The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[2Jedismom]

After I posted that about wishing I could hug you like I do Josh, I went and hugged Josh in a mighty way...then filled up his little swimming pool in the back yard. The boys are splashing merrily now and thinking I'm the absolute best.

LOL!!

[RosieCotton]

And with that, I nabbed a precious...

[HairOfTheDog]

Sorry to ramble on so.

It is great.... Save those writings.... All of that history will be important for Corin Jr. to have later, and he probably would not get it so much now. It will give him a glimpse into the guilt and regrets and feelings we all have. He will know that you understood.

[2Jedismom]

Good snaig!

I believe that too, Rosie, about there not being any time in heaven. We'll all be together in what seems (in hind sight) like the twinkling of an eye...

It's hard to endure, but it is comforting to know that your mom isn't lost...you know where she is.

[RosieCotton]

It's hard to endure, but it is comforting to know that your mom isn't lost...you know where she is.

Oh, definitely!

Well, I'm feeling better now. Hopefully I don't fall apart later this evening...it's also my brother's 21st birthday, and we're all getting together tonight to have a party at his sandwich shop, since he isn't able to leave. I imagine we'll all be a bit emotional.

Going to head home and see if any more tulips bloomed!

[Corin Stormhands]

And with that, I nabbed a precious...

Yer mandolin elf could play this'n...

Precious Memories

As I travel down life's pathway,
Know not what the years may hold.
As I ponder, hopes grow fonder,
Precious memories flood my soul

Precious father, loving mother,
Glide across the lonely years.
And old homes scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appears.

Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul.
In the stillness of the midnight,
Precious sacred scenes unfold.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

So what's the latest from the feed store?

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

I had a psychology in the few years after my mom died that I think I am mostly over.... I met a boyfriend about 3 months after she died, and actually stayed with him off and on for 4 years. (It should never have lasted that long) I was cognizant to the fact that I devalued him in my life because he didn't know mom.... as if because he didn't and could never really know her, he could never really know me. I would picture my wedding, and because mom could not be there it would not be a legitimate wedding anyway, and I figured, why bother? does that make sense?

Instead of trying with him, I strived to hold onto people and relationships that preceded her death, those people who knew my mom were my only remaining tie to the life I was holding on to, the others would be strangers to a whole irreplaceable part of my life, and that distanced me from them. I don't think that is true any more... I think I could have a wedding and feel it was a legitimate excercise, and that children who didn't know their grandmother would indeed still be worth having for their own sake, not just for the sake of making my mom proud of me, but that has taken years.

[2Jedismom]

Nuthin'

:-(

[2Jedismom]

And old homes scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appears.

This is what I most regret, that I just don't have and never will have these kinds of memories...

But I'm making them now!

[Corin Stormhands]

Hmmm...I met the Mrs. just a month after my Dad died. Of course it took us 8 years to finally get married, but that's a long story.

Yet another long story is the weirdness of my family which I won't go into. But I have wonderful memories of my family on my Dad's side growing up. There were nine kids. Two died in the aftermath of the Spanish flu epidemic (yes, there's another long story there). But the rest grew up and had families of their own. My dad was the youngest and the first to die.

Lots of weird things happened, with the home church, etc. and with one of my cousins now thinking he's the patriarch of the family.

Anyway, all that is to say that I regret that my wife and boys don't have a concept of what the family was like before. Occasionally they'll get glimpses, but it will never be the same. And I'm sad that my boys won't know that.

[Corin Stormhands]

But I'm making them now!

And you know, some day, years from now Joshua and Matthew will be having biscuits from a can and saying to each other "You know, Mom was a slightly pudgy housewife and she dressed us in those darned Chuck Taylors, but she gave us a wonderful childhood..."

;-)

[2Jedismom]

Oh, that would be wonderful!

The other day I was feeling a bit down because we haven't done too much as far as field trips this year...because of Steve being in school and it being too hard to take Joshua along...

I told Matthew "I don't feel like a very good mom." He responded by saying "It's when you are feeling like your doing your worst that we think you are at your best." That's word for word what he said...Steve heard him.

I think it was meant as a compliment...but I'm still trying to figure it out! LOL!!

[HairOfTheDog]

I regret that my wife and boys don't have a concept of what the family was like before. Occasionally they'll get glimpses, but it will never be the same. And I'm sad that my boys won't know that.

Yes, I think you get the sentiment. I will always have the sadness about anyone new not knowing what it was like before (and that is a big difference now that my grandma, stepdad, and other uncles who circled the table on holidays are also gone). But I have moved to the next step of not letting that sadness keep me from doing it.

[Corin Stormhands]

He responded by saying "It's when you are feeling like your doing your worst that we think you are at your best."

That's actually pretty profound...and Biblical.

In our weakness, He is made strong.

[Corin Stormhands]

But I have moved to the next step of not letting that sadness keep me from doing it.

Oh absolutely. We're making memories for them now that will someday be just as precious as ours are to us.

My mom doesn't get it. She doesn't get me wanting to have the desk her dad made or the pie safe that was my great-grandmothers. In the grand scheme of things, they're pretty crappy pieces of furniture. But that's not the point.

And she doesn't quite get the concept that we must have a house full of company on Christmas Day. We would be very sad if it was just the four of us for Christmas dinner. We've always tried to make a point of inviting people that would have nowhere else to go.

We want our boys to understand that concept.

[Corin Stormhands]

Okay, gotta run. See y'all later.

[HairOfTheDog]

That is interesting that your mom doesn't have the nostalgia for the old things. What does your mom value then? What connects her to the warm fuzzies?

[2Jedismom]

I made the boys (and myself) malts in honor of your mom. It's a special treat around here to get a real malt made in the blender with Ovaltine malt and everything. I even made Joshua's out of some frozen strawberries.

I made Matthew's first (chocolate), then Joshua's strawberry one, then I was finishing making my chocolate one when Matthew walked in and says "You wouldn't happen to have any more?"

Sigh.

;-)

[2Jedismom]

I was thinking making malts might be a fun thing to do at Entmoot too...