08Mar / 2011

Allison Sweeney, Days of Our Lives and Nana Taylor

I was shopping at Kroger yesterday and as I was walking past the magazines, I saw Allison Sweeney on the cover of a magazine or 2…

Hurray for her, I thought to myself!! As I strolled down the aisle with my cart , I couldn’t help but be flooded with a plethora of memories…Why, for Alison Sweeney? Am I psychotic? Stalkerish?

No…not at all…

You see, oh but so many years ago, my Nana Taylor used to watch the soaps…you know the daytime DRAMA’S…

Well, first it was “Another World”

One time my Nana was at our house for a visit, I believe, and mom you can correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway, Nana and her mom, my Mom Mom, were on the phone, Nana was going on about this person and their drama and that person and their drama and my mom’s eyes were getting bigger and bigger! Who were they talking about?? Is everything alright? Nana Taylor got off the phone, and my mom frantically asked, “Is everything alright?” My Nana replied, “Oh, yes, we were just talking about our “soap”.

One of my favorite Nana stories!

Well, “Another World” went off the air, Nana also watched “Days of our lives”…my mom would watch Days, every now and then..and I will admit, over the years of my childhood and adulthood, I did too… When I first got married, BC, (before children) when Tom would go out of town on tour, I would drive to Florida and spend weeks with with my Nana’s. (They lived near each other) Of course when you were at Nana T’s house, you watched her “shows”. She would tape, David Letterman and “Day’s of our Lives”…

I knew and followed Bo and Hope, and Sammy, ie: Allison Sweeney, and ALL of her antics…Sammy was deceiving, and nasty…she was kniving to her sweet sister Carrie, or the everlasting feud between the Dimera’s and the Kiriakis families…I remember Alice Horton the family matriarch and Doug and Julie…and of course John and “the infamous” Marlena Evans!!

I would come home from my visits, and watch Days from time to time so when I would talk to my Nana, I could chat with her all about the story lines from Days…I loved it! She loved it!

One year I went out to LA to visit one of my besties, Lauren Kitchens and she had a friend that was a trainer for several of the “Days” cast…He and I were chatting and I told him my story and all about my 90 year old grandmother that loved her soap, “Days”…

Well, about a month or so later, I got autographed pictures from many of the “Day’s” cast…

I’ll never forget the joy when I mailed those pics to her…Oh she was so excited! And I just know she told her friend “Pete”, (female) all about them!

My Nana passed away several years ago…she lived 98 years, a good, full life! I miss her terribly, but I know she is in heaven waiting for us to join her…haha! I think of her often and her wisdom that she imparted throughout the years… Or at least her snarkiness…

So, now watching Sammy Brady grow up and be the host of “The Biggest Loser” and seeing her on the cover of Magazines, and seeing the book that she has written, I am a big fan! Do I still watch “Days”? What do you think?

Whether or not you think soaps are evil, or a waste of time, or whatever positive or negative thoughts you have, I don’t really care…sorry, because the joy and the fun conversations I have had with my Nana over the years, have been one of my favorite memories!

She was a snarky, Scottish woman, very cheeky. She told it as she saw it!

We would laugh at the story lines and we would be mad when someone we loved left the show, or laugh at some of the acting…(sorry) It was a fun time for both of us!

It was a sweet day at Kroger…brought a smile to my heart!!

I love watching you Alison…

I miss you Nana!

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09Sep / 2010

Chips and Salsa Talks…how it all started.

I have 6 children. I have very close friends that also have 6 children. Over the years we have become more like family, as well as friends. Over the years our children have become like siblings and I feel like they are my children as well. Their oldest son, Tanner and I have become very close, he is definitely like a son to me.

On his journey of life, I had invited him to coffee to discuss life, and be a sounding board for him. Well, Tanner doesn’t like coffee…

photo courtesy of Anya Elizabeth

He likes chips and salsa.

So I said, “Great, let’s go get chips and salsa.” That was the beginning, that began our “Chips and Salsa talks. I don’t know how many times we got together, but is was cool, it was intentional, it was and is a great thing!

We talked about everything…school, family, friends, girlfriends, future, past, dreams, plans, how to plan, helped him come up with a plan, played devils advocate, challenged him on things, and so much more! I can’t tell you specifics on our conversations, that would be a breach of confidence…

Rule: don’t have to discuss with anyone, ie: said parental unit, unless said party talking, is planning on doing any harm to themselves, or someone else…

I even got him started in blogging! Tanner Pemelton
That was one of the best things I encouraged him to do…He is a wonderful writer and our next generation, of writers have a lot of amazing things to say! (one very important blog roll at the bottom of my blog…) Check ALL of them out!

I have cherished my chips and salsa talks…I gained another member of my family. I grew as a person listening to what this individual had to say. I hope I instilled some insight, wisdom, encouragement, love, and a little laughter in him. He is gone to another state for school…I am sad. But…he is with his 2nd family Jeff and Kim Graves…so it is all good!! I am mom 2/2.

One thing I know, he will be back for holidays…although he will be pulled and stretched to see all of his friends, and of course his family…I know we will sneak in a Chips and salsa talk.

Fortunately, our families are family friends…part of my Nashville Family . We will be in each other’s lives forever… I know one day I will be at his wedding celebrating and crying with his mom and dad…knitting a rockin’ awesome sweater for a baby that one day he and his future bride will have, watching amazing films that he has written, produced, filmed or whatever with his best friend Nathan Graves…

I believe that his parents, Bret and Diana, did and continue to do an amazing job raising Tanner and all 6 of their children! They are all creative, funny, intelligent, silly, loud individuals, just like my 6…

I also believe, like Hillary Clinton said about 14 years ago, taken from an old African proverb, that it does take a village to raise a child… I cherish the people that are speaking life, and encouragement, discipline if needed, God, and love into my children’s lives…

My path continues…as I am now on my journey of “Mentoring Mom” with my amazing daughter Anya, I have booked our 1st Chips and Salsa talk. Tomorrow around 11:30…

Intentional conversations, mixed in with a little laughter…

and of course, chips and salsa.

