Oct 1977:
At the end of September, my great-grandfather, whom we called 'Granddaddy', suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. I don't remember much, but Mom recalls seeing his angry demeanor while being hooked up to monitors, and asked him if he was ready to go. He squeezed her hand and a tear trickled from his eye. Two days later, he died from a heart attack.
This was the first funeral I remember attending, and most of it was spent downstairs in the Hospitality Room, snacking and talking to relatives not seen in a while. Afterward, I was disappointed that someone had forgotten to come get me for the actual service; I missed my grandmother pounding on the casket in grief; my great-grandmother's irritation at the mispronounciation of his name (minister kept calling him 'our dear departed Brother Geese' instead of Geis).
Still, we were thrilled to have our grandparents up from Florida in time for my sister's 7th birthday, and Mom had made us matching outfits, pants and a vest. The first time, she'd accidentally sewed the legs shut, then vowed to never attempt that again! Our cousins Tammy and Richie came also, and we had a wonderful time playing on the swing set.
I think this was also the year Mom put trick candles on her cake. She was furious when she found out she couldn't blow them out, and threatened to dump a cup of water all over her cake! Mom came to the rescue, and explained the joke. We called this her 'Golden Birthday', since she was 7 on the 7th in '77:)
Forgot to mention: While we had been in Florida in Aug, we'd gone to Busch Gardens, and nothing was air-conditioned! Not the restaurant, not the brewery, not even the safari ride. I was dragged onto the log flume ride, and told Mom I was going to kill her when we finished. We also got some relief on the Flying Baskets and the Octopus (Magic Mamba). When we went to the gift shop, I got a toy clydesdale, whom I christened 'Clyde', and still have him to this day. He's got a rubber band around him to hold him together, lol!
The walls began to go up on the den, and I continued to play on the dirt pile, pretending to be an archaeologist.
Also got our 1st cat, Half-Pint, a yellow and white sweet thing:)
Next Month: Starting piano lessons, and being sick on T'day.
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Present Day:
I'm off to the Imaginarium Conference with Nancy Riggs and Brooke Myers! I'm on six panels:
-Building Your Blog
-Kindle, KDP and KU
-Electrifying Your Erotica
-Creating A Book Series
-Navigating The Blogosphere
-Revving Up The Romance
Plus, I hope to dress up as Danerys at the costume ball (practice for Halloween???) and find out the status of Teacher's Pet! Frank says he's launching the first few titles this weekend, so I hope mine's included:)
Happy early birthday to my sister Wendy, whose 'big day' is tomorrow!
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