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Wordless Wednesday: May 13, 2020

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Categories: Photography

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singlikewildflowers

Welcome to my blog! My name is Esther and I'm so happy you are here. I'm an avid nature photographer and a daydreaming thinker. My posts revolve around photos of nature's beauty, homeschooling adventures with my 2 kids, sporadic reflections on my child's heart condition, Bible reading reflections, gardening feats, and other mish mash things. Hopefully you'll leave encouraged, pensive, or smiling at the simple things of life. Thank you for stopping by and hope you'll find some interesting posts to read!

20 replies ›

      1. Yes, a mother’s work is never done. 🙂 It is nice they play together and don’t argue with one another. I suspect that is their upbringing … I see kids fighting in grocery stores. I had no siblings and my parents were 30 when they had me and they were very strict with my upbringing.

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      2. I never imagined the busyness involved with raising kids. There’s much to do, think about, plan, and go places…then you do it all over again. It can get repetitive and mundane, but thank the Lord kids are cute. It makes up for the fatigue, up to a point.
        Thank you for your comment! I try to teach my kids to think about staying mindful of their actions and words. Its a hit or miss. I fail too.
        I was an only child too and my parents were also very strict. It was difficult to compromise Asian culture in America and to fit in.

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      3. Yes I can imagine it would be difficult to fit in here where children are given way more leeway than you had … me too. My parents were very strict and I knew my place in the hierarchy of things and did not breach it.
        I don’t resent my upbringing at all and am glad that I was raised strictly though I will say it was more difficult when I got older.

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      4. Oh the stories…I got made fun of often for having to be home early all the time. Now they make for good stories, but at the time, it was so embarrassing and I resented them. Teenagers are not good with sticking out of their peer groups. I better appreciate it now; it only took decades. lol. I wonder why it got more difficult for you as you got older. Was it due to not having the parental structure there anymore?

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      5. I was made fun of too. But I got into a group of six of us girls and we were tight knit and our parents all trusted us to be out and my parents relented. One of them used her father’s car and the six of us were inseparable the last two years of high school – but we did not “hang out” … we were model teens really. We went to the movies every Friday or Saturday night and out to dinner afterward at Big Boys restaurant or to Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor (an old-fashioned ice cream parlor). So we were not bad at all, but my parents were horribly strict. One of these friends got married in January 1976 and I was 19. I went with a date and believe me, I was not allowed to date until after high school and it was frowned up and so I only went out a handful of times so finally I said “forget about it” … but my one friend got married and I took this guy to the wedding. He did not know anyone there. I was given a curfew and we had not seen each other in a few years and were talking, the six of us, and I got home late. My father had locked the door – he claimed the next day, he locked it out of force of habit. I don’t believe that for a minute. I was grounded … 19 years old and I was not that late for goodness sake. My parents were very strict about everything – clothing too. I was told “when you don’t live under our roof anymore, you can dress as you please.” I toed the line for everything, and as a youngster too.

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      6. Six good friends is a great thing in high school!! Not too many people are lucky to have a large support group like that. Happy that you did…must’ve felt safe to be in a tight community.
        Don’t know what it is about high school that creates many cliques, divisions, groups, etc. Just the stress of it makes the pressure of academic work worse. I’m speaking from my own experience.
        Oh my , your father’s excuse sounds silly. I guess he couldn’t really admit he did it from anger. Parents are funny like that. I remember driving home late one night and was so happy the inside lights were turned off. Turns out, my dad was standing outside holding a flashlight. He didn’t talk to me but just walked into the house. My mom didn’t talk to me till the next day. I was kind of a wild kid even though my parents tried hard. But I knew my limits. lol.
        I remember Bob’s Big Boy character with the checker jumpsuit. Are they around still? It used to be one of my favorite diners. I used to love Coco’s too.

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      7. You know what Esther – we were inseparable the last two years in high school, then suddenly we graduated. Three of us were going to college in the Fall, the other three looked for office jobs. I worked at a diner all through college. I worked all weekends during the school year and on school breaks and all Summer long. So, we got together at Christmas that year and exchanged gifts … we found we had not much to talk about. In those days there was no social media at all and we all went on to different lives. But we all sent Christmas cards and one of the girls said “let’s get together for a five-year reunion and do like we did before … a movie and out for dinner.” So we went to the movie – six of us on an evening and had to sit apart, then there was no Big Boy – they had closed down or remodeling, not sure now, but we ended up going out to a Chinese restaurant. We once again had really nothing in common. The three of us had finished school and were working, the girl who got married had two kids, another one had no kids and one had three kids. We didn’t know anything about one another – very strange. We never got together again and one of the girls passed away from ovarian cancer. I only knew that as I rode the bus with a girl who lived across the street from her and she told me. She had moved to Texas … she died and a year later, her husband died of cancer as well. Very sad.

