A is for Alice Virginia Brock, my mom, who humanly speaking is responsible for the fact that I am a Christian, I and my sister and brother and father. And while we are at it, let's include my Dad even though his name doesn't start with an A...Herman, wonderful dad, became a Christian when I was 15, big change for the good. He is with the Lord!
B is for Brock -- for those of you who know the story...my maiden name is Brock and I have a niece name Kim Brock (all spoken with a sing songy voice and the use the hands)
C is for Chicago where I was born and raised. Lived near Addison and Avondale for 15 years and went to Reilly Elementary School and Schurz High School. Then, lived one block behind Schurz for the last 3 years of high school. Went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for one year. Got married in Chicago and we lived near Gompers Park for 13 years. My kind of town, Chicago is...but I don't want to live there now. Visiting is fine but take me back to trickles of traffic and cornfields.
D is for my brother, Denny, who was always four years older than I. :) An indelible mark he made on my life through his pranks, his wayward years, his humble return to the Lord, his example as a parent, his love for me. His two nicknames for me (which we never did know why) were Sharone-eous and Chaustismentaltelepathy. While I'm here, let me add Kath, his wife. My dear sister, 3 years ahead of me in widowhood, example, friend, sharer of laughter.
E is for everything I have missed. I have had a wonderful life even with all the troubles. I am choosing to remember EVERYTHING that was fun, good, stable, exciting, worthwhile, etc.
F is for friends. Ah, I can cover all the people I miss in this category! Friends from Chicago, friends from Woodstock, friends from our churches, friends from Florida, friends from Moody, friends from high school, friends from Judson employment, friends from Judson classes (B.A.), friends from Belvidere, friends from Rockford, friends in the nursing homes, friends from my places of employment, friends who are missionaries or who were missionaries, old friends, new friends, faithful friends, etc.
G is for my three daughters...oh, on paper, they are Virginia, Georgia and Angela, but for a good many years, happy memory years, they were Ginger, Georgi and Gigi.
H is for Heldman. My married name. I married Ken Heldman. From what I understand, it used to be Von Heldmann. Heldman relatives abound but not many have the last name Heldman anymore. Kozie, Schipplick, Bannick, Cross, etc.
I is for I KNOW I FORGOT SOMEBODY!
J is the most important one...it is for JESUS! I'll let a couple of songs say it...I'd Rather Have Jesus than Anything; Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners!; and Jesus Is All the World to Me. I remember being four years old and hearing about Him for the first time. I'm thankful for everyone who taught me more about Him and brought me closer to Him. Jesus is coming again!
K is for...you guessed it...Ken. I guess it explains everything that it still brings tears to my eyes to write something down about him. How I miss my dear husband!
L is for the grandkids. Oh, I know "Grandkids" doesn't begin with an L, but Lucas begins with an "L" and there are just not enough spots to put them all down by their letter, so that's the way it is. Lucas, 15 years old today; his brother, Ethan, almost 11; Autumn, Ginger and Gaius' daughter, 11; Jesse, their son, 9; Seth, their other son, 6 1/2. Wonderful kids! Smart, good looking, kind...they take after their grandmother, of course.
M is for Matt. Sorry girls, the boys get their own letter. Matt is our second child, second boy. Matt once told me what he wants to be. I think I may be the only one who knows. Waiting and praying. :)
N is for Nate, our first child, first son. Working in Chicago and serving the Lord there. We do not see eye to eye on a couple of things such as the Simpsons!
O is for old folk. For 30 years I've been hanging out with the Old Folk in Old Folk Homes. Should you ever get to see me sitting and talking to one of them...about anything, but especially about the Lord, you can say to yourself, "There is the real Sharon Heldman."
P is for our many pets. I will attempt to name them all in somewhat chronological order: Tiger, Chunky, Sandy, Washrag, Tank, Woody, Grushenka, Brute, Rodney (the mean black cat), Candy, SenSen, Lollipop, Licorice, (help me here with the other two Candy puppies' names), Morris who turned out to be Marshmallow, Silver Cloud (and the five kittens of which I cannot remember any names), George, Monkey, Dog, Sheba, TarBaby, and Oreo. I think Oreo was the last. I think I missed some, too. I know that we had 29 dogs including the puppies. Yikes!
Q is for Questions If you have any, just FB me. :)
R is for relatives that mean so much to me...my in-law kids; my sister-in-law, Kath, and her kids; Ken's sister, Dolores, and her husband, Tony, and their kids; all the nieces and nephews; all the great nieces and nephews; all the relatives who are gone now but played a part in my life.
S is for my sister, Nancy. I admire her for her teaching ability. She taught for more than 40 years. Before she retired, she taught kingergarten for a long time. Those kids could tell you all about the circulatory, skeletal, nervous and other systems, they could read fluently, quote a Bible verse and location for each letter of the alphabet and sing the Star Spangled Banner, among other accomplishments.
T is for transportation, simply because A for Auto and C for Car are taken. I could write a book about our cars...not just a pamphlet...a 300-page exciting and unbelieveable history. Cars we pushed, cars with bumper tied on, cars with mufflers attached with coat hangars, cars that nearly folded in half after an escapade with the two sons, cars that lost the forward gears and had to be driven backward all the way home down country roads, cars that used to be automatic but that Ken changed to stick (can you believe that?), cars that had no heat so when the kids complained riding under blankets in the back, we told them to just think about the poor covered wagon travelers, cars (VW) that had no back seat so that Ken could put his tools back there but made it hard to pile all the kids in for church, cars that got 8 miles to the gallon and cars that got 36 mpg. This by no means tells the stories that go along with each of these cars and it really doesn't list all the cars either. What fun! How boring to raise a family with a reliable car!
U is for Undo...Control Z.
V is for Victory! Glad for the many victories throughout life. Many of them were pretty HUGE! Believe me I keep reminding myself of those. Otherwise, I'd be pretty blue.
W is for Woodstock where we lived for 30 years...in 7 different houses. :) The last 20 years were in the same house. Nice town. Nice square, especially for the holidays.
X is for X Box. No, I'm kidding. I don't know the first thing about X Box. But X is for Xtraordinary Creation. Just watched a video clip of the new baby Panda somewhere and I was stricken again with the Xtraorindary Creation of God! I love, love, love animal pictures and documentaries and hearing stuff about the universe (although I get a sick stomach at the IMAX theater when it races you out among the stars!)
Y is for YOU! You, whoever you are that is reading this, I probably know you and I'm sure I'm very glad that you are in my life!
Z is for Zzzzzzzs of which I get few. However, right now, I am going to lie down and try to get a few!