Reminiscing

Last night, a good (and very pregnant) friend came over. We discussed potential names and I told her the story of my grandmother who was named Zelpha and had offered a "large inheritance" to any child named after her. No one was brave enough to do so and Zelpha died in 1988, thus ending the offer. Zelpha was a wonderful and beautiful woman. James and I considered the name for our child to be born 100 years after Zelpha's birth, but alas Bob was a boy and I did not have to suffer the angst of naming a child what I considered to be such an awful name. However, the name has grown on me and my friend liked it, so I promised to dig out my pictures of Zelpha to share with her. The one at the top right shows me with Zelpha in 1978. The one in the middle is Zelpha with her husband Robert, one of the many family members after who Bob is named.

While reminiscing, I told Bob the story of how I fell in love with James because he tried to rescue my cat, and of course, he had to see a picture of Casey which is at the bottom of this shot. Since Casey is in heaven, I had to show him a picture of Belvedere the big red dog (shrouded in mist at the upper left), who is also in heaven. The painting on the left is my first letter from James - not quite a love letter at that point, but obviously such a beautiful painting went a long way towards wooing me. Spending hours trying to rescue my cat a few months later sealed the deal.

I would say please pardon the messy desk. But it is always that way. I clean it about once a week, but it returns to shambles within a few hours.