Tag Archives: Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected

Southern Exposures

2 Comments

“The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The official first day of summer has arrived. Remember when getting a tan was fun? I am a gal with southern exposure, and we lived around the swimming pool and in the sun! My favorite suntan lotion was baby oil mixed with iodine. Remember that? And we used to wrap LP albums  with aluminium foil and hold them under our chins to maximize the sun’s reflection and tanning impact. Now that doctors  know the more about the harmful effects of sun on the skin, stories like that make dermatologists cringe. http://bit.ly/1loDooC.  As I’ve aged I’ve gotten a little wiser and use sunscreen but I still love to hangout in the sun. It warms the spirit. Join me today as we take a look at some nostalgic summertime images! These images will incite memories for baby boomers. Suntan1 suntan 3 Sun In The image below really made me laugh – little did people  know about the aging effects of the sun on the skin. suntan 4   Jean Nate – It was a  favorite thing to spritz all over my body after hours of basking in the sun! Refreshing, indeed! Jean Nate   I remember one summer while cruising around on our family’s house boat, my siblings and I got so sun blistered that my mother had to cover us with wet teabags. The tannin drew out the hurt. http://lifehacker.com/5547350/apply-black-tea-to-effectively-treat-a-sunburn.   Suntan 5     Suntan 6lemon up shampoo Lemon-up. Did you know you can still purchase it at the Vermont Country Store? sending sunshine See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling. We will be continuing our journey down memory lane. This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard,  author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Sue’s memoir

Sweetness Contained Within

2 Comments

If God had intended us to follow recipes, he wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.~ Linda Henley

candy dish

Discover Magazine has a compelling article about the influences our forebears play on the genes of the brain.  Check out this article which gives testimony to whether we grow up to be resilient people or not.

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes.

Isn’t it funny the things we remember from our childhood? Memories of arriving at my grandmother’s house contain nothing but sweet nourishment within. Her crystal candy dish on the buffet table in the dining room was the first place we’d head after we left her arms of welcoming love.

When my siblings and I take trips down memory lane, we often talk about the candies that could be dependably found in our grandmother’s vessel that held confections. Dependably, the candy dish was filled to the top in anticipation of our coming. Butter mints, spearmint leaves, fruit jellies, nonpareils were among our favorites. And then there was the other candy dish on the coffee table in her living room – that always held the hard candies – such as the candy fruit straws (I wasn’t so fond of those), hard sour balls, old fashioned ribbon candy at Christmas, raspberry hard candy with the soft centers and, of course, my favorite –  lemon drops.

Just thinking about them all is enough to make my mouth water. There was never any limit to how many candies we ate. In fact, my Grandmother was consumed with the thought that we might leave her home without full bellies, and fed us until even our eyes were bulging.

My mother is the same way about nourishing her grandchildren with food and emotional support.She’s prepared day and night to take in any number of them and give them what ever they need.  But, my mother is more of a modern grandmother type. She’s known to her eight grandchildren as ” just their Meems.”

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of  “Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”

  Sue’s memoir

Grandmothers Apron

Leave a comment

Nature was in her beryl apron, mixing fresher air. ~ Emily Dickinson

apron grandma at the sinkAs a follow-up to the blogs posted earlier in the week,  it sure makes a difference when individuals  have the right teachers, mentors and family support in their lives.

Although Fanny, a character in my memoir,” takes the cake,” in my story, I am very grateful for all of my family. Strong relationships are of fundamental importance. Beautiful memories I have of when all three generations gathered around the dinner table at my grandparents house. Their dining room was small and barely held all of us. What mattered was the wonderful feelings that were felt as we held hands and said grace before dinner. The food was always bountiful and lovingly prepared by my grandmother, as it has always been at my mother’s house.

When I think of my grandmother I think of her  in the kitchen, dressed in her apron. Her sweet disposition was as large as the big apron she generously filled out. Back in her day, women wouldn’t have been caught casually dressed at any time of day or night. Even when her day was spent cooking, she was outfitted in a pretty “house dress,” as she called it, with stockings, shoes with heels (never flats – I don’t think she even owned a pair) and a coating of colorful lipstick which was freshly applied several times a day. She always looked so pretty.

Today I would like to share a link to a blog that has a wonderful poem all about aprons and the magnitude of their importance. http://www.withagratefulheart.com/2007/07/grandmas-apron.html. The poem reflects upon the purpose of aprons other than  utilitarian.

Last fall when I began volunteering in our church kitchen nearly every week serving community dinners, I began getting used  to wearing an apron. A borrowed one from the United Methodist Church Women. The other day I read that aprons are making a come back and there are companies who are updating the apron form with art and style! Here is a link to some cute ones from 4 Generations Studio. http://etsy.me/1mx5ryr. A good gift to put on a Christmas wish list.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of  Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Sue’s memoir

 

Crossing it from the Vocabulary

Leave a comment

cross_your_heart2God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. ~ Voltaire

“Jine and Sue,” Fanny said one day, “I don’t want to hears you say it no mo.’ Not one mo’ time,” she said sternly.

