The Book Of Me, Prompt #12: The Year You Were Born

The Book of Me, Prompt #12: The Year You Were Born

This week, we are prompted to write about what happened the year we were born.  I was born in 1978, and, honestly, most people don't look back at that period with much positive nostalgia.  Disco was king in the pop music world, the U.S. was smack in the middle of the mediocre Carter administration, and another energy crisis was looming.  However, researching for this exercise made me realize that a lot of important things in history, sports, and pop culture DID happen in 1978, which made me feel better about this era in which I was born. (The events are not listed in chronological order, but they all occurred sometime in 1978.)

TV
- Premieres of Dallas, The Incredible Hulk, and WKRP in Cincinnati, Mork & Mindy
- Other popular TV shows: Laverne & Shirley, Three's Company, Happy Days, Taxi, and M*A*S*H

Mork & Mindy

Print
- Carl Sagan is awarded a Pulizter Prize for his 1977 book, The Dragons of Eden
- Cartoonist Jim Davis creates his Garfield comic strip

Garfield and Friends

Movies
- Grease, Superman, National Lampoon's Animal House, The Deer Hunter, The Wiz, Halloween

Music
- Popular Songs:
     - Night Fever, Stayin' Alive, and How Deep Is Your Love by The Bee Gees
     - You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone
     - Baby Come Back by Player
     - Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel
     - Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton
     - We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions by Queen
     - Take A Chance On Me by ABBA
     - Dust In The Wind by Kansas
     - Last Dance by Donna Summer
     - Grease by Frankie Valli and You're The One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

Sports

- Super Bowl XII: Denver Broncos vs. Dallas Cowboys.  Dallas wins 27-10.

- PGA Master's Champion: Gary Player

- Wimbledon: Bjorn Borg defeats Jimmy Connors; Martina Navratilova defeats Chris Evert

- NBA: Washington Bullets defeat the Seattle Supersonics in seven games.

- Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens defeat Boston Bruins

- Indianapolis 500 Winner: Al Unser (his third win)

- Major League Baseball World Series: New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers

- FIFA World Cup: Argentina defeats the Netherlands

- U.S. Thoroughbred Racing: Affirmed wins U.S. Triple Crown, just barely beating out rival Alydar in the Belmont Stakes.  There has been no U.S. Triple Crown winner since.

International News

- Solomon Islands gain independence from the United Kingdom.

- Roman Catholic cardinal, Karol Wojtyla becomes Pope John Paul II.  He remains pope until his death in 2005.  (This was a huge deal for my Dad's side of the family, who were Polish Catholic.)

- First "test-tube" baby born in Britain.

- American followers of cult leader Jim Jones commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, South America

- Isralei Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat sign the Camp David Accords at Camp David, Maryland, in the presence of U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Begin and Sadat later win the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

Sadat, Carter, and Begin at Camp David, Maryland (Source: Wikipedia)

U.S. News
- Margaret A. Brewer becomes the first female general in the U.S. Marine Corps.
- First legal gambling casino in the Eastern U.S. opens in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Local News

- I was born in the Cleveland, Ohio area.   At the end of January 1978, Cleveland experienced extremely bad blizzard conditions, which essential shut down Northeast Ohio and lead to 51 fatalities.  Considering that I was born in early November 1978, this weather event likely played no small part in me being here today (do the math :-)  Click HERE for a short slideshow of some incredible photos from the event.

Front Page of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 27, 1978

The Book Of Me, Prompt #11: Military

The Book Of Me, Prompt #11: Military

On this Veteran's Day, as on every Veteran's Day, I will take some extra time to remember my maternal grandparents, Dina Licciardi Bellan and William Bellan.  Both served during World War II.  My grandfather, a child of Croatian immigrants, was in the U.S. Army, 37th Infantry Division, 134th Field Artillery.  He fought in the Bougainville Campaign in the South Pacific during the War.

