Happy Birthdays in July

Happy birthday America. Happy birthday Grandpa Smith (a.k.a. Danny). And belated happy birthday to Matt. And early happy birthday to Megan (I'll be out of contact when hers is but I should be back on the 11th for Lel's).

Melanie's farewell address to the troops delivered last Friday

My family @ ABN AMRO,

After 37-years, today will be my last pleasurable day with ABN AMRO.

It has been a blast. I started in Cash Department in Algemene Bank Nederland N.V. as the only girl in a sea of men. We had no computers and currencies were on a fixed exchange rate. When exchange rates floated I had the opportunity to work in the dealing room. I worked at every desk there and set up the Customer Desk. The last 20-years, I have worked in Private Banking and proudly add that I am part of the Indonesian Team. We work hard, play hard, laugh a lot and settle differences quickly in a bid to keep the flag flying.

In the middle of 2009, my husband, Michael and I made a conscious decision to trade in our corporate suits in favour of flip flops and fins.  The idea is to work in the diving industry and in the process educate potential divers to become dive guides. We saw this glaring opportunity for a few people in East Timor to benefit from a scheme like this and hope to put this into fruition. We hope to do this by tutoring in Indonesian.

But first, Michael and I will take a long deserved break. Our plan is to do a trek in Ladakh and maybe even go further inland by truck to check out the nomads, the ancient monasteries and temples.

Many of you have asked me what is the first thing I am going to do on Monday morning. I think that after a leisurely breakfast, I will go and put my feet up and have a pedicure while sipping on a low fat latte. I will really need to do this, as my plan is to only wear flip flops for the rest of my life!

I will love to stay connected so here are my contact details.

+65 9638 5295        mobile
+65 6543 0074        home

e-mail: memism@yahoo.com

snail-mail:
10 Meragi Close
Singapore 487972

I would like to thank you ALL for your wisdom, your friendship, your humour, your warmth and understanding. I would not trade this for anything. I leave here happy and better from having met YOU.

Finally, I would like to leave you with Robert Frost's "The Road Less Travelled". This has been on my desk for years and explains alot.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood , and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

Love and life's best,
Melanie

Happy Birthdays and Anniversary, Levelle and Jamie!

Hope it was a good few days. I'm sure the kiddies treated you well.

I'm writing from an Econolodge in Richmond Hill, GA. It's nasty, and it reminds us of the nasty Econolodge we stayed in on our honeymoon. Thankfully, our marriage has flourished, even if our budget hasn't.

LTA, Megan

Kate Thinks There Should Be A Sister's Day

I'm with her!

Happy Father's Day all you brothers and brothers-in-law. Hope you're having a great day.

I was having a terrible day at work on Friday, to the point where I said outloud to myself, "Please Lord, help me get through this day!" Just a minute later, a bird flew up and sat on the window sill and looked in at me. That has never happened in the four years I have sat at that window. I think it was Dad. Made me smile.

Crazy as she ever was,
Lel

Nice to See Everyone

It was nice to be together this past weekend. Sorry we missed Danny! Did Michael and Melanie get off ok? I imagine the NC Smith's are happy with the lacrosse win and made it home safely, too.

I have a few friends who are dealing with parent issues and it makes me think how lucky we are to have each other. Thanks, mom and dad :)

TTYS,
Lel

What Mom's up to...

Hello all -
I visited with Mom this weekend and once again, she seemed to be in a happy mood (except when that slut Kathleen was rude to her). The new furniture and set-up looks great and she seems to be adjusting to it well.

Uncle Jim and Uncle Bob are planning on going out to breakfast and mass with Mom on Thursday the 20th. I'm not sure if Michael will be home yet and ready for an outing, but all are welcome.

Michael, I know you posted somewhere about your time here and what you have planned, but we could use this post to see if there is any time that we could all get together while you're in town.

Love to all - Levelle

Since it's been a while since we've talked about Mom...

I thought you might like a little update.

As far as I'm concerned, when I visit she seems happy and relatively content to be living where she is. Today's visit was spent chatting away for a good half hour straight. Mom, not me. Not really sure what she was chatting about because, although there were plenty of words that I could understand, there were an equal amount of jibberish words. But she was very happy to be telling me about "that boy" and "how she helped". I just filled in a lot of "mm hmmms" and spent the rest of my time preparing my shopping list in my head. Oh and BTW the entire time we were in her room, Gus(the man in the next room) was moaning loudly and banging on the wall. I could not focus on anything else, but it did not seem to phase Mom at all. (except one relatively loud bang which caused Mom to turn to the wall and tell him to Shut Up! - don't worry, she had a smile on her face the whole time)

Mom and I re-arranged the furniture in her room a little. We moved the chair and the TV so that she has a little conversation area. She has not been able to watch the TV since the cable went digital. I never pursued the small TV for her room either because she does not seem interested in it at all. She watches whatever show they have on in the main living area and seems content to do so. They've also added more "activities" for the residents like bowling, art and some word games. There are also a few new residents in Mom's neighborhood like Mr. Ralph and some others whose names I haven't learned yet. But it seems like there are more "high functioning' people moving into her neighborhood recently.

Another area that we're (not Mom) are addressing is trying to casually get her dresser into her closet so that we can lock up her clothes. The poor techs there who help her to get dressed in the morning are always saying that she doesn't have any underwear or socks. They keep "disappearing" as Mom "arranges" and "re-arranges" her drawers. If we move a small dresser into her closet and add a small chair lock up high, at least we'll be assured that she has the clothes that she needs. We were thinking of replacing the existing armoire with a shelf for pictures and items that she could "re-arrange" all she wants.

So that's it for today's visit. (check back in tomorrow because I'm sure it will be completely opposite!)

Love to all - Levelle

PS Michael - I happened to mention that you'd be coming home soon and clear as could be, Mom responded, "for good?". Some things will never slip her mind ;-) .

PPS That picture was creeping me out, so I took it off. sorry.