Christmas Blessings

This digital greeting personalized with Smilebox To all my friends, I wish you a blessed Christmas with family and friends.  I am so thankful for all of you and your support in 2012.  I pray that each of you will know God's peace and comfort during this blessed holiday.   Much love to all. Kat

My First Car

     What teenager doesn’t dream of their first car?  Not your parents’ car that you drive when you first get your license, that doesn’t count.  You dream of YOUR first car; the one that actually belongs to you; that you buy and pay for with your own money.

     What will you get?  Maybe a red sports car…or maybe blue, powder blue.  And what make will it be…perhaps a camero, or better yet, a mustang!  (You have to remember, this was a long time ago!)

     For me, the year was 1971.  I had moved in with my sister’s family for the summer, after graduating high school.  I got a job about 8 miles away at Stuckeys and needed a way to get back and forth to work.  At 18, and working in the diner at Stuckeys, I was your typical struggling young woman; in other words, flat broke.  Obviously, my first car wasn’t going to be anything fabulous. 

     Since I knew absolutely nothing about a car and my brother-in-law did, he set out to find me an affordable car that would get me back and forth to work.  Me, I’m still hoping for that cute little sports car.

     Finally, the big day came.  Gayle had found me a car and I couldn’t wait to see it!  Imagine my surprise when I saw this…

     That’s right!  It was an early model Rambler.  A box on wheels.  Skin color beige.  Undoubtedly the ugliest car I had ever seen in my life!  Maybe that’s why I don’t even have a picture of the actual car, but, the one above is very similar.  I’m not even sure what year model it was but I think late 50’s or very early 60’s. 

     But, on the up side, it did run and it was in my price range.  By summer’s end, I had become quite fond of my box.  I kept it until fall when I got a job at a bank in Louisville and would have a much longer commute back and forth to work.  I then traded my little clunker in for a gold Chevy Chevelle.  I finally had my sports car.

Until next time…that’s my view.

Kat

Written for this week’s GBE prompt – Your First Car

Photo courtesy of http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/car_spotters_guide_usa_1958.htm

My True Love Story

     This story was originally posted on Valentine's Day.  I am reposting it today in response to today's GenFab bloghop.

     By special request, I have decided to write a love story that fits in very well with this week's GBE2 prompt,  Do-Over.   This is a true story so any resemblance to real characters is completely intentional.

     Recently in response to an award that had graciously been bestowed upon me by Jo over at My Wandering Mind, I made the following statement about myself:

6.  I had a full academic scholarship to college that I gave up because I fell in love with the earlier 

     mentioned dairy farmer and couldn't bear to leave him for 4 years.  I would do it all over again.

     To my surprise, this statement seemed to catch everyone's attention and many left comments wanting to know more; so following is my true love story.

     It was the summer of 1971 and I had just graduated from our small high school, only 26 in my graduating class.  I graduated Valedictorian and had been awarded a full academic scholarship to Franklin College, a small Baptist College near Indianapolis, IN. where I was to attend in the fall.  Like most teenagers, I couldn't wait to get out of our small town so the very next day after graduation I moved to Kentucky to live with my sister and her family for the summer.  

     First thing on my to-do list was find a summer job, which I found at the local  Stuckey's out by the interstate.   I had worked at restaurants every since I was old enough so working behind the snack bar there was a breeze.

     At that time, my sister's family lived in a trailer at the Country Club, sort of as night watchmen.   The addition of another person in the trailer made for cramped living quarters but my sister and brother-in-law were so wonderful.  They took me in as if it were no big deal and I'll always love them for it.   Anyway, living at the country club was a great way to meet people.  I met several nice people my age who played tennis or came to the swimming pool.  Since I had never played tennis in my life, I spent a lot of time watching the others.  Eventually, I gave in a bought a tennis racket.

     Both Kenneth and his brother, Steve played tennis and their dad played golf.  Their mom came out a lot and either rode on the golf cart with Fred or sat and watched the boys play tennis.  Believe it or not I actually got to know her before I did Kenneth.  

      At that time, my brother-in-law drove a milk truck that delivered the local farmers milk to the dairy processing plant in Louisville.  Since Kenneth's family milked cows and Gayle picked up their milk they were friends.  Kenneth often stopped by to talk to Gayle if we were outside when he came to play tennis.  