William Bellan

William Bellan with some of his fellow infantrymen, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1944.

My grandmother was born in northern Italy and immigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was about six years old.  Her father served in the Italian Army during World War I.  She joined the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS, which was a women's division of the Coast Guard created in 1942.  She spent most of her time working and training in Florida.

Dina Licciardi Bellan

My grandmother kept a wonderful photo album documenting her time in the Coast Guard.  There are photos of her and many of her fellow SPARS and visiting servicemen, as well as photos of their training drills and facilities in Florida.  Many of the photos in the album are labeled with individuals' names and where they were from.  I tell myself that someday, if I ever get the time, I am going to use my "awesome" genealogy skills to track down the descendants of her friends pictured.  I do know that she kept in touch with a few of her Coast Guard friends until she passed away in 1997.

Page from Dina's Coast Guard Photo Album.

After the war, they both returned to live with their parents in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.  They met each other at a local USO event and were married in 1947.  Here is their engagement announcement from the local Catholic War Veterans newsletter dated 2 Feb 1947:

The Book Of Me, Prompt #10: Unexplained Memories

The Book of Me, Prompt #10: Unexplained Memories

In this week's prompt, we are encouraged to discuss any memories of our past that we have that either don't make sense in a certain context or ones that we fully don't understand, etc.  This prompt is difficult for me, because I have a *very* good memory.  I remember people and places and events from when I was as young as 3-4 years old, and it's not because older people have told me about them.  My memory was my greatest asset in school, and it is undoubtedly the main reason I always did so well in school.  My memory is very spatially-oriented.  I would be taking a test at school, and I could actually picture where in my study notebook or textbook that particular fact or information was located.  I think this spatial memory, if that's what you want to call it, is also why I love reading and looking at maps.

So, the answer to this prompt, is no, I don't have any unexplained memories but I have a TON of other memories, so watch out if you cross me, because I WILL remember.  :-)   

The Book of Me, Prompt #9: Halloween

The Book of Me, Prompt #9: Halloween

Halloween has always been one of my very favorite holidays.  My family celebrated it every year by decorating the house, carving pumpkins, dressing up in costume, and, of course, by trick or treating around the neighborhood. My mom probably wouldn't describe herself as a 'crafty' person, but she did a pretty good job of making some of our costumes.  My dad was elementary school administrator and he dressed up just about every year for his kids at school. When I was a teenager and past the age of trick-or-treating, I used to take my younger siblings out around the neighborhood, OR I would stay at home and pass out candy so that my parents could take the younger ones.  Even today, I really enjoy staying back at home and being able to say 'hi' to ALL the neighborhood kids and see what they are dressed as.  

Halloween 1984.  I was a ghost and my brother was a Ghostbuster

Carving pumpkins with my family, 1990

Since my childhood, it has become larger and much more commercial, but I don't mind too much since it means more fun opportunities for my own children. Our Children's Museum has a wonderful non-scary 'haunted house,' and many zoos have Halloween festivals throughout the month of October.  Local schools and churches also have 'trunk or treat' events in which people 'tailgate' in a parking lot while the children go around collecting goodies. Halloween is wonderful at bringing neighborhoods and communities together in a way that is so much fun for children.  And the act of dressing up and role-playing is just SO great for kids' imaginative development; we actually have a 'dress-up' bin on our basement where all of our old Halloween costumes go.  I encourage the kids to play dress-up all throughout the year - not just at Halloween.

My son's 1st Halloween, 2008

Helping Dad clean out pumpkin, 2009

My daughter as a ladybug, 2011

Halloween 2012, the firefighter and his firehouse dog

The Book Of Me, Prompt #8: Time Capsule

Prompt #8: Time Capsule

For this post, we are supposed to create either a literal or figurative time capsule that reflects either ourselves or a loved one OR that represents a certain time or event.  I have chosen to create a time capsule for myself, since through this Book of Me, I am trying to capture who I am for my children and hopefully grandchildren someday.  For now, it will just be a figurative capsule; perhaps in the future, I will make it into a physical time capsule.

