Monthly Archives: August 2025
The “Wild West” is an era that is quickly fading from the memories of many people, especially the young people, especially with the gun become the “bad guy” in many areas of society. In the old West, the gun was a way of life. Everything from hunting for food to pure survival in an era when the “law” was not so readily available. There are still a few places, like Deadwood, South Dakota and Keystone, South Dakota where the old West is celebrated and remembered. Hopefully these places with continue to thrive, but there are many other such places, like Six Gun City, New Hampshire that have been closed down now, and the history they once celebrated, even if it was in a theme park atmosphere, has now been silenced.
Six Gun City in Jefferson, New Hampshire, was a Frontier Western-style amusement park that delighted young cowboys and cowgirls for nearly 60 years. Once filled with gunfights, saloons, an Indian Camp, and more, the park is now a memory of the past. Opened in 1957 by James and Eleanor Brady, the park was built on their 400-acre farm. The family had moved to Jefferson in 1941, running a dairy farm until 1955. Then, they decided to start a new venture. They started small, building the park little by little. It began with a dairy bar run by Eleanor, who loved cooking, along with an Indian Camp, cowboy skits, staged gunfights, a stagecoach, pony rides, and a gift shop selling hats, boots, bandannas, belts, and toy guns. Visitors were also entertained by the many Western artifacts on display. As the years went by, they kept adding on, until the park featured a Western Main Street, a petting zoo, trails in the woods, carnival-style rides…such as water rafts, a small roller coaster, bumper boats, and other outdoor activities. The family also had a passion for preserving historic carriages, wagons, and sleighs, including some historic ones from the White Mountains. Many of these were displayed at the park, along with old farm implements and other Western artifacts.
Over the years, the park employed thousands of people. It was a huge part of the economy of the area. In 1988, they added waterslides, and water rides, becoming the first dry park to add such attractions, and with that the employees to run all that. In 2006, the family purchased the adjacent Jefferson Campground, and the park grew again. Then, on November 25, 2007, James P Brady Sr died at the age of 90. Six Gun City celebrated its 50th anniversary the same year. In 2008, James and Eleanor were honored by being inducted into the New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame for their remarkable contributions to tourism in northern New Hampshire. By 2009, over 18 buildings had been renovated, a picnic area was added, and attractions like the “Giddy-Up-Corral” merry-go-round and a boot hill were introduced. In 2014, the amusement park transformed into the Fort Jefferson Fun Park and Campground, featuring water slides, laser tag, and cabins. Things were changing already, with the “Old West” past being replaced with the modern-day laser games. While the cowboy skits came to an end, new additions like go-karts and a runaway train roller coaster were added.
Eleanor Ruth Brady passed away at the age of 99 on August 18, 2018. That same year, the Fort Jefferson Fun 
Park closed its doors. The times were changing, the original owners were no longer there, and the dream was dying. Today, many of the Six Gun buildings remain along the highway. The Jefferson Campground continues to welcome visitors just down the road, but the horses, wagons, stagecoaches, and cowboys have moved on to new pastures, and the true spirit of the “Old West” has left the area.
The baddest baseball team. You might think they were a team from the MLB…a team that was so good that they beat everyone else around…a team that could not be stopped. You would be wrong. The “Baddest Baseball Team” was a term used to describe the 1911 Wyoming State Penitentiary All-Stars. They were the “baddest” ever assembled, because of who was on the team. The team had a murderer at shortstop, a burglar at third, and manning first base was a convicted rapist, and the team’s star player in right field had a date with the hangman before the season was scheduled to end. The Wyoming State Penitentiary All-Stars, at first glance, seemed like any other baseball team of their time. A photo from their 1911 season features a polished group in crisp uniforms, matching caps, and neatly arranged gloves and bats. However, a closer look unveils that one troubling reality. These men were hardened criminals.
Other teams have been given nicknames in the past, like the 1927 New York Yankees being called “Murderers’ Row,” but none were more truth than fiction, except for the 1911 Wyoming State Penitentiary team. Even that team name didn’t sound real, until the people looked at where the team was from. They found it hard to believe, but this was a real team, and the story is 100% true. What’s more, there is every reason to believe they were literally playing for their lives. The Wyoming State Penitentiary All-Stars was a baseball team made up of convicts who showed some aptitude for the sport. I suppose that a good prison team might be kept off of death row, “for the good of the team,” if for no other reason. The program was introduced by a newly appointed warden who loved the game. At its worst, it might have encouraged the same type of corruption that the previous warden had been accused of.
