In honor of Nanny...July 28, 1924- April 22, 2008

These pictures are of my grandmother, Nancy Anne Jordan Small Eshenaur. Yes, her maiden name was Jordan. She married my grandfather, Christopher Small. They had two daughters...my mother was the youngest. They later divorced and eventually Nanny remarried and her new last name became Eshenaur.

Wasn't she a "dish" back in the day? LOL!!!! I think she was pretty! As you can see, she was just a hair taller than my grandfather, Christopher. The youngest little girl in the photos above is my mother, Carolyn. Her older sister is my Aunt Jody. They were both born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since this blog page only lets you post 5 pictures in one entry, I have included 5 other photos in the post directly beneath this one. I tried to keep things in chronological order, so the most recent pictures of my Nanny are below.

Here are some brief facts about my grandmother which you may not know...

1) She was an only child.
2) She graduated from medical school at Temple University in Pennsylvania. Yes, that's right...medical school!
3) Nanny became one of the first female physicians to practice in the Orlando area many years ago!
4) Nanny used to be the student health physician at Rollins College and ran the entire practice herself in their Student Health Center on campus for 12 years!
5) My Nanny was an accomplished floutist. She earned a full scholarship to college by playing the flute! Oh, how she just loved music her entire life!!
6) Nanny was the person who faithfully taught me how to play the flute so that I could be in the band in Junior High School. She came to my house once a week for a few years to teach me everything I know about playing the flute! She was my private music teacher.
7) Nanny was probably one of the few elderly citizens who kept up with the times by owning and using her own Mac computer. She read and sent emails everyday and played games, as well as kept current with the times by writing frequently on her computer, thanks to my husband, Scott, who got her up and running in her late 70's. He taught her from the beginning how to use a computer and since that time, she never stopped using it daily! How many other women in their 80's can say that?
8) Nanny had a companion cockatiel [bird] named "Popeye" for 19 years after her late husband, Bob, passed away in 1981. After Popeye died, we found her another cockatiel bird who looked exactly the same. She named him, "Jimmy". You can see Jimmy sitting on Nanny's shoulders in the last picture below.

Honoring Dr. Nancy J. Small Eshenaur...my Nanny

These are some more recent photos of Nanny towards the bottom. She was my last living grandparent and I will miss her terribly, but I know we will be reunited one day in Heaven!

Smash and Grab!!

BEWARE MOTHERS...AND EVERYONE ELSE!!!!Have you heard of the "Smash and Grab" crimes that are happening more and more frequently these days? I just got home from taking Amanda to her preschool this morning and as I was coming out of the building and walking to my car, one of the other preschool moms came up to me frantically saying that someone had just broken her car window and stolen her purse out of her car! It all happened literally within a 5-minute window of time because I had just seen this woman walking with her little girl to the school as I was pulling up to park! By the time I came back out, the crime was already done and over with! These thieves are getting more and more brazen as they sit and literally wait and watch the moms as they leave their vehicles for only a few minutes while walking their child into school! I have heard of this before and my own stepmother had the same thing happen to her a few months ago while at a Country Club parking lot. Another mother I used to know in a Mom's Club group I used to attend also had this happen to her around 9:30am in the morning while taking her child to preschool. So, let this post serve as a reminder not to leave your purse or any money, valuables, etc. unattended in your vehicles (locked or not) for even a minute!!! Times are more and more desperate and thieves will do this in broad daylight! It's called, "Smash and Grab" and they are literally gone within minutes from the scene of the crime, before anyone has a chance to figure out what has happened or gotten a glimpse of the suspects. Today's incident involved several witnesses who were able to describe the car as a black Dodge Magnum with three males inside. They even were able to tell the police what direction the vehicle was headed out onto SR 436. But, without a license plate #, I am sure it will be difficult for the police to make any arrests. What really left me feeling shaken up is that I had almost parked right next to the lady's car this morning, but didn't because suddenly a closer parking space near the building had just become vacant. Her car was on the end in this grassy parking area. My purse was in my car and this definitely could have happened to me, too! This lady's entire front driver's side window was completely smashed and on the ground. There was nothing left of the window in the door.

What a pain in the butt for this mom now to have to not only have her minivan window replaced, but to have to contact all her credit card companies, banks, driver's license office, etc. just to prevent any potential for further loss.