Having grown up during the
1950’s and sixties, here’s a nostalgic picture for you. And many thanks to my
old neighbor and a first friend, since we met at the tender age of one and a
half and shared many happy, tumultuous, loving and interesting years together She’s
the young one in the middle with braids, Mary, our mutual friend and also
neighbor is the one with short hair, Esther, and the one closest to the smiling
lovely lady is me, and that’s my Mom in all her well dressed circa glory!
Here’s the proof of my long ago tale of delivering those Civil Defense
pamphlets during the Cold War years. That’s my doll carriage with it filled to
the brim with them. The PIC looks as if it must have been posed for a publicity
shot; it could have been...Mary never said. Amazingly my hair turned blonde
around the age of fifteen. I’m on the first step, since even then I was still a
peanut, since Mary is only six weeks older than me and is standing on the
ground; Esther is a year and half older and much taller.
I was the one that told
people to take the brochure and that I wouldn’t bite them if they did; for some
strange reason that made the headline for the newspaper when it did go in the
Bergen Evening Record, now called just The Record. My Mom was in charge of the
local group for Civil Defense and we even had a bomb shelter too in our
basement, and that too made the paper back then, how naive we all were in those
days. Like any of that would actually help, we truly all believed so and so we
did it to be safe.
It was so nice for Mary to
post it on my Timeline, but when she did, although I love it I was concerned
since my privacy setting was set so no one could do any posting. She said that
she couldn’t do it but her granddaughter could, and was the one brilliantly
responsible to circumvent the system!
Reminds me of my sons, they
would also know how to do that! Kids are so amazing, thankfully.
Moving on…
This horrific example of a
absolutely dreadful accident caused by a drunk drive going seventy miles an
hour on July Fourth in Vermont where miraculously somehow the passengers
survived with minor injuries due to wearing their seatbelts and having deployed
air-bags working, thank heavens! Mary’s brother Joe, his son and his son’s love
were in that car. In Joe’s own words: “My son and
his love barely escaped death tonight when they were hit at an estimated 70
miles an hour by a drunk driver and his drunk friend who have been arrested.
Their car was thrown 150' and stopped 2.5 inches short of a massive oak. It was a honda civic and is completely demolished. But They
were both wearing seat belts and were somewhat protected by air bags and short
of concussions, bruises, and some swelling and disorientation and spotty
memory, thanks to great EMT'S AND STAFF AT THE HOSPITAL, and a slew of VT
bikers who wouldnt leave their side till we got there, they will be Ok in a few
weeks... Wear your seat belts, watch out for the other guy and if your
celebrating the 4th tonight and your friends are drinking... DO NOT LET THEM
DRIVE A CAR.” I hope that he doesn’t mind that I posted this.
Two
reasons I posted this, one, to tell you all to think twice before you get
behind a wheel of car when you have drunk liquor, I think this is a valuable
life lesson for everyone. Locally we had a similar incident where a family of
five were not quite so lucky, parents in their twenties with two little girls
now in serious condition, while the mom, who was eight months pregnant, had to
have emergency delivery, she the baby and the firefighter father are all in
critical condition all due to be hit by another drunk drive who died from his
stupidity, right here in Florida also on the Fourth of July!
Second
reason is to remind all of us how fast things can change, Mary posted that
lovely picture and then her brother, Joe, posted his not too much later…Joe
also was a friend since he is about a year younger than us, and so when friends
cry we cry with them…!
On
those notes of Geez, life’s good and very bad times… allow me to be the very
first to wish all of you a very happy good night and kindly count those
blessings and share all those overages with you know who and we will too!
And
next time please be here or be square, ya hear!