My Friend GLORIA……

So the SUO challenge for today was to make a patriotic card…..oh man did my lips freeze on that one.  I have no patriotic stamps…….are there any this year??? So I had to really get creative, and I must say I was pretty happy with the outcome!  I kinda like my distressed flag.  The bling was a pain in the bleep, to get even, but in the end, I feel kinda uber creative when I look at this flag.  And the whole patriotic theme got me thinking about My friend, GLORIA.  I went to visit her last weekend in eastern Ohio, and let me tell you, there is a huge difference between the two sides of Ohio.  Where I live in Southwest Ohio, I blend a bit better, being from New York and all.  But oh, eastern Ohio is SWEET.  When I go there, I sorta feel like I step back in time….and when I go anywhere with MY friend, GLORIA, she inevitably runs into SOMEONE she knows!  Gloria has lived there all her life, but what’s more, probably 95 percent of her FAMILY has lived there all their lives.  They have a HISTORY to them, the Kaufmanns and the Lehmans, that you don’t really see very often anymore in our transient world.  Gloria has HUGE family gatherings on holidays.  The cousins all know the cousins, the aunts and uncles all have a part in the nieces and nephews lives, etc, etc.  It’s kind of fascinating.  I found myself leafing thru some shutterfly family photo books and just being amazed at how much their lives intertwine and it gets me feeling all nostalgic.  What a gift, to have family surrounding you, and to play such big roles in the lives of your family members.  Everyone once a while I need to jump in the car and go see MY FRIEND GLORIA, step back in time…..take a few deep breaths, do some serious stamping, eat some good Ohio soup, and then force myself to have some pumpkin roll,,,,,maybe choke down two pieces in the same day…..and then I’m ready to come back and get back into the rat race of life.  I think they know something we don’t, those people who grow up and stay in the same area all their lives.  It’s roots we lack today…..but my friend Gloria, she has roots.  Okay -these are my patriotic musings for today…….life in a small town is best.  Until next time, Karen