Lunchbox Notes

Personal 2 Minutes

My mom was always one of those people who “Spring” cleaned her home twice a year—once in the Spring and once again in Fall.  This was non-negotiable.  She cleaned walls, ceilings, carpets, windows—every surface in every room on every floor—AND inside every drawer or cabinet. She flipped mattresses and scoured grout with an old toothbrush.  Since the basement held my father’s workshop, the furnace, oil tank and not much else, she did relegate the cleaning of that floor to him, but she did make frequent trips down there to check his progress. 

With the passing of time, my father has passed and Mom now walks with a walker, but she still insists on her cleaning marathons—only concentrating on the main floor where she lives.  When we visit, I will clean the upstairs for her—there’s a spare bedroom where we sleep—and another spare room mostly empty. 

The basement, however, has not been touched much since Dad passed.  The tools were left to my brother and in more than 10 years, he still cannot face getting rid of anything—which is such a shame because they are rusting in the damp workshop.  Since Mom can’t go down into the basement, she had no idea of its condition until I showed her pictures.  She shrugged and said she couldn’t force him to do anything.  So, I suggested we just get rid of the myriad of leftover scraps of wood, trim and old paint cans and she said she’d talk to him about that.  Then, in one of the pictures, she spied a shelf of books and decided they must be musty by now and we could toss those.

The small stack of books were mostly hardcover spy novels (Dad loved those) and how-to books.  All of them smelled musty.  She started to page through one while I paged through another.  In one of the spy novels we found $2 bills tucked between the pages and Mom laughed…that’s Dad she said.  We went through the other books, but we didn’t find anything interesting until the last book.  I picked it up to hand it to her, and something slipped out from the book jacket.  It was a small bag like the kind you got a card shop if you only bought one card.  Inside were small pieces of folded paper. 

Mom opened one of them and her eyes misted up. I asked what the paper was—was it a note from Dad?  She shook her head no…they were notes SHE wrote and sent in his lunchbox sometimes…little I love you’s or you’re the best husband type notes.  There were also cards from my sister in the stack.  And then Mom handed me a hand written letter I wrote to Dad a long time ago.  I remembered tucking it into his birthday card that year, thanking him for helping me through some really rough times back then.  I couldn’t believe he kept it all those years. 

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Published by pat frederick

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47 thoughts on “Lunchbox Notes”

  1. Good morning, Miss Pat! Today’s post brought tears….thank you!

    You may need to think about getting rid of the flammables in your Mom’s basement. You don’t need to ask your Bro’s permission for that.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Can’t musty books be dried out? I love old mystery books. They tend to be cleaner without the F word and all the gay stuff.

      Like

    2. Good Afternoon GA!
      that picture is NOT my mom’s basement. hers is damp and musty–but cluttered as well. and it has leftover pieces of molding and trim–paint cans with paint from 15-20 years ago and the like. it’s all my brother’s now–my mom says–and he can’t even part with the junk!

      Liked by 2 people

        1. Morning GA!
          hard to tell…there are cabinets and closets all over…tools, nuts, bolts, a couple of kitchen facets, pot handles–anything Pop thought he might be able to use somewhere else…he kept. but Mom says all that’s down there is my brother’s and even after 10 years, he can’t face that Pop’s gone.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. You were blessed to have an intact happy family and a Dad who fixed things! I love hearing about your Mama’s cleaning campaigns!

            Liked by 1 person

            1. We did have a happy family…and we had parents that had skills and hobbies they shared with us. Dad was a craftsman, he could draw, play music and tell a joke at a moment’s notice. Mom could budget, bake and sew. they taught us so many good and necessary life functions.

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  2. Oh, my! What a wonderful story, while also bringing a bit of melancholy. I agree with GA – that basement looks kind of dangerous. When my Mom passed, I discovered she had also saved some $2 bills, as well as a bunch of Kennedy half-dollars and wheat pennies. And one silver dollar, which I still have; I also saved some of the $2 bills.

    Looking stormy here this morning; hopefully, the worst of it will be to the south of me into KS: “Clouds and sun with a couple of showers and a heavy t-storm; breezy; storms can bring flooding downpours, hail, damaging wind gusts, and an isolated tornado”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Afternoon Filly!

      as I said to GA…that’s not an actual picture…hers is much worse!

      yesterday we introduced Mom to the Preakness! about 6:30 we found the channel and she loved the horses. then we told her we each picked a horse and rooted him on. she picked–Seize the Grey! (she thought the gray horse was the prettiest).

      we told her there would be in another 2 weeks i think and she said to remind her so she could watch!

      Liked by 1 person

        1. oh my…it was so good to see her get excited and cheer on “her horse”…lol

          I told her she missed the Kentucky Derby…but we could watch next year. she says she will make a hat…LOL

          Liked by 1 person

  3. we’re back and i need to relax and stretch!!!

    I weeded Mom’s old flower bed, dumped and mixed in 4 bags of top soil and then planted 48 marigolds in assorted colors in the rain on Saturday morning. Then Saturday afternoon–still in the rain, i weeded the bed with her azaleas…and the stones which were supposed to eliminate weeding (says my sister in law who poured the stones into the bed)

    my legs are sore!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’ll bet they’re sore! Yeah, I learned the stones don’t work! I managed to get my west flower bed, with the lilies and lily trees, cleared of all the weeds and grass. I also re-adjusted the stakes to hold up the trees. There were several huge thistles and dandelions that took some pulling to get out. Also trimmed the climbing rose and re-directed some of the clematis vines. They’ve got buds all over them, waiting to see if they ever turn yellow, like they are supposed to.