“What?” Jan (my sister) or  (Jine, as Fanny called her), and I inquired, “ What were we saying? We aren’t doing anything wrong.”

“You is makin’ promises and sayin’  ‘Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die.’  Dats da worstest,” Fanny said shaking her head, “whoever made up dat sayin’ has gots it all wrong!”

Remember using that expression when you were a kid? Whoever came up with that lousy expression anyway? Researchers have learned so much about the effects of positive spirit on health. http://mayocl.in/1iigiNw.

Although I know I did say “Cross my heart and hope to die”  plenty of times in my childhood when making a promise, I certainly didn’t understand the meaning of it as a youngster. One thing I knew for sure, even though I never understood the magnitude of my childhood illness, is that I didn’t want to die! I had too many other things going for me- a menagerie of animals, a sister,  two brothers, parents and friends who I knew cared for me. And what about my beautiful grandparents and my funny Fanny? I didn’t want to leave any of them behind!

I think rather then taking prayer out of schools, and eliminating “The Pledge of Alliance to the Flag, Under God” from classrooms, “Hope to Die”  needs to be eliminated from all children’s vocabulary when making promises. Children need to know  “Cross Your Heart,” plain and simple, works much better.

Fanny always said, “If you thinks yo’ life is bad, go poke ’round in someone else’s for a little while! Dare is always someone on dis Earf  who ain’t got what you gots. Be grateful.”

cross your heart

As an adult, I know Fanny was right. In her own funny way she was trying to get my sister and me to realize that living well means having appreciation for all that we have been given, including choosing life.

Wondering more about what my funny Fanny said about living? You’ll have to read my memoir. I have had  many people contact me since my memoir “Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected”, was published who said “they wished they had someone in their lives who lived with such heart and soul when they were growing up.” Sue’s memoir

 

Cradled in a Hammock of Love

Leave a comment

There is nothing that moves a loving father’s soul quite like his child’s cry.” ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

Happy Fathers Day to all dads everywhere!

In retrospect, it makes me laugh when I think that we gave my father a hammock as a present one Father’s Day. If you read my memoir you will understand that my dad spent enough time rocking away his time when I was little, soothing my crying!

Peeps with his big catch May 2013He set a fine example as a father figure. My dad was not the kind of father who went off to the office and  left the raising of us kids entirely to our mother.  He was an active participant.  A father’s impact on his children is so important to their healthy development.  http://bit.ly/1hrAuwu.

We kids have been his loyal companions participating in all the things he’s always  liked to do -boating, fishing, skiing, building, crabbing, gardening and much more.

Today, I’d like to acknowledge all that my father has taught me and all that he put up with us kids. My twin sister and I were constantly nagging at him about this or that. “You girls are going to drive me crazy,” he’d say, when we became teenagers. Admittedly, my sister and I were enough to drive him cuckoo with our double trouble.

It’s no wonder he turned completely gray so prematurely at 27. I was probably way more than half the cause of it. (My son inherited his genes on that one!) It’s evident if you read my memoir I was lucky. I got to spend extra one-on-one time with my dad because of the circumstances of my birth. My sister and brothers have had her fair share of days alone with my father, however. Since I married, I’ve  always lived far from the rest of the family.

Even though my father thought we’d drive him crazy, there was never any no doubt that he loved us kids. We can just feel it and words are not necessary to explain it.

Happy Father’s Day, Peeps. 

P.S. I’m pretty sure that my sister and I didn’t drive him crazy! He is 86 years old and still very sharp!  He can remember the names of almost anyone he has met before. In my opinion, his four children and eight grandchildren are what has really kept him going.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Liftetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Sue’s memoir See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

 

Angelic Antics

Leave a comment

“Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.”    – Francis de Sales

It’s funny, I have never considered myself as a particularly creative person. I didn’t take a lot of  lessons outside of school growing up. Kids of my generation spent more time outside playing in nature rather than being shuffled to all sorts of organized sports and other extra curricular activities.

However, I did take a pastel drawing class at the YMCA one summer with my sister. It is a happy memory that stays steadfast in my mind all these decades later. Although, I didn’t have any innate talent, I found fulfillment in it.

My experience with the clarinet was another story. I’d much rather forget it and so would my parents. Their ears are still damaged from all the squeaks that came out of the instrument when I played it. Their pocketbooks became emptied having to so frequently replace reeds that both my sister and I ruined.

My twin sister and I had a different kind of creativity – we were full of ideas that were not always angelic!  Like how to “get Fanny’s goat” (Fanny is the stellar character in my memoir) and how get her involved in our childhood antics. Her creativity came from how to teach us life lessons that we’d later come to realize was about our silly, double trouble.

