Elliot’s Cross-Country Trek


What a great visit with Elliot and friends Joe and Adam! I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time! They were very interested in learning the dynamics of the Fall family…and engaging themselves in every competition we could dream up (from the proper way to speak to pool and air hockey)! I’m so sorry we had to go away on Saturday. I understand Steve and I missed out on a great day in Chicago.

Gary – you should have a blast on Wednesday!

More Halloween Moments

Natalie was exactly four and a half that Halloween. As cool as trick or treating was growing up in Chalfont, the block we lived on in SLC was a kid’s dream come true.
60 houses in a 2 block area…all lit up and well stocked with goodies. The kids made a huge haul in under an hour. But Larry ate most of it.

Did I ever tell you about Halloween 1992?

I haven’t just recently started dressing up for Halloween – I’ve been doing it for years. One of my favorites was a road trip to Utah in 1992 (Penn State/Utah football game). Niece Natalie (the real one) and I got to go trick or treating. I think we made quite the pair – Little Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks.

The trick or treating was easily my fondest memories of that weekend. Since then I’ve tried to block out any memories of the pasting the Utah handed the PSU football team. And I’ve also tried to block out memories of my feeble attempts to make a move on the newscaster at Ken’s station – she was a former Utah homecoming queen if I remember right. I tried to get her to make a bet on the game with me – when she blew me off I suggested a simple bet, maybe a coke or something – she declined that. Of course, I felt like a total idiot when Ken pulled me aside and said “Mormons don’t bet and Mormons don’t drink caffeine”. How was I to know?

However, Natalie saved the weekend. We had a blast going around the neighborhood. Who do you think is the cutest?

Birthdays

At the beginning of the month Ronnie made a comment on his birthday posting that he couldn’t remember the year of everyone’s birth. I think that’s a great challenge to post on our blog (we need to start getting some family history here). I’ll give it a shot (correct me if I’m wrong). I then challenge everyone to post their immediate family’s birth dates. Here goes:

Dad (Edwin) – 01/01/21, deceased 01/24/86
Mom (Eileen) – 12/16/24, deceased 12/09/84
Larry – 03/02/45
Marilyn – 02/23/49
Steve – 05/16/51
Kenny – 07/17/54
Gary – 10/04/57
Ronnie – 10/28/58

For history, we should add Susan: 12/24/45 (deceased shortly after birth). Am I correct? OK, let’s get our families on here! Then we can start going backwards and getting other relatives!

Family Dream

I had one of my family dreams last night. I was “home” (not sure if home was Philly or Chicago) and Mom, Steve, Ken and I were in the dream. Steve and I were current but Ken was still in college. Steve was just leaving to go to work when Mom said “you never know how things are going to turn out, that one, meaning Steve, has got his life in order, while this one, looking at Ken, is on track to be a kitchen bum.”

That caused me to lecture her on how everyone was not cut out to go to college to be an engineer. I somehow had gotten a look at Ken’s class schedule where “cash register management” had stood out and then added “if I had it to do all over again, I would major in hotel and restaurant management” (there’s some truth to that). Mom then made some sarcastic remark about being able to pay the bills on the 1st of the month.

I then turned to Ken and said “I gather you’ve changed your major to restaurant management”. Ken answered yes and then asked me “what clothes did you where to work when you graduated?” He then laughed at me when I said “three piece suits”. I then went on to explain that “everyone wore suits back then”.

Dream ended about then.

Do you dream?

I woke up this morning after one of my typical nights of dreaming. The “star” of this dream was Gary. He had just gotten a review at work and wasn’t too happy about it. So he came to the family for advice. We were living in Chalfont. Mommy, Kenny and Ronnie were in the dream. Mommy and I intervened…kind of like attending a “parent-teacher” conference with Gary’s boss. Kenny & Ronnie were “background” constants; Kenny complaining that he was having similar problems at work and Ronnie just standing there laughing (we were all current age except Ronnie who was a teenager)!

Weird. Do any of you dream? Steve says he doesn’t, or at least never remembers them. I dream nightly. Maybe it’s just a female thing??????