The Book of Me.... Written by You... Prompt 52

This week's prompt is - Inherited Items

There is something very special about inheriting an item from a family member. It doesn't have to be the riches, in terms of monetary value, or in the finest condition. Sometimes, just knowing that an item has stood the test of time in whatever shape it is now, is enough.

That link between the past, present and future as you in turn pass it along.

This week share those thoughts, memories and pictures. Lets having a trip down memory lane as with the passing along of each item there is always memories attached.

There really is something very special about inheriting something..
My dad gave me a Burns poetry book, that was given to my Grandfather.
I think it was for Sunday School, so it is very old...... the problem is it has fallen apart..
if I knew how to get it fixed, I would.

When my Gran died, my dad also sent me her bible, which I still have.
Its small and is in the same box it came in.
Whenever I look at it, I always think of her..

Something else I inherited is a ring.  It belonged to Ken's aunt.
She was very ill at the time and she gave it to me, and she told me that
she wanted it kept in the Redpath name... I love it !!
I am actually going to be passing it on to my daughter in law very soon.

I also have a 5 pound note ( Scottish ).. I think it was my dad who
gave it to me

Its so special to have these things, and of course seeing them makes
me think of the person who it belonged to.  
Having them also means a lot to me..

The Book of Me.... Written by You... Prompt 51

This week's prompt is - Your First Home

This can be either or a combination of any of the following

• Your parent's home - the first home you can probably remember
• A home away from home - perhaps collage
• Your first big purchase
• The first home with the love of your life and perhaps your descendants
• Perhaps talk of the excitement, stress and emotional attachments to locations
• Was your home in your family for lots of years, was it an old house or a new build?
• Can you visualise the rooms, or have photos?

I have chosen to write about the first home Ken and I bought..
We met in Toronto, but after being married a year we moved out West,
 to where we live now.
I think we were married about 3 years at the time we bought our first home.

Its funny, we used to talk about hoping to be able to buy something,
but it seemed so far from our grasp at that time....and then...

We had friends named Meg and Wayne who were selling their townhouse,
and asked us if we were interested.  Of course we were, but we honestly
didn't think we would be able to do that, but when we looked into it, we
saw that it was do - able.  Oh my... we were so excited !! 
We were so thankful to Meg and Wayne for giving us this chance.

We only had our older son at the time, and he was young, I think he was around 18 months.
Just our little family.
We had the basement done, which gave us a playroom / Family room downstairs,
and also a laundry / storage room as well.

When you walked in the front door, the kitchen was to the left
hand side... straight ahead were stairs leading to upstairs.
There was a hallway to the living room ( which was at the back of the house )
The downstairs bathroom was also on the left hand side, before you got
to the living room.
I remember we painted the bathroom a lemon colour, and the accents
were lemon and white.

Going upstairs, when we got to the top of the stairs, our bedroom was to the right.
It was'nt huge, but also not small.
I remember at that time we had a waterbed...
Straight ahead from the top of the stairs was the upstairs bathroom.
On the other side of the bathroom, we had 2 more bedrooms..which
was good, because even though we only had the one child..within a year
we went from one to THREE ..

I found out I was pregnant with our second son, and we adopted our daughter
who was 11, almost 12 years old... we needed those rooms.  :)
It wasn't a big home, but it did us just fine at that time, and
was okay for what we needed.

The Book of Me.... Written by You.... Prompt 50

This week's prompt is - Godparents

• Did / Do your Godparents feature a great deal in your life
• Do you know your Godparents?
• How do they link in to your family?
• Other stories or influences from your Godparents
• Are you Godparents to anyone?

Well, when I first read the prompt, I immediately  thought that I would have
nothing to write about.... I was thinking that if I had any Godparents, I
have no idea who they are.
Then I got thinking... I have a photo of me as a newborn, my mother is
holding me, and the woman standing beside her is my Aunt Helen.
Somewhere in my memory I thought someone told me that it was at
my christening, and my Aunt Helen was my Godmother.
Hmmmm... I managed to get my Aunt Helen's phone number, and
I tried to call.... no answer.
The next couple of days were busy, so I wasn't able to call, and then
yesterday in the morning before the busy day started I tried again.
..... this time, she answered.
I talked about many things and then told her about the photo I have, and
asked her if she was my Godmother, and she is.
She told me that she went to Greenock to see my mum after I was born,
she wasn't married to my Uncle yet... my mum asked her to be my Godmother.

Because I grew up with just my dad's side of the family in my life, I would have to say that
no... my Godparents didn't feature a great deal in my life... but that
wouldn't be their fault.. some things are beyond our control, and.... I really
understand why, I have no idea if I have a Godfather also..

I'm not a Godparent to anyone..

I went from feeling blah about this prompt, feeling I had nothing to
say, to feeling that I am so thankful for these prompts... it makes me think
and in some ways it gives me answers.  Also it brings up things / feelings that
I didn't know existed in me, makes me think, and makes me realise
" Who I Am ".  At the beginning of these prompts, I was to write a list
of Who am I... I think I could add to that list now.

