Happy Hippos Batman!!

As a small child I loved Batman.  Not, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, or even easy on the eyes George Clooney... but the old "Bam, Pow, Bang" Batman.  I was a small toddler and my Mom tells me I would sit there and watch it over and over, infact so much so that one of my first words was Batman.   I wonder now if my cousin Brian watched it and I joined in.
I will never forget the home we lived in with my grandmother, Ruth Soderboom.  My father had been sent to VIetnam, he worked with rescue helicopters.  My Mom a new mother, and I a baby spent quite some time with my Grandma in Rockford, lived in a 2-story gray house.  We lived upstairs and Arte Johnson and his wife lived downstairs... a swedish man, small in stature, very big in heart.  I can not recall his wifes name, but I do recall things.  I can remember the stairs that led to our home, the dark wood, with black runner made of plastic or rubber.  I recall walking up the stairs to the door that lead into the home.  I remember the creeking sounds the old wood made.  Most of all I remember the smell.  A dark, warm odor, probably (since I am not a big drinker) from the liquor that was consumed by the adults. 
I have fond memories of love, joy... time with my cousin and my Grandmother that we lost a few years later.    I still have one of the Christmas gifts I received at that home on my first Christmas; I also have a doll bed that Arte built for me. 
Life is beautiful... life is something to cherish... to relish in ever moment... soak up each event and the love that you feel.  As a young child I learned that, early on in my life I learned that you do not know what the next moment is going to hold for you.  I think it gave me a different insight  for the people in my life... to really SEE them in my life and appreciate that they were put in my life for a reason, even if at that moment I do not know or possibly they do not know why.  No matter how big or small they have contributed to my life just as each breathe I take is important to my survival, each person who I have known has given to my life and helped me become there person I am... and will continue to be... I trust that I will continue to learn, grow, and become a better Christian, mother, wife, daugther, sister, cousin, aunt, friend a dominant contributor to this world we live in---through the strength and wisdom of my Lord and Savior!