Lynda Grace An Hour Away March 2011-March 2012

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my decision to “publish” all of the posts of the first year of my blog. In my June 16th post  (My Blog is Now a Best Seller Cause I Bought It) I discuss the details of  

of the website blog2print, which is the site I used to make my book. 

I am excited to say that I received my book and it is lovely.    To have this particular year of posts saved and bound into something that is permanent and that, hopefully, will be saved,  is especially meaningful to me.

As I read through the many thoughtful, kind, and poignant comments which were left by my supportive blogging community, I know that I made the right decision to create my blog book and am encouraged to continue to write.

I am 99% pleased with the job that blog2print did.  It is nicely bound.  The print and photos are clear. I like that there is a table of contents and that each page is numbered.   The title of my blog is also printed on the bottom of each page.  My book contains 200 posts and has 372 pages. 

There are two things that I am not happy with.

First, some of my photos had captions associated with them.  When the book was printed, the captions did not stay with the photos.  The captions are printed but not underneath the photos.  They are either printed at the end of the post or in one big list along side the photos.

Since I did not have many photos with captions, it was not a terribly big problem for me, but still a disappointment.

Second, apparently, there is a character limit to post titles.  Again since I did not have many long titles, it was not that big of a deal.  But the posts with titles that exceeded the character limit were cut off. 

Aside from those two issues, (which I intend to contact blog2print about) I would recommend blog2print.

In other news, there is an update to the story about Guy, the guy who ran into our car.

Since Ross was so thorough about getting all the information he could about Guy before he let him leave, one of the things he did find out was Guy’s address.  Yesterday, Ross drove by Guy’s house and there was Guy sitting on the front porch, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  Apparently someone posted  his bail, if he even was ever in jail. 

Ross did not stop, and has not contacted Guy or Bro with an estimate from a repair shop yet.  

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Here are the entries from Anna’s diary from the last three days:

Mon. July 1, 1929

Very glad to be at home again.  Cleaned the house and stayed at home all day.  Jean glad to see Junior back again.  Read and listened to radio.  Bed early.

Tues. July 2, 1929

Home all day.  Phoned Helen C to talk about vacation in August.  She was sick in bed, her sister said, so that leaves things unsettled yet.

Wed. July 3, 1929

Edythe over for lunch.  She is going to drive me down town. Mae H. phoned. First time I heard from her in a few years.  Invited her for lunch Friday.

If The Flies Weren’t Bitin’, Guy Would Be Fishin'

Settled in With a Front Row Seat

We decided if we wanted any beach time today, we better get there early before the crowds and before the temperature reached way beyond what I would find tolerable.

I decided to try out my “MapMyWalk” app.

As I foolishly and painfully found out, it is not a good idea for a tender foot to walk 3 miles barefoot on rough sand.   I now have large balloon blisters on my big toes and heels.  Ouch!

When the wind changed direction and the flies started biting, (brazen enough, incidentally,  to settle on my insect repellent bandana) we packed it up and in.


