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50 Random Thoughts on my 50th Birthday

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Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Delaware, Junior Achievement, Virginia

There’s not much in the way of genealogy here; just some random musings, some thoughts about my past, and maybe, a hope or two for the future.

1. I think a lot of people don’t think about the impact that being a victim of a bully can have on your life.  I can still tell you the name of guy from elementary school, two years older than me that would tease me until I cried.  Even to this day, when stressed, I cry easily.
2. We often hear about how catty high school girls can be to other girls, but in my high school, I never experienced that.  When I was sixteen, I developed alopecia, and for the next ten years, had a bald spot about the size of a quarter on the back of my head.  Rather than give me a hard time about it, the girls in my school watched out for me, and let me know if my hair needed adjusting to cover over that spot.
3. I still remember the look on the face of the guy at Junior Achievement that thought it was cute to come up to me and say “Hey Baldy!” at the top of his lungs, trying to be funny.  He didn’t think it was so funny when I grabbed him, and slammed him against the wall.  While I do regret getting angry, the look of fear in his eyes said he probably thought twice before being a smart Aleck again.
4. The words “I’m sorry” or their equivalent can have such a powerful healing effect.  In my senior year in high school, a girl who had teased me in elementary school admitted she and a friend had been mean to me, but that she wished she hadn’t because I was “so nice”.  Just thinking back to that in a moment when I’m not feeling very positive about myself can lift my spirits in a way that no self-affirmation ever could.  And Brenda, if you ever read this, thank you.  I don’t know if you remember saying it, but I still remember, and it still impacts my life in a positive way.
5. I may not agree with my brother all the time, but he’s the only one in the world who could convince me to beat up a girl two years older than I was because he’d get in trouble for it (he wasn’t allowed to hit girls).
6. Never, EVER trust a girl who comes up and randomly starts stirring your hot cocoa while you’re standing there, holding the cup.
7. The ability to fight might come in handy, but the ability to talk your way out of a fight might save your skin.
8. Never try to push a car by yourself on an icy hill.
9. Reading aloud is one of the best gifts you can share with a child.  Thanks, Dad!
10. If I had ever had grandchildren, I always had wanted to say:   “When I was your age, we didn’t have all these fancy games with their 3-D graphics, and digital sound.  You know what we had?  Pong!  You know what Pong was?  Two lines and a dot!”
11. The best gift I ever gave myself is learning more about my family tree.
12. My brother and I once got in trouble because we stayed in the Capitol Theater to watch a second showing of “Godzilla Vs. the Smog Monster“.  Mom literally came in and dragged us out.  Years later she asked me why I didn’t come outside on my own to wait for her.  I looked at her and said, “If I had done that, I would have gotten in trouble anyway for being outside on my own.  If I was going to get in trouble anyway, I might as well watch the movie.”
    

    Smog monster?? Tar monster maybe; methinks they would have needed computer graphics to really make him look like smog.

13. The first field trip I ever remember taking was in Kindergarten riding the train from Flint to Durand.  I still love to ride trains.
14. The biggest act of bravery I can remember is when my Mom and I went from Delaware to Virginia and we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  My Mom was very afraid of bridges, and while she didn’t make it all the way across (I drove the last few miles of it), she never showed any signs of panic, and she was able to make it to a vista point on the bridge where we could safely stop.  Many people each year have to be taken off the bridge.
    

    We were at the southbound side of where the “You are here” marker on this sign was when we stopped. As you can see, Mom made it about three-fourths of the way across, and through both tunnels.

15. I used to love to listen to my Dad play the piano.  He would only play bits and pieces, but “Bumble Boogie“, “Moonlight Sonata“, “Jailhouse Rock“, and “Young Love” are all songs he would play (and the last two he would sing – he has a great voice too!).
16. “Young Love” was the song I remember playing on the radio when I kissed my first boyfriend.
17. One of the things I loved about my Aunt Marion and Uncle Howard’s house was sliding down their stairs.
18. Roma’s Pizzeria still makes the best pizza I’ve ever tasted.
    

    Growing up, we lived behind Roma’s. On a good day, you could smell the pizza from my house.

19. Whenever I visit Flint, I have to eat a Flint Style Coney for one meal, and a Haloburger Supreme Deluxe with cheese and olives (with a side of onion rings) for another.
    

    Done Flint Style….

    Please view the original picture of the Halo Burger and a good description at http://micuisine.com/lunapiercook/?p=635
    This is only a QP, but you get the idea….