Thank heavens for Fanny. She was an angel for putting up with my twin and I and our two brothers. And I am  also grateful for all other angels my life~

angelsamongus2

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

Sue’s memoir

Elevating Thoughts

Leave a comment

I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” ~ Maya Angelou

Last week our country lost some treasures. Poet and writer Maya Angelou passed on. She magnificently showed us who she was by the words she wrote. heart_of_a_woman_the_maya_angelou   She has left us volumes of words to ponder. Her inspirational thoughts help us in working toward being better people.  And yes, as Angelou has told us then there will be a better tomorrow. Things are always improved when we sleep on elevating and enriching thoughts.

I am sad because I also lost one of my favorite aunts on the same day Maya Angelou passed away. My aunt lived with a great sense of humor. She had to, she was married to my Uncle King, the character I wrote about in my story. She, too, was a gift to me in my life.  Rest in Peace, Dot, your spirit will live and love on in the family you and King left behind.

Do return to All Things Fulfilling on Monday. Next week we will feature the lives of some young artists, whose lives have just begun, and they are impressing people already with their talents.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”Sue’s memoir

Mark your Calendar, Hon!

Leave a comment

The universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, divine and human, by nature endeared to each other. ~ Epictetus

Mark your calendars, right now! The 2014 Bawlmer Hon Fest is coming up in less than a month. This year it is June 14th and June 15th. It’s a whole weekend dedicated to the culture that I grew up on the outskirts of,  in the mid-Atlantic city of Baltimore. People like to poke fun over it’s regional subculture in self-deprecating humor.

Don’t know what I am talking about? The movie Hairspray with John Travolta will give you insight into what I am talking about. It’s hard to explain but once you are immersed in the jest, you’d quickly get it. It’s all about fun and fortune of being among friends or close family, hon, and speaking the same language.

That’s all I’m sayin’ except that the influences are there, in my memoir. I’ll say no more. I don’t want to get myself in trouble. Here are some pictures that might explain a little to outsiders.

 

honfest 9

honfest 3

VIDEO OPTION: We're looking at the turnout for Honfest. Who's there? What are they doing? Do they really care about the HONtroversy?

HONFEST C KAWAJIRI

honfest 5

honfest 10

honfest 6

honfest 8

Hon fest 1

hon-in-baltimore-whole-foods

This blog brought to you by Sue BattonLeonard, the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Sue’s memoir

Come on back tomorrow, hon, I’ll be sharing some more childhood memories from living in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

People Leave Deep Impressions

2 Comments

“Were in tarination have you been chile? You liked ta scared me a half a death,” the stellar character in my memoir said to me one day, as I ran in the door late for dinner.

“What do you mean, Fanny?” I had never heard her use a big word like”tarination” before. I’d heard it from my parents, but I wasn’t sure exactly what tarination meant. Perhaps she was trying it out for size. My parents were away for the weekend and it was Fanny’s duty to play the role of our parents. Nobody could get a point across better than she could, even though she said things in a different manner.

ring a bell“I been callin’ and callin’ and you ain’t be answering me. Don’t you be doin’ that to nobody, not even to your Mama. We needs to know you alive. When someone calls your name, speak up chile – don’t be shy. Anythin’ you say means as much as all dat jabbering dat comes outta yo’ brothers’ squalk boxes.”

I didn’t know what Fanny meant at the time. But, now as an adult I get it. Sometimes these kinds of realizations in life take time.

There are so many meaningful things Fanny said to me when I was a child that went over my head. In retrospect it’s made me realize the significance of Buddha’s words “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.” 

Sadly, we often don’t realize the full impact people have had on our lives, until something happens.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Sue’s memoir

 

 

 

 

More than a Coincidence?

Leave a comment

 

curiousImagine this. Here it is in a nutshell:

Twins separated by birth, find each other at 39 years old only to discover they have lived mirrored lives.

Jim and Jim have a fascinating story to tell. Although separated at birth, each of their adoptive parents gave them the same first name – Jim. Each had two marriages with wives named Linda and then on the second go-round, Betty. Toy was the name of each of their dogs from childhood, and they each had one son James Allen and James Alan.

Their careers paralleled each other – deputy sheriffs, both! They drove the same cars, drank the same brand beer and are smokers of the same cigarettes. Even though, remember, they were  out of touch for 39 years.

Twin telepathy? It’s a curious thing. What else could it be for these two brothers? How can you call that many commonalities just a coincidence?

Interested to read more true stories about twins? Here is a link. http://bit.ly/1iiBcdU.

Stories like these make people want to read more about twin dynamics.

This blog brought to you by the author of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.” A story of multi-cultural love, faith, healing, life lessons and above all things – twins!