~Kiara Playing Monkey~

August 28, 2008

Playing Monkey

Little monkey swinging along

Wheee up in the air

Like all little monkeys -

swinging from limb to limb

Slow down, please beware!

Monkey bars are tricky to kids

Never aware of the danger

All day they play in happy way

At the playground they find adventure.

(Kiara has to wiggle her fingers as Mommy checks)

After school at her after care

She runs and plays with her friends

This little monkey had a great fall

From the monkey bars she descends

Down to the ground, there she lay

In pain from a broken wrist

Parents were called - to the doctor they go

She couldn't even make a fist.

August 29, 2008

Early the next morning, up and away

To the hospital she goes for surgery

Resetting the break of her little wrist

She has broken accidentally -

That's her right there with her pink arm cast

She'll wear for the next few weeks

Now that little monkey can't swing anymore

As tears flowed down her little cheeks.

Kiara saying goodbye -

See you Sunday for Kenzie's birthday party!

Searching For 2 Sisters: Hurricane Katrina

We thought the worse when Katrina hit the Gulf coast, each and everyday we worried and prayed about our two sisters so far away. Staying glued to the television - switching from channel to channel - just trying to find out something! The weather channel announced a dreadful day for the Gulf coast and surrounding areas on August 29, 2005. It was on a Monday and I decided to search for our two sisters in New Orleans, Louisiana on the computer. It had been 24 years since we heard from Tammy Jo and Candy, our half-sisters. They lived in Westwego, Louisiana the last we heard after our dad passed away September 23, 1980. Candy and her husband, Raymond came here to be with us when Daddy died and went to Daddy’s wake at the funeral home. The day of Daddy’s funeral and burial she didn’t show up as we waited for her, we never heard from her again. As we proceeded with the terrible ordeal of laying Daddy’s body to rest in the back of our minds we wondered just what happened to Candy. We never knew why, she never let us know she was leaving. We wondered all through the years what happened and why she left before his funeral. At times throughout the years we always wondered if we said or done something to offend Candy or Raymond, yet we didn’t think we had. She simply left and never came back. Tammy Jo had to stay behind because her baby was soon to be born and she couldn’t travel from Louisiana to North Carolina as the doctors advised. This would be the last time of communication we had with either one of our sisters until now.
As my search continued day after day I am compelled to find them, to know if they are okay even if they didn’t want to see us, we just wanted to know their if they were okay and their whereabouts and that they both were safe. As we sit and watched, listening to the reports of what Hurricane Katrina was doing. There was more damage than anyone suspected and it was so traumatic as the people of the Gulf Coast scrambled to get away for safety sake. These people went through such devastation as this powerful storm just ripped their lives apart and all they worked so hard for away. Where in the world were our sisters, we wondered and worried so, are they safe? Two days have now passed as I search and search, filling out questionnaires of names and birth dates as we remembered so long ago. We knew our dad’s information, yet not theirs, not as much as we should have known. We knew their moms name, but that was it, not her birth date or anything to help us find them. “Oh God, please help us find them, let us know they are okay, we know you will do your part to keep them safe, it is your will and divine grace that we ask for some kind of way to know they are alright. Please show us a sign or something to help us, I pray to you. Amen”.
You see it wasn’t our fault or theirs about being separated or why we had to live so far apart and not know each other. Our parents are the ones who made all things possible with the happenings of separations. Daddy was a rambler as I understood while growing up and later he didn’t deny anything. We didn’t really know the man; he just wondered in from time to time and didn’t tarry long. We did know of his other family; we were curious and asked questions about the two girls, we were his kids too! There were a lot of times he would come to town visiting his two brothers with his daughters and not even see us, we never knew until later after he had left and gone back to Louisiana.
Tammy Jo & Candy with Daddy 1972