     If you've ever lived in a rural area you know that the big entertainment that draws everyone in the county is a tractor pull.  At least that was certainly the case here.  Everyone who was anyone was there.  Not having a clue what a tractor pull was, I went along with my family to see who I could see.    Once there I was amazed at the crowd and actually found it interesting watching these big tractors try to pull a moving box of weights further than the others.  I had never seen anything like it.  I grew up in a small town, but I lived in town.  We weren't really what I would consider a rural area; there were some farms but it wasn't the main economic source.  I had never heard of a tractor pull.

     Anyway, I was having a good time and had run into several people I had come to know.  When it got dark I happened to run into Kenneth's mom sitting with a friend of hers in their pick-up truck watching the tractor pull.  They invited me to sit with them.  I jumped at the chance, hoping Kenneth might come around.  Sure enough, not long after I got in, here he came.   Just as we started talking my sister walked up and said they were ready to go home.    Not now, I thought to myself, but said nothing.  Before I had a chance to say anything Kenneth spoke up and said, "You can go ahead, I'll bring her home."   Needless to say, my heart did a cartwheel! 

     I can't say that it was love at first sight because we had seen each other before...but I might have to say it was love at first date.  That wonderful night that changed my life forever happened late in June and I don't think we missed a day seeing each other until we married a year later.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

     We had a wonderful summer dating and I dreaded the approaching fall.  He had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen and I fell more in love with him every time I looked into them.  We hadn't really talked about what was going to happen beyond the summer until one night when we couldn't put it off any longer.   I knew I didn't want to leave him, it was so far and long distance romances were so hard.  I was sure he felt the same way but we had to discuss it openly and honestly.   Giving up a scholarship was a big decision and not one to be made lightly.  He had me at, "I am sure I don't want you to go because one day I want our last names to be the same".   To this 18 year old it was the most romantic proposal I could imagine.  

     Instead of going away to college I found a job at a bank, bought my first car to drive to work and stayed with my sister's family until the following June when we married.  Kenneth took me to the farm several times and introduced me to my first real cow.  I had been to the zoo but cows aren't usually found in the zoo and besides, you don't really get up close and personal with zoo animals.  But hey, when you're young and in love you think you can do anything and even a huge cow looked like a teddy bear, and I could get used to the smell, right?   I could be a farmer's wife..no problem.

     That summer was like living my own personal fairytale.  Kenneth presented me with my engagement ring on Christmas Eve that year (but that's a story for another blog).  We were married on June 25, 1972 and will celebrate our 40th anniversary this year.  The fall after we were married I received a phone call from Franklin College telling me that my scholarship was still open if I would like to change my mind.  I thanked them and explained that I was happily married and would not be accepting their generous offer.  I've been asked over the years if I ever regretted my decision and my answer to that is always the same.  That is one decision in my life that if given the chance to do it over I would do it just the same all over again.

Until next time...that's my view.

Kat

A Smile for You

     Who doesn't love a smiley face?  You've seen those cute little faces that people include in their emails and on their facebook status updates.  Did you ever wonder where they come from?

 

     Believe it or not, a website called myemoticons.com has a download that gives you an endless choice of emoticons to suit every message and mood.  It is completely free and once downloaded, you can add those cute little pictures to your facebook status, facebook messages, emails, and even twitter updates.  Who wouldn't want to show your friends how you are really feeling with facebook smileys chat!

 

      When you download the facebook emoticons, you get 3 separate galleries of different pictures.  Maybe you are feeling tired, or upset, or right down mad...there's a smiley for that.  Perhaps you want to express that you are jumping for joy...there's a smiley for that.  And when you are feeling all warm and fuzzy, there are all kinds of smileys for expressing your love.  Then let's not forget the holidays...there are plenty of smileys to cover that.   No matter what you are feeling, there is a smiley to express it.

     So the next time you chat with a friend on facebook, why have a boring chat with plain old words!  Instead, why not have a facebook smileys chat!

Until next time...that's my view.

Kat

This post brought to you by your good friends at myemoticons.com