Friday, October 17, 2008

The Big "50"...




I've been thinking about what I wanted to share with you on this special blog and I think I want to talk about my family for a bit. My father was born in 1903 in Tennessee. Dad loved fun and joking and all us kids teased him and told him he had one leg shorter than the other from walking around the hilly country side in the backwoods of Tennessee.

My mom was born in 1909 in the rip-roaring state of Texas. Her mom and dad had a ranch out in the Texas panhandle around Canadian. When mom was getting up to highschool age, the family moved to Gentry, Arkansas. My father had moved to Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and was going to school at John Brown College. Mother enrolled for two years to earn her teaching certificate. And that's where they met and where a life time love was born.

They married in 1930 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drove to Oklahoma City and lived in that city the rest of their lives. They had six kids over 17 years, 3 boys and 3 girls, and were married for 62 1/2 years when mom died at 85 years of age. My dad followed her home 2 years later at the age of 92. We always told mom, who was a stay-at-home-mom all her life, that she had a bunch of stars in her crown for putting up with dad. Dad always loved a good joke or a pun, loved to play Rook and was a bookkeeper all of his working life.

Now that you know that I wasn't found out in the field under a Prince Albert can, let's get to the good stuff. I wanted to mark my 50th post with something fun. The necklace and earrings pictured above will be given to one of my many (maybe) readers. You know, one of those bribes we all give to try to reap heaps of comments, praise, salutations and/or adulations.... The beads are pressed glass, iridized to give them a little extra pizazz. I picked the color and strung them in a more informal style because it's fall and also it's almost Halloween.

Simply comment telling me how your folks met, or you and your other half, or you and your dog...you get the idea. Tell me about the beginning of a special relationship in your life. All commentors names will be put in a hat with a little peanut butter smeared on one end of the paper and my sweet Chloe will draw the name of the winner.

Comments will be closed at 12 noon CST on Sunday, October 19, 2008, and the winner will be posted Sunday afternoon, or maybe later if I have to chase Chloe down before she eats the name... Did that sound professional?

13 comments:

joanne said...

Ohhhh, I love a contest;)
I met my better half in college...I had seen him on campus here and there and I was interested. Apparently he had noticed me too but I had no idea. I thought he was after my cute, blond, blue-eyed friend. Aren't they all?? Well, one day I was sitting in the lounge trying to finish up some homework before my next class when my pen ran out of ink. I asked, in general, to my group of friends if anyone had a pen. All of a sudden from across the room "he" bounded, flew over a chair, and up onto a table and handed me a pen. wow...then we went on a date to the bookstore!!

joanne said...

p.s. I love the story of your family ;)

Laura ~Peach~ said...

what a wonderful meeting your parents had! and what a LONG life together AWESOME!!!
I met my husband at an AA meeting on Whiskey road in Gtown on a Thursday night back in 1987 LOL... My father thinks that is the ultimate irony and loves to tell the story.

ps cool contest :) Happy 50th!

Anna Lefler said...

What a great blog - thanks for stopping by mine today. I'm glad it made you laugh!

This was a precious one - for 17 years. There in the animal shelter was an entire wall of wire cages full of kittens. I'd never had a cat before, but I was a senior in college and dying to have a little companion. I walked along, looking into each little face, no idea how to choose from among all of them. As I moved forward, I felt a tiny tug at my shoulder and turned to see that one little tiger-striped kitten (7 weeks old) had gotten her entire front leg through a little space in the cage door and had gotten a single claw into a single thread of my sweater. She chose me. And I was sooo lucky.

:^) Anna

Twisted Fencepost said...

You are so funny! Peanut butter bribe! haha
Mom and Dad met through a friend of a friend.
My brother introduced The Captain and I.
I met my dog at the breeders house. Well, one of them. Two of them were rescued dogs and the other a friend gave me from her dogs litter.

Rick said...

Hey RedSoil Lady! A contest. I'm in! I enjoyed reading about how your parent's met. My Mom and Dad met at the Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasaw, Oklahoma. Dad was a local boy, out of the military and Mom was in school there.

They went on a double date - Mom and Dad were both dating the other persons on that date. The very first words out of my Dad's mouth when he met my Mom were... "Why, say doesn't have a wart!" It's a wonder that Mom ever accepted the invitation from Dad for a date, after the pervious interest decided to stop dating her.

