Month: September 2010

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Mommy’s Piggy Tales: Letters From Home

Aug. 25, 1987

Dear Ginny,
    I will try to make Tues. my day to write to you. Your Father has already written, as he cannot stop talking about leaving his little Ginny at college…I hope that today you will have good luck registering for classes and getting your books. Everything else should be a piece of cake! As classes start, I’m sure you’ll get into a routine and settle in quickly. Of course, many people asked about you Sunday (it couldn’t be because Daddy mentioned taking you to college in his sermon, could it?!) Everyone wishes you well.

                                                                      We love you,
                                                                                 Mom

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Dear Ginny,
    This is my day off, but I had chapel today and did some other stuff…Last night Mom and Meredith went to the Lyric Opera. The G—-‘s couldn’t go so they gave us the tickets. I couldn’t go with Mom — had an appointment and PTL meeting — so Meredith went. It was a modern one, so a little boring — but O.K. I guess. I love you ginny — God keep you safe. Behave and study a lot!
                                                                          Dad

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8/24/87

Dear Ginny,

    Did you really think I wasn’t going to write you? What kind of a sister do you think I am?…People keep asking me if I miss you. Of all the stupid questions! I must’ve got asked that 15 times yesterday. It was driving me absolutely nutso!… I think I shall write a letter to K, too. —From hearing stories about what her roommate is like, it sounds like she could use a little cheering up! So I’ll say goodbye — you could write back, if you really wanted too! Have fun (but be good!)

                                                                      Love,
                                                                      Meredith
                                                                      (your sister)

 ********************

Tuesday, August 25, 1987

Dear Ginny,
   Thank you very much for the two-dollar bill. I will never spend it. The year when it was printed is the year I was born in!….How is the weather you’re having? It rained last night and has been raining almost all day. How are you getting along with Peggy? Is she nice? By her picture I would think she is. When you get this, I won’t expect you to write back right away because you’ll probably be very busy. When you do write back you could combine letters on one piece of paper.
                                                                      Yours truly,
                                                                       Jamie (your loving brother. HaHa)

 ********************

Sept. 15, 1987

Dear Ginny,
    I’m sorry I haven’t been writing. I haven’t forgotten about you. Actually, I kept reminding myself to write to you. School is keeping me busy (probably not as busy as you, but busy).
    This typewriter is driving me crazy. You must be glad to have the new one. Have You used it much?…I don’t mind if you show this to your friends, but if you do, tell them I’m doing the righ t fingering, not just picking it out with my first finger.
   Don’t get homesick, just keep in mind that we love you. Write as much as you can, because I love mail, too. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO and many more!!
                                                                    Your  Loving Sister,
                                                                    Heather Jo

P.S. Which is X and which is O?

As I was going through my memory box for earlier posts, I found a stack of old letters I had saved. These are excerpts from letters I received soon after I left for college.

Continue telling Mommy’s Piggy TALES with me! Starting October 11, I’ll be writing a guest post on my Young Adult Years each Monday at Mommy’s Piggy TALES! We will write six posts remembering our young adult years. Janna, author of Mommy’s Piggy TALES, and I will provide suggested prompts to help you write your posts. Please email me – lemondroppie(at)gmail(dot)com – to sign up!

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A S-tick-y Situation

This post is coming to you from a new laptop! Ed went out last Friday and bought us a new Gateway since our old Dell has slowed down to a snail’s pace. Isn’t he the BEST?!?

I think Ed might be feeling sorry for me. I haven’t been feeling well lately, but now I’m started to feel better.

A couple of weeks ago, I had just taken a shower and was toweling off when I noticed something. It was a freckle that really shouldn’t have been there. A freckle that stuck out from my skin. A freckle that wasn’t a freckle after all…it was a freckle with legs. Turns out that freckle was a deer tick. As my brain was panicking, I carefully looked myself over and found a couple more ticks, yanked them off, and then ran downstairs to check Lily and Emmy. I found three deer ticks on each of them. I’m shuddering as I type this…ew, ew, EW!

We had just spent the weekend hiking in the woods down in Kentucky, which is where I think we got the ticks. The girls’ pediatrician put them on antibiotics just as a precaution against Lyme disease. She suggested I see my doctor as well, since the ticks were embedded in our skin for two to three days already. (Excuse me while I shudder some more — EW!)

My doctor put me on an antibiotic as well, only I was to take the super-duper killer of that nasty Lyme bacteria, while the girls took amoxicillin since they are too young to take the super-duper antibiotic. My system did not respond well to this medication. I felt like such a wimp. I’ve weathered cancer, for heaven’s sake, and chemo, and two Cesarean sections, and this antibiotic whipped me.

The first morning I took doxycyline, I felt more nauseous than I ever have before. After telling myself, “I won’t throw up, I won’t throw up,” I finally threw up my breakfast. Me, who never threw up once during chemo! My nausea was so bad that the doctor prescribed an anti-nausea medication. Then there was heartburn. The Saturday night after I had started taking the medicine, my chest was burning so bad that I couldn’t sleep. The next day, I noticed that I was having a lot of pain when I was swallowing food. The pain continued to get worse, right in the middle of my chest. On Tuesday, I begged my doctor to let me stop taking the doxycyline. She agreed. By Thursday, every time I swallowed, pain stabbed throughout my chest and into my back. Either the heartburn or the medication had damaged the lining of my esophagus. I called the doctor again, and she prescribed a medicine to help my esophagus heal. And all this was happening because I was taking medicine to prevent Lyme disease…I was never actually sick! I’m finally able to eat without pain, and the constant heartburn feeling I was having is gone.

Ed had some deer ticks on him as well, but his doctor didn’t prescribe anything. Ed is supposed to be watchful and check in with his doctor over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the girls have started school and I began a new, part time job. I supposed it’s a good thing that time just keeps rolling; I barely had time to feel sorry for myself. So there you go…an explanation at last!