Let's Capture What We Can

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, it is the Second Witch (there are three of them) who says: Paddock calls.  The part of me that enjoys acting always thought that it was cool to have my name in Macbeth, even if Paddock refers to a toad.  It is that kind of trivia that is lost when families don't write things down.

That is what happened in our family.  When Mom and Dad reminisced about their pasts, no one wrote it down.  I don't know how much is lost, but I'm sure that it is a lot; I don't intend to lose more.  In this blog, I will publish as much as I can squeeze out of memory - mine, my sisters, my children, and anyone else who can help me to recall.  Feel free to make comments of any length.  It isn't too late to do some saving, and have a little fun.

Why a blog?  Because it is easy for us all to contribute, and then to print out or otherwise save what appears.  There is nothing like good old paper.  Blogging just makes it really easy to collect whatever we have so that we can each save the result in our own way.  How often will I post?  Who knows, but feel free to rattle my cage when you think that it has been too long.

So, here's to Mom and Dad and us - all of us - and whatever we can conjure!

Comments

[Aunt Anna]

My favorite photo. Looks like "The Godfather" Part 5 ;-D Quite a healthy looking lot.

I also remember the year of the Aluminum Christmas Tree. How we protested! Especially the changing flood lights instead of the gaudy lights on the house like "normal" people.

I remember one New Year's Party at Aunt Al's. Charlie and I would light a firecracker, throw it in Uncle Joe's mailbox and ring the doorbell. Maybe that's where Uncle Joe's expression "those damn kids" came from ;-D

And every Christmas Eve Dad would sit us all on the sofa before midnight mass and read "The Night Before Christmas." That was a yearly tradition which I enjoyed.

There was always the year we were supposed to sit on the sofa and "stay" while Mom and Dad finished getting dressed. Charlie saw the dog across the street running loose so ran out to "save" him and ended up breaking his arm. I saw Charlie slip on the sidewalk (it was icy) and go up in the air. The rest is history, until weeks later when it was discovered that the bones had been set wrong. Back to the drawing board with that one.

By the time the cast came off Charlie's arm was a withered twig. I remember Granny giving him a bath in the tub with that withered arm hanging over the side. I really felt for him ;-(

Which brings up another memory. Charlie and I spent the day with Granny. It was time for a bath. We were used to bathing together. We were 5 and 6. When Granny called to come in for a bath, we tore our clothes off and jumped in the tub of bubble bath that was prepared. Granny had a stroke. We both had to get out and put our panties back on and take a bath with our panties. I think she had "words" with Mom after that. I hope Mom made it to heaven anyway ;-D

OK, that's it for this time. I could go on for hours.

Thanks for doing this, Bro!

Hugs, Anna

[Shaun Paddock]

See? We have different memories. That is why this is such a good idea. My recollection is that my behavior was exemplary, just shy of canonization.

I remember the dog thing, though, but had forgotten many of the surrounding details. What is vivid, though, is how uncomfortable my arm felt. Dr. Pruitt was a nice guy, but I think that he finished near the bottom of his class at med school. He couldn't set an arm, and thought that our carbon monoxide poisoning was the flu. Remember that? Did he have anything to do with Chris's knee?

[christy]

REMEMBER THE YEAR AT ONE THANKSGIVING PAPA HAD A
LITTLE TO MUCH TO DRINK.INSTEAD OF CARVING THE TURKEY HE PULLED IT APART.AND THEN THE GUESS WHO's coming to dinner party.

[Shaun Paddock]

I remember the Irish coffee explosion when Dad was a bit tipsy. What was the guess who's coming to dinner party?

[Aunt Anna]

That reminds me of eggs dripping off the house on Vienna Street. Dad was known as a "ni__er lover" is our neighborhood. He was definitely a man ahead of his time on thinking. Got to admire him for that.

There was also the time that I was standing in my room by the window and I heard a blast. It scared the doggy doo-doo out of me. Ends up there was a bullet hole in the frame of my screen. Missed me by a foot. Whew!

And visions of VW's dance in my head. Dad bought each of us a VW as we graduated from High School. Charlie's was red, mine was pale blue and Christy's was yellow. Our house looked like a VW lot ;-D

And who remembers the red Rambler that Dad "helped" float down the street after Betsy? One car floated away on its own. That gave Dad the bright idea of helping the Rambler as it was such a "bleep" car.

