It is funny how the moods of some of us are effected by the weather. We have had rain most of the summer and the clouds are really taking its tole on me. As I sat on my bed and folded the laundry I has washed, I glanced across the room at the very large stuffed Easter bunny my friend Ann got me one year for my birthday. I miss Ann she passed away nearly 2 years ago. Her whole family was very good to me. When my own mother died Ann became like a second mother to me. Her whole family made me feel like they were my family. They would go to Disney world every summer and when they came back they always had a souvenir for me. I would watch her house while she was gone. One year her grandson thought he was gonna break into his grandmas house while she was gone. I had been given strict orders not to allow him in while she was gone. It took a little physicality but he did not get in. The ironic thing about him is one day his nieces, my niece and I were at his grandmas when he stopped by and he told his nieces to listen to me and that I used to do things with the kids when he was little and that I was a good lady. * smiles it is nice to know people appreciate what you did with them as children when they are grown up. He was not the first grown up that I had know as a child that came back to tell me they remembered me fondly or that I had made a difference in their lives.
John one of the most misbehaved children I ever met stopped by with some of his friends about a year ago and told me he remembered me giving him candy when he was a kid. *Smiles I used candy as a reward for good behavior. Children that behaved got candy when I would take the neighborhood kids for walks or help them with their home work, but misbehaved children got nothing. Positive reinforcement is a wonderful tool to teach children the correct way to behave in the world. My mom used to say I bribed the kids to do their home work. I said mom I would rather bribe them to do it then have to yell at them for not doing it. lol If they are getting something good for doing the right thing it makes them want to do more right. So many parents and teachers miss that little point. They get frustrated when the children do not obey and they punish them. They would get faster results if they rewarded good behavior. I got John so he would listen to me without ever raising my voice by just 1 time allowing his sister who was a dream to do something I did not allow him to do and explaining why to him cured his behavior where I was concerned.
Then there is Tony I would have taken him and his sister and raised them as min if his mom would have allowed it. His mom hung with a bunch of law breakers and after her mom died I had her kids more then she did so I made the offer. I said to her that she should sign the kids over to me. I told her I would never stop her from seeing them but if she gave them to me she was not getting them back. Tony stopped to see me a couple weeks ago * smiles I am so proud of him after a not too straight line young adult hood he pulled his life together and has 2 businesses of his own and a set of beautiful kids. His oldest daughter looks like a model.
Wow did I ever digress lol. But just goes to show how people that love you and you love leave memories that last a life time and even when those you love become a memory like Ann the warmth and love remains. I am a little concerned about another friend of ours. Clare one of Ann's oldest friends is still living in our neighborhood, and as I see her getting shakier every day I can not help but wonder how much longer she will be with us. :( she fell the other day. She is around 90 and still drives sometimes. I do not think that is a good idea. I wonder what will happen to her son if she dies he is mentally disabled. It is truly amazing how well she gets around at her age, and to know I have trouble walking on a rainy day with my arthritis. I can not not help but wonder what the future holds for me if I live to be old.
