March gladness

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March gladness

Ordinary moments — dare I say, mundane moments — marked March 2023 for me. Ordinary moments for which I’m all the more grateful and glad to have had in light of this month’s heartbreak and loss for so many in the west, in the south, and, especially, in Nashville.

Moments like these:

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Scenes from Summer 2022

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Scenes from Summer 2022

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their summer, making memories and more with loved ones.

I was blessed with memorable moments with many a loved one since pressing pause on Grandma’s Briefs for the season.

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Rockin' PawDad's party

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Rockin' PawDad's party

The recent weekend in which my family was all together—a relatively uncommon occurrence even in the best of times—featured not only Robert’s baptism, as I previously shared, but a milestone birthday celebration, too. That milestone being Jim’s sixtieth birthday.

The birthday festivities, organized primarily by Megan, revolved around a rockin’ theme as …

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Summer 2020: What I didn't tell you

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Summer 2020: What I didn't tell you

July 25, 2020, marked the eleven year anniversary of Grandma’s Briefs. During many summers, I’ve taken a break from blogging from Memorial Day through Labor Day, to allow me time to enjoy summer fun without being obligated to publish anything.

This past summer, I chose not to take a break. I figured that with Covid restrictions and all, I’d have little to do and lots of time to write about the little I might do and see and ponder.

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Some grand news amidst all the bad news

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Some grand news amidst all the bad news

So much bad news surrounds us lately. Most of it beyond bad, in fact. Bad news about the pandemic, about politics, about inexplicable injustices and more batters our brains and hurts our hearts pretty much every single day beyond anything we might have imagined mere months ago.

Yet amidst all that bad news, I have some good news.

Some grand news.

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Those I like!

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Those I like!

Those I like!

At the start of a new year, I — perhaps we — spend a lot of time and energy considering and planning ways to improve ourselves. This week I’m going to do the opposite: I’m going to remind myself it’s okay to not stress out about doing more, being more; that spending time with those who matter is what matters most.

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How Benjamin rolls!

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How Benjamin rolls!

How Benjamin rolls!

Saturday was Jim’s birthday, and Brianna and Patrick arranged a family gathering at a new burger spot in town in recognition of burgers being Jim’s forever favorite food.

It was great to have all our local immediate family in attendance.

Kudos to Tyler for managing to get a shot that included everyone at the table!

While we were all gathered together to celebrate Jim, we soon were raucously regaling Benjamin for a milestone move made right before our eyes.

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Gramma goes tubing

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Gramma goes tubing

Despite having been born in Minnesota and living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes the first decade of my life, I'm not big on water sports. To any degree. I still don't know how to swim... even after having swim lessons as a child and again at 40 years old.

I'm not deathly afraid of water, but I certainly don't seek out splishy-splashy fun in water over my head. Not even water up to my chest, to be honest.

So it should come as no surprise that I've never whiled away hours in an inner tube on a lake. Nor have I engaged in tubing…

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First crushes

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It saddened me to find out Davey Jones had passed away. He was the first star I ever had a real crush on. (Though Tom Jones was a close second, I must admit.) Unfortunately, I have no posters from the past to remember him by. In all honesty, I don't think I was even old enough to have posters on my bedroom wall at the time that I swooned over Davey.

While Davey may have been my first celebrity crush, my first forever crush was on someone else. I do, thankfully, have a poster of him:

That is my own personal rock star.

That is Jim.

Husband to me. Dad to my amazing daughters. PawDad to my awesome grandsons.

That's Jim as he looked 31 years ago, when I very first crushed on him.

The groovy colors weren't part of the original photo, of course.

I added those yesterday.

Because I still have a crush on him.

And crushes make you do crazy things.

And because I wanted a groovy photo to add to his birthday post.

Today is Jim's birthday.

Thirty-one years later, Jim is still my rock star.

Thirty-one years later, Jim is still my one and only forever crush.

Happy birthday, Jim.

The voting continues: If you liked this post—or Grandma's Briefs in general—please vote for Grandma's Briefs in the About.com Favorite Grandparent Blog poll. Vote once per day through March 21. Thank you!

Today's question:

What posters or pictures did you have on your bedroom wall as a teen?