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  4. The wind here has finally died down; it lowered enough earlier for me to put some of the feeders back out. The Orioles were all KINDS of upset that both the jelly and nectar feeders were gone!!! I saved another one from the jelly, this one a young female. I expect the wind picked up her tail and tipped her into the cage. She looked like she was dead, with half of her head buried in jelly but, when I picked her up, she moved and grabbed onto my finger. Washed her off with warm water and dried her – man, those claws are like needles that just won’t let go! As soon as I opened my hand outside, she flew off up into the cotton wood tree. Finally seeing a little bit of sun and up to 71 – it’s been in the low to mid 60’s all day.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. my orioles must have been pissed that the jelly was gone…there is a lot of bird poop under the hummer feeders…they must have been spinning around on them all weekend.
      i haven’t seen a hummer all day…but the honeysuckle are starting to bloom

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh, yeah – they’ll be all over that – they are here – one of mine is blooming and I could hear one above my head when I was leaned over pulling grass in the garden bed.

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  7. Feisty Hayseed

    May 19, 2024 1:10 am

    IDF recovers fourth hostage body in overnight operation in Gaza: reports

    The Israeli military announced it recovered the body of a fourth hostage from Gaza, a day after it revealed it had retrieved from Rafah the corpses of three others who were kidnapped by Hamas.

    Ron Benjamin, 53, was among the roughly 250 people kidnapped by Hamas during its bloody attack on Israel on Oct. 7, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a press conference, Israeli media reported.

    Hamas terrorists killed Benjamin on Oct. 7 near Kibbutz Mefalsim, in southern Israel, before taking his corpse into Gaza, Hagari said.

    Benjamin’s body was retrieved during an overnight operation in the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah, where troops also recovered the bodies of Shani Louk, Amit Bouskila, and Itshak Gelernter, Hagari said.

    https://nypost.com/2024/05/18/world-news/idf-recovers-fourth-hostage-body-in-overnight-operation-in-gaza/

    Like

  9. Cala Goloritze Beach in Baunei, Sardinia, Italy

    The tusk of a woolly mammoth being unearthed from a Siberian riverbed.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Laura Loomer

    @LauraLoomer

    EXCLUSIVE EXPOSE:NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN SENDING MONEY TO JUDGE MERCHAN’S DAUGHTER’S PERSONAL HOME RESIDENCE IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA AND DECEPTIVELY DISTORTING FEC RECORDS TO COVER UP PAYMENTS TO LOREN MERCHAN’S COMPAN I was searching through Democrat Congressman Dan Goldman’s

    @danielsgoldman

    ’s FEC disclosure forms for his campaign disbursements. YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT I FOUND! THIS COULD CHANGE THE ENTIRE TRUMP TRIAL! According to FEC records, the address that NY Democrat Congressman

    @RepDanGoldman

    sends his checks to when he pays “Authentic Campaign” is a Richmond, Virginia address that happens to be the personal home residence of Loren Merchan, Judge Merchan’s daughter. Loren Merchan is the President of Authentic Campaigns

    @Authentic_HQ

    and her father is overseeing Trump’s trial in NYC. Additionally, the record in the

    @FEC

    was documented by Democrat New York Congressman Dan Goldman deceptively as “Authentic Campaign” instead of “Authentic Campaigns”, deliberately leaving the S off the end as a way to cover up the fact that Congressman Dan Goldman, who admitted on

    @MSNBC

    last week to prepping

    @ManhattanDA

    Alvin Bragg’s Star witness

    @MichaelCohen212

    before his testimony in the Trump trial, has been sending his payments to THE PERSONAL HOME ADDRESS OF JUDGE MERCHAN’S DAUGHTER. I have blurred out the address so I don’t get accused of Doxxing, but the address on the Schedule B FEC form for Congressman Dan Goldman as it relates to independent expenditures to “Authentic Campaign” is the same address listed in the Richmond, Virginia Department of Real Estate Assessor database, which lists the address as the personal residence for Loren Merchan and her husband Taylor Murray Harper. The home Loren Merchan lives in where the Democrat Congressman (who advised Michael Cohen before his testimony in Trump’s trial which her father is overseeing) is sending her payments is a 2 story home with a value of $639,000. Records show NY Democrat Congressman Dan Goldman has sent Loren Merchan over $162,091.92, with the last payment being made on March 26, 2024, right before the #TrumpTrial began on April 15th, 2024. This should be enough evidence to force Judge Merchan to recuse himself and to acquit Donald Trump all together. Absolute corruption and Weaponized Government. I have the unredacted copies of the addresses for members of the media if they wish to see my receipts and if they are honest enough to report my bombshell findings, but I blurred them out so I don’t get accused of Doxxing. It’s the same Richmond, Virginia home address though. I verified it and double checked. Worth noting that the office HQs for Authentic Campaigns is based out of Chicago and DC, which means there’s no reason why payments should be going to Loren Merchan’s personal home residence. This is beyond improper!!!! Judge Merchan should be DISBARRED!

    Liked by 1 person

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