Sentimental Sunday: We Meet Again

Kristi, Kathyrn and ME

10 October 2007

Sheppard Airforce Base Air show

Wichita Falls, Texas

To most people a photo with their mom is not that big of a deal. 

However, to me it is!

You see, up until this particular week, I had not seen my mom in 33 years.  You heard me correctly.  When I was a little girl, her and my father divorced when I was 4.  I had not spoken to or seen her since. 

In Feb. of 2007 I had just moved to Wichita Falls and happened to be at lunch and my grandmother called.  She informed me that my dad had brought us a letter from our cousin Rene.  In the letter it told my father that she was looking for Robin and Krisit and if she didn't have the right person, to please forgive her.  If so, then she was hopping to contact us and if he didn't want to give us the letter she would understand.  Well, obviously he gave us the letter.

At first I was in shock and didn't know what to say, think or feel. 

When I went home that night, I sat down and wrote her a letter back and it wasn't very nice.  It stayed in the door of my car for months.  In late March, early April, I sat down to write another letter.  The next morning I gave it to my ex-mother in law and asked her to mail it for me.  Sometime in mid April I received a phone call shortly after I got home from Rene(my cousin).  We talked for a while that night and hung up.  The next night, we talked again and I also received a call from my mom.  I knew instantly who it was without her even telling me. 

In October of 2007, they all came to Texas to visit.  When I first saw her I was actually numb.  I was not sure how to feel or what to say.  I think for the first few days I actually walked around like a zombie.  I can't say that the visit was perfect and had a totally happy ending.  It didn't!  However, I can say that at the end of the visit I no longer had questions or regret.  It has taken the last 3 years for us to become friends.  However, I have not regrets nor hard feelings.  I can honestly say that when I leave this world that I am ok with it and no matter what I wont't leave wondering.....

Wordless Wednesday: Grandma's Lilac Tree

A Childhood Memory Come True.... (Part 2)

photo provided by: Rene Corwin Young

March 2009

St. Ignace, MI

When I first started my story I told you about a Childhood Memory that my cousin helped me relive when she came to Texas in October of 2007. This story and the photos are of the memory. While the photos are recent, they took me back to 1974....

I have not been able to get a specific date, but I think the date was sometime in 1974 when my mom took my sister and I to St. Ignace MI to visit her parents. My memories of the trip are nothing but pleasant other than the fact that my YIYI had passed away prior to us arriving.

While there I discovered SNOW for the very first time. My memory was of me playing outside and something started to falling and I asked what it was. I was told that Grama responded by telling me it was Snow and i began to run around the lilac tree singing...: It's Snowing, It's Snowing". I was told later by my cousin that everyone stood in the door laughing and smiling at my enjoyment. The picture of the tree above is the very tree that I have such a wonderful memory of and it's covered in snow.

The other memory I have is of something that reminded me of a bridge tower. However, I never could exactly find out what that was. Until April of 2007. When I first spoke to my cousin I mentioned the memory and she instantly told me it was the Mackinac Bridge This is a photo of almost my exact memory. Rene spent several months trying to get the perfect shot of the memory I had described to her and this is as close as it gets. I remember being a little closer, probably almost directly under it as I woke from the back seat and looked up. But this photo is perfect.

Thanks Rene for the memories!

Part 3: My Family Quilt (Contiuned)

James and Helen Faleris

21 June 1943

Canada

written by: Rene Corwin Young

This story is a continuance of the orginal post: "My Family Quilt". In Feb of 2007 Rene's dream and promise to Helen Faleris just before she died was fullfilled. When our Grama Helen got sick, one of her last request to Rene was to find my sister and I. She wanted to see us before she died. Unfortunately, grama was unable to have that wish. Before Rene's visit to Texas in October of 2007, she created a Scrapbook of the Faleris Family for me as a gift. In "My Family Quilt, "My Mother's Side", the story she wrote is that which I am sharing with you.

In 1942 Papa met Grama (Helen Baker) while she was working in a resturant. From the stories I remember he was trying to make his girlfriend jealous. After they broke up Papa went back to the resturant and courted Grama and they m arried 21 June 1943. Papa either had a job in the states or got a job in the states hauling coal for a company in Detroit, MI. Papa decided to make a move to Detroit where they would raise their family, as they found out that Grama was pregnant with her first child Joan. In July when Grma tried to cross into the states she was refused entrane because of the war that was going on at the time. In November 1943 Grama was allowed to move to the states with her husband, but was not allowed to become a US Citizen.

Detroit, MI is where they made their home until about 1957. When they moved to St. Ignace, MI Papa got a job ofer from his brother-in-law to help run his resturant(The Belle Isle). Grama and Papa had three children by this time, Joan, George and Kathy which all had been born in Detorit, MI. I remember being told "YiYi" (papas mother) had a home in detroit as well.