family matters!

Happy Easter Tom, Helen, Sylvie one, Sylvie two, Laure, PJ, John, Yas, and sorry if I’ve forgotten someone!
The first thing I wanted to do before beginning the Easter Luncheon preparations is to tell you Happy Easter.  What will you do today?  Mom and Dad have gone to church (not me, my family needs a lot […]

Here is another excerpt from Mona’s February letter, containing a question that might be taken up in the shuttle between your lives and ours:
I feel very deeply that if all soldiers were required to study philosophy for one year prior to military training, our world, and our armed forces, would be something to admire.  The […]

I quote from Mona’s most recent letter:

Aunt Nina used to talk about not fighting what God has in store for us.  I think there was alot of wisdom in this stance.

This is one of the major, oft-recurring themes on this blog.  This wisdom is Dad’s, Aunt Nina’s, and Laure’s.  There’s no wheeling and dealing with […]

I hear that my sister is upset that I row back up the river to that post on maternity.  It’s not surprising.  I would be too.  Here are a couple of bottom lines to keep the  skiff afloat, till we get to the bottom of this.
OUR grandfather’s name is Thomas Jenkins Senior.  “Alcoholic” is not […]

Mona Elghammer wrote this on 8 Feb., 2009.  No photo could possibly hold a candle to this brief post, which has so little to do with motherhood, except in its status as tomato plant on which the mother would hang a watermelon of criticism, judgment and resentment.  So here it is again, the bone of contention, […]

So close to my mom’s 49th birthday, I can almost smell the wax on the pure chocolat birthday cake.  But it’s time for me, once again, to come clean and confess how much I miss my sister Sue, and the incredible presence of her unique husband!  (How wonderful to be able to handle the English […]

an email from Mona:
… “There is much you do not understand.  During the last 15 years, I have spent learning about children, and not just my own.  I have watched and learned.  Learning does not happen just in books, it happens in human interaction and contact.  We change as we grow old, and we wear […]

I have been thinking about what I could contribute to this blog, and realized the best thing I have done in my life so far is being a mother.  I begin with the moment that changed my life forever.  It was 2 weeks after Dean was born, and I remember feeling weaker than I had […]

Are you truly “dumb boys” as  you say, because you are choosing your paths in life? Choices are never easy, especially when they stray from our parents beliefs. From my perspective, you PJ, and JJ as well, carry the future of the Collins family.  Our blood is your blood, and whatever you do with your […]

Happy New Year all!!  I was reading all of my brother’s posts, and promise to find a way to get Dad’s (Georgie) thoughts and wishes to you.  My personal New Years Resolution.
Most importantly, in the last post from Tom, he mentions John on Christmas Eve.   [Tom obviously made a huge mistake, talking about a father-in-law […]