July 7, 2012

I never think of July 7 without thinking of my childhood and my sister-in-law's brother, Bobby Franklin Cagle. Bobby was born on July 7, and we always celebrated on that day. And, then, I always add another memory of one special birthday he had -- we were all gathered in the OB waiting room for the birth of the first grandchild for both the Cage and Kilgore family, Lisa Luann. There were many celebrations after that on July 7. Bobby went on to glory in October of 1999, and Lisa has faced many battles since her wonderful birth in 1960, but she is still one very special lady. So today is Happy Birthday to my niece, Lisa. By golly we have fooled them thus far -- we are STILL here!!!

Today is Saturday, I slept late (as usual - love retirement for that). Ken was up early so when I got up at 10 he was gone. Had the oil in his car changed, the car washed, etc. It's really been neat to watch him change back into the MAN he used to be. Going back to work has done wonders for him! He FEELS more masculine, I suppose. There's just something about being able to earn his keep that makes a change. Unfortunately he seems to be back in the mode of, "When I get paid I'm going to ______." Of course that is NOT why we are going back to work! The idea is to pay off EVERYTHING we owe, downsize the crap in this house, move into an apartment or condo where life is a little easier, and put more money into savings so that with real retirement in a couple of years we can have funds to have fun. Right now we are guarding our nest egg very carefully.

Exciting news for one of the Pugh relatives with whom I'm friends. She has found a connection to the Republic of Texas! That's exciting. To join the Daughters of the Republic of Texas one has to connect to someone who was in Texas prior to 1849. William Welch, her great grandmother's dad, has land grants in the Robertson Colony from 1835! Yea! I'm still looking for a connection for my kiddos as well as for myself. The William Welch that friend Marsha found is not related to my children so I've got to keep digging. The earliest we find our Pugh family in Texas is on the 1860 census. And dadgum it, my Wright family was on the Louisiana side in the Sabine Pass area at the time. Didn't move over to the Texas side until a bit later.

I'm going to be searching through grandmothers to see if I can find a connection. Right now I don't have the maiden names of all the grandmothers so have more work to do. The Kilgore side of the house did not get to Texas until later in the 19th century. My granddad was born in the Waxahachie area, but not until 1889. The Kilgore family was in the Jones County, Mississippi area prior to that (lots of them still are). Likewise the Greens and Youngs were in Mississippi before about that time.