I can’t wait!

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19Aug / 2010

So the change begins…

I have 4 very close friends whose children are going to college this weekend. What a time of change. Hearts are broken. Hearts are full of anticipation and anxiety for this next year. Some are moving across town, some are moving to another city in the same state, some are moving out of state. It is intense! As a parent of a daughter who is a junior, I am on my way to being there, but I have NO idea what they are feeling!! My heart breaks for them! It is their child, their flesh and blood. They are done…they had their 18-20 years to raise them and now it is time to see what these kids do…

I know all of these kids…They are amazing! They have goals. They all have a strong relationship with their Creator. They all love their family. They all are loving, talented, creative, wonderful human beings! I love them! I am praying for them! I am praying for each of their families…I am praying for their friends that will be missing them.

I am so very excited for each and every one of them! Soooo Proud of them!

I can’t wait to see what happens in this next chapter of their lives…

Photos courtesy of Anya Elizabeth

Tanner Pemelton

Nathan Graves

Nathan Cox

Lauryn Hewett

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08Aug / 2010

Conversations…raising kids…raising ourselves.

I was just on the phone with one of my best friends…she has teen children like me. We were talking relationships, with our kids…

Quite an intense subject as far as I’m concerned. Having 6 kids, I have a completely different relationship with each of them.

When it comes to my kids, I know the amazing, good, bad and ugly of each one of them. I also know the amazing, good, bad and ugly within myself! If we are very honest about ourselves we will see the amazing, good, bad, and ugly of ourselves, in our children. It’s like staring into a mirror, it may look like a “fun house” mirror, all distorted and out of proportion, but probably not…

That is not always so pretty. I have to keep myself in check. When I see that “ugly” behavior in them, one of my “ugly” behaviors, I pray that I am reminded to be aware of my behavior and as I correct them, that I am reminded to not let my ugly behavior come out!

More important…to commend their good and amazing behavior much more…accentuate the positive.

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05Feb / 2010

Anya…kids in general, growing up…a dad’s perspective

An interesting thing occurred to me the other day. My wife and I were having our date night, dinner and a movie, and my teenage daughter Anya asked us “which movie?” We were going to see Young Victoria. It was stunning. I mean, STUNNING! I tweeted and facebooked and talked about it. Absolutely loved it. The interesting thing however, was my daughter’s reaction. She was mad that she couldn’t see it with us! So she had to settle for going downstairs and seeing “Pride and Prejudice” for the nineteenthhundredandsevntyfourth time.

Now first of all, when I was in high school, I would never imagine my folks saying, “see you later guys, we’re off to see a Brit flick.” That’s totally ok, they just weren’t into that. I remember in growing up in Guilford County, N.C. hanging out with my friends (we were all in the drum line at school), one had a ‘69 “Cuda”, one had a ‘70 Nova, and my personal favorite was Brian Kellam’s ‘68 Chevelle, SS 396, metallic blue with a black vinyl top, black runners at the bottom, Cragar super sports, and a Hurst shifter. Barely remember it! I still have dreams about that car! One of my fondest memories from high school was cruisin’ with the guys with Boston blaring on the 8 track (God! am I dating myself!!)

Now I didn’t set out to be “cultural,” I just knew going off to college, that I like medieval stuff. I like anything that has to do with Britain, castles, big manor houses, etc. So naturally I fell in love with the “Brit Flick.” I loved the BBC, Merchant Ivory, Lovejoy, Sherlock Holmes, yadayada…. Little did I know however, that my teenage daughter would also fall in love with this. When I got Lorrie the BBC box set of Romantic movies for Christmas (ie. Emma, Jane Austen, Ivanhoe, etc.) my daughter was more excited than she was! I’m not even sure if Lor has seen any of those movies, the set is still up in Anya’s room!

But I say all this to finally get to an interesting point. Teenagers nowadays are so much more sophisticated than when I was growing up. They get together, quote and talk about song lyrics, they rate movies, they blog, they comment on each other’s social networking sites. And yes, my daughter loves classical music and British films. She reads like there is no tomorrow. Now mind you, she will listen to music that sounds like a guy screaming into a helpless mike, with the preamp set at “11″ and the needle hopelessly buried in the red, so she does come down to earth every now and then. And then there’s the interesting fact that teenagers now are scared to drive. This I don’t get. When I was 16, it was just common knowledge that you would skip school to get your driver’s license. Nowadays, I know kids who are seventeen and don’t even have a permit. Whats’ up with that?

I guess no matter how crazy this world gets, teenagers will find a way to confound their parents, whether it is flying down Wall road at 80 mph, listening to “Don’t Look Back” or stealing their box set of Romantic Brit flicks. I know one thing for sure, she sure ain’t getting a ‘68 chevelle for her 16 birthday!

(I “borrowed” this blog from my husband…you can check out his blog at: http://tommyharden.com)

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lorrieharden

Tag Archives: growing up

Allison Sweeney, Days of Our Lives and Nana Taylor

Chips and Salsa Talks…how it all started.

So the change begins…

Conversations…raising kids…raising ourselves.

Anya…kids in general, growing up…a dad’s perspective

lorrieharden

Tag Archives: growing up

Allison Sweeney, Days of Our Lives and Nana Taylor

Chips and Salsa Talks…how it all started.

So the change begins…

Conversations…raising kids…raising ourselves.

Anya…kids in general, growing up…a dad’s perspective

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