At that time in American history, baseball was rapidly gaining popularity across the nation. Kids dreamed of becoming legends like Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Christy Mathewson. The Wyoming State Penitentiary, built in 1901 in Rawlins, was a grim and harsh facility where some inmates actually preferred execution over serving time. Lacking running water and electricity, the prison was a cold and dark place. Adding to the misery, millionaire Otto Gramm, with the aid of Warden JP Hehn, essentially ran the prison. Through a lessee program, inmates were forced to work for Gramm, making brooms in a makeshift factory for just 57 cents a day. Prisoners were often mistreated and barely given enough food to survive, while Gramm profited from around 60 dozen brooms produced daily by about 200 inmates. One inmate, Harry Pendergraft, who had been convicted of larceny, described the system as something from the dark ages. Finally in 1911, Governor Joseph Carey shut the program down and overhauled the system. He appointed Big Horn County Sheriff Felix Alston as the new warden, setting the stage for significant prison reforms. One of the biggest changes was the creation of the institution’s first baseball team. A passionate baseball fan, Alston believed a prison team could lift the spirits of the inmate-players and improve overall morale at the prison. What he didn’t anticipate was just how talented the team would turn out to be. The inmate All-Stars, aged 18 to 39, included shortstop Joe Guzzardo (manslaughter), first baseman Eugene Rowan (rape), third baseman John Crottie (grand larceny), center fielder Sidney Potter (forgery), second baseman Frank Fitzgerald (breaking and entering), and right fielder Joseph Seng (first-degree murder). The star pitcher, Thomas Cameron, 20, was a Tennessee coal miner with a powerful fastball and a criminal record that included sexual assault. The team’s coach, George Saban, was serving 25 years for shooting a sheepherder in the face and killing and burning two others during the Spring Creek raid, part of Wyoming’s range wars over grazing rights. Despite their criminal backgrounds, the team proved to be surprisingly skilled, particularly Seng.
Daniel C. Kinneman, owner of the Rawlins-based Wyoming Supply Co., proposed to Alston that the convicts play his company team, the Juniors, in a series of games that summer. Kinneman’s building, plumbing and supply company had a contract with the state penitentiary, so he knew of the new inmate team. He also was interested in seeing how his own ball club, a collection of promising rookies with a few seasoned veterans from the Rawlins city team sprinkled in, might fair against the cons. The Wyoming State Penitentiary All-Stars played their first game on a cloudless day July 18, 1911. The same day Seng was granted a stay of execution by the Wyoming Supreme Court while his appeal was heard. Seng celebrated by smacking two home runs as the “Cons” defeated the Juniors 11-1 in a rout played at the stockades on prison grounds.
Seng continued to work hard in baseball practice and became a model prisoner. When the date approached for the All-Stars’ final game of the season, Seng had hopes that his sentence might indeed be commuted. After all, his supposed execution date of Aug. 22 had come and gone and here he was about to play in another baseball game days later. Overland Park was the site of the fourth and final game between the WSP All-Stars and the Rawlins Juniors on Aug. 27. It would be the first time the cons would play in public. Security was tight. The WSP All Stars continued to beat the Juniors that summer.
Seng’s sentence remained unchanged, and at 2:45am on the day of his execution, he was fitted with a black hood. He stepped onto the trapdoor and pulled the cork on the water bucket. Moments later, Seng “fell five feet and was jerked into eternity at the end of a rope,” as described by the Carbon County Journal. His neck didn’t break, and he slowly strangled to death. At 2:54am, three doctors pronounced him dead. His body was handed 
over to county undertaker H. Rasmussen, who reportedly promised to send it back to Pennsylvania for burial in his hometown, though this might not have occurred. A headstone with Seng’s details exists at the old “Frontier Prison” in Rawlins, while another marker in Allentown’s Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Cemetery bears his name but with an incorrect death date. Seng was the first person hanged at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. Eight more followed before the gallows were replaced by the gas chamber in 1936. In total, 14 men were executed at the state pen, while another 250 died from natural causes, suicide, or inmate violence before the prison closed in 1981.
