STORYTELLING SUNDAY...MY PRECIOUS

It being the first Sunday in April, I am linking up with Sian, over at FROM HIGH IN THE SKY, who, on the first Sunday of every month, hosts an international gathering of storytellers for an event  called "Storytelling Sunday." For 2013, she has suggested that we pick something precious to us and share its story.

As last weekend was our 33rd Wedding Anniversary, I thought it might be a good time to share the story of my original wedding ring.

It is a white gold ring...I only wore silver jewellery at the time, and didn't want yellow gold..flat in style and etched round the outside.

 This ring hasn't been worn for years, not just because it's too small for me, but because a few years after we married DH and I had an 'altercation' ( an understatement if ever there was one, but that's one of those 'hidden journalling' stories!) and at one point the wedding ring was tossed out the bedroom window into the garden.

When 'normal service' resumed, try as we might we couldn't find the ring. Fast forward a year or so (by which time I had a new ring, which doesn't fit me either by the way!) and I  was cutting the grass, when the lawnmower blade caught on something...and yes, when I looked it was my wedding ring!

Not only was it filthy, but after its tussle with the lawnmower the metal had been cut through in a few places! One of my friends at work had a brother who worked with metal, and he repaired it as well as he could .....if you look closely, you can see the dents ..there are matching ones on the other edge.   Being a shallow-minded twenty three year old, who only wanted things which looked 'perfect', I put the ring away in my jewellery box, where it has stayed all these years.

The funny thing is that when I took it out to photograph it, I actually realised that it really IS a symbol of our marriage.....it's been through the wars, been well-dented, but remains solid and has survived to tell the tale! In fact, I am now thinking that I am going find out about having some extra gold put in to make it fit again....I now know that things don't have to be perfect to be precious! 

As you can see, Storytelling Sunday is more than just about telling the stories of our lives... this year it is making us actually THINK about  what things mean to us- not just what they meant  in the past, but what they mean to us now, at this moment in time....thanks for  that, Sian.

To find out what is precious to other bloggers, why not hop over to SIAN'S BLOG...even better, why not share a story of your own?....everyone is made very welcome!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

HELLO MONDAY

It's Monday again....and after having spent a cold, but incredibly fun, weekend in London (about which you WILL hear more of!)..I am saying :

HELLO to arriving home to heat and sunshine!

HELLO to having wonderful memories of a weekend spent with an awesome group of friends...brought together through the wonders of cyberspace!!

HELLO to getting back to eating properly, after 'splurging' somewhat (!) over the weekend

HELLO to helping out 'front of house' at an Easter production in our theatre on Wednesday

HELLO to Craig getting home for Easter :)

HELLO to our 33rd Wedding Anniversary

Hoping all of you lovely people who are still facing cold weather, are keeping warm...and have something good to be saying 'hello' to this week!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Uplifted!

A very quick post to say thank you to everyone who left a comment on Saturday...they were all so very much appreciated, and I was able to go into Stuart's birthday feeling very uplifted.


We have survived another anniversary, with the love and caring thoughts of family and friends as always...not forgetting our memories!


Thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

An Anniversary and a LO

 When we were teenagers, DH and I 'ran about' in the same crowd......there were four of us girls and about six boys ( the boys numbers changed quite often, depending on who was playing football at the time, but the core six remained the same!). I had been pining over DH (as he would become) for months.....I was totally love-struck (and I'm sure many of  you can  remember the intense feelings of a 15 yr old!) and driving my friends mad!


We had flirted with each other, and I remember trying to find ways for the two of us to end up sitting or walking next to each other at every opportunity (actually I cringe when I think about some of it!!), but nothing ever 'happened'!


Until the 6th July, that is! We had all gone into Glasgow on the bus.....I can't actually remember what we did when we were there (it was usually Record and Sports shops when we were with the boys, though I'm sure we managed 'Chelsea Girl' as well!), but we had left it late to catch the bus back ( it was World Cup season, and we had to be back for the next match).We  were all running along the busiest road in Glasgow, when DH grabbed my hand...and didn't let go all the way back on the bus ( I was in heaven....swoon!!!) ...and that was how we started.


Thirty seven years, two children and the highs-and-lows of life later, we are not quite in the place we might have expected to be.......but we are still holding hands, and my life still only feels 'right' when he's with me.


The following LO has nothing whatsoever to do with the above....but I rather like how it turned out, and- until  I remembered the date- was what my post was going to be anyhow.


There's a Challenge over at Let's Scrap, to use any Fancy Pants items and make a LO  based on any LS sketch...and there's a yummy prize.


On looking through my stash I found some FP  'About a Girl'  papers from last year, and some 'Key Lime Pie' rubons, (which are quite a few years old I think). My brother had sent me the photograph, at the weekend, of his youngest daughter at her horse-riding lesson. I love getting photos of my nieces and nephews....I don't see them often enough!


I used the left-hand side of this sketch....though turned it  to suit the photo.

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx

Simple Aussie Girls Challenge #1

Yes, I know that Challenge #2 is up but this is me just catching up with #1. I loved  the template for this challenge as soon as I saw it  

I knew the photograph I wanted to use, after a conversation I had with mum on Saturday. To explain: Saturday was the seventeenth Anniversary of our son Stuart's death. When I rang mum and dad, mum said that one of my brothers was taking them to the cemetery to lay some flowers. Stuart isn't buried there, but my gran is and mum had a little memorial stone made for Stuart so that there is something tangible to visit.

Immediately, I remembered this photograph which I've always wanted to scrap and it just seemed the right time to do so. 

By the time Stuart died, my Gran was well into the throes of Alzheimers and we didn't even tell her about the accident, as we would have to keep repeating it to her and she would only be upset every time.....that was probably one of the hardest things to do; keep saying that the great-grandchildren were all fine.

Although I have Photograph Albums for Stuart, they are not Scrapbooks, per se, and I'm thinking that it's maybe time to remedy that. Kirsty now has three Scrapbooks and I think, as she gets older she may appreciate having a couple about her brother, up until her own arrival.

Thanks for the inspiration, ladies at SAG! I'll be watching your blog for ideas for Stuart's Scrapbook.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

BFS Prompt #6.....Taking Journeys

Thirty one years ago today, I married the'boy' I had been madly in  love with all through High School....and I reckon that our life together definately qualifies as a journey!

It's not always been an EASY journey and, at times, not a particularly happy journey....but here we are, still together ( which, when I look around our friends and family, is an achievement in itself) and I still love him just as much as I did all those years ago. True, there are things about him that have driven me mad over the years, but then I know there are things about ME that drive HIM mad too...but we have given up trying to change each other and trying to change ourselves to please the other-acceptance is a great thing!

We celebrated by going for lunch, at our favourite restaurant down by the coast..it was infinitely warmer than it was thirty one years ago, on a cold, Scottish, 'Spring' day!