OLTL Discussion Group

Topic: The Ties That Bind

We survived and so did our company!  It was my sister, her husband and 2 of their  3 grown kids, their wives and my sister's 3 grandchildren, ages 7, 5, and 1.  Unfortunately my sister's daughter and her husband could not come at the last minute.  (their cat that they've had for 12 years was having seizures and visits to the vet.)  They wouldn't leave it to come which we understand completely but they were very much missed.

We had a packed house and a great time!  This time each adult couple (the kid couples) had the responsibility of cooking one of the evening meals.  It worked out great and sort of kept my sister out of the kitchen.  It was hard for her to relinquish that responsibility!

We had delicious meals every night!  The ''kids'' did great jobs!

The older ''kids'' and the two oldest grand kids went on the Mountain Coaster ride.  The older ''kids'' went rock climbing and mountain bike riding.  We all did some boating and fishing and swimming.  We played Poker and Wizard in the evenings.  One evening we had a big bonfire and my one nephew played his fiddle and guitar and we had a sing-a-long and roasted marshmallows.  The grand kids fell asleep next to the fire.

The grand kids also loved the Wii.  I think the oldest is now addicted.  We had to physically tear him away to get him outside in the gorgeous weather that we had.

The biggest surprise was the last night everyone was there.  Some were going boating.  I was told that I HAD to go.  I didn't want to go!  ''You have too ... there aren't enough adults.'' Ok, I'll go", I said.  Little did I know it was a set up!

We came back to a party on the deck for Tom and I.  It was a celebration of our 40th Anniversary that happened back in June.  We had champagne, our son tried to do a toast but kept getting interrupted but he finally got in a brief one! 

We were then led inside to the living room for something that was on the TV.  I was clueless.

While we were gone to Nova Scotia with my sis and her hubby, our son and his wife came down to our house and went through all of the pictures that Tom and I have accumulated over 40 years.

I can't tell you what that involved!  I was dumbfounded!  My first thought was "OMG my daughter-in-law has seen the inside of the front hall closet!''  Our son said to her ''Just think someday we will have to back up a dump truck to the door and just start pitching stuff out!"

Anyway, on the TV came a DVD set to three songs with pictures of Tom, me and our son all done in chronological order.  40 years of our lives together from our wedding to now. 

I was tearing up, my sister was tearing up, even one of my nephews said he teared up the first time he saw it.

The niece that couldn't come had taken all of the pictures and done the DVD.  (She's a genius with the computer stuff).  It's an amazing creation that Tom and I will treasure for the rest of our lives.  Emails and borrowed pictures have been going back and forth for months with Tom and I totally clueless.

My sister told my son to leave no traces that they had been here.  I couldn't tell he had been here!  She even told him to vacuum the living room rug if they walked on it because I would see the footprints!

I walked through the living room this morning and there ARE pictures missing! 

There are not many left of my family but looking at that DVD reminds me of how truly blessed I have been and still am. 

They all left on Saturday.  Tom and I took some time to go fishing on our own.  I out-fished him and had fun.  The weather was perfect.  I missed one fish and showed Tom my minnow.  I am sooooo good at being a fisher woman now.  He told me that it was not the minnow that he had put on the hook.  The fish ate my minnow and I caught a different minnow that was IN the fish.  He was in the process of digesting it! 

How's that for good?  I caught a fish within a fish!  That's my second fish story!  The first one was about the blind fish that I caught in Florida with a dead minnow. 

Looking at the DVD and seeing 40 years go by is a surreal experience.  I loved it.  I was thin!  Tom was so young looking! Our son was so adorable and such a pistol!  I want to go back and do it again.

I don't know how to end this.  I wish I could show you all the pictures that were taken.  I wish I could show you all the DVD.  I wish I could tell you all the funny things that happened.  I guess I wish I could share the entire 4 days with my cyber family.  It truly was awesome.

I'll try to post a couple of pictures when I get them off of my camera.

That was great! What a wonderful family you have to be able to pull that off without even a hint.

It didn't take days for me to read it, I'm happy to report.

Congrats to you and Tom for 40 happy years.

As far as giving me the link, I hope I'm kinder when I'm your age. That was a tough bargaining tool. But it worked and I'm glad it did. I wouldn't want to have missed your story.

