Mark's Memoirs

Thankful # 17: I’m thankful for my beautiful granddaughter Esperanza! She’s a really good artist! She did a painting of a dog, and entered it into a big art show in Provo. Out of the hundreds of entries, she was the one who received the blue ribbon! She has a beautiful singing voice! I love it when she is working on a project at the table, and is just singing away! I like to stand around the corner and listen to her angel like voice! She loves going to Lagoon, riding all the fun rides, and listening to her grandma scream on the scary ones! She enjoys going out with grandpa for soft serve ice cream! She is my grandchild that beats to a different drummer! She likes to work on my feet, cut and file my toe nails. Then I ask her to do my hands, and she says “yuck’ I don’t do hands!??? She once told me she was a vegetarian! One night I’m watching her eat a hotdog, and I say I thought you were a vegetarian? She said no I’m a Ronnitarian (we all call her Ronni) I asked what a Ronnitarian is, she says it’s someone who eats anything they want to! She may beat to a different drummer, but she beats right into grandpa’s heart! Love you Ronni!

Thankful # 15: I’m thankful for my granddaughter Stella! She is one beautiful young girl! When she gets older, her parents are going to be tossing boys out of the house all the time, or they will have to keep her locked in her bedroom! All she has to do is look at me with those eyes, and grandpa melts, and I let her do whatever she wants to! She loves to play Minecraft, to me it is such a weird game, but she loves it. She is very helpful, and is always helping her mom around the house. She and grandpa like to shoot nerf darts at each other! She loves to draw! Jump on the trampoline with her dog Jack! She loves to swim, and slide down on the water slides! She loves going on the rides at Lagoon, and grandpa is so looking forward to going on some rides with her next year! Love you my Stella Girl!!

Thankful # 14: I’m Thankful for The Home Depot! When we lived in the Portland area I worked as a Mainframe Operator for Oregon Health Science University. When we moved to Utah, I could not find a job, all the mainframes were being replaced with servers. I went three months without a job. One day my little grandson said, you have to apply at The Home Depot Grandpa! So I got on line and applied at The Home Depot. One week later I got the call for an interview, and a week after that I started working for them. I had worked for them for 7 and a half years and then I got sick. During this time we had the master bedroom torn apart, getting ready to put a new floor in. I was so sick I could not work on the floor.
While I was in the hospital recovering from the operation, my daughter Inez went to Home Depot and ask for instruction on how to lay the floor. The flooring guy asked her, where’s your dad, haven’t seen him in a while. She told him I had cancer. The day after I got home from the hospital, a bunch of people showed up from Home Depot and they worked two and a half days installing the new floor in the bedroom and closet. This was a big shock to me, because my family did not tell me they were coming! I will be forever grateful and thankful for The Home Depot, and my Home Depot friends! You Guys Rock!!!

Thankful # 13: I’m thankful for MacKerricher State Park and the Glass Beach! During the 80’s my family and several other families use to go camping at MacKerricher every Memorial Day weekend, and spend a week there. So many great memories: Setting the Teepee up! Playing on the beach! Hanging on to a log in the ocean with seals popping up all around us. Looking for sea creatures with the kids, when the tide was out! On Sunday we always did a treasure hunt for the kids! The water fights, boy did we have some great water fights! Most of the time it was me against all the kids, and I always got the worst of it! Eating Abalone. Chasing skunks out of the camp site! Spending hours at the glass beach! Going to the Redwood Cookhouse in Fort Bragg for dinner on Saturday night. The Uno games and popcorn after we got the kids to bed! The Hiking and bike riding, and the beautiful sunsets each night. Tossing the football and throwing the Frisbee with the guys! Walks on the beach with my wife, and sitting around the fire visiting with great friends! We had a big round blanket with handles all around the edges. It’s used for tossing people way up in the air. Everybody in camp got a turn being tossed up in the air, Loved listening to the kids and the moms scream when they were high in the air! A lot of fun times at that park!