My niece, Lindsay Moore has had a great year! The Lord has really blessed her podcast, The New Way To Live. It is growing and more and more people are listening. Lindsay has been studying to become a licensed minister and is a few weeks from the last step to get licensed. This kind of licensing isn’t the quick type so a person can marry people, but rather a full-fledged minister. After her licensing, Lindsay will study to become ordained thru the Four-Square church. Lindsay is very excited and in awe that the Lord has chosen to use her in this way. Lindsay; her husband, Shannon; and daughter, Mackenzie have been camping several times around Wyoming and Nebraska where Shannon’s family lives. They bought a new trailer and really love it. 
Lindsay still works for South Dakota State University Extension as a Director of Community Health and Obesity Program. Their goal is to enhance opportunities for nutrition and physical activity in communities. She does a great job and loves her work. Working remotely affords Lindsay the freedom to carry on the career she worked hard to achieve and to help the communities she serves. Lindsay has always been an avid health enthusiast, working hard to stay physically fit, and she loves guiding others to achieve their best healthy selves too.
Lindsay and her sister, Jessi Sawdon, who live in two separate towns, but not too far apart to make visits hard, get together quite often for dinner, lunch, birthday parties, and anytime they just want to hang out. Their 
daughters, Mackenzie Moore and Adelaide Sawdon, have lots of fun together and are great friends, which makes it very easy for the two families to enjoy things together. Lindsay’s husband, Shannon is the assistant coach for the Wyoming Cowboys football team. He is also their tight ends coach and helps with special teams too. Now that football has started, Lindsay will host her family and Shannon’s family for many home games. This is always an exciting time in the Moore household, and both families love going to all the games to support Shannon and the Cowboys. Lindsay is living the good life, and my sister, Allyn Hadlock, Lindsay’s mom…and the little birdie who helped me with all the story information this time, is always so happy with the life Lindsay and her siblings are all living. Days of heaven on earth!!
Not everyone has in-laws that they truly love as their own parents, but I was one of those very people who were so blessed. The first time I met my in-laws, I felt right at home. My future father-in-law, Walt Schulenberg was the main reason I felt so at home. I think he had already decided that I was the one to marry his son…and after fifty years of marriage to his son, Bob, I would say he was right. We were a match made in Heaven, then and now. Still, my father-in-law could not have known that all those years ago, it was just that we simply hit it off. My father-in-law was a fun-loving guy, who loved making people laugh, and that was exactly what he did that night. My mother-in-law, Joann Schulenberg was a little more reserved, but she came around, possibly with his help…but I like to think I won them both over.
My father-in-law was a hard-working man…or actually, a work-a-holic. He was always working on some project at the house, including building the house. When he got a chance to move from the place that the family had lived in for many years, to a place further outside of town, my father-in-law decided to build a huge garage that could hold sis to eight cars, attached to a four-bedroom house. He built it out of cinder blocks long before cinder block house became fashionable. My father-in-law was very skilled at most kinda of building and even crafts. The house turned out great. It was built into a hillside, so the back part was mostly underground. The house was really amazing and the family was very comfortable there. He ever put river rock on the front so it looked really pretty. During that building process, I learned to be a contractor’s assistant, of spurts. I drove the tractor to help level the ground where the house would sit. That was an experience I will never forget. Nevertheless, it really was fun too.
My father-in-law had many talents. He was an excellent mechanic and woodworker. He made whirly gigs to decorate the lawn, and wooden toys for little kids. He also refurbished lawn chairs with beautiful designs made with cord. He sold many things at the craft fairs in town. Selling his wares was fun, but the main thing was visiting with the people. He was a people person, and he loved to sit and visit with people. That was his greatest charm. Today would have been my father-in-law’s 96th birthday. Happy birthday in Heaven, Dad. We love and miss you very much.
Not every battle is won by the “good guys,” and the Battle of Long Island was no exception. The Battle of Long Island was also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. Although the British came out with the victory in that battle, the loss could have been much more disastrous if it weren’t for a brief period of weather that favored the Continental Army. After a week of battling the British in Long Island and Brooklyn, George Washington, as commander-in-chief, decided it was time to retreat across the East River to Manhattan. He began ferrying his troops out of the area at night. Unfortunately, by morning, a significant portion of the army was still stranded on the wrong side of the river. If the British had spotted them, they likely would have been captured or killed. Fortunately, a dense fog rolled in, providing cover and concealing the movement of Washington’s troops. By the time the fog lifted and the British advanced, the Continental Army had vanished. Losing those men could have drastically changed the outcome of the war. The fledgling nation could not afford to lose that many soldiers.