20. California drivers do NOT know how to drive in the rain.  It starts to sprinkle and you’d think that they were in a blinding storm.
21. The thing I miss most about Michigan is having four seasons.  California has only two seasons:  rainy and sunny.
22. I always said that I grew up on “Star Trek” and Godzilla movies.  I have my Dad to thank for that (Thanks, Dad!).
23. Dad may have been the one to read to me at night, but Mom taught me how to read (Thanks, Mom!).
24. The proudest moment I had as a child was as a Kindergartner   I went over to the first grade class and read to them!
25. Mrs. Darby was my favorite teacher in elementary school.  Besides being my home room teacher in IGE (Individually Guided Education) for three years straight, she taught me two songs:  “Grand Old Flag” and “The Star Spangled Banner”.  Thanks, Mrs. Darby!
26. I loved playing on the swivel stools in the breakfast nook of my Aunt Jeanette’s house.
27. I can still remember playing “I’m Going Downtown to Smoke my Pipe”, “Pussy Wants a Corner”, and “Bloody Midnight”.
28. I never really skipped rope solo until my Aunt Jeanette offered to give me a dollar if I could skip it ten times in a row.  It took a little practice, but I earned that dollar.
29. I won’t be able to get it this birthday, but I do want a Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner.
    

    I might not get it this year for my birthday, but eventually, I’ll get one.

30. My brother and I both had the lead in an operetta our parochial school did when we each hit 8^th grade.  We also both had someone in the play poke us in the eye accidentally during one performance.
31. One of the craziest (or stupidest) things I have ever done is swimming in Lake Superior, solo.  Even in the summer, the water is freezing!
32. I have never been able to get up on a pair of water skis.
33. The place I think might hold the answer to a mystery for me is Central City, Nebraska.
34. The place I most want to visit is Malden, Missouri.  I want to see where my great-grandparents and my grandparents lived, and would love to meet some of my second cousins that are still there!
35. They say “Whenever God closes a door, He opens a window.”  I’ve always wondered what happens if you close the door yourself?
36. I am probably the only person I know that wrote a letter to a teacher asking for demanding a lower grade.
37. The only time I cut a class as a senior, I got busted.
38. I have only once cheated on a test.  It was in Geometry, and I was stuck on a proof.  I only read far enough to get unstuck, but I still know that I didn’t get that A on my own.  I still cannot believe the teacher left the key out on his desk (though to be fair, I did have to read it upside down and backwards in order to get the info).
39. Being left-handed has its advantages (like the ability to read upside down and backwards).
40. My first grade teacher had wanted to make me write with my right hand.  My Mom put a stop to that (Thanks, Mom!).
41. The one class that I took that has helped me through life is typing.  I learned on both a manual and an electric typewriter.  I would recommend typing/keyboarding skills to anyone who is going to use a computer on a regular basis.
42. The place I would most like to go away on a romantic getaway again is the Green Gables Inn in Pacific Grove, California.
    

    I’m pretty sure this is the room we were in the last time we stayed.

43. Our anniversary is coming up (Bill:  hint, hint. 😉 ).
44. I would love to visit Mackinac Island again.
45. I love koalas.
46. The oldest koala I have in my collection was given to me by my Mom for my 16^th birthday.
47. It’s a plush music box, it plays “Waltzing Matilda” and it still works!
48. It’s amazing to think how many changes have happened in my lifetime.  From typewriters to computers, vinyl records to tapes to discs to MP3s, black and white TV to color, and vacuum tubes to circuitry, things have gotten smaller and faster.
49. Meanwhile, I’ve gotten bigger and slower. 
50. I hope to be around in another 50 years so I can do a list of 100 random thoughts.

Oh My, How They’ve Grown!

Tags

family, McCombs, photographs, Poppa

I ran across this picture the other day:

Caption: 1900’s Donna and Jeanette McCombs early 20th century
Because my Aunt Jeanette was born in October of 1900, I’m guessing this was likely taken in late 1901 or early 1902. Donna was born in 1896, so that would have made her about five at the time.

I had shared a photograph of my grandmother and her sisters in an earlier post.  It’s interesting to look at the two pictures and see the changes in the faces over the years.

Donna, the oldest is at the back of the group. Jeanette is in the center. My Grandmother, Mattie Beatrice is on the right, and the youngest, Jessie Rae, is on the left.

Since Aunt Rae was born in 1905, I’m thinking this one might have been taken around 1908.  That would make Donna about 12, Jeanette about 8, my Grandma about 5, and Aunt Rae about 3.

I know that by 1910, the mother of these girls, Georgia Almeda, had died.  I wonder how “Poppa” fared with raising his “Little Women”.