This force of nature is a great friend of our founder as well as Cardthartic. Dropping by our Creative studio one day, Maureen spotted the pic of the little red high-jumper and exclaimed, “That photo belongs on a card that says, ‘Never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle!’” This fun Little Reminders card came to be that day. Here’s Maureen telling the puddle jumping backstory:
From the time my four siblings and I were old enough to run around the neighborhood without adult supervision, we heard our dear mother Luvie say, “Get outside and play!” and, after summer rain storms, she encouraged us to “Go jump in the puddles!” Fast forward 30 years, and puddles represented the glorious sensation of being a kid again, and passing on the joy of the big splash to my nieces and nephew.
One gray and rainy summer day at the family beach house, I threw a rain poncho on my four-year-old niece, Maura, and off we went to get ice cream. Well, there were huge, irresistible puddles everywhere! With Maura’s little hand in mine, I stepped off a curb and yelled, “JUMP!”
What a thrill for her to hear that splat and watch the ripple effect, and the look on her face was brilliant! “Never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle,” I told her, and it was game on! For more than an hour, Maura and I jumped and splashed our way back to the house, returning drenched, sandy, and salty, our ponchos stuck to us like plastic wrap. My sister looked us both over, then smiled and said, “Um, you two look like you had some fun. And I don’t suppose Aunt Maureen could have known this was the first time those custom white leather corrective shoes had ever been worn.” Oops! Maura looked at her mom and clarified, “Aunt Mo says we should never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle, and we found a lot of them.” Priceless.
Over the years, the other kids learned my motto, and we’ve all practiced it with determination and success! Even hiking with my siblings, when we spied a magnificent muddy puddle, I felt my inner kid kick in and, oh, the “squish” as I landed … to a chorus of, “Never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle!”
An amazing friend to all, Maureen was very close to both her parents, and lived in their home until they passed away a few years ago. While the retired police detective now does a lot of traveling for pleasure and adventure, she still maintains their Pennsylvania home for that big, beloved family of hers. And we love when she comes and stays with us on Miami Beach as what a fun storyteller she is! Here’s one featuring Mo’s mom:
My two sisters and I — all in our forties at the time — were enjoying lots of laughs on the beach with our then 70-something mother, Luvie, when she suddenly got all serious and said she had a confession to make. Not knowing what to think, my sisters and I wide-eyed each other and then looked back at Luvie.
She asked if we remembered when our baby brother Sean was born and she remained hospitalized for a week. Having been between the ages of nine and fifteen at the time, we said we sure did. As my sisters and I recalled, “We kids were told everything was fine, and yet you didn’t come home for a whole, long week. We wondered and worried about what was keeping you so long, but every evening Chief would come home from seeing you after work, tell us all about our new brother and assure us you were both doing very well. So on we went until finally there you and Sean were.”
Luvie then somberly said, “I think there’s something else you should know.” The wary look on my sisters’ faces said it all, but Luvie went ahead and spilled the beans: “I had my tubes tied.”
Ha! My sisters and I all had the exact same reaction, laughing, “Makes sense to me!” as we could only imagine what it must have been like for our poor parents to be raising non-stop kids for — yikes — 33 years.
“You know,” mom said, “Chief and I were both 41 when along came our sweet Oops Baby number five. In 1971, it was very different. Women stopped having babies at my age; they didn’t start as they do now! And if a woman wanted her tubes tied, she needed her husband’s permission … well, your devout-Catholic dad flatly refused.
“Every night after work,” she said, “Chief would come to the hospital and we would have the same argument. But I dug in. ‘Fine,’ I told him, as I lit another cigarette there in the maternity ward. ‘The doctors are letting the baby and me stay here as long as I like. They’re taking good care of me and they’re taking good care of Sean. So, until you sign, you can take care of the four at home. You can keep the house as clean as I do, with the kids and all their little friends running through. You can do the laundry, pack the lunches, and help with homework. I’m fine here and am not coming home until these tubes are tied.’”
She said it took him a full seven days to cave, but Chief finally signed. :)
Speaking of Chief, here Maureen shares a favorite memory of her late father, who was a quite feisty 88 when she lost him in 2018. “I don’t like to cook and I’m not a good cook,” is how Maureen sets this story up, “but no matter what meal I made for Chief, he was always grateful, thankful, and content. That said, here’s how one memorable meal went!”
Maureen: Chief, would you like me to make you some dinner?
Chief: No. I ate junk and crap all day while I watched golf.
AN HOUR LATER …
Chief: Maureen, maybe I could eat a small, plain grilled cheese sandwich … a simple one.
Maureen: Okay. Do you want any mustard or mayo or anything on it?
Chief: Yeah, brown mustard would be great.
Maureen: Anything else?
Chief: Maybe a piece of that summer bologna. Do we have any?
Maureen: Yep.
Chief: Do we have any of those Wickles Pickles?
Maureen: Yes. Would you like them on the sandwich or on the side?
Chief: It would be great if you put four of them inside the sandwich.
Maureen: Got it.
Chief: And can you put two kinds of cheese in there … provolone, Swiss, and maybe even some of the sharp cheddar?
Maureen: Okay.
Chief: Do we have any onions? A slice of onion would be great.
Maureen: Okay. Grilled cheese, three types of cheese, brown mustard, a piece of summer
bologna, four Wickles Pickles, and a slice of onion. Do I have that right?
Chief: Yeah. On rye bread. Just a simple grilled cheese sandwich.