The British victory in the Battle of Long Island gave them control of the crucial Port of New York, which they held for the remainder of the war. This was the first major battle following the United States’ declaration of independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. It was also the largest battle of the Revolutionary War in terms of troop numbers and combat scale. On September 11th, delegates from the Continental Congress met Admiral Howe at the Staten Island Peace Conference, but the talks failed to end the conflict. Washington held a war council on September 12th, deciding to abandon New York City and Lower Manhattan Island and move north to Harlem and King’s Bridge. General Henry Clinton proposed landing British forces at King’s Bridge to cut off Washington’s escape, but General William Howe disagreed. On the morning of September 15th, British ships fired on the city to distract American forces. Around 11:00am, British troops landed at Kip’s Bay and encountered little resistance. Generals Washington and Putnam tried to defend the area, but many American troops panicked and fled, forcing a retreat. Putnam and his aide, Aaron Burr, managed to evacuate about 3,500 men from New York City to Harlem Heights.
Of course, we all know the outcome of the all-important Revolutionary War. Despite battles lost here and there, 
the United States would eventually win that war and solidify the freedom of the United States from British rule and treachery. General George Washington would go on to become the first President of this great nation they called the United States of America. It was a hard-earned and well-deserved position from the start to the end of his career. And many men owed him their lives that fateful night.
My grandniece, Aurora Hadlock is amazing!! She is always ready to help her mom, Chelsea Hadlock, around the house, or help her brother, Ethan Hadlock. She has started playing the guitar with her dad, Ryan Hadlock and grandpa, Chris Hadlock, and she really loves it. She is taking guitar in school, and she is so excited that it is her first period class. It’s a great way to start her day. Aurora loves to go camping and ride the four-wheeler, which their family has done a good amount of this summer. She also enjoys sitting by the campfire playing the guitar. Everyone else enjoys that too.
Aurora is very into matching right now, so the shoes have to perfectly match the outfit, and pajamas must be in sets. It’s all part of becoming a young lady and embracing her own style. She’s wild about records and cassette tapes and has a growing collection of vintage ones like “Hello, Dolly!,” “Happiest Millionaire,” and some “Disney Princess” ones. She also is in love with musicals. Her favorites right now are “Hamilton” and “Newsies.” Aurora is very funny, but sometimes she shows that she has a dry sense of humor like her dad, which is really quite funny…on both Aurora and her dad.
Her aunt, Jessi Sawdon can’t believe how quickly Aurora became a high schooler. I agree. Where have the years gone? Jessi says, “She is so much fun, and I imagine if we had been in the same grade, I would have wanted to be her friend! I love how confident she is in herself and how kind she is. Even though there is a bit of an age difference, Aurora never makes her cousins, Adelaide Sawdon, Mackenzie Moore, or Jolene Thompson feel like they aren’t worth her attention, and they always want her attention! They adore Aurora and think she is so cool and fun. She is patient in playing with them and makes all their games so fun. We hit the jackpot with Aurora!! She is incredibly smart and so gorgeous. We love her so much and are so proud of her!”
Her aunt, Lindsay Moore says, “My little sweet Aurora! She really is so funny and fun! And she is growing up. We love when we get to hang out with Aurora. She always makes the time to hang with the littler girls even 
though they play different. She such a good girl too. We all got to camp together this summer, and it was great to spend some time with her.” Her grandma, Allyn Hadlock told me that she agreed with everything the other girls said of Aurora. She feels so blessed by this, her oldest granddaughter. Aunt, Kellie Thompson feels exactly the same way too. They couldn’t have asked for a sweeter girl. Today is Aurora’s 14th birthday. Happy birthday Aurora!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My niece, Cassi Franklin’s partner, Wesley Burr is a first-time dad, and he is loving every minute of it. Being Daddy to a toddler is a big job, but Wesley takes his job seriously. He wants to be the best Daddy ever to is daughter Alicen. Wesley is also stepdad to Cassi’s older children, Lucas and Zoey Iverson, and he has been very uplifting and encouraging to them and to Cassi. He is also very adamant about their future and making it the best future ever. Wesley is going to be taking some college classes this next semester and has plans to open a bakery sandwich food truck soon. Wesley enjoys making bread, so the idea of a bakery sandwich food truck is a logical next step. He is very excited about this new venture.