In 1972, already 27 years old with two little boys, Daddy came to my oldest sister, Judy’s and wanted to see us all. We were told to come to Judy’s, noone asked why, just come. As I walked in the door everybody said to go in the bedroom, once inside the door closes a little and there he stood. The tallest best-looking Daddy in the world, I literally passed out from excitement! Standing there beside him were two girls, his daughters, our sisters. Tammy Jo and Candy Allison. Tammy Jo looked so much like Judy and Candy looked like some of our cousins – they were definitely Daddy’s girls. Oh gosh, here is the moment I had waited all my life. To get to see my daddy, just to show him I’m fine and my two little boys. Just for him to know I had forgiven him yet I will never forget what he did to us. We just never understood why he walked away from five kids to go and raise another family. Now that I am grown I understand we were certainly not the only ones who endured such a situation as this to be raised by our mother alone and with no help from Daddy. Jealousy was in our minds growing up as we heard from family members about Daddy having two daughters he was raising and it was heartbreaking. I often dreamed of spending time with him in my younger days and just wondered what it would be like. Yet our mother was so strong and took care of us, showing us the love a Mother should. She worked hard all our lives to give us things we needed we never did without. There were disappointing times such as Christmas and we really didn’t get things we asked for but she made it up to us. Our mother never, ever complained nor did she ever put our daddy down, we did know he was a truck driver for Associated Transport Trucking Company in Burlington, NC in our younger days. So by that we knew he was always on the road. As far as we knew he and Mama always remained friends somewhat throughout the years and in fact never divorced. Mama and Daddy married October 10, 1942 and separated in 1951 after our younger sister Vickie was six month old. Back then as children of a broken home it was sad, we didn’t understand, our grandpa Coleman was the only male role model in our family and we lost him when we were young in October 1959 yet again we are stripped of the only Daddy we ever known. It hurt so to be without a Dad, so many of our friends had their dads and sometimes we wished our dad was there, but we overcome tragedies, this wasn’t and will never be the only hurt in our lives as we grew into maturity. Mama did her best and with that we were thankful, she was a loving lady with a heart of gold and I would never trade the memories for anything. She loved us and we all knew it, she always let us know one way or another.
A typical Saturday morning with a few cups of coffee to wake me up it’s off to the computer. Checking my email and web pages for visitors is my usual ritual everyday and occasionally a chat or two with family members or friends. Yet this morning was so different when I signed on and the computer says “You’ve Got Mail”. There before my eyes was an unusual looking subject line in my email – NOLA RESPONSE. Oh my word, I was panicking, what is this? I remembered seeing these initials for days and days while online and yet I could not pinpoint it now. My heart was beating so as if it were in my lap! Oh, is this what I had been longing for? Are they okay? Was this going to be good or bad? I was so full of questions and didn’t have sense enough to just open the darn thing. Teary eyed and alone, I am so scared of what I was fixing to read. Opening the mail, I slowly began to read – In response to your email; we have found a Tammy Jo Sauro in Pinson, Alabama and her phone number. There was no finding for a Candace Allison Berger in Westwego, La. Please let us know if we could be of more help to you. God Bless You and hopefully this is the person(s) you are looking for. NOLA Response Team. Well you could have lifted me off of chair with a feather, I felt somewhat relieved and yet I still wasn’t sure if it was she. This is the name I remembered from 1980, the last we heard from her was when Daddy passed away. Is this who I am searching for? Dialing the number that was given to me, my hands shook so I felt I would fall out in the floor. The phone rang; I waited in anticipation until an answer. “Hello” she answered in a soft voice. “Is this Tammy Sauro?” I ask her in a panicky, shaky tone. Her answer was yes so I began asking this one question twice, “What is your dad’s name?” She hesitated for a moment and told me our daddy’s name; yet explaining he had passed away in 1980 my heart sank and I felt such a relief. I knew, I just knew then it was she. As she began to sob, she asks, “Oh no, who is this?” “Tammy, this is Tip, your sister”. Then there was silence and the tears fell as she asks in a tearful, muffled sound, “are you for real?” “Yes” I replied and “this is not a joke.” As I explained to her about our looking for them and we were worried so, I could hardly speak. Here is one of the sisters I had tried so very hard to find! Just wondering if they were okay and how had they been doing for so long. After crying for about fifteen minutes we finally talked and boy did we! With the both of us now crying and proclaiming our love for each other and for our siblings, we began a long pleasant conversation about our lives and families and such. I knew it was going to be fine after that! They were safe from the wraths of Hurricane Katrina! “God, thank you for your precious love. Amen”. Oh how lucky we were to find them and know they are safe. I am sure a lot of happy endings have occurred out of this historical event of a hurricane such as this devastating one – yet there are those out there who lost loved ones. My heart goes out to each and every one of those people who fell victim to “Katrina”. With God’s abiding love, I hope He will fill your heart with the joy and understanding one day you will see that special loved one. Everything happens for a reason – something’s we do not no the reason for and do question why, but it is my belief that all things are possible with prayer. I pray for each and every one of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. God be with you.
After talking on the phone and announcing to everyone our sisters were okay and
we were planning a visit from Tammy Jo; we waited in anticipation for the day of September 13, 2005. It was Friday morning and I received a call from her telling me she and her husband, Frank was in High Point. Oh the excitement! She was getting so close and I thought I would pass completely out if she didn’t get here soon. She’s made it, my beautiful sister the one I had searched for and longed to see. Throughout the short time we had we accomplished a lot of reminiscing about our lives and proclaimed the love we have for each other.
We live in North Carolina and she and her family in Alabama leaves a lot of miles between us, we have managed to see each other as much as possible.

