About Me

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I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 52 years. I subscribe to Dr. PM Forni's concept of Civility. I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, and San Diego. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy, and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader and photographer.

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Sunday, August 16, 2009

It's Always Something

Several years ago, my son and DIL bought a fixer-upper farmette nearby. They've been working diligently to get the house, yards, paddocks, and stables in good shape. By last week, the house and yard had been improved by about 50%, the barn/stable was looking really great, and their three pastures were green and lush -- about 250% improvement. With this hard work behind them and with a house/horse/dog/barn cat sitter engaged, they decided to take a much needed and totally deserved trip to Florida for a week. I don't think I've seen them this happy since the day of their wedding! They left last Sunday for Florida and we planned to pick them up this afternoon.

Last Sunday night, a neighbor from their street allowed his handicapped nephew to drive his van for the first time. Unfortunately, the young man lost control of the car, crashed through our son's gate and into their barn, taking out the front two stalls. Luckily, the driver was not injured and the horses had been put out to graze. The barn, however, is uninhabitable; the insurance adjuster is to come out this week. I feel badly for my son and DIL as they work so very hard. In good spirits and happy to be home, they seemed to take it all in stride. Here are a couple of photos I snapped after picking them up from the airport.


FYI -- My surgery on wrist #1 is this Thursday the 20th.

11 comments:

cri said...

oh kathy, I'm so in love with Claudio!!! I love him, he is a great boy,sorry, MAN, because we are 'til 40!!!
I met him at 18 while he was 19!!!
Kisses, Cristina

Purple Flowers said...

Kathy - I'm sorry to hear about this accident. It's difficult to swallow when you've put so much love and effort into something. Hopefully, insurance will help them out alot.

Jay said...

Oh man, that really sucks. I don't think I would taking that in stride. They're better people than me. ;-)

Unknown said...

I am so sorry to hear about this. Thank God the horse is okay, nephew too. I'm glad your son and DIL were on vacation when this happened because they probably wouldn't go if the vacation was planned for next week or some time after the accident. And they probably took it in stride because they were well-rested and rejuvenated from their holiday.

They've worked so hard to make the place so nice, my heart goes out to them that this happened. Prayers and positive thoughts that, in the end, this all works out better than expected.
Good luck to them and lots of support and positive thoughts!
Amy

happyone said...

Oh so sorry about the poor barn. They seem to have a good attitude about it though.

beachgirl said...

Oh My!!
I like their attitude.

Seth M. Ward said...

I love farms and barns and horses:D Good luck on the surgery. Hope all that goes well. I was talking about the week magazine and I swear by it! lol I love that mag. Best 40 dollars a year I spend!

Be good to yourself.

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

How unfortunate! At least no one was hurt. I know it was hard to see all that damage after working so hard.

Gilly said...

How awful! Your poor son! Hope the insurcance pays up.

Bit late now, but hope surgery goes OK!

(No probably not too late, forgot you are at least 5 hours behind us!!)

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

I'm sorry your son and DIL had such a mess happen while they were away.

And I'm praying for the wrist as I type.

Becky Mushko said...

Thank goodness no horses—or people—were in the barn!