Thursday, April 28, 2011

MY HOW THINGS CHANGE

Today as I was going through some drawers full of lots of old pictures and such I found something kinda interesting. It was interesting to me because in my last post I wrote about my birthday.  So what I found was the hospital bill for my birth 74 year ago.  There seems to be quite a difference from the hospital bills of today. The bill was for $50.00 and my Mom spent 10 days in the hospital.  To be fair, I guess I should say that I think my Dad was making $15.00 a week delivering coal and my Mom was not working.  When my folks first got married, my Dad had a paper route which paid him $2.00 a week and my Mom earned $2.00 a week working for some rich folks.  She cleaned, cooked, did laundry and ironed.  She managed to save enough money out of those earnings to buy my Dad his first ever top coat.  Amazing.

Some day I will post a picture of my Dad  in his that new top coat.  He really looked quite dapper.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Birthday

Celebrated my 74th birthday yesterday.  Yikes, how did I get that old.  Was a good birthday because I rec'd many phone calls and Facebook greetings from all my family and many friends all over the world.  What was strange, was when it dawned on me that this was the first time in 74 years that I have ever spent my birthday alone. Bothered me for a while until I went to the store and got myself a cake and ice cream.  Didn't quite take the place of having folks around to celebrate with me, but it helped quite a bit. On the other hand, being able to celebrate all those years with family and friends is a true blessing which has given me a wealth of wonderful memories.  One of my favorite was the surprise party my hubby sprung on me for my 45th birthday.  It was really a big surprise to me and so many people came.  It was great fun.  Best gift I rec'd was from my dear departed friend, Betsy Powell.  She made me a pillow that said, "I would rather be 45 than pregnant".  After having been pregnant with 7 children  for 13 years it seemed quite appropriate. So now it is on to 75, the good Lord willing.  Besides I do not feel a day over 45.  I do need to get rid of all my mirrors tho.