Tammy after 25 years

Today is Thursday, August 7th, 2008,Tammy is in Alabama and I am sitting here in North Carolina and am waiting in anticipation for her to come back for a visit. Was hoping to see her this summer but maybe soon. I miss her so much ... I wonder if she knows how my heart breaks every time she pulls out of the driveway and not looking back? Three days is so short of time to spend and it flies by so quickly. We spent some sister time together, our usual trip to the local Dollar Tree store and out to eat later in the evening, then everyone is too tired and full to sit and talk awhile. There’s so little time between visits yet we do make the best of it.

~Our first New Years together (2006)

Judy, Sylvia (me), Reid, Elaine & Tammy Jo~

Written by:
Sylvia Allison
©2007

~When It's Alzheimer's~

In Memory

of
Frances C. Allison

2/10/00 - 2/14/00

This candle burns in Mamas' memory and the many others who have been stricken with the likes of this devastating disease.

Alzheimers is a dreadful disease, effecting the elderly. It strips them of all memory of their lives and everyone in their lives. Let's all hope and pray for a cure from this dreadful disease.

****************************************

Picture of Mama and myself in December 1999 after her having had a massive stroke in October of that same year. This is at the Rehabilitation Center of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Our hearts broke as she had to be placed there from complications after an amputation of a toe due to Vascular Disease. We hoped and prayed she was being cared for, yet we saw a few slight infragments of the caregivers and we really didn't see the same ones alot! Even the management switched leaders way too much in
the thirteen months Mama was there. She had a short stay compared to others and Thank you God for that! Tried to ease my mind of having to put Mama in that resthome and it liked to have killed us - I regret so many times when visiting and knowing she didn't understand what was going on and wondering why we were leaving her. The doctors said it was best for her and her healing from her surgery. There are a lot of things that happened and I won't write about them here - all I ask if you are faced with such as this to leave your loved one in a home - stay on them, watch every move of you can - you will regret it in the long run. I am 61 years old and as of today Mama has been gone 8 years and 6 months and I still hurt for her. My heart aches for my best friend everyday, my life has never been the same since she passed away. I will never want her back the way she left here -

~She knows us now; she suffers no more

Love you Mama and miss you terribly.

©Sylvia~

**********************************

(This poem hung over Mama's bed)

Please Don’t Hurt Our Mom


She’s entering her home away from home
Forgotten all and where she comes from
Please treat her well be patient and kind
She has no memories left in her mind
Of where she is or who we are
She’s a special lady to us by far
Raised five children struggling through life
Even forgot she was once a wife
A little stubborn and set in her ways
With talks of childhood; her younger days
A beloved mother to us she’s a saint
Tried hard to keep her but now we can’t
Needing constant round-the-clock care
Please take care of her always be there
Going to be times she’ll give you a fit
Just give us a call; we’ll take care of it
Many of our elderly get hurt everyday
Be gentle and kind - treat her good we pray
No matter the time be it day or night

Let us know if she gets out of sight
With a wondering mind she loves to roam
Looking for the place she once called home
We promise to let you do your job
Don’t hurt our mom we plead with a sob.