Wesley has been fighting an auto immune disease, and in the last year, he has become 
really health conscious. In fact, watching what he eats and working on healthy, clean eating has enabled him to cure a whole lot of that auto immune disease. He has been working really hard on growing their own food in their garden, which has helped with his diet, I’m sure. Auto immune diseases are so hard to live with, but many people have found that changing their diet and eating what is known as clean foods. “Eating clean foods means consuming whole, nutrient-dense foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. This approach encourages the use of whole foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins, while avoiding or limiting processed foods, sugars, and additives. Clean eating can be a holistic approach to health that supports long-term well-being and may contribute to weight management and improved mental 
clarity. It is not a strict diet but rather a lifestyle choice that promotes mindful eating and a balanced diet.”
Wesley is a smart man, and he has decided to put his abilities to work at home. He is homeschooling their daughter, Zoey this year. That is going to be an exciting time for them. Wesley loves learning, pretty much all learning, but his favorite things include history and war information. These will be things that he can happily share with Zoey. Wesley and Zoey get along very well. He is such a sweet natured man, and he makes life fun for the whole family. Wes loves the “nerdy” things, like Xbox and Star Trek, and he is always game for some fun with those. I’m sure he and Zoey have great fun with those. Wesley loved off-roading and really any outdoor activity with family. They love to go camping, and lots of other outdoor activities too. Life is good. Today is Wesley’s birthday. Happy birthday Wesley!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
La Tomatina is a Spanish festival in Buñol, Spain where participants throw tomatoes at each other. Now, I happen to be a person who doesn’t like tomatoes…I know, people think I’m crazy, but there it is. So, for me, the idea of throwing tomatoes at other people is…well, just the best use for a tomato. The La Tomatina Festival is said to be the biggest food fight in the world. It gives everyone a chance to be big kids for a change. It is said that the festival began in August of 1945 as a food fight between friends, but now it has become a famous tourist attraction. Until 2013 there was no limit to the number of participants, but that year, the festival became a ticketed event for no more than 20,000, so as not to overwhelm Buñol’s population of about 9,000 people.
The festival started in a rather odd way. A group of young people gathered in the town square to watch the Giants and Big-Heads parade. During the event, one participant’s Big-Head fell off, causing them to lose their temper, lashing out in frustration. I’m not sure how they thought that was anyone’s fault, but nevertheless, chaos erupted as they started hitting everything in reach, including a vegetable stall in the market. Everything escalated from there, when the chaos sparked a wild tomato fight among the crowd, which only came to an end when local authorities stepped in to stop the chaos.
While the first “tomato fight” was spontaneous, the next year, a group of young people staged a pre-planned quarrel, bringing their own tomatoes from home. Despite local authorities breaking it up, this event marked the start of an annual tradition. It didn’t matter if the authorities stopped the fight each year, the tradition had been born, and it would not be stopped. So, in the years that followed, thousands of people joined in, inspired by the boys’ actions. La Tomatina, as it was called went on until it was banned in the early 1950s by Francisco Franco due to the festival’s lack of religious significance. Still, this did not stop the participants from celebrating the festival. They were later arrested, but the people would not have it. They protested against the prohibition and the festival was again allowed with more participants. The festival was canceled again until 1957, when residents staged a defiant “tomato funeral” as a form of protest. In this demonstration, they carried a coffin with a giant tomato inside, accompanied by a marching band playing funeral music. The protest worked, and La Tomatina was finally allowed to become an official festival.
Thanks to Javier Basilio’s report on the Spanish TV show Informe Semanal, the festival gained recognition across the rest of Spain. Over time, participation in La Tomatina Festival grew steadily, along with the enthusiasm surrounding it. In 2002, the Secretary Department of Tourism officially declared La Tomatina of Buñol a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest due to its immense popularity. The 2020 event, which was to be 
its 75th anniversary, was cancelled in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. It had only been cancelled once before, in 1957, for political reasons. Due to COVID-19, the 2021 event was also cancelled. In the last edition, on August 28, 2024, more than 23,000 people from 51 countries participated. It is a festival that will probably never go away. Finally, a good use for the tomato!!
