My 75-Year Road Trip • Memoir and Musings

I wasn't expecting to careen down into a big sinkhole on the "grown-up highway" and learn such a huge "life-lesson" so quickly after leaving home. I had no idea at the time that real life can happen when you're busy making other bubbly plans and assuming that another's values are on the same page as yours. (PS. I think it's ironic that this is episode "13.")

Do you remember your flight from the nest? Maybe you remember what you were thinking and feeling at that moment. But did you ever wonder what your parents were thinking and feeling? And were you flying off to a job that was the one you'd dreamed of having since a little girl?

Forever, recipes have been handed down from mothers to daughters. You might have some favourites like I do. There was one recipe I found in my mom's recipe box though, that was a huge shock. And it sent me on an insightful journey of discovery.

What is it about kitchens? Family and friends love to hang out there, even though the living room is steps away with comfy chairs. I've spent lots of time in many kitchens in my life, and a few stand out with special meaning.

I was lucky to have had nearby grandmothers and even a great-grandma as I grew up, If you did, too, and they played a part in your life, what did these women pass on to you?

Sometimes we experience life's inequities early in life... my first was a broken promise from my dad. But although I remember it well, my anger dissolved... I was 13! Dad was in my life for 8 decades, but it wasn't until I wrote his story after he died that I realized how rough he'd had it at times. It was then I understood him so much better.

As we grow up and move into each new chapter, there are always"'firsts." I remember the first time I was in the hospital. Do you? What was it like for you? And then there are those "firsts" as we girls enter womanhood... yikes... who knew?

It can be confusing, even a bit disturbing, when as a first-born, a new sibling comes on the scene. Maybe this intruder stirs up some dislike, even a bit of anger. But thankfully the turmoil and sibling rivalry settles, and nothing terrible happens.... sometimes.

Through our young eyes, with the innocence and tiny view of our world, we see things and the people around us at face value, it's uncomplicated, simple. But sometimes when we're out in the adult world, we look back and realize that our perspective of these things and people then is much different than what we know now.

Growing up in the '50s and '60s was such a different time and experience compared to the kids growing up today. We learn so much before we leave our childhood home and venture out into the grown-up world.. You might recognize some of my nostalgic memories from "the good old days."