InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/series/joyful-musings/page/24)
Susan Dromey Heeter is a writer from Dover who recently let her hair go au natural white. Writing has been her passion since her English majoring days at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dromey Heeter has lived in The Netherlands, Alaska and currently basks in all things New England, including the frigid winters. An avid swimmer, Dromey Heeter’s great passion is to bring back body surfing as most children have no idea how to ride waves without ridiculous boogie boards.
Saturday’s State Championship Basketball game of Dover vs. Portsmouth High School boys brought out a lot of fans, bleachers of support, and a plethora of green and white. But two fans stood out – Lori Coleman, mother of Ryan Coleman DHS Class of 2018, and Super Fan Brigham Clark, Dover High School class of 1973.
I love how we New Englanders seem to have built in forgetters, seasonal amnesia. I know I certainly do as I go sort through my gloves, my jackets, my winter gear and think, “Will I ever need this stuff again? Certainly it will never get THAT cold. Heck, who needs these scarves? Not me!”
InDepthNH.org is reposting Susan Dromey Heeter’s Joyful Musings from a cold December day because she loves to get outside in Dover no matter what the weather, including today’s blizzard. Thanks Susan
Let’s face it, when you’ve been mentioned in Joyful Musings, your celebrity status increases tenfold. You’re a star; people constantly request selfies with you, your Twitter followers number in the six digits, paparazzi besiege you at Market Basket, Stop & Shop. Friendly’s.
Bedrooms for large families tended to be more dorm room than show places with canopy beds and sheets from Pottery Barn.
To this day, I can simply whisper, “barium enema” to my sister and it puts her into a cold sweat. If I gave her a red enema bulb, it might just do her in, cause her enema PTSD to flare.
Joyful Musings celebrates big families and library cards.
As I continue to muse joyfully on big families, I think of the myriad of Grandmother Footit’s grandchildren, my brothers, sisters and cousins. And I think in particular of one of those forty whose life ended much too soon, Noreen Britton Minkler.
“We had one bathroom in our house, one shower for eight people.”
And in one of those moments where I wonder what I have to complain about, I think of the story Julia tells of when her mom went in to the base hospital to birth her youngest. Only days after, Mrs. Lillard had to pack up and move to the next base as her husband was going back to Vietnam. Six children, a day-old baby, moving house and a husband off to Vietnam.