They were married in 1950, in Duncan, OK, in the livingroom of my maternal grandparents home. My Grandpa Green performed the ceremony. They borrowed Grandpa Harville's car and went to Turner Falls for their honeymoon.

Hows that for an Oklahoma love story?

Give the necklace to my wife? What makes you think that I wouldn't want to wear it?

Debbie said...

Oh I love contests, although I have never won one yet...LOL.
My dogs, well we met on Craigslist. We rescued all 3 of them from terrible situations. My parents, I have no clue how they met, they got divorced when I was 10 or so. My second hubby I met back when I was a teeny bopper, and he was in the Navy. We both married someone else, had children, etc, and then after our divorces reaqainted ourselves via the internet and here we are all married and in love!! He lived in Tucson Az, and I lived in Charleston SC and here we are in Dayton, Ohio!!

I loved your story!!

Have a great weekend!!

God Bless~
Debbie

kimmy said...

My husband and I met in college at a party. We were sitting around a table playing drinking games. Honestly, for me, it was love at first sight!

Kimmy

Nola said...

Thanks for checking in on me and I loved your story! My mother was brought up by her great aunt who was extremely strick. She fell in love with Dad when she was 17 and the aunt wouldn't let her marry him. So,..,they got pregnant with ME and it was such a scandal she let Mum marry Dad before I started to SHOW!! I was born 15 days after Mum turned 18...3 months "premature" he, he They are still together today and as in love as ever. I am so lucky to have had such love as an example of how it can be as I was growing up! My Dad loves to tell people they swapped me for a labrador dog and later down the track they tried to get the dog back....but it was too late!!!! I met my husband, Ricky, when I was 29 and still a police officer. He was too....he was my Breath Anaylsis Operating Instructor....and you know.....with all that huffing and puffing into that machine and gazing at that gorgeous man in his blue uniform.....*sigh* And besides....if we got married we would have TWO sets of handcuffs...now for the four poster!!!!...lol, lol, lol

GingerJar said...

Me and my hubby actually met on Yahoo personal's. I was a travel nurse and I had came to the Rio Grand Valley to escape an abusive relationship ... I arrived here with 67 cents and some can's of beans. I had met a few gentleman after screening them online, but none really held my interest or sparked that special feeling. Dave saw my ad and anwsered. He was the only man that had a dog pictured with him on his ad. He told me...and this is so cute...that "Killer want's to write to you, but he doesn't have thumbs!", That did it for me...I had to met this man that had such a quick wit...and understood dogs! We met at a Chili's for lunch and the rest is history. He even left his home with a house-sitter to travel with me to Tennessee for a 3 month travel assignment. We got married in Gaitlinburg and honeymooned in a little hillside cabin. We've been married two years...and it still feels so special!

Enter me in the contest!!! I love trying to win stuff. I even won lightbulbs when I was 15 at the State Fair!

Michelle said...

Thanks for the good wishes. We made is safely to Montgomery. The rest of the trip will be easier since we won't have any dogs with us. Congrats on you milestone. Here is to many more.

Hugz

Lisa said...

Boy, I popped over at the right time now didn't I??? I love to tell stories so I will be happy to share mine. Scott and I met 2 1/2 years after my divorce and nearly 3 years after the death of his wife. I was a police officer and he was a fire fighter. We had not worked any calls together that I remember, and I had worked many calls with them. But we had a mutal friend. She had dispatched for the police dept before moving over to the fire dept.. She decided we needed to meet so she had a hog roast at her house. We met, and then he didn't call for a long time. At least a week or two! so I called him! He called another time and asked me to coffee, we met, ( I don't care for coffee, but drank it any way to go out with him). We dated for six weeks and got married. We were married in an old dairy barn (and old hooker barn, yes you read that correct) that had been redone into a really cute place. We were married by a retired Highway Patrolman. Covered all the bases. All we needed was the county dog catcher to be there to have everyone, and he might have been there with out my knowledge!!
That was on Nov 11th,1995 the day OSU beat OU in a rare event. Now I am an OU fan because I love Bob Stoops....Oh, got sidetracked, we are still married almost 13 years later. Hope Chloe picks me!

Tipper said...

I so enjoyed reading about your parents-even if I did miss the giveaway!