Girly Girls Day

Charleston, South Carolina
2008

     This is the photo that my sister-in-law, Stacey, took moments after Sarah had her ears pierced. I was hiding behind a large rack of earrings because oh good grief  they were putting HOLES in my baby's ears! It was July 4th, 2008 and we were in Charleston celebrating with the [then] South Carolina Vallejos. We took Sarah to get her ears pierced at Claire's and then we went to a sweet little store called Girly Girls where Luz bought Sarah several dresses and pairs of shoes and a purse. Then we went back to Aunt Stacey's and had chocolate chip cookie cake. It was a perfect girls day - at least that's what I wanted Sarah to remember. Luz passed away on October 25th, 2008. Only time will tell what Sarah will remember about her Lola, but when she asks about her I can tell her about their day in Charleston and I can show her the pictures of Lola smiling and so happy to be spending the day with her grandaughter. I wish that Sarah and Luz could have had many girly girls days, but I am forever grateful that they shared this one.

As The World Turns No More



"As The World Turns" ended its long television run on Friday, September 17th.  Once upon a time I knew every plot twist and turn of that show, following Lily and Holden and Dusty through their various stages of falling in and out of love in Oakdale. I became a fan of ATWT because my mom watched it and she watched it because CBS was the only station that came in clearly when she was home with me when I was a baby.  We lived in the "the basement", a basement that was supposed to be the foundation for the house my parents would someday build on top - but only the basement was ever finished and when I was 18 months old we moved to the yellow house on Hallsdale Road where I grew up.  We could watch all three network stations in our Hallsdale house, but the CBS soaps -"The Young and the Restless,"  "As The World Turns" and "Guiding Light" - continued to be part of the background of many summer days and snow days. My grandmother wasn't much for soap operas but she told me many times as I sat in her den watching "Guiding Light" that her mother had listened to that show on the radio and she would comment that the same characters were still on the show.  I hadn't watched "As The World Turns" or "Guiding Light" in a very long time and when I was home with my own babies reruns of "The Golden Girls" and "Law and Order" were the background noise of our days. Still, I'm sad to hear that it's been cancelled - I liked knowing that the world was still turning out there somewhere, even if I wasn't watching it.     

Love Endures

Norma and John Maguire

on the occassion of their wedding

Cathedral of Christ the King

Atlanta, Georgia

September 4th, 1965

       When my mom and dad decided to get married, there were a few things that my mother had to agree to. Because my father was Catholic (and she wasn't at the time) she had to agree to be married in the Catholic Church during a Catholic Mass and she had to agree to raise any children that the two of them might have as Catholic. All of that was fine with her, but there was one part of the wedding ceremony that my mother would not agree to, she would not agree to say the word "obey" in her wedding vows - well, unless my father said it too. I'm pretty sure that they both said they would "love, honor and cherish" each other and that they would stay together for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health - but "obey" wasn't going to be part of the bargain. My mother wasn't about to start out a lifetime committment with the word "obey" as part of the deal.

   My parents didn't have a big wedding, I think there were less than 25 people in attendance and when the ceremony was over the two of them stopped at a hamburger stand to kill some time so that my mom's sisters could get back to the apartment to set up the reception.   They took a honeymoon trip to New York where they met Muhammid Ali walking down the street and even had their picture made with him only to have their car broken into and their camera stolen a few days later.
  
     My parents have had their share of ups and downs in their 45 years of marriage. There were several points along the way where one or both of them could have thrown in the towel and walked away - but they didn't. The two of them continued to stubbornly hang in there. One of my favorite passages from the Bible is the verse from Corinthians that says that love is patient and kind and that love bears all things, and believes all things, and hopes all things, and that love endures all things. Forty-five years of marriage really puts all of that to the test, but this weekend I am celebrating the fact that despite the obstacles they faced along the way, my parents have remained committed to each for the long haul.  Love truly endures all things.