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LOL Charlotte! I've been feeling so guilty. I almost broke today and was going to email you the ''lost money'' site. I really cracked up at your line about ''being kinder when you are my age!''. Priceless!! Ok, for reading the whole dang story, here is the ''link''. It's not really a link. Whatever browser you use, type in the search box ''unclaimed property Maine'' (Or whatever state you want to check ... every state has it's own separate web site) Tom has sent the family claim in. We told all of his sisters and the one brother at the beach in July about the ''big'' windfall they were going to get. $250.00 a piece I think it was. So far we haven't heard anything but I imagine all of the states have been innundated with claims. (did you make it through this whole response? lol) eom mags

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Posted by: jobo
Date posted: Tue Aug 26 16:39:15 2008
Message:

How truly blessed you are! It sounds like you made even MORE memories during that week that you can look back on again 10 years from now. The way I see it, life is short...you should enjoy it with family and friends whenever you can. Live. Laugh. Love . . . that's my motto!

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Thank you jobo. I feel really blessed and on top of that Tom's family is fantastic too so I'm twice blessed. We always have good times and good memories when we are with them too. eom mags

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Posted by: Grace
Date posted: Tue Aug 26 2:03:29 2008
Message:
Wow!!  what a wonderful celebration of family and your life with Tom!!  I am so glad you had such a fantastic time.  What a surprize!  Thanks for sharing. 

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Thank you Grace. It was an amazing time. It's the type of thing that I would like to share with everyone. I wish everyone could have been there with us! (We would have needed to rent a few more houses or had some more tents - lol - but we could have made it work! I'm actually looking forward to next year already. eom mags

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Posted by: pickles
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 18:17:10 2008
Message:

Wow mags! What a great time you all had! I'm so happy for you:o) Many times, these sorts of visits don't go very well and are quite stressful.  What a great family you have!

Thanks for sharing your story.  BTW, my brother does one of those DVDs every year for us! But he puts funny sound effects and other stuff. He always shows it after the new year, and calls it our Year in Review DVD (of the year just past).  Then we all get a copy. 

When my dad died, he made a DVD as a tribute, all with pics of my dad set to music. OMG...everyone was choked up.  There is something about seeing those images with music that makes one so emotional. So I know the feeling! At least yours was a happy feeling though! :o)

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This is the 3rd year we have gotten together like this pickles. It's always been fun. For some reason we really weren't looking forward to it but once they arrived we all settled it to a terrific FIVE days. (everyone thinks it was just the weekend) Aren't the DVDs wonderful? We have one of our son's wedding but it is preceded on the DVD with pictures of both him and his wife as they went from infancy to their meeting and then the wedding. Funny, but it's the pictures and the music playing when they were little ones that make me tear up the most. I like the idea of your brother doing a ''year in review''. And the one of your father has be an extra special one. I'd love to do one of my parents. A new project maybe?? eom mags

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Posted by: Shirla .
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 17:09:12 2008
Message:

WOW!!! I am surprised any of you survived! Sounds like y'all had a great time.

WOW!

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I would love to that DVD!! Awesome family you have there girl!

It's great Shirla because everyone pitches in to help or to have fun. And yet everyone is free to do as they choose to. If someone wants to plunk themself down in a hammock and read, it's cool with everyone else. Meals can get hectic but my sister is a ''General'' and knows exactly what we are having and at what time. We laugh about it, but it really does help keep things organized for meals at least. I think everyone had a great time. I know I did! Everyone is already talking about next summer. eom mags

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Posted by: Tori
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 16:54:08 2008
Message:

I was reading your post enjoying your story about the week of company...it sounded like such fun. Then, the surprise party part...that was just so sweet. I was smiling and tearing up. I bet that DVD is awesome! And, it's so amazing that everyone was able to keep the surprise.

So, is this "rest up" week?

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This is definately the ''rest up'' week except for the laundry! I got a lot of it taken care of today. I had a wonderful time with my family but I'm ready to curl up with another good book now. I forgot to mention that our daughter-in-law came on her Birthday last Thursday. She teaches and the teachers had to go back to work last week. She took Friday off to come party with the family. I gave the grand kids sidewalk chalk. They had decorated the whole driveway with Happy Birthday K and put hearts and flowers drawings too! We had balloons and streamers up in the house and and ice cream cake for dessert that night. She was surprised too! We packed a lot into our time together! eom mags

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Posted by: Kare
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 16:25:56 2008
Message:

 

awww, sounds like a wonderful weekend and a wonderful surprise, mags.  Unlike Charl, I read every word - and teared up, too.  There's nothing better than family, eh?  Well... mostly.  ;-)