That was also the car I learned to drive in. It had Power Breaks and Power Steering. Dad would take me up and down Peoples Ave on Sunday afternoon. That ended the day he yelled "stop" and I did, instantly on his command. Almost put him through the windshield. We went promptly home and he stormed in and told Charlie he was to teach me to drive. Great, the blind leading the blind. He was 15 at the time ;-D

And that great Chevy convertible. I was not allowed to move the rearview mirror, nor adjust the seat, nor put the top down, etc. So I propped myself up with pillows so I could deal with Dad's settings. One day I thought: to hell with the rules. I put the top down. Coming back home I was just a few feet away from turning from Peoples Ave onto Vienna St. There was Dad in the picture window giving a voice lesson. I panicked as I was sure he was going to see me with the top down. I pushed the button to put the top up while the car was still moving. The top stuck in the straight-up position. Panic once again so I threw the car in reverse and went squealing back down Peoples Ave in reverse and around the next corner, still in reverse. I ran home and got Charlie and he bailed me out with a screw driver. Somehow he got the top back down and we drove home and parked the car in front of the house as though nothing happened.

Our partnership in crime does not end there. More to come...

[bryan swingle]

Okay, this is awesome! I love reading all of your memories! (The ideas are flowing to have a family blog for myself, Megan, Patrick, Mitchell, and Vinny - the younger of the bunch will actually be there during Dad's senile years and we get the advantage of live videos!)

I have to admit that reading all of this brought me to tears - I sure do miss Maw Maw and Paw Paw, they were the best and I feel sad that some of the family (younger siblings, my children, younger cousins and their children) missed out on having the wonderful privilege of knowing them and being a witness to some of their life!

Thanks, Dad for doing this! (Lucky for you it will be a long time before I can get organized enough to start our memories of you online!)

[Aunt Anna]

Hello Bryan! What a delightful surprise! I'm so happy you are enjoying the blog and the memories. Do you remember the slumber parties you had with Donna, Megan, Erin and Shannon. How MawMaw loved having all her granddaughters around. She was in hog's heaven when all the girls were there. The last one I remember, Shannon was in diapers and Donna was the oldest. She must have been 7 or 8. Maw Maw really loved her girls. How happy she would be to know you all know and see what wonderful people each of you has grown up to be. I can just imagine her surrounded by all the great grandchildren.

It reminds me of one very funny story. Donna was staying at Maw Maw and Paw Paw while I went out one Saturday night. When I came home to pick her up, Maw Maw told me this very funny story, just between us girls. Paw Paw was in the bath tub taking a bath. Donna walked in on him. She was all of 2 years old, if that much. Paw Paw started screaming and grabbed the facecloth and put it over his privates. Maw Maw came running in to see what the upset was all about. Donna, with a very straight face and mater-of-fact voice, told Paw Paw not to worry. Her Dad had "some" of those. Maw Maw thought that was just too funny. So real. So them.

OK, babe. love you very much and hope to hear more from you in the blog.

Hugs, Aunt Anna

[A Lopez]

Just a word of support - my mom and aunt began tape recording my grandfather when they would talk to him and get him to reminisce because they realized that a huge chunk of our past would be gone once he departed. Before my sister or I could do anything with those tapes and get our parents to add to them, they both passed away. Time is fickle, and chooses when to pass slowly and when to fly. The past becomed more important as you acquire more of it! Keep documenting and recording your past, for your kids and yourself.

[Shaun Paddock]

Hmmm. I am the grandpa. Oldest surviving member of the Paddocks. Memory like a steel sieve, too.

[Erin]

I have wonderful memories of the sleepovers at MawMaw and PawPaw's. I remember taking bubble baths with my sister in their tub. MawMaw also taught me how to knit. I knitted my first blanket for my babydoll when I was very young. Of course, I now forgot how to do that. I remember MawMaw teaching how to make scrambled eggs and letting me drink my first cup of coffee in my chosen china cup. I remember their garden of fresh mint and MawMaw's delicious iced tea. I remember their parrot, Polly. I remember walking into their house and hearing the piano and voice lessons taught by PawPaw. I thought I could sing too and would perform my opera voice for PawPaw and he told me I had a beautiful voice(even though he was lying because I'm tone deaf). I have great memories of them and will pass the stories to Vivian, so she can know what great great-grandparents she had.
(Thanks Uncle Charlie for starting this and thanks to everyone else for sharing their memories and stories). Love you all, Erin

[Aunt Anna]

Erin, honey, that's beautiful! Thank you so much for those memories. I'm glad you had them. Treasure them. BTW, you must take after me. I used to play the guitar and sing. PawPaw never told me I had a beautiful voice. He must have mellowed by the time his grandchildren came along. He did tell me once I was hopeless. Oh, well. That didn't stop me at the time, perhaps to his dismay. One year for my birthday he gave me a guitar from Mexico. It was an ovation. It was beautiful and I loved it dearly. Peter, Paul and Mary were the thing at the time. I'd sit on my bed and play for hours and sing. Fun. Hugs, honey. Aunt Anna