When I imagine a time capsule, I think of a box or container - something that's not very big and that will not hold many items.  So, I am envisioning things that would fit in maybe a large shoe/boot box.  

1.) A compression stocking:  It is something that I wear on my leg all day every day of my life and it represents a physical 'disability' (hate that word) that I have had to deal with my entire life.  (You can read more about that in this post.)  

2.) University degrees:  My children don't know me as anything other than a mom, and I want them to realize that I once had other ambitions and dreams.  Becoming a meteorologist was something that I had wanted to do since I was about ten years old, and my degrees represent the fulfillment of that goal.  At this point, it doesn't look as if I will ever work in that profession again, but I want my descendants to know that I loved the weather and climate enough to spend six years of my life formally studying it.

My Master's Degree

3.) A USB drive of all my genealogy research and family photos: Since giving up my career to become a mom, family history research has been my hobby and passion, and I am very proud of what I have learned and collected over the past few years.  I'd also put my blog posts on the same drive, because I've spent countless hours writing about the stories of my and my husband's family and I really want my descendants to read those someday.

4.) Usernames and passwords for Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and 'cloud' storage accounts: Recently, my husband and I were reading through some of our old Facebook posts from several years ago, and it was wonderful how they really helped us remember the times when our kids were younger and the struggles/joys we were experiencing as new parents. 

5.) Grandmother's rosary: I was trying to come up with some sort of memento or symbol to represent me as a mother, which is what encompasses most of my time and energy these days.  I was also struggling to find a way to include the fact that I am a Catholic, but my recent struggles with my faith make me reluctant to put something as powerful as a Bible in the capsule.  So, for my time capsule, I am going to include my grandmother's rosary. Obviously, it is a family heirloom that belonged to a dear loved one, but it also represents the Blessed Mother. During my very difficult pregnancy with my son, I prayed a rosary every day, asking for Mary's intercession.  My son and I made it through the pregnancy just fine.

Grandma Bellan's Rosary

6.) My AAA membership card (American Automobile Association), my passport, and our U.S. National Parks stamp book: I love to travel, and thankfully, I married a man who loves it as much as I do.  We love visiting national parks and monuments.  We bought this little book on our honeymoon; every time you visit a national park, monument, trail, landmark, etc, you get a stamp with the date on it. It's a great way for remembering where you've been and where you still need to visit.  

U.S. National Parks Passport Stamp Book

7.) A tea bag and an empty cold cereal box:  I have at least one cup of strong black hot tea every day, even in the heat of the summer.  And if there were one type of food I could survive on for the rest of my life, it would be cold cereal.  I sometimes eat it for dinner, and, yes, my husband makes fun of me.

8.) A photo or postcard showing Cleveland, Ohio.  I haven't lived there in 15 years, but it's where I grew up and where most of my family still lives.  It will always be my hometown.

Cleveland, Ohio (source: Wikimedia Commons)

9.) Knitting needles or one of my small knitting creations: I love to knit, and don't get enough time to really do it properly these days.  I can see myself getting back into it more as my kids get older.  (And, not to toot my own horn too much, but I was pretty good at it!)

A hat that I made for my son

10.) A pair of thick, warm socks: My feet are always cold. Even in the summertime, I have to wear a pair of socks to bed.

11.) A list of my favorite books: I love to read.  I obviously can't put all my favorite books into the time capsule, but I would make a list of my favorites and put that in instead.  (And I really am going to make this list, thanks to this prompt.)  It's going to consist of a lot of 'classics,' but also some historical non-fiction, biographies, and fantasy/young adult dystopia.  I hope my children embrace reading for fun as much as I do.

12.) A USB drive or a CD filled with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.  Now, I love many different genres of music, including a lot of modern-day pop and rock music, but Bach's music is just beauty and emotion in musical form.  In my eyes, it is what music should be, it is how music should make you feel, if that makes sense.