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It was wonderful Kare and there is nothing better than family getting together, getting along and having a good time. As I said, my biggest fear was the 1 year old running wild but she was a sheer delight! I had so much fun with her. Last year she was just a couple of months old. This year she was a bundle of energy and laughing at everything. The poor thing had to sleep in her ''pack and play'' in the laundry room! That's how packed the house was but it worked out fine. At least my son and his wife are still willing to sleep on a queen sized blow up mattress in a tent! And no one was lost to bears! Another successful year. Yay! eom mags

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Posted by: trkdrvrsqueen
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 15:46:54 2008
Message:
Wow! What a wonderful way to celebrate your life together!! I bet I would have teared up too watching the DVD. You are loved and cherished mags & you deserve all those blessings. What a great post!

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Thank you for the kind words TDQ! The celebration seemed even more special since it was so unexpected. My sister was biting her tongue back in June because I had told her our son probably wouldn't do anything for our 40th. He's so laid back I didn't even think he knew it was our 40th! All the time she knew he was coming to our house to get pictures for the special celebration and DVD! Plus he and his wife had given us a gift certificate to a really nice restaurant back in June. I've got to clean out some closets or get his house key away from him! Lol - so much for the neighbors looking out for our house when we were away! eom mags

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Posted by: Jenny
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 14:31:27 2008
Message:
That's a super, super thing your family did for you.  You must feel very loved.  Also sounds as if the whole family had a great time, one for the memory books.  You did a fabulous job coordinating all that, even if more coordinating was going on that you didn't know about!  Congrats on having such a wonderful time and sharing such exciting moments.  May you have 40 more...

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My sister is the coordinator. She has lists of her lists. After the DVD presentation, she and I were in the kitchen. She was telling me all about putting the DVD together without Tom and I finding out. All of a sudden she was crying and telling me how it was all a coordinating effort out of love, which got me to crying. So there in the kitchen we stood - two sisters hugging and crying and laughing at ourselves all at the same time. Memorable moments for sure! eom mags

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Posted by: Charlotte
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 14:18:50 2008
Message:

Is there a Reader's Digest version available for this post?

I keep forgetting to ask you if you saved the Dateline link for lost money. I was going to wait til the excitement died down and then forgot to check.

Hope you had a fun weekend.

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As I was typing that out, I was thinking ''I wonder how far Charlotte will get?'' That WAS the Reader's Digest version! Read two paragraphs a day, let me know when you're finished and I'll give you the link to the lost money site. :-) eom mags

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Posted by: Gail M
Date posted: Mon Aug 25 14:15:56 2008
Message:

Sounds like an absolutely wonderful family time and sooooooooo much fun!     The photo thing has me tearing up and I didn't even see it.     Such a thoughtful thing to do and such a wonderful treasure for you and Tom.   Sniff, sniff.    I look forward to seeing the pics you want to share.    I still have one of you and Tom on your wedding day as you were going into the swimming pool on my hard drive.   :-) 

LMAO at you catching the blind fish with the dead minnow.   Our weather has been beautiful too.   It is 80° here today.   Weird for it to be 80-85 during the day and 60-65 at night in August!   WTH?!?!    We tried to swim yesterday, but it just didn't feel right being that cool out with a breeze.    They're coming to close the pool up Sept. 8 and I don't know if we'll even get in there again unless it warms up some.   This summer has FLOWN by.  

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I figured the blind fish accidently bumped into my minnow. I found it more interesting that I caught a different minnow from the belly of a fish I was trying to hook! The whole time we had company we didn't have a drop of rain and it was in the mid to upper 70's. We never had to turn on the air or the heat. I thought the one year old (Maggie) would drive us nuts but she is such a cutie that I loved playing with her. The only thing that child hated was having to wear a life vest but as long as we went fast she had her arms spread out wide, the wind blowing her hair and a smile on her face! Her daddy calls her ''mags'' for short. What a coincidence!!! eom mags

P.S. - The picture of Tom and me jumping into the pool on our wedding day is on the DVD. Oh and I did it again, not in a wedding dress this time. When they coerced me onto that boat ride, some of them went swimming. I didn't have on my bathing suit but it looked like so much fun, I jumped in with all my clothes on! They had on swim suits so I claimed that I was the winner of the wet t-shirt contest. eom mags

Sounds like something you would do. I would too. I couldn't stand to watch other people swimming and having fun and not go in either. Gail

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