My youthful Aunt Vi!

I have posted a picture of her family taken on the day of her funeral but want to add a picture of her as a young woman.

Uncle Hugh and Aunt Vi

They loved one another and are now united once again after a separation of 25 years. We can only imagine the joy of that reunion.

Aunt Vi

Last month on July 17 my Aunt Vi died. She was my mother's oldest sister. She loved me and I loved her and I have missed her very much. She was 90 years old. She was born the same year as my father. She was named Viola Mabel Peterson. She married Hugh William Reilly. When she died she had 5 children, 20 granchildren, and 35 great-grandchildren.

V - very generous (I remember as a child I got a nickel along with her own children to buy a candy bar at the neighborhood grocery store..Lee's Grocery)

i - independent, she remained in her home until the last few weekes of her life (she was so resilient! she fell and broke bones and she would heal and return home)

o - often baked and cooked and shared her food (a few of my favorites: cinnamon rolls, lemon meringe pie, burnt sugar cake, and potato salad)

l - loved by her family and friends (her family lovingly cared for her for a long time)

a - always ready to welcome you into her home to talk and visit (her door was seldom locked... all were welcome to enter in!)

The Joy of Posterity

Our granddaughter arrived August 16. She did not arrive bawling, instead she was filled with sneezes. She did bawl when she was laid out naked on the scale for weighing and the nurse reminded her Dad that this was a picture taking opportunity. Grace did not agree! She cleaned up beautifully and loved the burritto wrap and being held close. She is truly a beautiful little girl and very very welcome to our family. We love her. Her Grandpa Ken wants only to babynap this little girl and make sure she knows she is loved and wants for nothing. We find holding her in our arms a joy.

The view from the top of the hill!

I would like to make a comment about the picture in my heading. This is the view my Grandmother grew up looking at in Norway. She lived on the Todsvold Farm which was above the Alfjorden ( a beautiful fjord). She came to America with her sister, Yorgina ,to join her brother, John, in Iowa. She left her mother, her brother William, and her sister Torun in Norway when she was 15 years old. She wrote Torun in 1955 to please take a picture of the fjord and send it to her. The picture she wanted was the picture I took when I visited Norway in 2006. It is lovely to look upon but the great treasure for me is my understanding of the sacrifices my Grandmother made to come to America, a land of promise, and leave behind so much she loved. When I asked her why she left her mother and her home she said very simply, "If you got an opportunity to come to America you came." She only returned home to Norway once. However, she wrote many many letters home and received letters. She never forgot her family but she loved her new country. I will be forever grateful for her love, her example, and her sacrifices. Her name is Johanna.

A new school year with new opportunities has begun!

I am a speech therapist working in grades K-12. It amazes me that although I live in a relatively rural area the needs are great and I have a caseload of more than 40 children. As a child I was shy and quiet but I grew up with a love of teaching. I love to work in the public schools where I currently work with children who have speech and language needs and who are mentally disabled, autistic, with syndromes such as Fragile X and Downs. I provide services for students who are deaf, emotionally fragile, and who are not intelligible or easily understood. I find great joy in my work and I am glad the 2008-09 school year has begun and look forward to the challenges and the rewards which will be mine!

Sunday Thoughts

With a desire to communicate with friends and family I have decided to try blogging. I have visited the blogging sites of others and am impressed with the opportunity to share photos, thoughts, ideas, and insites with each other. I look forward to this challenge!