at all:

“There have been many!  But the one at the VERY top of the list is of the day the adoption agency finally called after a wait of seven years and said they had a baby girl for us to ‘consider.’ Seriously? Does anyone ever say, ‘nah, not that one!!??’  Twenty-six years later, and the memory of that day is as sharp as the moment it happened.  My beautiful daughter will be married on September 18, 2010.  Where does the time go?”

What a touching story, Colleen, thank you for sharing that with me and our readers!

I asked her, then, what her favorite thing to do as a little girl was, and she answered, “To play with my dolls.  We’d play school for hours at a time.  I really loved those dolls!”

A lot of women can identify with that pastime! 

Here’s wishing you and your daughter a very happy 2010, and it certainly seems to be gearing up to go in that direction! 

Cheers to you both!