Thankful Thursday

 Thankful Thursday

My sister Pat was such a beautiful soul. She graduated high school and one year later married the  love of her life. They both left this earth too soon but I am thankful they are not here to witness the destruction that is happening today.  August 18th is the date of their anniversary. Missing her and my brother-in-law Gary today. I am thankful they were in my life.

When Uncle Louie married Auntie Ang in October 1946 the pastor was Father Daniel Gnidica. He reminded me of Jesus because when he was not saying Mass or officiating at some church function,he was wearing overalls and working on carpentry projects. I always thoguht he was so cool, just like Jesus and his earthly father Joseph. My grandmother was my best friend forever and I miss her terribly although she left the earth in 1967. It always seemed so unfair to me that she was taken away so soon. She worked so hard to continue raising her phamily after my grandfather was killed in a gold mining accident in 1927 with my mom's older brother Tony who was barely 17. My grandmother went on to raise five surviving daughters, one who was  an infant. She took in boarders and fed hobos and made a life for herself and her children. There was zero privledge in my bloodlines so I turn a deaf ear when I hear it. My grandparents, all four of them, escaped communisim in Eastern Europe so I have no guilt. None of my relatives were anywhere to shake down or harm others. They dealt with their own serious life problems, like raising children without a spouse or in the case of my paternal grandfather working a full time job, coming home and doing all the cooking and cleaning because my other grandmother was not in good health her entire life. My grandfather worked a very difficult job and he worked long hours and never once complained. He did what he had to do to survive and keep his phamily fed.

Auntie Ang has spent her birthday in heaven since 2000. She was a hard working woman who taught me lots of good habits, except smoking, she loved smoking cigarettes. She and my mother worked in the laundry together. It's funny, today, half the world has no desire to work.  No one today could have survived the lives our ancestors lived and that is a cold hard fact. Auntie Ang came from a huge phamily. Sometime I will sit down with my friend Rob, his mom Anna was my aunt's niece and he can clarify exactly how many children their parents had. My grandparents came from large phamilies and they had large families. Our lives today are a breeze compared to what they had to deal with. Thankful for all of thjem and all their sacfrifices.

My strong willed ways come from Auntie Ang. She always told me to be up front and don't fall for baloney. Boy would she get a laugh out of the way our world is today. She was always matching her outfits with a handbag and lip and nail color.  She was creative and talented and she cooked like a dream. I would love to bake a pie from scratch like she did. But she left me many recipes and some of them are in her handwriting. They are priceless to me.  She loved shopping and going out to lunch. What fun we had. I miss those days. As she and uncle got older Avery and I were honored to drive them everywhere they wanted to go. So many memories and I am so thankful I was born into the phamile that I was given. I would not trade any of them for the whole world.

August is a big celebration month. Two birthdays for both of our sons, three anniversaries, including my late parents, our oldest daughter and my big sis. Friday the 20th is Nick's birthday but it is also the birthday of my late friend Sharon. It is going to be a tough day,thinking of her and hearing her laughter and her firing off all the rights and wrongs in the world. People like Sharon and auntie Ang and my sister Pat, they don't make people like that anymore. Sometime I feel like I live in Stepford land. Somany people are like robots minding the  worldly master and nodding their heads as they are told exactly what to do. Not Sharon, she would fight back. She spoke her mind and she was gifted with a brillant mind.I will never see here again but I pray we meet in our next chapter of life without the wickness of this world.

I hear my mother's voice inside my head, life is hard, pray harder and so I do and try very hard to stay in my own lane. It is getting harder day by day by day. This world is heading down a destructive path that will have no turning back. Pray for those in Afghanistan and other parts of the earth who are being persecuted and dying for their faith. Pray for the innocent people just trying to ink out a living that are being invaded by evil forces and no one wants to help them. It is like a bad nightmare. I pray Jesus will return and that is why I am keeping my eyes upward. Thankful for the faith I was given as a child and for the parents who raised me.

I understand why my friend Debbie went off the grid of social media. She felt called to pray and she gave up her blog, her social media contacts , everything. I am starting to understand why now  as each day more horrors are happening. We can not stop evil but God can and we can pray. For that I am forever thankful.