Life After 70 Has Its Distractions

So, I started writing again after almost a year and found that I had not published my last piece about Uncle Homer.  I started to delete it but after reading it again, I realized how important this wonderful man was in my life and I wish never to forget those wonderful memories.  
Now my posts are out of sync but so am I lately and that just goes to show how distractions happen after 70.
Some day after I'm gone from this world, Maybe someone will write about me, perhaps one of my grandchildren or someone I have known briefly or for a lifetime..  But if not, I know I have been a good person and have loved and been loved.
Therefore, if distractions become too much of problem with my writing, I shall continue to make the best of it and "blog" on doing my utmost in putting together those almost faded memories that are so important to us as we age.
Oops! It's time to finish this coffee, get dressed and head to the gym...... (more about that later on)!

Home From the War and a New Car

Homer came home to Oklahoma a few days after he return from Korea on June 6, 1951.  I remember the first thing he did was to buy a new car.  I was so excited for the opportunity for my first ride in Uncle Homer's new car.  I remember it was blue and maybe a Plymouth and I thought it was the prettiest car I had ever seen!   My grandparents owned a little black Plymouth Coupe which didn't have much of a back seat, and since I was  beginning to grow taller by then, that Coupe was a little too cramped for three people, especially me, but Grandpa Riddle kept that car for a very long time--I think I was around 13 or 14 before he traded for a Cheverlet sedan.  You can imagine my excitement when I rode in my favorite uncle's beautiful blue car with a real back seat!

Needless to say, I was pretty jealous when the second thing he did was to begin dating someone.   He had known Opal Juanita Plank all his life, and I think they were corresponding not long before he came home. Opal, like Homer, had a failed marriage when she was very young and she was living with her parents in Muldrow.  Opal had a little baby girl who was just a few months old at that time.  I remember meeting Opal one day with her baby, Joy, when she stopped by to visit my Grandma Riddle.  She brought Joy with her to meet us and I thought she was just the cutest baby I had ever seen.  She and Grandma visited for a long time that day while I played with the baby.  I'm not sure why Opal stopped by, but I think she had been on a few dates with Homer and just wanted to visit with my Grandma--maybe get to know the family better.  

Opal was very pretty and genuinely easy to like.  I didn't think much about it at the time because I really didn't know or even suspect what was really going on.  I don't know how many dates they had been on by that time, but I guess it was serious and they were already discussing marriage.  My Grandma Riddle liked Opal because she had known about her all of her life and her family as well.  Opal had also been through  a failed marriage, but she came from a good, loving family and was welcomed into our family by my grandparents, but not me, at first anyway.  I was a little skeptical, cute baby or not, that this woman might be the one taking my Uncle Homer away from me.  These first feelings I had changed over time and I began to fall in love her too, and loved her very much thoughout the rest of her life.

Homer Y, Riddle and Opal Juanita Plank were married on July 5, 1951.  I recently learned from their daughter, Cheri, that they wanted to be married on July 4, but it was a holiday and the Justice of Peace wasn't working that day!  

There was a nice reception for them at the her parents' home that day.  Aunt Opal looked lovely and Uncle Homer was obviously very happy.  I really wasn't happy especially after I saw them kissing in the dining room, so I went into the kitchen and tried to hide in a corner hoping no one would see me crying.  However, my precious Uncle Homer found me and he put his arms around me and told me not to worry because he still loved me and would always be there for me.  

Life After 70

It's not always easy to realize that I am approaching life after 70.  I haven't done my blog in several months because life isn't always easy and just as it was when I worked and had a career.
We moved to Texas in August 2012.  My sister, Kathy, had passed away in May 2012, I went on a 10 day cruise with my children and grandchildren in June 2012.  It was a wonderful trip and I shall never forget it.  I'm really afraid of water and do not swim but will float in my daughter's pool once in a while.  But it was a very large boat and I never felt scared or seasick at all.
Then in August of 2012 we sold our beautiful home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, only 7 miles from our son, and moved to Texas.  Chuck, my husband, said that the Oklahoma winters were just too cold for him anymore, especially after that big snow in winter 2011.  Couldn't get out of the driveway for a week.  The cold did not seem to bother me too much then....
Bought a cute house in a little suburb of Dallas called Rowlett.  House was 4 bedrooms, fixed up nice inside but we did major work outside, yard, fence, trees, removed ugly shed, added a patio cover, just a few nice exterior things.  First year 2012 it snowed, but not a lot.  Kind of surprising, but it was ok because it didn't last long, pretty enough though and reminded me of home.  You see, I lived in Oklahoma all of my life and this move to Texas caused me pain.  Had it not been for having our daughter, Tiffany, nearby in Dallas, approximately 20 miles away, I could not have stayed this long.  I missed my other family, my son Mark, his wife Carrie, and grandchildren, Bryce and Tristen.  Tristen had graduated in 2011 and was in her first year of college by then.  Bryce was still young but going into middle school and growing like weed.  But I missed him terribly because from first grade to fifth, Bryce and I had a lot of fun together.  I enjoyed those elementary school years just watching him do so many things in school--plays, baseball, karate, movies, ice cream, spending the night at Nana's--all that fun stuff grandmothers enjoy.  My life hasn't been the same without those things.  And I am sad most of the time, but there's more to come and much more to write about. 
I have to bring all of my (two maybe three by now) readers up to speed as to what has happened since our move.