It is such a shock for me to think that my grandniece, Addie Sawdon is 9 today! On this first day of her 4th grade year, Addie also has a birthday. It’s kind of a cool way to start the year. Addie is growing up so quickly, I just can’t believe it. Nor can any of her family members. To end the summer, and celebrate her 9th year, Addie had her first sleepover birthday party over the weekend, and boy was it cool!! She asked for a scavenger hunt and the girls had so much fun finding their way to dinner at McDonald’s, back to the house, through gifts and cake, and ultimately ending with a super cute sleepover in the basement. Addie’s mom, Jessi Sawdon is so creative, and the sleepover was just amazing. Of course, I’m sure Addie’s dad, Jason Sawdon helped too. They are quite a family unit.
Jessi tells me that, “Addie has started to be so responsible and helps around the house a lot. She loves to joke around and is such a funny girl. We have a lot of fun with her. She has become quite the Lego aficionado and can build a set very quickly. I think she is aspiring to be on Lego Masters hahaha!!” For anyone who doesn’t 
know, Lego Masters is an American reality competition television series that premiered on Fox on February 5, 2020. The series is based on the British series of the same name. Each episode features teams of two building Lego projects from a vast array of bricks and parts to meet both creative and practical goals set by the challenge for a particular episode.
Addie, like her cousin Mackenzie Moore, adores animals. She loves to love on her dog, Riley and snuggle her all the time. She has such a kind heart. The family (or sometimes just Addie and her mom) got to go to Laramie, Wyoming quite a bit this summer to visit the Moore family and to have Mackenzie over for visits. These two girls are more than cousins. They are 
best friends. They love to hang out and really start to miss each other if they haven’t been together in more than a week. Last week, she got to hang out with her cousin, Aurora Hadlock and Aunt Chelsea Hadlock. She was so excited to go to their house and help Aurora get ready for her own birthday party. Over her Aunt Kellie Thompson’s wedding, Addie and cousins, Jolene Thompson and Ethan and Aurora Hadlock, were so happy to be together. Addie also got a full week with some of her Michigan cousins in Minnesota in July. Any time she gets with her cousins, is her favorite time. Jessi and Jason are “so proud of Adelaide and how smart and sweet she is. She is going to have a great year, and we think every year is the best one yet!” Today is Addie’s 9th birthday. Happy birthday Addie!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
This year has been a rough one for my aunt, Dixie Richards, who lost the love of her life, husband, Jim Richards on May 11, 2025. It was a day she had hoped would never come. Aunt Dixie and Uncle Jim were so in love!! It was a match made in Heaven and a live that would last forever, even beyond death. Their hearts are still intertwined and always will be. Nevertheless, Uncle Jim would not want his sweet wife to give up and just sit at home. He would want her to go on, and that is what Aunt Dixie is doing, and her daughters, Jeannie Liegman and Raylynn Williams are helping her, as are her grandchildren, Jacob Liegman, Gabriel, Gideon, Noah, and Mayme Williams, and son-in-law, Doug Williams. “Getting on with it” after such loss is never easy, but Aunt Dixie is blessed to have her dear family there to help her along the way. I also read somewhere that “love doesn’t end when breathing stops” and I know that is true. Aunt Dixie and Uncle Jim will always have their love, and they’ll see each other again. He is in her future now, not her past. 
I’m very proud of Aunt Dixie. It’s hard to pick up the pieces, and work toward an uncertain future and on to good health. Nevertheless, I know that Aunt Dixie is going to be ok. The road is never easy, but with hard work and the help of dear loved ones, she can do this. Aunt Dixie has been going to lunch with her girls; taking walks on the road in front of the house she shares with Jeannie; sitting on the deck out back, beautifully decorated by Jeannie into a peaceful sanctuary; or going to garage sales with her daughters, and loving every minute of life, because that is what her dear husband would want her to do. I can almost picture the smile on Uncle Jim’s face…happy that his family is going to be ok…and they are…going to be ok.
Today is the first birthday that Aunt Dixie will spend without her sweet husband, since the first birthday they spent together…so many years ago. It will not be easy, but it will be blessed. She is here and we are all happy 
that she is. I look forward to future lunches and craft sessions with Aunt Dixie and the girls. We have grown close over these past months, and oh what a blessing that has been. I will miss seeing Uncle Jim, of course, but I am so thankful for Aunt Dixie, and I know that she will be ok, as will all her family. We will go forward to the future, working through it together, because it takes more than just one or two people, or once single family, to “get on” with life after loss, it takes a village, a big family, and friends too. And Aunt Dixie will “get on” with it, as will her family members, because they are stronger than they know. Today is Aunt Dixie’s 82nd birthday. Happy birthday Aunt Dixie!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
