Random 5 for March 19 – People, parties, gifts, coincidences, gratefulness

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This week it’s all about friends!

The jumping frog — thanks Susannah!

A week of friends – It’s been a challenging week but some meet-up with friends soothed everything. One group met for dinner. We laughed. Big deep belly laughs. Laughter is a healer but it’s hard to laugh alone.

The game night crowd – Finishing off the friend week, we met some game friends. A little competition and a lot of food do wonders.

A friend sends the promise of spring – It’s not the weather but a blogger friend send me a jumping frog (no, not a real one) that made me laugh. Made the cats jump too and that made me laugh.

It’s a small world – A few weeks back I realized that one of my exercise buddies had been a teacher at my step-kids school many years ago. She had one of them in class. My step-daughter remembered her (fondly). This week I found out her sister worked at the same company I did at the same time. It is a large company so it’s not unusual that we never crossed paths but it is indeed a small world.

Be thankful for what you have – The two sisters in the above paragraph moved to my area as adults. I asked how they got here and why. They were raised in the poor rural south. Two parents and three kids lived in a four-room house without running water. This wasn’t in the 1800s. They are my age. I am very grateful for where I lived and what I have. I don’t remember a time without running water although I remember when my Mom got her first spiffy porcelain sink. She was over the moon. We have come so far and take so much for granted.

So how was your week?

Laugh with your friends this week!

63 thoughts on “Random 5 for March 19 – People, parties, gifts, coincidences, gratefulness”

  3. Oh my! A porcelain sink. What did you have before that? I remember when people starting getting stainless steel, but I thought porcelain had been around quite sometime! Are the cats afraid of the frog or are they interested in it?

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  5. When my mom was nine, her dad lost his job. He decided that he would walk the twenty miles to the nearest welfare office to try and sign his family up. Instead of getting help, he contracted typhoid. While my grandfather was dying, the authorities came in and took my mom and her sisters and slapped them in the county home. Though the loss of her father left a huge scar, Mom still has fond memories of a kind lady in the home bringing her a bowl of peaches and a slice of butter bread. What a special meal it was for a little girl who had seen a lot of hunger. She felt like a queen feasting in such luxury. She was so thankful.
    Our Sunday dinner today included Belgium waffles, strawberries, blueberries, and whipped topping, sausage, and a cheesy ham and hash brown casserole. All of that food, and our gang wasn’t half as thankful as that little girl had once been for a few peaches and a slice of bread. You’re right. We take far too much for granted.

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  6. I think spring is about here and I am so ready. Laughing is the best. When my brother was sick one of the things I missed the most was his laughter. I still miss his silliness and he has been gone twelve years.

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    • Today is spring but we are still snow covered from last weeks snowstorm. I am so ready! It is really hard to be upbeat when your health isn’t good. I always thought “old” people were just cranky. Now I find out they probably didn’t feel good.

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  8. Laughter with friends is the best. And, even better, is when we laugh about shared experiences from long ago. I have a friend that I’ve known since before I could walk… we still laugh about the stupidest stuff that only we find funny (our husbands just look at us like we are crazy… we are). Love the frogs!

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  12. I agree — a big, deep belly laugh with friends is simply the best!
    PS – Speaking of the above, I began laughing at the picture of your wind-up frog before I even read your post. There is definitely something about him!

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  15. Laughter with friends is the best! It lingers long after the actual event. I am sorry I never talked with my grandmother more about her past. My mom’s mom was the only grandparent alive when I was born and though I remember her well and she lived with us for a time, I never sat down and had conversations with her about her history. I wasn’t old enough to realize how important it would be.

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    • Me too with my mom. My grandparents were gone by the time I was old enough to ask questions. Sometimes I think older people with self-absorbed children should put something together either written or audio because one day their kids will want to know!

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    • I was outside a few weeks back when we had the unseasonably warm weather and it was wonderful. Now I am again cooped up inside. We are expecting some warming this week but only to seasonal. Nothing to write home about but way better than snowstorms in March.

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  20. Ah…. you triggered memories of the 5 of us (Parents + 3 kids) living in a 40ft caravan. One chemical toilet (we learned to share!) and bath time meant waiting for a tin bath to be filled with warm/hot water (all heated in pans on a gas stove)! 🙂

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        • I wish I would have asked my mother more about her life when she was alive. I know that there were no “true” Christmas presents. There were 9 kids. They got citrus fruit and nuts in their stockings. If they needed a sweater they got yarn. I know her house was the first in the town to get electricity. There was a cistern for water right outside the house. The house did not have central heat. The upstairs was cold and the kids would dress in front of the downstairs cooking range. Her Dad died when she was 9 and there were no government programs to help. The older sons worked and turned their money over to their Mom (can you see that happening today?) and they gardened for food. They all survived very well.

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          • Even our first home (mid 1950’s) only had heat downstairs (it was supposed to “rise” to heat the upstairs! That heat was via hot water radiators, and the hot water tank was heated by a coal fire. i.e. you want hot water in the summer, you plan ahead! Those were the standards of the times and, while today’s standard of living is wonderful, so much appreciation and respect for just the basics has been lost

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