We are having a beautiful Spring. The Dogwood and Redbud Trees are beautiful. And my Azaleas are the prettiest ever! Hope everyone on the Stream is having a nice Spring wherever you are. My tulips are taking a beating from the strong storms. Todays high was 84 degrees and low will be in the 50's.........Not long until the hot Texas heat will be beating down on us. Until then, we are enjoying our Spring!

Tom Cruise was so cute then, and not near as complicated as today!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday Night!!!! Heide

PS This is my hubbys favorite Rock and Roll Song----He's not all that fond of Tom!!!!

Going to be gone a few more days.....Want to leave you with a poem a friend sent me!! Take care, Heide

"SLOW DANCE"

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask "How are you?" , do you hear the reply?
When the day is done do you lie in your bed With the next hundred chores
running through your head?

You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow?"
And in your haste not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch or let a good friendship die?
'Cause you never had time to call and say,"Hi"?

You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened
gift...thrown away.

Life is not a race. Do take it slower.
Hear the music before the song is OVER.
--------------------

Spring is my time to reflect on many things. Lately it has been on my childhood and how differently I was raised compared to my children and the children of today.

I'm not saying I was raised better. I have too many hangups to voice that. I was however, raised by two parents who loved me very much, only in very different ways.

They both had been married before. They both got their divorces on the same day of the same month and the same year. Mom was in Texas, and Dad was in Missouri.

They met thru my granddad. Dad was stationed at Camp Hood, as it was called then (now Ft. Hood), and he and my granddad frequented the same bar. Granddad loved my Dad like a Son...

My Mother had no intentions of ever marrying again. Dad was quite smitten with her and presistance prevailed. They were married. When Dad was somewhere in France I was born. They both were in their middle thirties.

I was named after Dad's mother who died before I was born. She was 84. When my Dad was born she was 49.

Her first born, Uncle Karl, was killed somewhere in France during WW1. She thought my Dad would never come back either. She never lived to see him make it home.

My Dad had one sister who he worshiped and three older brothers. He never thought he would be a Dad. His Sister and Brothers were so thrilled!

Mom showed me his picture and taught me to say Daddy. When I saw him for the first time, she said I knew him, and called him Daddy.

My Granddad drove Mom and me to pick Dad up at Camp Fannin in Tyler, Texas. He hugged us all and got behind the wheel, and headed toward Temple.

Dad was driving fast, and Granddad, said Son, slow down, I'm out of tire rations. Dad said it does'nt matter I'm in the United States of America. Someone will stop and help us! I'm HOME!

Each Season, I say It is My Favorite, except Summer......Summer is OK, but it has never been a favorite of mine since my Dad died.

Dad always took four weeks off each summer, and we would pile into a blue and white Desoto that spit ice. The air conditioner was awesome, but had a few bugs to work out. I don't remember the cars we had without air conditioners, but I remember us laughing as we drove across the desert with our air conditioner spiting ice.

We stayed in tourist courts. Mom would fry chicken or pork chops for supper. Just like at home. White bread and gravy too!

We carried a cooler with us, with fresh eggs we would buy from farm houses on the way. We had summer sausage and crakers and cheese and onions. We seldom ate out except the hamburger places that sold five burgers for a $l.00.

In the mornings after we had packed up and gotten on the road, Dad would find an old country road or road side park, and my granddad and I would hunt wood and sticks, and Dad would build a fire and fry eggs, bacon and bread with butter. Fresh tomatoes were usually on the menu too.

By the time I was eighteen, I had been to 38 states and Canada!

Summers were wonderful. Daddy made them that way.

My Granddad liked his beer, and really liked Pearl Pop with the Foam on top... We carried alot of that too.

Mom would wash out our seer sucker short sets she had made us, and they would dry over night.

Life was good. Spring brought us Summer...and my Summers were very Special..Daddy made them that way.