        This house is small and my parents would be in bed when I got home if I went out at night and was late getting in. There was and still is wall-to-wall carpeting. In the hall, there was/is a squeaky floorboard under the carpet. My parents might have been sound asleep and I knew I was late, but I’d open and shut the door as quietly as possible and had a flashlight on my keychain so I didn’t make noise … but the squeaky floorboard would wake them up. One of them would glance at the clock and say “is that you Linda at ______ o’clock a.m.?” 🙂

        We don’t have any Big Boy restaurants around here, but I know they are still around in Michigan as I hear references to them, usually in conjunction with the classic cruises of old-time cars that are all around Michigan and they have parking lots where they gather with the old cars on various evenings designated as “old car night”. I just Googled “Coco’s” … we don’t have any here (that I know of), but the menu and some of the pics of their food looks delicious.

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      8. Life is funny like that! Some friendships are seasonal. I think especially in high school and as people go to college, people’s personalities and life situations change.
        That must’ve been sad to hear about 2 of your friend’s passing and her husband. I found out a few of my peers had passed too through different circumstances. I couldn’t believe it. In college, one of our dorm mates passed during shoulder surgery. All of us were shocked…when you’re young you don’t think about the immortal.
        I have a feeling parents just know and they say clueless things even though they know what you’re up to. Now I understand it better since having kids. I hear them moving around and know what they’re up to. Oh that squeaky floorboard!! You could have been so stealth otherwise.
        My favorite diner was Coco’s and it reminds me of growing up and going there with my grandmother.
        I hope you are having a good night and staying well!!

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      9. Yes, we were going to stand up in each other’s weddings, even name our firstborns after one another. The funny thing is that out of the six of us, three of us were named “Linda” – so naming our firstborns would have been a 50/50 ratio. Yes it was a shock about Sheila for sure – your friend as well … so young.
        Yes, I tried to step around the squeaky floorboard but got it wrong. Coco’s sounds very nice and memorable.

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      11. I thought it was funny three of us were named “Linda” – what are the odds? We used our whole names to refer to one another to keep us straight.

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      13. BTW, my kids usually get along well but there are days when they can’t stand each other. They’ve always been together since Ellis’ birth and with her fragile heart, we live in a bubble. He gets that but he’s sensitive that she gets so much attention in the hospital or when she’s sick. He puts on a happy face but I see his sadness and effort. Ugh…it’s hard.

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      14. I can imagine Elliot would feel out of sorts … then you have to give him lots of attention when you’re not feeling up to it as you have worries about Ellis. It is difficult to keep a cheery demeanor through all of this I am sure. I heard this advertised on the radio the other day – would this interest your kids? I don’t know if they use a computer at the house, are they too young? I see kids with a smartphone or iPad in stores all the time – I don’t have a smartphone or iPad. 🙂 It was an ad on the radio and first time I’ve heard it though the pandemic is not two months: stories.audible.com

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      15. It’s hard on him. I feel for his pain, because a lot of his plans take the backseat when his sister gets sick. He puts on a brave face and pretends like it’s ok. This is what makes me feel sadder. I wrote a post about this last year on his 8th bday; he still talks about it as his worst birthday ever. It’s my April 15, 2019 post. I copied it to my clipboard to send you the link, and I can’t even find it. I tell you, I’m barbaric when it comes to this tech stuff. ugh!!!!
        When people ask how I’m doing, I don’t like to get all into it. So I sweep it under the rug ignoring, but the stress gets to me in unexpected times. It is challenging and I’m constantly trying to balance attention and care. Leaves little rest for me.
        Yes, my kids have their own tablets and they watch their Youtube videos. I know some parents would balk at kids watching pads. It’s amazing how they keep kids off tech. My friend did tell us about audible stories. Thanks for sharing this information. Maybe I just needed another reminder to try it out.

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      16. I can imagine. He will grow up very mature and that part is good – it is like being an only child, I think you grow up with a different mindset than when you have siblings to distract you all the time. I don’t have a smartphone or iPad, so while I have not used them, I know that there is a world of tech at the touch of a finger. I had a smartphone for a few months and went back to a flip phone. My 2G phone was not supported by AT&T so they sent a voucher to get an upgrade and I got one for about $89.00 but got the discount. When it dropped calls on the few calls I made while trying it out on my neighbor who was my “guinea pig” I got a more reliable phone. I don’t ever talk on the cellphone, it’s just for emergencies and I could not get the swiping down and when it lost the calls, that influenced my decision. I heard the ad for audible stories for kids on the radio – maybe your friend did too? It might give you a little break, so you can read Esther. 🙂 P.S. – My birthday is April 14th … so we share an almost birthday twin birthday!

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