The Holidays Are Coming!

     The holidays are fast approaching and like usual, I'm not ready.  Since I make most of the gifts I hand out to people, I really need to be working all year long.  I wait until the last minute then try to get about 60 gifts done in a month.  In between all this hustle and bustle, there are ideas floating around in my head that need to be put down on paper so I don't forget them.

     Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are a great time to listen to people talk and come up with stories or an idea for a novel.  Or you could just have a couple of brothers come out to visit for a bit like mine just did and listen to them tell their stories that you've never heard before.  I started writing this and they called and said they were on their way out so now I'm trying to finish it.  We had a great visit with them.  Pizza for lunch and lots of talking and laughter.

     My brothers are all quite the pranksters and they love laughing so today I heard things that shocked me.  My husband took it all in stride so I wonder if he might have tried a few of my brothers stunts.  The brother that is younger than me had back surgery and can't work so he came up for the day to visit all of us.  It was so good to see him up and walking and enjoying life again.  He can't go back to work for some time and maybe never but he's still got his wonderful sense of humor.

     Listening to them talk about some of the gals they dated made me blush!  And I didn't know they had been in bar fights.  Every story brought a new shock for me.  I was the naive little sister that everyone shielded from the bad things in life.  Today I heard it all!

     The brother that's just older than me writes the most inspirational poetry.  He loves writing about family and his poems can bring tears to your eyes.  That's why I was shocked by his bar fight stories.  That was a side of him that I didn't know.  Hmm...wonder if there's a few stories to be written after what I heard today.  My youngest brother shared one of the other brother's sayings, "You're writing checks with your mouth that your feet can't cash."  I think he was referring to the fact that my little brother was always ready to fight the big guys.

     My husband and I really enjoyed our visit today with my brothers and hope to do this again sometime soon.  The next time, I'm going to be prepared and not be so shocked by their stories.

Karen Sperra