Family roots – Carvings on a Desk

Grateful for the Moon and Other Bright Spots

Posted by Julie Jo Severson 7 Comments

https://wasmorg.com/2024/03/07/rgcrhtn6a Over the years, as a hobby, I’ve worked with a few people to record, transcribe, and shape their life stories into written narratives to pass along to kids and grandkids. And now I’m beginning to do so as another one of my little random freelance gigs.

https://worthcompare.com/yjffmxv8 During these sessions, I ask questions that I hope will trigger rich memories as we move through each phase of life, from childhood to the twilight years.

I’m impressed by how much people remember. The color of a bedspread. A burn on a coffee table. The sound of an old friend’s laugh. A conversation while riding a ski lift.

https://fotballsonen.com/2024/03/07/qtz4ah0w But what I’m moved by even more is the degree of gratitude that seeps out from some people as they look back on their moments.

Gratitude for family. Gratitude for friends. Gratitude for trials and tribulations. Gratitude for freedom. Gratitude for hotdogs and beans.

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Life is Like a Crate of Oranges

Posted by Julie Jo Severson 13 Comments

Tramadol Cheap Overnight Oranges are rich, succulent, and dripping with nutrients.

Tramadol Online Fast Shipping They’re also symbolic of the day Great Grandpa Conrad and his Chrysler Coupe crashed into a concrete wall.

According to my mom, Conrad was a tall, quiet man of thin frame and generous spirit who took his kids fishing and complimented his wife on her cooking on a regular basis. His family was his pride and joy. And so was his shiny blue car.

One day, feeling a little restless as a retired railroad agent in need of an adventure, Conrad packed a small suitcase.

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Hello Deer with the Broken Ear

Posted by Julie Jo Severson 22 Comments

https://giannifava.org/wk32zr4 Empty water bottles and overdue library books roll backward, then forward on the floor of the passenger seat as I pull up to my parents’ eclectic, dated abode and shift into park.

After grabbing my stuff from the back seat, I climb out of my SUV that has duct tape holding together the side view mirror. There on the other side of the car, as always, perched next to the big tree that shades their driveway, is the little ceramic deer with an old bandage wrapped around one of its shoddy ears.

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The Story Before the Story

Posted by Julie Jo Severson 30 Comments

My dad as a young boy would have climbed the tallest mountain for his mother if he could have. But all he had available to him that afternoon while standing outside her hospital room window was a telephone pole.

Since kids weren’t allowed in the Intensive Care Unit, Bobby, as they called him, then 7 or 8, decided to take matters into his own hands to wave hello and goodbye to his mother before the cancer swooped her away.

Dressed in his late 1930s after-school garb, which I picture in my mind to be an old pair of knickers, a t-shirt and knee socks, he climbed the telephone pole located about fifty yards from her hospital room window, no doubt scraping his scrawny ankles on the way up.

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Generations of Mothers

Posted by Julie Jo Severson 41 Comments

In my maternal great-grandmother Lillian’s dining room, next to the buffet that held her special-occasion silverware, was a lovely little writing desk with a feather quill, according to my mom.

To the right of the desk was a full-length closet door mirror. If you turned to look into the mirror while sitting at the desk, you’d almost think there were more and more rooms tunneling deeper inside it.

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