Tuesday January 5 2016  MORE SURPRISES LOOM AHEAD

Another short blog because we are off and at it again today.  Will we ever begin working on the decluttering process?  We don’t know.  Dave now has had the opportunity of being home fulltime and experiencing how TIME EVAPORATES!  It is as if there is an invisible hijacker just gobbling up our precious hours.  There is always something that is urgent that must be done.  Right now it is the situation with our house.  We no sooner get one decision made when another urgent decision must be considered. 

After exercising this morning we went to a shop to check out counters for the dressing room.  After looking at the cost of everything we decided that we don’t want to put the expense into changing anything.  So, decision made!  We will put everything back just as it was.  Okay, that decision completed.  Then we talk to the contractor who does all the final investigating to make certain everything is as it should be and he pointed out another serious decision that we must make.  He informed us that the water penetrated into the bottom of the vanity and it may be swelling from the inside.  More than likely it is.  That might possibly cause the floor of the vanity to disintegrate and collapse.  Oh man!  So we must decide if we want to go through a rebuild.  That is a big decision and a lot of future chaos!  So tonight we will sleep on that matter.

I just thought I’d bring you up to date on the perils of living with the likes of me.  You never know what is going to happen from one day to the next.

I must retract part of what I wrote yesterday.  I told you about the situation with Dave’s mom and dad wanting to move to Rose Street.  Dave informed me that I had a couple of facts incorrect.  So, as one of my readers informed me, she wanted to know more about this story, here goes.

Dave’s father was born in 1893.  In the 1920’s he built a little craftsman type bungalow in Anaheim California with the help of a friend.  When he came home from World War II he and Dave’s mom moved into the house.  Nine months later Dave’s oldest sister was born.  Eleven months later his second sister was born. And thirteen months later Dave was born.  When Dave was born, his mom had a twenty four month old toddler, a thirteen month old baby, and a newborn baby boy.  The house was small and had only two bedrooms.  So about ten months later the family moved across town to a three bedroom house.

The entire time Dave and the girls were growing up, his parents planned to move back to Rose Street, as soon as all the children left home.  If you read yesterday’s blog you will know that that never happened.  They kept the house as a rental and after the children were grown and moved out they sold it.  Until it was sold they continually asked the question about anything they purchased for the house,  “Will it fit on Rose Street”?  Thus, the story of Rose Street.

One other interesting story about Dave’s father.  He actually served in both World Wars.  He volunteered both times.  In WWI He actually fought the Bolsheviks in Siberia, Russia.  He was 49 when he enlisted in WWII.  Dave’s father spoke fluent German and in World War II he went to Sicily before the invasion and spied on German troops acting as if he were one of their own.

He met his wife at a Navy Day Dance in LaCrosse, WI.  They dated for two months, married on the day after Christmas in 1942, and then he was shipped out three weeks later, and was gone for two and a half years, came home, and two years later and three babies.  He was obviously an overachiever considering he didn’t become a father until just before he turned 51 years old.

He was a remarkable man in so many ways.  He was 5’6” and never weighed over 150 pounds and sired a 6’2” son who crossed the 150 pound mark in about the fifth grade, and has never seen it since.  In WWI Dave’s dad was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross which is one step below the Congressional Medal of Honor.  When he mustered out of the army in WWII he came home through Camp McCoy Wisconsin and he was the most decorated military person in the camp at that time.

He was a prolific writer of letters to his sweetheart back home.  None of the letters Ruth wrote John were preserved because every letter he received had to be destroyed.  Dave’s mom gave all the letters to me that she received from John during the war.  I have read every single one.  There were over 200 letters if I remember correctly.  That is another book just waiting to be written.  Many of the letters were censored at first but he became better at writing discreetly, and his later letters were less marked up.   He never talked about the war.  We only know what we know because of newspaper clippings and some of the things that Ruth knew, as well as all his medals that spoke loudly of his achievements.  Our son now has possession of his medals.  Dave’s sister was given his WWII uniform. It was in amazing condition.

Just thought you might like to see a peek into the illustrious life of a very humble man.  I loved him from the moment I met him.  He was in his 80’s when I first knew him.  After reading all the letters he wrote to his new bride I realized what a wonderful romantic he was way down deep.  He had a twinkle in his eye and was a true man of valor.  And he was a lover of God. 

HIS HONORABLE NAME

By Kathleen Martens

January 5, 2016

Words of love written to a bride,

To none other did he confide.

He was a soldier in the bleakest hour,

Short of stature, but a man of power.

About himself, not a word did he mention

None knew the scope of his dimension.

Never a comment of medals earned,

And his head was never turned.

He fought two wars but not for glory,

Nor did he ever tell his story.

He diligently did what was needed,

And his orders carefully heeded.

Few men still walk this earth

That can hold a candle to his worth.

Though he was not a man of fame

The greatest gift to His children, his honorable name.

P.S.  I had to stop writing half way through the poem and leave for service at church.  Home again and poem is finished.  So I will say:

GOODNIGHT AND GOD BLESS YOU!