Halloween Hobos

That's I and my younger sister, Jenny, dressed up for Halloween as children.

I have fond memories of Halloween as a child. I had many brothers and sisters, and my Mom always made sure we all had costumes to go trick or treating. As we got older, we made up our own costumes. Not sure who helped Jenny and me with these costumes, but they're pretty good, aren't they?

Jenny and I always had so much fun together. She's two years younger, and I have great memories of our growing up together. But, I'm the older sister. My memories are good ones.

Sometimes I hear Jenny talk, and I'm not sure her memories are so pleasant of our times together. She recalls some of the times I got angry and mistreated her. I'm shocked! Sweet little ole' me? Really?

A good life lesson for me from this is to always stay open about my memories and check them out with the other principals involved. My girls and I have done that some and it's very interesting the result. Keeps perspective. When you plug in others' feelings and perspectives, memories come into focus and become a little more realistic.

I digress! Halloween is such a fun time. We grew up loving it. Just sharing some memories.
MB

Expressing Thanks

I must confess. I am the world's worst, absolute worst, gift receiver. I love giving gifts to others, but when I receive gifts, I'm a zero expresser of gratitude. I say thanks and that's about it. Later I usually fuss at myself for not being more expressive. I want to change, but I'm not sure this change is an option I can choose and accomplish.

However, in an attempt to show my thankfulness for gifts received from my children for my birthday, I'm dedicating this blog post to that purpose.

From Cherri and family: Cherri and Dara treated Paul and me to lunch and gave me a card with a personal note. Inside was a gift certificate to Starbucks. Great gift!! Every weekday morning Paul and I go to the mall and walk, usually two miles or four times around the inside of the mall. Then we go to my office and Paul goes to Starbucks and buys me a cup of coffee and doctors it with his special recipe. He always uses his own money and w/a tip, that's $2 a morning. I know, I know. It's terrible to give that much for a cup of coffee, but we do. So, with Cherri's gift that's over a month's worth of Starbucks coffee. And a friend sent me a card with another Starbucks gift certificate. Yeah! I will have my caffeine jolt for many mornings to come! Thanks to Cherri and family for a great and much appreciated gift!

From Wade and family: I received in the mail a great gift from Wade and his family. It's a fantastic OU book entitled "The University of Oklahoma Football Vault, The History of the Sooners." It's not only pictures, but it has envelopes holding actual old programs and old tickets. Bob Stoops writes the Foreword. It is a true collection, and very fun to read and reread. My Dad played football and ran track at OU in the early 1930's. I have loved reading this section and seeing the OU record at that time. My Dad also played in the Hula Bowl in Hawaii, and that is also mentioned. Paul and I have season tickets to OU football and enjoy very much all the Sooner hype and we're very much a part of that, yelling and clapping and doing the Boomer-Sooner yell across the stands. Too fun. So this book is very special and enjoyable to us, and it has a prominent place on our glass coffee table for all who come to enjoy. I may need to "regift" this back to Wade after we have thoroughly digested the contents. JK Thanks to Wade and family for a unique and appreciated gift!!


From Melody and family: I had mentioned to Melody a couple of weeks ago about how much I love poetry. In fact, I admire people who can quote poetry lines. I don't quite get the abstract stuff, but certain poets are my favorites because they're able to put in a few words some great thoughts, and I enjoy so much reading those lines. In fact, I usually get inspired to memorize sections of poetry. I have a Shakespeare handbook with snippets from his works that are well known. I read them often. Anyway, that must have been an unknown fact revealed to Mel, and she gave me this book for my birthday and reminded me of my words to her. Great gift! Mel, Tony, and Nat came through Norman on their way to Dallas and treated Paul and me to lunch and gave me this gift.

Hidden in the book was a gift certificate to Borders. A double gift! Thanks to Mel and her family for my birthday gift!

From Brett and family: I have to write here that Paul and I are book store addicts. We can spend more time and money in a bookstore than in any shoe or clothing store. We love books, and we have shelves in the garage full of books, an outside building of Paul's office full of books, an inside office with one wall of shelves full of books, and then different areas of the house are filled with books. This last group of books should be given away, and we will one day, but it's hard to make the decisions which ones to part with. All of this is a preface to say that Brett and his family gave me a gift certificate to Hastings. I'm savoring the thought of getting to go in and buy more books. I'm surfing my favorite blog writers to see what they're reading for ideas. How fun is this? Thanks to Brett and his family for this great gift!

So, to make up for my lack of physical expression and adequate verbal words of thanks, thanks to all of you, four wonderful kids and families, for such wonderful birthday gifts. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and the time you took to choose, buy, and get to me your gift. I'm a grateful and thankful Mom.
MB

Grandsons and Football Games

Six weeks ago, our oldest grandson, Ty, told us he had received a nice bonus at work and that he wanted to use some of it to treat Grams and Papaw by taking us to the OU vs TX game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on October 11. Wow! We were thrilled and excited and enthusiastically accepted the invitation.


Here are Paul and Ty sitting in one of the buildings at the TX State Fair. We arrived so early we had to find some places to find drinks and food and to sit down and rest awhile. We left the motel at 6:30 am, had breakfast, and headed over to the Cotton Bowl, parked, and were walking in at 8 am. We found ESPN's Game Day and stood and yelled and laughed and stayed until the telecast started. We left that huge crowd to find a resting place before going into the stadium.


Not sure why Ty is frowning when he has his picture taken with me. Hmmm... Maybe it was because Papaw had to try twice to take the picture, and Ty's not the greatest fan of having his picture taken although he was very gracious.

We had so much fun. Best of all was the one-on-one time with our 25-year-old grandson who is smart, good-looking, and just a pleasure to be with. He knows so much about everything!! We had fabulous seats at the game; it was a perfect weather day; and everything was so much more than we could have even hoped for. Except that, of course, we lost. Bummer! Otherwise a perfect and fun day!
MB

Her Life 1918–2008

Julia Margaret Lee Burleson West left her earth suit Saturday, October 4, 2008, and put on her heavenly suit and entered another life. In our common vernacular she died yesterday.


Margaret and Reed Burleson had four children, two girls Betty and Fern, and two boys Paul and Jim.


Reed Burleson died in 1971 in October at the age of 56. Margaret remarried a few years later to Eldon West.


After a few years of marriage, Eldon died. Over the years Margaret became a widow twice, lost her daughter Fern, and had some health issues. As she grew older, she progressively moved into smaller living quarters, assisted living, and finally became a resident in a nursing home. None of this was easy, but she made the best of every situation. As the changes came and she adjusted, she would eventually say, this is okay. She was a real trooper and learned to accept the different stages of her life.

Last May, the family hosted a 90th birthday party. Here's a picture of some of our family with her at that party.


The services are pending and the details will be decided today, Sunday. The reality of losing a loved one sometimes takes time to soak in. As I was looking through and choosing pictures for the service, I walked down memory lane of Margaret's life. Though she's gone from us physically, she as others of our family who have died, will live on in our hearts and memories. This is the way I'll remember her, younger and laughing and enjoying life.


See you later, Margaret.
MB