©Sylvia Allison

1/8/99

***********************************

When Mom Forgets

As seasons change, for us regrets

We`re watching now as mom forgets

Of lifes` memories she`s shared within

Childhood she talks of, as stories begin

No memory of her family or a friend

Alzheimers has stripped her life to an end

When Mom forgets how to dress or eat
We have memories of our lives so sweet

Of the love she had for us five kids

As we watch this disease win all bids.

Now seasons change; we still remember

Moms` love for us so warm and tender.

©Sylvia Allison

5/6/99

***************************************

My Grandma Did The Same

She worked hard to raise her family
When I was born, I shared her name
As years went by she lost her memory
And my grandma did the same.

It’s hard to know that a disease like this
Could claim so much fame
As it took my mom and her life is missed
My grandma did the same.
Alzheimer’s is a killer of the old
And its damage could make you lame
Mom had stories all untold
And my grandma had the same.
She doesn’t remember anyone
Not even her children she could name
At seventy-eight this disease begun
And my grandma did the same.
I wish there was a way to find
A cure to make this disease tame
It’s really too late for mom

And my grandma did the same.

©Sylvia Allison
5-27-98

Four Times -

Ava Coleman - Maternal Grandmother (1984)

Frances Allison - Mother (2000)

Irene Pitts - My aunt, Moms' sister (2005)

Whitney Allison - My uncle, Dads' brother (2006)

**************************************

My sisters and myself have been told we

have an 80% chance of getting Alzheimers'.

Let's all hope work and hope for a cure real soon.

God Bless You All who are the victims & The Caregivers

~ Summer Beauty ~

PINK MANDEVILLA

My stepson gave me this plant and it is a beauty! After searching for tips on caring for this plant - and there is plenty, I was amazed at all the beautiful pictures of a Mandevilla.

(pictures here are mine - not copies of someone else's ... all mine!)

'ALICE DU PONT' (Mandevilla)
• Evergreen
• Zones 21-25; may grow as a root-hardy perennial in zone 26, 27
• Full sun or partial shade
• Regular watering
• Climbs by: twining

If it were grown exclusively outdoors, this lovely vine would be found in only the mildest zones. But because it thrives in pots on porch or deck, it's one of the most widely sold vines in the country. Pure pink, 2- to 4-inch-wide flowers shaped like flaring trumpets usually bloom from spring into fall, carried against a backdrop of glossy green, 3- to 8-inch leaves. And unlike many other vines, this one blooms happily at a small size — plants in 4-inch containers regularly produce flowers.
You'll often find this plant identified simply by its cultivar name — 'Alice du Pont' — rather than by genus and cultivar (Mandevilla 'Alice du Pont').
This vine does best with rich soil. It likes sun but needs some afternoon shade in the hottest areas. Grown outdoors in its preferred warm climates, it can reach 20 to 30 feet; container-grown plants stay much lower. For in-ground as well as containerized plants, provide a trellis or similar support. Feed container plants with a complete fertilizer every 2 weeks until the end of bloom; then trim the stems back by half and bring the plant indoors or to a sheltered spot. Water regularly throughout winter. If you're growing the plant outdoors, do any necessary pruning during the growing season.

The buds are just as pretty as the bloom ...

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Joke:

Going to Disneyland!

A six year old goes to the hospital with his grandma to visit his grandpa. When they get to the hospital, he runs ahead of his grandma and bursts into his grandpa's room. 'Grandpa, Grandpa,' he says excitedly, 'as soon as Grandma comes into the room, make a noise like a frog! 'What?' said his grandpa. Make a noise like a frog because grandma said that as soon as you croak, we're going to Disneyland!'
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