Here is the photo. My mum is holding me, and my Aunt beside her  :)

Letter to my Gran

Hi Gran... its been so long since I've talked to you... doing this now brings tears to my eyes. You see I've been wanting to say thank you to you, and I now I am..  Thank you Gran for being the kind, wonderful lady you were. Thank you for marrying my Grandad, and in doing so , you took on a big family. My dad being the youngest was only about 9 years old at the time, but he never knew his mum, as she died after giving birth to him and his twin, ( who also died ), so you were the only mother he knew. My dad's brother's and sisters knew their mum, it would have been such a sad time for them.  I always felt your love.... always !! You were my gran... you loved me , there was no mistake about it. You know I miss you so much, I wish you were here to hug.. I wish I could tell you to your face, all that I'm feeling. I'm trying to work on your family tree, and hope that makes you happy... I wish you could help me ... help me to fill in all the missing pieces. I'm doing this for you because I love you. You never had any children of your own, but how loved you were  You were an extraordinary lady, who taught me so much. So glad I got to live with you for awhile.. I hope you're proud of me... by the way Happy birthday today.. I love you to the moon and stars and back... x x

 I just felt that I wanted to write a letter to my Gran tonight

The Book of Me.... Written by You.... Prompt 49

This week's prompt is - What do I sound like?

• Describe your voice
• Perhaps include an electronic recording of your voice reciting a poem or reading a piece of writing. Maybe even this prompt response
• Do you have recordings of other family members?

Describe my voice.... Hmmmm... sexy comes to mind
Just Kidding of course !!!

Well, I was born with a Scottish voice... well not actually born with it, but
when I was learning to talk, I talked with a Scottish accent. ( you know what I mean )
It's not as strong of an accent as it used to be, being as I live in Canada now.
I'm probably a mixture of Scottish and Canadian now, ( but secretly hoping
more Scottish than Canadian )

I've been told that my voice sounds young on the phone, I'm not sure about that one.
What I do know is, that when I hear my voice on a video.. I don't like it.  :)

I tried to add a video, but it didn't work...   I actually don't know
how to do an electronic recording..

I used to have a recording of my dad... well actually my dad sent me
a cassette tape once with songs he liked, and at the end he spoke just a
few words, but it was his voice, and I loved it.
I don't have it anymore as my oldest son taped over it when he
was little... I cried for days over that.  What I would do to be
able to hear my dad's voice now.....

I wish I had recordings of other family, like my grandparents... would
love to hear their voice....

The Book of Me.... Written by You... Prompt 48

This week's prompt is - Perfect Day Out

• Cast your mind back to a day when you experienced the perfect day out.
• Describe the setting
• Who you were with?
• Why were you there?
• What or who made it special
• How does the memory of that day make you feel?

The perfect day out.... I have a few, but right now I will talk about the
one I had with my daughter Robin.
We would go  to Banff at least once a year, and it was usually wintertime.
I called and booked the hotel etc, and Robin drove us there.

We were there for just a time away, and it was so awesome.
After we got booked into our hotel, we went go for a walk downtown.
I love the stores in Banff, my favourite store though is called
The Spirit of Christmas... absolutely awesome.
We booked a massage at the Spa where the hot pool is, and after
the massage, we sat in the outside hot pool, because it was winter
it was cold outside, so we ran from inside to the hot pool.
There is something so amazing to be outside in the cold, but be almost
too hot in the hot pool.  The snow was coming down gently, we were surrounded
by mountains and there was a zillion stars in the sky.
We had such an amazing time.

When we went back to the hotel, we had face masks that I had bought,
and we put them on, and then tried not to laugh, incase we cracked them.
We even took pictures, but I don't know where they are now.   :)
We brought junk food and ate and laughed, and just felt so content.

It was a time for us to talk and talk, not about anything in particular,
but just about anything and everything.
The next morning we went for breakfast, and went to the waterfall,
the Banff Springs Hotel, and down by the river.... we bought
fudge for ourselves and to bring home to family.
I remember that we even bought cheap rings each.
After we had lunch we started to drive home, as soon as we got into the
city, we made a decision to go to Fish Creek Park... there were huge
trees, we stood behind them, or on fallen trees and took loads of
pictures, and were just laughing and enjoying.

Its lovely to relive this memory... how does it make me feel?
Actually.... my heart is racing... I'm crying... I miss her so much
that it hurts... but what I am thankful for is my memory of when
times were good.  

The Book of Me...... Written by You.... Prompt 47

This week's prompt is - Awards

• Have you or a close family member received one?
• What was it for?
• How was it presented?
• Do you still have it?
• Have you inherited an award?
• If so, who was awarded it and what for?

Awards..... Hmmmm
I have my marriage licence... my reward for becoming a wife.. I know
its not really an award.. but its mine  :) and Ken's

Ken has an award of such.
He has  four safe driving awards for when he worked at
the Post Office.. one was for 5 years safe driving, the other was for 10 years,
Ken said that he also has a 15 year award also, but they didn't give out
anymore plaques, they gave a $50 gift certificate for The Keg.

  He didn't drive the whole time at the Post office, he was also a letter carrier.
The first award he got was presented to him at a dinner, but the
other was just handed to him at work....
We do still have them, in fact we have them hung on a wall downstairs...

I think there was also a 4th award of a Keg certificate... I think after that
he actually had an accident... lol