This year’s birthday for me was, as I have said, an eye-opener, a celebrated milestone, perhaps one I have been anxious about, but at the same time so thankful that I, unlike many of my close people, have been afforded to mark in my life.
As I sit and ponder the experiences that are allowed me at this age, I realize I have had a phenomenal and sometimes unbelievable life. As a child growing up on the outskirts of town, I was the product of “blue-collar” workers. My dad was an automobile mechanic by trade but a fisherman by heart. My mother was a factory worker. Neither of them having had much of an education, not in book learning, made quite a wonderful life for my brother, my sister and me.
My husband and I married at the “ripe old age” of 17 and neither of us has regretted that spur-of-the-moment decision, lasting now for nearly 63 years. Wow! But in saying this, I tell you there is so very much more on my “bucket list” for me to enjoy and experience before I am too old to get out of my comfortable chair.
Some of the bigger, more exciting things I would love to do is visit the famous avenue in Paris, The Champs Elysees, and hear Maurice Chevalier sing about the renowned place. Maybe have a cup of expresso at a roadside café. Visit New York City once again and walk through Times Square and Central Park, parachute from an airplane (with a seasoned jumper strapped to me, of course), sleep in a tent on a rainy night one more time, write the great novel, learn to cook as a gourmet chef, and, perhaps, lose a few more pounds. Plus a few other things.
I think about the things I still want to accomplish and then I remember the things I have realized, and I surely do not believe I have missed much in my time so far. I have achieved the dream of being a wife, mother of three treasured children, 14 grandchildren, traveled to several countries, been queen for a day, had the blessing and good fortune of so many good friends, and I get to visit with all of my great newspaper friends once a week. How blessed am I?
EASY RANCH MEATLOAF
1 pound of ground chuck
2 T. dry ranch dressing
½ cup of seasoned breadcrumbs
Mix all together well and add ¼ cup of ketchup and 2 T. brown sugar to top and bake in 350-degree oven for 40 minutes. Serve with garlic potato salad.
GARLIC POTATO SALAD
5 potatoes cut into chunks and cooked until tender
3 T. mayonnaise
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 t. dried oregano
Salt and pepper
Mine is not aways creamy enough so I add as much sour cream as needed.
