Terrie's Tender Touch

When I was young girl, probably about 9 years old, I remember a situation that occured about which I had no understanding until many years later. Most of you probably won't remember this store, but there was a store called White Front that was similar to Target or Walmart back in the 60's. I recall going shopping with one of my best friends, her mom, and 2 older sisters. I was fascinated at the many items they were purchasing for my friend before school started. Wow! I know I was kind of spoiled and my parents tried to make sure I had all I needed and more, but this was like nothing I had ever seen. We had so much fun that day - first they took us to eat at the little cafe that was located in the store, then the shopping began. As I said before I had never seen anything like it; they must have had at least 30 outfits for just my friend! As the day wore on, we were growing tired so my friend's mom suggested that we go and wait in the van while they stood in line to p...

I love to ride roller coasters! I remember as a teen going to Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk, and riding that roller coaster - we would raise our arms and scream as we went soaring downward on the Big Dipper! My husband on the other hand is not especially a huge fan of roller coasters - he'll ride them to accompany me, but they are not his favorite. I was talking with one of my sons the other night and he was reminding me of the time I convinced him to ride on Space Mountain at Disneyland when he was just 4 years old. He didn't want to go on the ride, but I convinced him it would be a lot of fun. Well, as it turned out, this particular son takes more after his dad in the roller coaster department - and in his memory it was one of the most horrifying moments of his life! I know, you are all thinking that I was a cruel mom, forcing my young son to do something he didn't want to do, and I did feel bad that he was so frightened on the ride,(he has ridden them many times si...

Some of my fondest memories of when my children were young are of the times we spent doing the simplest things. Many times our finances determined what we were able to enjoy, but I am glad that we took the time to enjoy playing with our kids. For years we went camping because it was affordable. A few times we were able to go to Disneyland and what a time we had; and then there were many times we just went to the park to play. In any case we took the time to make fond memories together as a family.I remember one time, we were playing baseball at a park, and I slid into base and broke my youngest son's finger...I felt so bad; but when our family plays we don't mess around. We are somewhat competitive even to this day, but what fun is it to play if you're not going to play to win, right? Probably one of the most enjoyable memories of fun time was "family night." This was normally on a Friday night. I would make a dinner like hamburgers, french fries (made from re...

I am the oldest of 5 children, the only girl (and yes, I was spoiled…somewhat). I grew up going to church for most of my life, but I did not have a real relationship with the Lord until I was 27 years old…and I will explain that in a few moments. I married my high school sweetheart in 1978, the day before my 21st birthday. In 2008 we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, and I will say that I have the most wonderful husband; he is my best friend, my sweetheart, and my pastor. We have 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl. They are all married and I am very blessed and praise the Lord as I say that they are all serving the Lord. We have 11 grandchildren. Whew! Christmas is expensive, and when our family gets together it is pretty wild, but I love every chaotic moment. So, I am a Christian, wife, Mom, and grandmother, and truly I treasure what makes me what I am…my husband, my kids, and my grandkids. My most precious treasure is my salvation that I received on May 9, 1985 when I trus...

I live in California - a beautiful state. The weather is perfect, (in my city whose motto is "Climate is best by government test") the average year-round temperature is 72 degrees. Within a short drive I can go to the ocean, to mountains, to the snow (during winter of course), so we don't have to travel very far to enjoy any of the seasons and there are so many great vacation spots. We have visited Columbia several times (in California - I don't even have a passport) where there is a beautiful park with a lot of attractions like horseback riding, picnicking, candy stores, panning for gold, nice big trees, and great weather. About 20 years ago on one of our family vacations we went to Columbia to the park and we were having a great time - we had gone horseback riding, we brought our picnic lunch, we bought candy and as we were checking out the gold panning area - we were watching as people were at various stations along the water actually panning for gold. Our youngest...

Several years ago when my kids were teens we went to Disneyland for a family vacation. We had a lot of fun riding on the various rides and at the various attractions. That particular year there was a new attraction in the World of Tomorrow. It was pretty interesting and the way it worked was kind of like the Discovery Museum where you can walk around to each attraction and participate. While in that section I saw an attraction that looked fun. It was one of those simulation type of rides - it was a motorcycle with an attached pair of binoculars that viewed a screen. The screen showed the various roads, hills, and curves, and the motorcycle simulated the motion. I walked into the attraction, climbed on a motorcycle and enjoyed the ride...no big deal, right? Well, no - it was a big deal because apparently this particular ride was one for which people were waiting in line - and the attendant at the ride was supposed to make sure that every rider was safely secured on the ride. When th...

Have you ever had an experience that was so embarrasing you were mortified? I am sure that I have more than my fair share of those types of things, but I am thinking of 2 "mall" experiences. The first one didn't affect me as much because I was only in junior high. I had gone shopping with my mom (of coure she is the queen of shoppers - taking after her mom), my cousins, and one of my cousin's friends. I am not sure whose car we were in, but what I remember is that the car was a clunker, and for some reason the horn would just decide to honk as if it had a mind of its own. On this beautiful sunny day when everyone in the world is outside- we had the privilege of driving home in the clunker with horn blaring the entire way home...oh my! My cousin's friend wore her sunglasses and a hat hoping that no one would recognize her - we all had a good laugh over the situation. The second time we had an incident at a mall happened when I was a teenager - and I was with ...