Donny Osmond and the little old lady

My friend, Deanna, came over for lunch yesterday and this is what we had for dessert.  I probably need to practice my food photography so if you can't tell, it's a brownie with ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce.  And there's a story that goes with the sauce.

When I was a pre-teen I was a Donny Osmond fan.  Okay, I'll admit it--I was a fanatic.  The word was created for people like me.  I'm just sayin'.  It was bad.

Anyway, when I was about twelve, the Osmonds were coming to do a concert in Ft. Worth and I absolutely HAD to go.  My mom said that my friend, Debbie, and I could go but that I had to pay not only for my ticket but my sister's ticket because she would be our chaperone.  Suzy is only two years older than me so I'm not sure how useful she was as a chaperone but at the time I was willing to agree with whatever it took for me to get to that concert. 

I'm not sure how the little job came about but I think my mom saw an ad in the paper.  Anyway, there was this elderly lady that was looking for someone to help her clean and organize her home.  I guess she knew I was twelve because of my short stature, but for whatever reason, the lady agreed to let me "help" her.  

I don't remember a whole lot about the cleaning and organizing part except I have this vision in my mind of a room full of boxes.  But what I remember most (and I think this is mostly what happened) is the lady making homemade chocolate sauce and the two of us sitting at her kitchen table talking, having the most delicious ice cream and sauce I'd ever tasted.  Every time I went she'd serve me that ice cream and that sauce and we'd talk.  So when I became an adult I found a recipe that I'm pretty sure is exactly or very close to what she made.  And it's still so yummy. 

And I got to go to the concert!  The lady (I sure wish I could remember her name....Mrs. Bo or Beau something, it was two words) took me to the bank when my "job" was over to cash a check and hand over the money for the tickets.  I can still remember that ride to the bank and I'm not sure which of us was more excited for me, the lady or me.  She even reminisced about the Rudy Vallee concert she went to as a young girl.  

And the concert was, of course, perfect.  I told myself I wouldn't be one of those girls that went crazy, screaming and all, but it took about one song and I was on my feet, screaming with excitement and frenzy.  Oh, the life of a twelve year old......fun memory for sure!



People

I love my little second job, driving public transportation for SPAN.  It gives me an opportunity to take a break from the all consuming new life of real estate.

 

Driving for me is very relaxing and I get to meet so many different kinds of people.  And SPAN gives me the opportunity to help people who are older, mentally handicapped, or ill have a little freedom in their lives.

 

And I meet some very interesting ones.  Just this week I picked up a 30ish year old young mentally handicapped man who is apparently a savant.....about NASCAR, of all things.  For the duration of our drive, about 20 minutes, he spoke very intelligently about statistics, names, and pretty much all things racing and exotic cars. I don't think I've ever met a savant before so it was quite interesting and really amazing.  Fun!

 

Another day this last week I picked another mentally handicapped young man who truly has to be the most pleasant person I've ever been around.  From the time he stepped on the bus till he got off he was smiling, conversing happily with the couple of older people that were onboard at the time.  And when he smiled, his whole face lit up and his eyes squinted and became little smiles too.  I mean I've been around happy people before but this guy just seemed different.  The closest I can come to describing him might just be Santa.  I take these happy little events as real blessings.  

 

There's this older Japanese man I pick up periodically and he was about seven during WWII.  He lived in California at the time and he remembers that his family was given the option of moving to Nevada so that's what they did instead of being relocated to an internment camp.  I didn't know they had a choice but that's what he said.  

 

Then there's the Yankee ladies.  Pardon me if I offend anybody but I can usually tell pretty quickly the first time one of these sweet (or not so much) ladies open their mouths.  Partly because they have accents but partly because of their attitudes which is usually very sure of themselves and they don't care who knows it.  Most of them have moved down south to follow their adult children who've come here for jobs.

 

People!  As my mom used to say, "It takes all kinds!"     

A Little Date?

 I don't know if I'd call it a mid life crisis but between my new real estate career and Bob's newfound love of all things guns, he and I have sure been having a time.

 

The weather was just perfect today so we headed to the gun range.  Here's Bob enjoying his brand new toy attached to his fairly new other toy.  It's an amazing thing to behold.  Bob never does anything halfway and the gun and reloading hobby is no exception.

 

  

I don't go to the range as much as Bob would probably like but once I'm there I get into it too and it's kind of like having a little competition against yourself to see just how close you can get to that center point. 

This is my target and I didn't do too badly once I got used to the rifle.  Yeah, we were shooting rifles this time and I had one of Bobby's (shhh!  don't tell him). 

 

Bob and I are handling the empty nest just fine!  Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.  : )