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| Image via Wikipedia Not this farm, but one something like it. |
In chronological order. Some of these are not one-time, episode specific events, but years of memories that can all be categorized into one subject.
My paternal grandparents farmed in North Central Ohio, and raised a large family. Many of their children also had large families, so there were lots of cousins to play with on weekends and through the summer as children. Growing up, most of my closest friends were also my cousins (both sides of the family), and even today, I only have a handful of good friends who aren't related to me.
Family Game Night
It could be a group as small as my mom and us kids, or could include aunts, uncles, cousins, friends or neighbors. As we aged, we also included our significant others. Whatever the configuration of people and whatever the game, we always had fun. We played board games, word games, card games, dice games, mind games, and trivia games. I'll also include doing jigsaw puzzles here too. Most everyone in my family enjoys gaming.
Meeting Winona
I met my best friend of 36 years, Winona, in fifth grade when we were ten years old. She was the new kid that day, and having had some experience at being the new kid myself, I took on the responsibility of being the one to reach out and include her. We started bonding immediately and became best friends. At age 46, separated by thousands of miles on opposite ends of the country, we still talk almost daily, or at the least, a couple of times per week when we're really busy. Thank God for cell phones!
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Not that Winona.
Going Back To College
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Go Bucks, WooHoo!
Having started college the first time when I was still a bit too young and immature, I flunked out because there were way more interesting things to do than go to class or do homework. When I returned as an adult approaching 30, I was thrilled that I was able to be an Honor's student and earn many achievements. Until then, I didn't know I had it in me, but my successes there gave me a new foundation to build the rest of my life on. I'm also grateful for the experiences and education that I received, and the view on life that I have gained.
Of course, finding my sweetie is one of the best memories ever. When we first met, I told him I wasn't interested in meeting anyone new, because I was moving across the country soon. He told me he'd change my mind. He did.
Finding out I was pregnant - twice.
After battling infertility for all of my adult life, I'd finally given up at around age 38 - 39. Around the same time I met Baba, and we were both at the point where we thought we were past being able to have children, and even though we'd both wanted children when we were younger, we felt that we had gotten over it and moved on. Even so, he told me the first time that we went out what he wanted to name his first daughter and first son (he got his wish). We decided that in a couple of years, if our finances changed, that we would seek treatment and try to conceive later in our 40's.
Shortly afterward, I discovered to my surprise that I was pregnant at age 40 just months after we'd married. I delivered a healthy baby girl who has been a joy to raise, so we decided to look into what it would take to try to conceive one more baby before we got too old, since we now knew it to be possible. Luckily for us, PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) is now much easier to treat than it was in my youth, and all it took was one trip to the endocronologist for a work-up and a prescription for Metformin. It took more months than it has for some couples, but we had to put it on hold a couple of times due to other health problems. Then when we had the all-clear to go ahead, we went on with our plans.
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After more than another year of trying, I was getting older and more discouraged, believing it just wasn't going to happen, but he was sure it would and just kept trying. At one point I told him that if I hadn't conceived by my next birthday I was giving up...and just a few weeks later I found out I was pregnant again! We've now added a healthy baby boy to our family.
Giving birth - twice.
I won't share all the gory details. My birth stories are like those of many women -- anyone who has been through it knows how it is, and anyone who hasn't probably doesn't care -- but if you are a mom, you know that these are the type of memories that you can replay over and over again in explicit detail.
Nursing my babies.
Breastfeeding has been the most awesome thing I have ever experienced, there are really no words to describe it. I'm so glad that I've been able to nurse two babies. Both of my children have been exclusively breast fed (EBF), and Miss Sunshine nursed until she was 18 months old (though she was down to only a couple per day, along with a variety of foods). So far Baby Moon is still nursing well at 6 months, and I'll keep going until he's ready to wean. Well, no older than age two. He's also enjoying a wide variety of solid foods. Even if they're only nursing occasionally, there are still a number of benefits from extended breastfeeding.
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