Janet's Blog

I wasn't consciously afraid of snakes when I was young. I had seen a few garter snakes around the farm and, later, in our backyard, and I was usually curious enough to take a look at them--from a distance. But when I was about five or six, I started dreaming about snakes. Actually, they weren't dreams at all; they were full blown nightmares. Sometimes, when I was in that state of consciousness right between wakefulness and sleep, my mind would play tricks on me, and I was sure I saw snakes on the floor or in my brother's bed, across the room. The worst times, though, were when I dreamed of snakes in my bed. One night, everyone in the family was asleep when I woke up screaming. Dad rushed into our bedroom, clad only in his underwear, wondering what was the matter. When I cried out about the snakes in our room, he turned on the light to show me that there were no snakes, only Danny's socks lying on the floor next to his bed. I calmed down enough to go back to sleep that ...

Our floral couch sat in the living room for more than 25 years. We hadn't had it for too long when we celebrated November birthdays in 2000. That birthday party was special because it was Victoria's first birthday with us, her new forever family. She had lived in our house permanently for exactly one week. The couch was a perfect spot for a picture to commemorate the day. Bill's mother, Beth, was celebrating her 74th birthday that day, while Victoria was turning five years old, and Bill had just turned 46.  I remember going shopping for a new couch for the family room, sometime in the late 1990s. I didn't expect to be able to buy a new living room couch, too, but the furniture store was having a fantastic sale. So we bought a new couch for the family room, as we had intended, and a beautiful, floral couch for the living room—two for the price of one. That family room couch served us well, and was replaced at least a decade ago. The living room couch wasn't used near...

Bill has been spending some extra time with our seven-year-old grandson. Ari is a middle child, sandwiched between two sisters on each side, with a teenage brother, as well. Sometimes, he benefits from a little additional attention, as they all do. It has become obvious that Ari shares some interests with Grandpa Bill. They both like to explore how things work, and they both enjoy designing, engineering, and constructing a variety of things.  A couple of months ago, Bill was given the opportunity to purchase a used go cart. He didn't have to think too long before deciding to buy it as a project he and Ari could work on together. The go cart needed a new lawnmower motor, some re-upholstery, and a safety harness, among other things, so a couple of times a week, Bill would pick up Ari and the two would go to the shop to work on the go cart. Since Ari has a seven-year-old's attention span, they only worked for an hour or so at a time, stretching the project over several weeks' ...