once upon a time, not so very long ago, there was a little girl named Jenni. she was the only child of an only child, and when she was young, Jenni was a little bit spoiled. Jenni was especially loved by her great-grandfather and his 4 remaining children, especially
Aunts Mary and Olive.
Christmas at Nanny and Pop-Pop's house was a wonder to behold, with many presents stacked under the Christmas tree, just for the little girl and her momma. on the Christmas that Jenni was one, she was given a little rocking chair.
Jenni loved the rocking chair, and spent many happy hours rocking her doll babies, and humming them a little tune. it was the same little tune that her momma sang to her at bedtime.
years passed, and as happens with all little girls, Jenni grew up. after a time, she had babies of her own, and Jennifer's momma brought her the rocking chair that she had loved so well as a child.
Jennifer's first baby was a little girl. M spent many happy hours rocking her baby dolls, and humming them a little tune. it was the same little tune that her mommy sang to her at bedtime.
very soon Jennifer had more babies. this time it was two little boy babies, named D and N. life was very busy with 3 little ones in diapers, but the babies were happy. sometimes the little boys sat on the rocker, but instead of humming the little tune to their sister's baby doll, they would rock very hard to see if they could tip the rocker over, or try to push each other off of the little rocker.
the rocker survived the rambunctious twins. after a little while, Jennifer had another baby, a little boy named G. even though G rocked on the little rocking chair, too, there are no pictures of this sweet little angel baby rocking happily. that was because Jennifer was busy keeping house. Jennifer had a wood stove to cook dinner on, a wringer washer to wash all the little children's clothes, and an outhouse, too. Jennifer was too busy to take as many pictures of the last little boy.
years passed, and as happens with all children, the four babies grew up. the little rocker sat in a corner of the living room, even though the children were too big to sit and rock a baby doll, or hum the little tune. it was a happy reminder of the days gone by.
one day, after a long and hard time, Jennifer had another baby. it was another little girl baby, named A. A was a sweet and happy baby, and the apple of her daddy's eye.
in time, as A grew bigger, she would sit in the little rocker, holding her baby doll, and hum the little tune. it was the same little tune that her mommy sang to her at bedtime.
very soon, Jennifer had another baby. it was another girl baby. her daddy named her B J. baby B, just like her sisters and mother before her, would sit in the little rocking chair. B would rock her baby doll, and hum the little tune.
the little rocker was still sturdy and strong, and after almost 40 years, there were many years left to rock with little girls and their baby dolls.
until one sad morning, when the baby broke the rocker! how did this happen? Jennifer did not know, and wondered what in the world the baby B could have been doing!
that was a very sad morning. a sad morning, indeed! there were still little girls to sit upon the little rocking chair, still baby dolls to rock, and the little tune still needed to be hummed. what would happen now? how would the little rocker help make happy memories for the last two little girls?
but then Jennifer remembered! there was a very special person that she knew. a very loving, kind and generous person that was all she had ever wished for in a father. he could fix the rocker, because that is what he did best. and because he loved the last two little girls so much.
even though Grampa lived very far away, in a place where it was always warm, Jennifer was almost certain that when the weather got warm again up in the great white north, he would come and fix the special little rocker. he would bring the other very special person, who also loved the last two little girls very much. he would bring Nanny, and she would hug and kiss her two baby girls.
that is the end of the story about the little girl and her rocking chair. even if the very special people could not come up to the great white north, the wonderful daddy would fix the special little rocker. once again the little girls would be able to rock their baby dolls, and hum the little tune, the same little tune that their mommy sang to them at bedtime, the same little tune that Jenni's momma sang to her as a child.
and they all lived happily ever after.
the end.
recently Dave started drywalling upstairs. or more accurately, we started the 17 projects that need to be done before Dave can start drywalling upstairs.
one of those projects was assigned to me: cleaning out the attic.
back when my 4 older children were all small and we lived in a tiny house with an outhouse, wringer washer and cook stove, i had lots of time to knit sweaters for all of them.
i made G this really cool elephant sweater, which he loved. i gave it to him for his 3rd birthday.