Designs with Messages by Maureen
Designs Inspired by Maureen
This force of nature is a great friend of our founder as well as Cardthartic. Dropping by our Creative studio one day, Maureen spotted the pic of the little red high-jumper and exclaimed, “That photo belongs on a card that says, ‘Never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle!’” This fun Little Reminders card came to be that day. Here’s Maureen telling the puddle jumping backstory:
From the time my four siblings and I were old enough to run around the neighborhood without adult supervision, we heard our dear mother Luvie say, “Get outside and play!” and, after summer rain storms, she encouraged us to “Go jump in the puddles!” Fast forward 30 years, and puddles represented the glorious sensation of being a kid again, and passing on the joy of the big splash to my nieces and nephew.
One gray and rainy summer day at the family beach house, I threw a rain poncho on my four-year-old niece, Maura, and off we went to get ice cream. Well, there were huge, irresistible puddles everywhere! With Maura’s little hand in mine, I stepped off a curb and yelled, “JUMP!”
What a thrill for her to hear that splat and watch the ripple effect, and the look on her face was brilliant! “Never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle,” I told her, and it was game on! For more than an hour, Maura and I jumped and splashed our way back to the house, returning drenched, sandy, and salty, our ponchos stuck to us like plastic wrap. My sister looked us both over, then smiled and said, “Um, you two look like you had some fun. And I don’t suppose Aunt Maureen could have known this was the first time those custom white leather corrective shoes had ever been worn.” Oops! Maura looked at her mom and clarified, “Aunt Mo says we should never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle, and we found a lot of them.” Priceless.
Over the years, the other kids learned my motto, and we’ve all practiced it with determination and success! Even hiking with my siblings, when we spied a magnificent muddy puddle, I felt my inner kid kick in and, oh, the “squish” as I landed … to a chorus of, “Never pass up a good jumpin’ puddle!”
An amazing friend to all, Maureen was very close to both her parents, and lived in their home until they passed away a few years ago. While the retired police detective now does a lot of traveling for pleasure and adventure, she still maintains their Pennsylvania home for that big, beloved family of hers. And we love when she comes and stays with us on Miami Beach as what a fun storyteller she is! Here’s one featuring Mo’s mom:
My two sisters and I — all in our forties at the time — were enjoying lots of laughs on the beach with our then 70-something mother, Luvie, when she suddenly got all serious and said she had a confession to make. Not knowing what to think, my sisters and I wide-eyed each other and then looked back at Luvie.
She asked if we remembered when our baby brother Sean was born and she remained hospitalized for a week. Having been between the ages of nine and fifteen at the time, we said we sure did. As my sisters and I recalled, “We kids were told everything was fine, and yet you didn’t come home for a whole, long week. We wondered and worried about what was keeping you so long, but every evening Chief would come home from seeing you after work, tell us all about our new brother and assure us you were both doing very well. So on we went until finally there you and Sean were.”
Luvie then somberly said, “I think there’s something else you should know.” The wary look on my sisters’ faces said it all, but Luvie went ahead and spilled the beans: “I had my tubes tied.”
Ha! My sisters and I all had the exact same reaction, laughing, “Makes sense to me!” as we could only imagine what it must have been like for our poor parents to be raising non-stop kids for — yikes — 33 years.
“You know,” mom said, “Chief and I were both 41 when along came our sweet Oops Baby number five. In 1971, it was very different. Women stopped having babies at my age; they didn’t start as they do now! And if a woman wanted her tubes tied, she needed her husband’s permission … well, your devout-Catholic dad flatly refused.
“Every night after work,” she said, “Chief would come to the hospital and we would have the same argument. But I dug in. ‘Fine,’ I told him, as I lit another cigarette there in the maternity ward. ‘The doctors are letting the baby and me stay here as long as I like. They’re taking good care of me and they’re taking good care of Sean. So, until you sign, you can take care of the four at home. You can keep the house as clean as I do, with the kids and all their little friends running through. You can do the laundry, pack the lunches, and help with homework. I’m fine here and am not coming home until these tubes are tied.’”
She said it took him a full seven days to cave, but Chief finally signed. :)
Speaking of Chief, here Maureen shares a favorite memory of her late father, who was a quite feisty 88 when she lost him in 2018. “I don’t like to cook and I’m not a good cook,” is how Maureen sets this story up, “but no matter what meal I made for Chief, he was always grateful, thankful, and content. That said, here’s how one memorable meal went!”
Maureen: Chief, would you like me to make you some dinner?
Chief: No. I ate junk and crap all day while I watched golf.
AN HOUR LATER …
Chief: Maureen, maybe I could eat a small, plain grilled cheese sandwich … a simple one.
Maureen: Okay. Do you want any mustard or mayo or anything on it?
Chief: Yeah, brown mustard would be great.
Maureen: Anything else?
Chief: Maybe a piece of that summer bologna. Do we have any?
Maureen: Yep.
Chief: Do we have any of those Wickles Pickles?
Maureen: Yes. Would you like them on the sandwich or on the side?
Chief: It would be great if you put four of them inside the sandwich.
Maureen: Got it.
Chief: And can you put two kinds of cheese in there … provolone, Swiss, and maybe even some of the sharp cheddar?
Maureen: Okay.
Chief: Do we have any onions? A slice of onion would be great.
Maureen: Okay. Grilled cheese, three types of cheese, brown mustard, a piece of summer
bologna, four Wickles Pickles, and a slice of onion. Do I have that right?
Chief: Yeah. On rye bread. Just a simple grilled cheese sandwich.
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