Facebook....a Different View

Over the weekend...in between pricing, inventory and packing up things for the craft show this weekend....I managed to pop on and off the computer now and then. While chatting with my sister on Facebook I noticed a status that popped up and it was the name of the town we grew up in. I went over to take a look and I was immediately transported back the my childhood.

People had already posted pictures of Fox River Grove and comments were appearing. Of course, being a woman of MANY words....I piped right in. There were discussions about the Picnic Grove (our old amusement park), the Tastee Freeze, the candy store, the burger joint, the Marina,the castle, the ski jump and so much more.


I suggested my sisters that live in TN and SC join up and it turned into a weekend of the three of us, plus another old time "Grovers" writing about their memories of this awesome little town as well. We talked about so many things from our childhood like standing in the frigid weather at the ski meets every year (my brothers jumped when they were younger) to things like my sister buying angora at the dry goods store to wrap around her boyfriend's class ring.


There were moments when the tears filled my eyes as I remembered a gentler, kinder day when kids got to be kids. When you could run and play and just never worry about anything. Parents didn't worry either. It was a different world.

People use to make fun of Fox River Grove. Yes, it was a tiny sleepy little town with few people, but to us then and to us now...it was the greatest place in the world to spend a childhood!

Facebook is definitely a strange world in itself....with all of the games people play and hundreds of ads appearing that are soooo geared to your profile. Are you on Facebook? If you are, do you spend much time on there? Do you use a social networking site to keep in touch with family? Do you use one to reconnect with old friends? Has it had any kind of impact on you either positive or negative?I sure had fun on there this weekend. Please share your thoughts.

When I Grow Up

How many people do you think actually end up doing what they always said they wanted to do when they grew up? My daughter, Tresa wanted to be a teacher during the day and a nurse at night. She did get her degree in education, but after teaching for one year she ended up in marketing and does really well for herself.

Teacher?

My sons, Michael and Matt were both going to be famous athletes. They promised to buy Irv and me our log cabin on a lake. They use to practice signing their autographs all the time. They are both teachers.

Professional Athletes?

Irv wanted to go into some kind of law enforcement. He want to be a body guard, a sharp shooter or work for the FBI. He ended up following in his father's footsteps in the plumbing field and then moved into facility maintenance. He currently works at a school, but he watches every crime show there is on t.v.

FBI Agent?

I grew up in the age of the television variety shows. I wanted to be one of the dancers that every show had. It looked so wonderful and so exciting. I did take ballet, tap and point as a child, but the practice just wasn't for me. I preferred climbing trees, playing with bows and arrows and going to the beach. As I got into my teens, all I wanted to do was get married and be a mom, and that's what I did.

Variety Show Dancer?

How about you? What did you want to be when you grew up? Is that what you are doing?

Happy Day

Happy Mother's Day to all. I hope it is a wonderful day for everyone! My little boy also turns 26 years old today. That is just so hard for me to believe! I have always said that if Matti had been my first...he would have been my only. :) It isn't that he was a terrible child...just a bit more challenging than the other two.

Irv was so excited when Matt was born, because after two blue eyed blonds, Matti had dark hair and brown eyes like his dad. The dark hair didn't last, but oh those pretty eyes.

Matt has always been smart and adventurous. There were no little boys in our neighborhood his age, so he always tried to tag along with Michael and his friends who were all three years older. A week before he turned four, he told us to take the training wheels off his bike because he couldn't keep up with the big kids when they rode on the dirt trails that ran through the empty lots in our neighborhood. We took them off and after a few really hard falls and a lot of angry tears, off he went as happy as could be!

We use to call Matti, Hector the Collector. He was the boy with the full pockets...and you never knew what you might find in them. He couldn't pass up anything he considered "cool", and it was all cool to Matt.

Matt loved soccer and baseball. He even tried some wrestling and played some basketball. It was fun to watch him doing tricks on his roller blades, and he just couldn't get enough of the great outdoors.

We had a four foot deep above ground pool and he loved it from the first time we put him in it. He would slap on a pair of goggles and jump in, swim to the bottom and bring up anything that had been tossed in.

Matti got his first stitches when he was little in a very delicate male area....he slid on his butt down a hill and met up with a stick that was firmly planted in the ground. The next stitches were in his forehead when he flipped over the handlebars of his bike and landed on his face. Have you ever seen how much a facial cut bleeds? Yikes!

He broke his wrist clean through at soccer practice one year. I was sitting in the car reading and the kids came running to get me. When I got to the field, the coach still had him laying on his belly on the field. The coach raised up Matti's sleeve very gently and there was his wrist at a 45 degree angle, only the angle wasn't at his wrist...it was a couple of inches above it. It was SOOOO gross!!

Matti's love for action and adventure has left him bruised, battered and scarred, but what fun he has and how happy he is!
High school was a little intense. It wasn't that he did anything different than my other two did...he just managed to always get caught! Isn't that right Matti? Short hair, long hair, bleached hair, dread locked hair, pierced ears, eyebrow, lip, tattoos...we've seen it all, but the boy inside never changed.

Matt is very opinionated, just like his mom. He has a difficult time allowing other people to have their own opinion when discussing something he is passionate about. He is right and they are wrong. He is learning though as I have learned...to allow each person to have their opinion...even if their opinion is WRONG!! HAHA!
Matt is an amazing teacher according to the parents of his students. His love of all people and of nature warms my heart. He is caring and compassionate and makes me so very proud. He takes such pride in everything he does and tries to make the world a better place for all. He is passionate about life.

His siblings call him a "tree hugger". He rides his bike to work every day rather than drive his car. He sent me what he called a "lame" card, but the selection was minimal in ones that weren't wrapped in plastic.

One of his very best friends is his beautiful border collie Luna. She accompanies him everywhere he goes, and that includes hiking, camping, rock climbing and snowboarding!

I know you are off climbing that 350 foot "rock" today Matti, but Happy 26th Birthday Baby Boy! I love and miss you so much!