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 25: Family Pets

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 25: Family Pets

Growing up, I didn't have any pets at all until I was about 12 years old.  I had begged and begged my parents for a dog for the longest time, and they finally got me one at about the same time as my sister was born.  She came with the name Cookie and we did not change it.  She was a black cocker spaniel mix and we never knew what her exact age was.  She was full-grown and house-trained when my Dad brought her home, but that was it as far as her training.  She was also not spayed, but my parents took care of that very soon.  She loved going for walks, even though most of the time she choked herself from pulling too hard on the leash.  I also loved taking her for walks.  My Dad ran a clothesline from our house to our big tree in the backyard and we attached a leash to it so that she would have the run of the backyard.  When she was young, she was a very fast runner.  With toddlers in the house, the door was left open way too often and she took full advantage of that.  I can't tell you how many times my brother and I ran through the neighborhood trying to find her when she was on one of her "adventures."  She liked to sit by the screen door or stand at the window to see who was walking by outside.  And then she'd bark at them - we always knew when someone was out there.

Our dog Cookie, about 1998 when she was first starting to go grey

I didn't have a lot of friends through high school, but she was always there for me.  She lived a very long time - I was probably in my late 20s when she finally passed away.  I still miss her a lot and haven't gotten another dog since then.

My husband grew up with dogs, but when we bought our first house, we knew we couldn't get a dog because of the long hours we both worked.  So, we decided to adopt a couple of cats.  (We wanted to get two so they wouldn't be lonely during the day when we were gone.)  We went to the local shelter and found two young adult cats that the volunteers there had labeled as 'friends.'  They were pretty affectionate towards us, so we took them home.  We named the black one 'Josie' and the orange tabby 'Lucy.'  They are still alive and kicking, although they have slowed down a bit over the years.  They are still 'lap cats' and also love sleeping on our bed at night.  Both are very good with the kids and put up with a lot of tail-pulling and face-poking.

Josie and Lucy on one of the afghans I knitted.

About a year ago, we also got a guinea pig!  She is all white, so on the way home from the pet store, my son named her 'Marshmallow.'  

Marshmallow the guinea pig

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 24: Family Careers

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 24: Family Careers

As I have mentioned before, both me and my husband are meteorologists.  He works for an environmental permitting company (They basically help various factories and industries apply for EPA permits and they also use computers to model air pollution dispersion.)  I currently stay at home full-time with our children.  Before we had kids, I worked for a couple of years as a meteorology instructor at Valparaiso University.  After that, I worked for a large reinsurance company in Chicago.  My job consisted of making weekly reports on natural disasters around the world.  We also ran computer catastrophe models for our clients, and if a storm (like a hurricane) was threatening land, we issued real-time reports on location and strength for our clients.  

My dad is in education.  For most of his career, he has been an elementary school principal.  My mom has had several jobs.  When my brother and I were very young, she worked nights at a pizza parlor. (We ate a lot of pizza!).  Then she had an office job for a little while.  She became a full-time stay-at-home mom when I was about seven and stayed with that until I was probably thirteen.  She then took a part-time evening/weekend job with Sears' credit card division and stayed with that until they shut down the office probably almost ten years ago.  Now she works for her local public school system doing office work for the district's nutrition program.

My siblings have all followed different career paths.  One of my brothers majored in marketing and he now works in a large bank's trust department.  Another brother studied criminal justice in college and now works in a correctional facility.  My final brother majored in communications and works a customer service job right now.  My sister, who is still in college, is majoring in art/graphic design.

My mom's dad worked as a printer for a printing company and my dad's dad was a plumber.  One of my great-grandfathers owned and operated a hardware store between the 1920s and 1940s, and another great-grandfather owned a clothing/embroidery business.  I think I have a bit of them inside me, because I always think about trying to start a business once the kids get a little older.  (What that business would entail, I have no idea yet!)