The Sunday Salon is a Facebook group that has become an
informal week in review gathering place for bloggers.
It is also a place to share our thoughts about things of a bookish nature.
You can also link up weekly on Readerbuzz.
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer
~ It’s a chance to share news~
A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received, and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE!
What a week!
Monday starts out with another school shooting and again those children’s faces are seared into my brain. When will Congress put children ahead of money? Why does anyone need an AR-15? Okay, no soap box today.
Wednesday was Kris’s birthday. He would have been 38 this year. Daughter #2 and I always try to take time off that day and this year we had a very interesting distraction. Cousins that I haven’t seen in decades came this way and took us to lunch. My dad’s family history has always had holes and we were never close to that side of the family. Last year, one of my aunts passed away and it was her children we met with on Wednesday. When they were packing up and cleaning out her home they found a box with my maiden name on it. I had spent a lot of time with that aunt when I was in college but her kids didn’t remember me at all. Through good old Google they found this blog which led them to me. I was so surprised when I opened up that email. Truthfully, I knew there were out there somewhere but they hadn’t crossed my mind in some time. I was so happy to meet up with them.
I thought I knew my father’s history and for the most part, I did but they brought with them pictures and information that proved there was much more to his story. After a couple of hours of sharing information and stories, we decided we would have to get together again and hopefully with more family and really get to know each other.
You all know how much I like mysteries but I never in my life dreamed I would have my own family mysteries to solve. After Wednesday’s lunch, I immediately called my sister and brother. Then I called my niece and our genealogy expert. She has been doing her best to track both sides of our family for years and she was as blown away as I was. It sent her down a rabbit hole and almost took me with her. She connected with my cousins, one becoming a true research expert herself and I am in awe of everything they are finding. We may have to write a book if all the clues ever come together. I am so thrilled that we finally reconnected but saddened that all but one of the generation that could have answers is gone. I can’t wait until we get together again.
Now, for what was in that box . . . treasures. Pictures of my parents with my sister, a picture of my grandmother, a picture from my wedding, and pictures I had sent to her at Christmas. There were funeral remembrance cards, a military certificate, a letter he wrote to his parents when he was away at war, a receipt from 1941 for clothes he purchased, and this telegram.
On Friday I went in to have another mammogram as a follow-up to the one I had a couple of weeks ago. I was fine until I was shown the 2 areas of concern circled on my previous scan. That scared me. Thankfully the advocate that was with me every step of the way last time was there with me. She is a very calming influence. So then, after several more images and then several more images and just one more image I talked to the radiologist. He is not a man of few words he finally got to the point. No masses were found. What he saw were calcifications that can be caused by radiation. But he said if cancer would reoccur it would be in those areas so we need to watch them closely. That means another scan in 6 months. I cried a lot of tears. I was and am still questioning if I made the right decision just by having a lumpectomy. I don’t need this stress every six months.
I would also like you to keep Son #2 in your prayers. He learned this week he has a break in his lumbar spine that has probably been there for a few months and healing may be hard. He has a very physical job and is very active with a young family so they are making a special brace for him to wear.
There was also interesting political news to brighten my week.
So, how was your week?
Weekly Rewind – March 27 – April 1, 2023
Monday – My Reading Itinerary Monday! – Week #13 – 2023
Tuesday – Curds of Prey: A Cheese Shop Mystery by Korina Moss #Review @KorinaLMoss
Thursday – Death and Croissants: A Novel by Ian Moore #Review #Giveaway @PPPress
It’s a great week to read a mystery!
Happy Reading!
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
That’s fascinating to discover something you didn’t know about your family! I hope you can follow that trail to the end! I too am fascinated with genealogy and I wonder what i’d find if I looked closer! Now I am so sorry to hear about your fright and I totally get your stress. I hope everything turns out fine even in six months and beyond.
Finding your cousins after such a long separation sounds very lovely, especially since both you and they want to reconnect and explore the past and the family history.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
What an amazing find!! I hope you have a great week. 🙂
What a fascinating mystery. I hope you are able to discover some answers to the questions you have. The telegram is compelling.
Remembering your Kris and having a mammogram—sending good thoughts and prayers, Lori.
So glad you got a good report healthwise! Uncovering family secrets is so fun and rewarding. I just got a newspapers.com account and I found a letter to the editor my Dad wrote back in the 1960s. He passed in 2019 so it was really cool finding some writing of his that I didn’t know about.
Another school shooting is ridiculous! Something needs to be done to stop it from ever happening again!
I have two sisters and a best friend who lost a child and know how hard it is for them when that date comes around. Sending you hugs!
I love meeting family I have never seen and getting to see those I haven’t seen in a long time. Glad you’re finally finding some info. How neat that they brought you the items like the telgram, photos, and remembrance card.
Oh Hon, what a week and what a lot to process. Try to focus on your new-found family and just keep the scans current.
I feel your pain, in many ways, I miss Chris along with others that passed too soon. I’m super excited the mammogram went well. I’m disappointed to have made the decision to do chemo and radiation after lumpectomy. I was super healthy before cancer and the only one except my sister to have cancer of all my uncles aunts and cousins! Donna had breast cancer too 1 yr after me and she’s 1 year younger, I believe we got it from the trucks that sprayed DDT for mosquitoes when we were young. Stupid kids, we thought it was cool to follow the trucks “misty smoke”. DONT DO CHEMO or RADIATION, period! The list of ailments is over 30 now that I have to deal with and have surgeries for. That’s the reason, there are other ways to heal your body. It’s an amazing thing if you do your research and know what’s good for it. I have faith in you, you’re an amazing example when I think of everything you’ve gone thru. Take care Lori, Sincerely Dawn
I’m preying for everything your going through. That school shooting that happen was awful. Someone brought up a point to me that government legislation may change people’s minds but not their hearts. What really needs to be change in this country are people’s hearts.
Have a great week.
Very cool about your long lost cousins. Prayers for your scans and your son.