Karen (left) and Me
My sister, Karen, was a compassionate person who cared deeply for family, friends, and animals. She had an especially tender heart towards children and the elderly and for people who were experiencing difficulties. She also had a life-long love affair with the ocean, having grown up just a few blocks from it in Connecticut. When she moved to Texas many years ago, she seldom was able to take trips to the coast, especially after she became ill. Every time she knew I was going for a sea visit, she asked me to bring back some seashells for her, and it was my delight to do that as such a small thing brought her so much joy. My sister died in August of 2009 at the age of 53, just a year ago as I write this. I miss her every day. Since I now live in Virginia Beach and can visit the ocean anytime I want, I started writing some insights the sea has given me. Occasionally, I will share them with you. Just click on this category in the sidebar of my blog, and it will list the archive of these musings.
Coming East 
Hi I am still new at this. I primarily only blog Politics so you may or may not be real interested.
But, I have a favor to ask of you on how some of the items work.
I just got the Share button installed I’m not sure if the Like shows up after it, forgot to look.
How do I get followers?
I have RSS FEED on my Favorites bar but have no idea how to add it here.
If you could help me with those that would be great, little at a time.
I read your article on your sister. That was very moving and you have my Sympathy. We never forget. I lost my sister at the age of 30. She went in for a hysterectomy (sp)? and only had to have a overy removed. But what happened a blog clot formed and went to the base of her brain and she died there in the hospital on the thrid day. It was from the interveinous. I am a senior now and I still miss her. We still coddle her only child which her husband and new wife took care of,she now lives in Georgia.
my blog is: joanoblog.wordpress.com
Thank you in advance.
So sorry to hear about your sister, Joan, and I’m glad you have her child to coddle. As for your blog questions, my daughter set mine up for me, and I haven’t a clue how anything works. LOL! I’ll jump on over and take a look at yours, though. As for getting followers, I think a lot has to do with using good tags and linking your blog to Facebook and Twitter and sites like that, especially Facebook. Make sure you tell everyone you know about it and ask them to share it with friends, and it will eventually grow and you’ll get a following. Also, make sure you post AT LEAST once a week. Hope this helps.
This is amazing how families can get re-connected on these blogs. I have lived by the ocean on the other side of the USA in Gold Beach, OR for 20 years but never collected seashells…but I did collect white rocks and developed a prayer altar with a name on each rock and placed them on the small table outside my home…next to the Pacific Ocean. Now I live north in Toledo/Newport area but the beaches are barren…mostly sand and wind so I take picture instead and leave nature in its homey habitat with the seashell buried. I really do love the beach….I miss my early mornings walks on the wet sand looking for those white rocks…Whose name will be placed on my heart today?
Thanks for sharing your sister Karen with us. Seashells are special to many people. Oceans are even more special with all it’s power…or its still quiet slapping against the shore. It tends to draw us to her for many different reasons.
God bless her memory.
Thanks so much for that sweet comment, Emilieann. Virginia Beach doesn’t have many seashells, strangely enough, but when we go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, or Fairfield, Connecticut, I always find tons. I love rocks, too, at the ocean. We enjoy the same things!
Here I see that you have already won this before, but wanted to let you know that I have also highlighted your blog with the Versatile Blogger Award. There is no need to re-post, just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your writing.
Rufina
http://300dayjourney.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/and-the-versatile-blogger-award-goes-to/
Saw this while driving back from the wedding ( actually, my husband is driving, lest you think I blog and drive at the same time!). Reading it was a great way to start my Monday morning.
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Thank you so much, Rufina, for the beautiful things you said about my blog. Made my day!
just wandered on to this part of your blog. What a beautiful memorial to your sister. Life is just so precarious, isn’t it? It is a reminder to me to take each moment we can to appreciate and acknowlege those who have permanent places in our hearts. Thank you for sharing this with us.
We are a family of shells, wherever my husband travelled in the Navy he collected shells and/or coral for our girls. Shells are our memories also. Thanks again, so appreciate your blog.
Thanks so much, DAF, for reading about my sister.
