These words were part of a quotation sent to me by one of my many thoughtful friends during the recent loss of my Dad. “Grandpa Denne”. The quotation she sent reads: “The highest tribute to the dead is not grief, but gratitude”, by Thornton Wilder. These words have special meaning to me because, in thirteen short months. I have lost the two people who have had influence on my life since the day I came into this world, my Mom and Dad. I certainly feel the hurt and grief for my loss. but they say that will pass with time, but I wil never stop being grateful for having been blessed for so many years with caring parents.

Hallelujah! On the fourth of September at nine o’clock in the morning, the short little critter that lives at our house, named “Clark.” starts kindergarten. This is the beginning of a new era at our house. I can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that I, at least, survived the first five years of his life. The era of the bottle. potty training, the terrible three’s, and the fearsome four’s are behind me. Now the era of having an elementary school kid in the house is in front of me. I really can’t believe how fast the last five years have gone by. But you can believe me when I say. I am ready to send him to school, so I can find out if it will be an easier task for someone else to keep him quiet, than it has been for me.

here has been an old saying around for a long time that states..“You are what you eat.” Everytime I hear this saying, it makes me worry a little. If it has any truth to it,. I am living in the house with a junk food junkie (“Clark”) and a “You fix it and I’ll eat” Mr M). I prefer to think of myself as a cafeteria.

Seems one of the toughest household jobs, that requires the most decision making, is Mom’s full time job of grocery shopping and meal planning. I am completely convinced that these two Mommie duties are the most tiresome and boring duties that a Mom has to perform.

Frankly, I’m a little tired of hearing these words. Everybody has a gimmick to make us all look young, skinny and beautiful. We have low calorie food, jogging, diet pills, slim ,fast, starch blockers, dream away. 20 minute work outs, Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda to name a few. It is such an IN thing that even if your friends aren’t dieting and exercising, it still ends up being the topic of conversation, at some point in time.

It’s time for celebrating. The reason for this celebration is the once a year event, a lot of Mothers look forward to… BACK TO SCHOOL. In my opinion, this event calls for champagne. (more than New Years Eve), and a fireworks display more spectacular than the one closing the Olympics.

The day after school started the Greeley Tribune ran a picture of a group of mothers filling glasses with champagne, in celebration of their kids going back to school. This was probably the most believable picture I have seen in many a year. After a summer of teenage logic and five and one half years of wondering if I would make it through another day, this Mother was ready for the school bells to start ringing.

Ah…romance, what a beautiful word Everyone ought to have a little romance in their lives. My 1950’s version of Webster’s New American Dictionary defines the word romance as… “A work of fiction stressing adventure and incident; delight in what is fanciful; adventurous and picturesque; a romantic act or experience. My interpretation of romance has always been…soft music, soft lights, expensive gifts, candy and flowers I suppose that is what Webster means by…“Delight in what is fanciful.” or “a roman tic act or experience.” Valentine’s Day is supposed to be the most romantic day of the year, so with this in mind let me tell you about my Valentine’s Day,

The calendar says it; a feeling of fall is in the air and the kids are going back to school: all these things are signs that summer is almost over. But the sure sign that summer is almost over is…when you open your refrigerator and all the green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn and squash, that you are trying to ignore, fall on the floor. This is the time of year that all the little packages of seeds, that you couldn’t wait to plant in the spring and water in the summer, have turned into grocery sacks full of goodies that kids refuse to eat.

Some of the happenings in the past week has prompted me to write about a subject that is near and dear to all of our hearts…rudeness, We have all been rude to someone at one time or another, and on many occasions, people certainly have practiced their rudeness on us. In the past week I have put the act of being rude in different categories, from funny to downright serious. I have decided there are at least four different kinds of rudeness. They are humorous rudeness; unintentional rudeness; necessary rudeness and plain old rude-rudeness. The first three are usually humorous to say the least, but the last kind is the kind that tests your patience. I will explain the events that have happened to me in the past week so you will know what I am talking about.

For the past couple of weeks, the TV people have been trying to hype us up for the new fall television season. They are showing us previews of all the wonderful entertainment that is supposed to keep us glued to our easy chairs and breathless, while the snow is piling up in front of our garage doors. You can bet your bottom dollar that over fifty percent of these old and new shows will have the same theme…sex, shootin’, flghtin’, and chasin' cars. Another twenty five percent will be television’s interpretation of how the rich folks live. These night time soap operas also have sex, shooting. fighting, and chasing cars, but they do it with class. Seems to me the only difference between regular folks doing these things night after night and rich folks doing these things night after night is the cost of the outfit they wear and the house they live in. The Carringtons, Ewings and Channings have designer clothes, mansions and Rolls Royces, while the people on Hell Town and Mike Hammer will have old clothes, work in the ghettos and drive beat up cars, but it always seems that the outcome is the same…sex, shootin' fightin’ and chasin’ cars. With all this class staring back at us from the boob-toob we are supposed to think that sex and violence is not sex and violence, as long as it is accomplished in a ritzy outfit while riding in the back seat of a Rolls Royce. We are going to be treated to yet another classy night time soap opera this fall. It is a spin off from Dynasty, called “The Col-bys.” I can hardly wait, all I need is a little more class in my life. (compliments of a television producer.)

It’s Christmas! All the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks is over. It is time to relax and enjoy the event that we have been building up to for so long now. Now is the time for all of us that are blessed with families to enjoy those families. They say Christmas is for children and maybe to some people that is true, but I think Christmas is for everyone, children and adults alike.