Happy Birthday, Josh!

I was driving home this morning and my car overheated. Drove to repair shop…major coolant work.I’ll have to work a bit more to earn more travel $$$ now. Ugh!!
It is my youngest son’s 19th birthday. Still have to do something special there. Happy Birthday, Joshua!
I thank God I wasn’t on the highway. Saturday night I was running late to get somewhere and came across a bad accident. Had I been on time I would’ve been the one being extracted from my car with the “jaws of life.” Count your blessings every day, people!
“Happy Birthday to Josh, my youngest son,
My car over-heated so it can’t be run,
Love you lots, Josh, from ev’ryone.
From early dawn to the setting sun,
I hope your day is filled with fun.
My car won’t fire, unlike a gun,
The shop says my car is done,
Soon,but it’ll cost $264-1-1,
I’m so proud of you, ‘Hon,’
Now, this poem is done.”
Love, Mom XXOO

Dear Libby

“The following are brief excerpts from her letters I kept:
6/68…’I am sorry to hear about the shooting of Senator Kennedy. It was a dreadful thing to happen.’
12/68…’End of year concert, sixth grade is going to do a modern musical…my friends and I are all go-go dancers and we enjoy practicing.’
12/69…’Do you like Elvis Presley? I like the Monkees the best. Which pop group do you like the best?’
10/70…’We changed to the metric system.’
2/71…’Isn’t it good that the astronauts arrived safely back from the moon?’
11/71…’On the 31st of October, daylight savings was introduced in Australia. No, I haven’t seen the movie ‘Billy Jack’ It should come to Australia soon.’
1/72…’Congratulations to you on getting your learner’s permit. In Australia we have to be 16 years and nine months to get one. How old are you again? I’ll be 15 in a fortnight.’
12/72…’Yes, I’ve seen ‘Gone with the Wind’ twice and just finished reading the book.’
Later, letters became less frequent. Libby has studied for a teaching degree, acquired a nursing degree with emphasis on Gerontology and has become certified midwife.
She married a friend of her family, an architect, and they have three sons. It’s still so wonderful whenever I hear from her.
Her husband’s co-worker has a daughter who has been exchanging letters with my daughter, Kaira, for about four years now. Of course, they plan on using e-mail.”

Grmaval’s Travels

Hi from Fargo! I thought this would be a fun way to share my upcoming trip to Australia. On July 26th, my 56th birthday, I’ll be flying out, leaving the continental U.S. or Canada for the first time. August 11, 1999, I wrote a column in a small town “rag,” entitled, “Dear Libby.” Here it is:
“What started out as a Camp Fire Girls project ended up being an experience that had an enormous impact on my life. Back in 1966, I had chosen an index card with a 9-year-old girl’s name on it who lived in Australia. She wanted a “pen friend in America.” while it was snowing outside I wrote and sent my first letter, signing “Your pen pal, Val.” she wrote back telling me about her mum, her sisters, and her pet cat. She also mentioned her dad’s death in an airplane crash a few years earlier. He had been a pilot. Over the years, by exchanging letters and photos, we became good friends. We could always confide with each other about school, religion, fashion, family, friends, camping, and our first dates. We taught each other about our countries through our travels. Libby was also an exchange student in New Zealand. One year her family took in an exchange teacher from New Jersey. I was always welcome to spend a year there growing up. Instead, we continued to write.” (continue)