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Seashells remind me of my childhood days because we used to live in a place that’s a stone’s throw away from the sea. I used to have a collection of seashells and the most salient ones were those that I collected from the beach in my father’s hometown, they were plenty and they came in different shapes and colors. Like your sister Karen, my father is in heaven too. He passed away 2 weeks after I graduated from college. I still collect seashells and stones every time I visit to a new island, however, nothing compares to those seashells that I used to have when I was younger.
P.S. Both of you look beautiful on the photo.
Thank you, LTF, for sharing your seashell story. I like thinking about you and your seashell collection.
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OMG! I am so flattered! I’m assuming I need to pass this on? How do I know if the bloggers I choose get less than 300 hits a day? And I have no clue how to copy and paste the award onto my sidebar. I tried it with the Versatile Blogger award and was a failure. Boo hoo. Thanks so much!
this is so beautiful… May God bless her soul
Thank you so much. I know He has already blessed her as she blessed us.
Touching post!
Your sister seems to have been an amazing person.
I live nearby the sea, like 2 minutes or so from the sea, and your post makes me think that I should appreciate the ocean more, it’s beautiful. Im going to USA for an exchangement-student stay in less than two months, and then I won’t see the ocean every day.
Wonderful blog!
Thanks so much. I think it’s common to not fully appreciate something we see every day. I was away from the ocean for thirty years, and now that I’m back, I can’t get enough of it. Thanks so much for your comment. Enjoy your visit to the U.S.
Karen and Susan are my cousins. Their mohetr was my Aunt Dot, the sister of my father. Most of our lives, our families lived in different states. Our parents did take us kids on vacation when we were children. I can remember our trip to Connecticut and the outdoor fun we had together. They also came to Ohio to visit us. Karen was the cutest, most bubbly child I had ever seen. After getting my driver’s license at age 16, I remember taking her to the homes of my friends; I wanted to show her off! And as I look at the picture of Susan here, I feel that I am looking into the face of my Aunt Dot. I did not realize they looked so alike! They are both so beautiful.I wish that I could have spent some time with my cousins as an adult. Why didn’t I? What got in the way? Speaking for myself, it was just the toil and the burden of living. It consumed me so. I deprived myself of the joy that could have come from being part of the extended family. At age 65, I regret not knowing them better. I regret not going to the beach more. And I particularly regret that I never collected seashells for Karen. Pamela Johnson
We led such different lives, Pammy, and we lived so far apart. I, too, miss those summers when we got to be together. And I miss our sisters and our parents. Thanks for the sweet comment.
This has made me cry!
Hugs.
Why don’t you stop by for a cup of Earl Grey?
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I’m your cousin Pam’s blogging friend in Fla – very nice memoirs by you and Pam of your sister – I think a visit to you in Ct would be good for “Pammy.”
Actually, I live in Virginia Beach now, but if you can convince Pammy to visit, I’d love it! And I think she should write a blog about dealing with aging parents. A lot of people out there who could relate to that.
Karen and Susan are my cousins. Their mother was my “Aunt Dot,” the sister of my father. Most of our lives, our families lived in different states. Our parents did take us kids on vacation when we were children. I can remember our trip to Connecticut and the outdoor fun we had together. They also came to Ohio to visit us. Karen was the cutest, most bubbly child I had ever seen. After getting my driver’s license at age 16, I remember taking her to the homes of my friends; I wanted to show her off! And as I look at the picture of Susan here, I feel that I am looking into the face of my Aunt Dot. I did not realize they looked so alike! They are both so beautiful.
I wish that I could have spent some time with my cousins as an adult. Why didn’t I? What got in the way? Speaking for myself, it was just the toil and the burden of living. It consumed me so. I deprived myself of the joy that could have come from being part of the extended family. At age 65, I regret not knowing them better. I regret not going to the beach more. And I particularly regret that I never collected seashells for Karen. Pamela Johnson
We all have so many regrets, don’t we! They eat you up, if you let them. So don’t let them. You have always been Pammy to me. It’s not too late to come and visit me at the Beach!