It was obvious by the amount of traffic on the boulevard that today was the start of the summer tourist season on LBI.
I heard Ross curse at the exact same moment that I felt the car jerk, as the jerk in the car behind us bumped into our car.   Ross immediately asked if I was okay and I was.  Then he got out of the car to make sure the car was okay.  The guy who bumped us was very relieved that there was no damage to us or our car.
At the very next traffic light, I heard Ross curse at the exact same moment that I felt the crash.  The same guy (who shall now be known as Guy) slammed into our car again, this time much more forcefully.  Ross and I were both quite shaken up.
After Ross calmed down, he and Guy pulled onto a side street, out of the way of traffic.
This time there was damage to our car’s bumper and the bumper will probably have to be replaced.
Guy begged Ross not to get the police involved.  Ross got very close to Guy and when he didn’t smell any alcohol, he agreed. (He’s such a good man.)  As Ross took photos of the guy’s registration, and insurance card,  I took lots of pics of Guy, his vehicle and of course the license plate.
Here is where the story gets interesting.
First of all, Guy had no driver’s license.  He was driving a Ford pick up, but, the truck was registered to a woman.  When Ross asked who the woman was, Guy said it was his brother’s wife.  Ross asked for Guy's phone number and Guy’s brother’s phone number.
Now at this point, I should describe Guy’s demeanor.  He appeared to be in this thirties. He was very jittery. He had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth during the whole time.  He kept shaking his head seeming to be baffled.  He repeated several times that he couldn’t understand how this accident could have happened because he wasn’t even speeding. He explained that he was distracted and anxious because he was running late to pick up his kids.
After Ross was satisfied that he had enough information, he and Guy shook hands as if they had been long time friends.
As soon Guy pulled away, Ross dialed the phone number Guy provided.  It was obvious that the person who answered the phone was not Guy.  After a few minutes, Ross found out that he was speaking to Guy’s brother (who shall now be known as Bro).
Bro assured Ross that Guy was a good guy.  He told Ross that Guy was a commercial fisherman and had just come off of a two day trip.   Bro thanked Ross for not getting the police involved because apparently it would have been certain jail time for Guy.  Bro didn’t go into detail.  But he did confirm that Guy was on his way to pick up his kids to return them to their mother.  After that he was going out again on the fishing boat.  In fact, the captain was holding the boat, waiting for Guy to get there.
When we got home, Ross researched how much it would probably cost to repair our car.  He called Bro to let him know.
Here’s where it really gets interesting.  Bro told Ross that when his girlfriend (so the owner of the truck was Bro’s girlfriend, not his wife) came home and found her truck missing, she called the police.  The police picked up Guy and he is now in jail.
Needless to say the ship sailed without him.
Bro says not to worry, though, cause he will make sure that we will get paid for our damages.
So if the flies weren’t biting, and my heels weren’t hurting, we would have stayed a little longer on the beach and our bumper wouldn’t have been bumped and Guy would be on chillin’ on the boat waitin’ for the fish to bite instead of cooling his heels in jail.
To Be Continued...

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Here are the last three days entries from Anna’s diary:

Friday, June 28, 1929

Rained all day at shore.  Cold.  Home all day.  In evening rode to Long Brach to see Jewel who was stopping at Rick’s summer home.  Stopped at Allenhurst to see Elsie.

Sat. June 29, 1929

Brought Mary to Asbury for the week-end shopping.  Left for home about 6:30. Stopped at Rae’s to rest and stayed for supper.  Went to 360 for the night as Joan was out.

Sun. June 30, 1929

Stayed at 360 all day.  Ma went to Long Branch to get Jewel and Rosalie.  Came home about seven.  Both Junior and I so happy to be back home.  House needs good cleaning. 

Watch Over Me - A Mother’s Pain

A Mother’s Pain
The pamphlets that come in the mail explain how I will feel as I grieve over the loss of my son.  "Don’t worry." They say.  "What you are experiencing is perfectly normal."  Apparently there are stages of this grief that everyone goes through.
I wonder, though if it is normal for me to feel sad for my son.  Those who try to console will say, "At least he isn’t in anymore pain.” I wonder how “they” know that.  Today, for no particular reason, at least not one I can identify, I have been feeling an overwhelming sadness.
As I sat still with my sadness,  I came to an understanding that I have not had before.  I suddenly realized that along with the so called “normal” feelings of grief and loss I am also experiencing certain maternal feelings of worry and protectiveness.   I feel the deepest pain when I have thoughts that somehow Joe is hurting.
He was happiest when he was with his family.  He and Anne found love again.  There are no words powerful enough to describe how he felt about Domani.    He fought so hard to stay here with them.  How can he possibly be at peace?  The visions in my mind are torturous.
Oh, I know.  Of course, I know. I know that I am asking THE questions.  Where is Joe? Is he at peace, and out of pain? And the ultimate question of why is one I ask over and over again.  Would it be any easier if I knew for sure that there are no answers?
No, there was no mention of how to move on from my pain in those pamphlets.
The pain I am suffering is a mother’s pain. After all, wasn’t it supposed to be me watching over my son?  Forever his mother is what I will always be.

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Here is today’s entry from Anna’s diary:

Thurs. June 27, 1929

Seashore.  Went bathing with children.  After supper we took them all to Asbury to ride the ponies and the Merry-go-round.  Had them weighed and we won three boxes of candy.