Great Day for a Wedding

Today was a great day for a wedding: a sunny, warm day with a gentle breeze which ensured comfort. We were so afraid that the temperature would make for a miserable afternoon, even though we were sitting under a nice tent. The events of the day made me happy as I observed my son gaining a lovely wife; then, it's a bit sad to think that you may have lost a son, as many people try to tell us. I, on the other hand, am saying that I gained a lovely daughter, one who will cherish my son for many years. For those of you who have yet to see a child (children) leap into marriage, you will probably respond the same as I. It makes one feel that now, their child won't be spending the time with them as before nor will they be the one who is turned to in times of distress. It's now Mr. and Mrs. Of course, that's the way it should be but it does leave an empty feeling somewhere deep in the mother's heart. My new daughter-in-law's mother hugged me and thanked me for having a wonderful son and sharing him with her daughter and family. She also made it clear that we are all now one family, that we can rejoice to know that our family has grown in size and love. I pray that God will bless this union and give them years of happiness, a beautiful and healthy family, and only small, routine troubles that will be easily solved as they trust the Lord. Congratulations to both bride and groom!

Dental Assistants make a Difference

I have just come from one of my least favorite places: the dentist office. It was my first trip to a new dentist so I was on the nervous side; well, I would have been nervous even if it had not been my initial trip to have actual work done. I went last week with a toothache and today I had to have crown work done. I must say that the dentist was very friendly, gentle, and personable. I learned through this visit that the dental office staff really makes a place a much more pleasant place to visit. Whenever one of the girls walked by, they would come in, touch my shoulder, and ask if I was okay. While they were drilling away my tooth, they would often ask if I needed a break. Never had I experience such pleasing chair-side manners. When checking out, the secretaries asked how I was, if I felt all right. I'm impressed. Because of this experience, I think I will be less nervous on my next trip to the dentist. Dental assistants make a positive difference.

"Reason to Remember", A Memorial Day Poem

Since we were recognizing Memorial Day at church today, I wrote a poem which I read to the congregation. My husband was so touched with it that he asked me to share it with others. I decided to place it on my blog so that you might receive a blessing from its meaning. The copyright poem is entitled, "Reason to Remember".

I have a reason to remember,
A soldier gave me the word;
Not verbally, but through his life,
Suffered much, leaving children and wife.

Remembering from old stories told
About those whose heroic deeds unfold-
From recent wars and wars from long ago,
I now have many, many heroes.

I was told of the poppies in Flanders Field
Where soldiers fought and to death did yield.
I have touched the names on the different walls:
Korea, Vietnam; hundreds of heroes did fall.

I watched the soldier stand so tall and proud
In Arlington Cemetery, awed by a silent crowd.
The tears somberly fell on many saddened faces
As we stood in awe of the crosses marking their places.

I now have a reason to remember this day;
I have my freedom, so to all soldiers I say,
"Thank you for your sacrifices, for your dedication
To America, the Beautiful, our God-fearing nation."

Written By: B. Emily Atkinson
Copyright, May 2008

Memories Can Be Difficult

This is Memorial Weekend and traffic is moving very fast through our busy little town. I thought perhaps the cost of fuel would slow the flow but that doesn't seem to be the case. I understand the beaches are so very busy that people are being asked to stay away from them. We are staying home anyway and will probably have a cookout on Monday with the children and grandchildren.

I hope that everyone is remembering the reason for celebrating. Schools are out and many of the children are just looking forward to another holiday, especially after completing the End-of-Grade tests. I'm glad they are getting a day off; I just hope that someone has told them about Memorial Day. My hubby always remembers because he lost his father due WW I; actually he died about 4 months before he was born, so he can relate to these young children who will never know nor perhaps never remember their fathers. Wars are terrible, that's for sure. I hope everyone will say "thank you" to a soldier this weekend, even though this holiday is not about the living. I received an email showing how to thank a soldier when you see one without even speaking. I thought that was great so I shared it with many of my friends, too.

Happy Memorial Day to all of you. May we always have the freedom that we enjoy today because of those who gave their lives to guarantee yours and mine. And, thank you, veterans and active military people for your dedication to our country.

Got a Plan for My Bush Bucks

Well, I thought this week would be a little more relaxed since the Relay for Life and Mother's Day have come and gone; however, I couldn't really tell too much difference. Most importantly, I have had a nagging toothache all week, some days worse than others. If you have never experienced a toothache, consider yourself blessed in that regards; now, if you have ever had an earache, you can definitely compare the two as close to equal in discomfort. The dentist would not see me until he received a response from my cardiologist who was to determine whether I would need pre-medication. Because I have a stint with my heart attack and no open heart operation, I was able to be seen yesterday. It seems that I may be working on an abscess beneath one of my crowns; at least, that is the diagnosis. Now, I am on antibiotics for a week and next Wednesday, I will have to have a crown. Someone asked me what I was going to do with my President Bush money and I thought I was going to save it for fuel to Florida...Not...I will be paying for a crown. That's the way of the world, I think, get a little and spend a lot.

Tomorrow, I am to meet my friend, a co-worker who lives about an hour away. We are still trying to meet once a month for lunch. I'm looking forward to that visit. I just hope my tooth will behave for awhile.

Dedicated to Relay for Life

I think I'm finally rested from so many, many days filled with too much activity. I'm not sorry that I participated in all the activities, however; after feeling the reverence of the special lighting of the luminaries ceremony, everything we had done became meaningful and worth it all. I wish everyone could witness this special ceremony that occurred at the Relay for Life event. At 9:30, people lined the track while holding lighted candles, in memory and/or in honor of cancer victims. Many of my team members along with my sister whose husband lost his battle with cancer 2 years ago, were holding the candles given in memory of my dear brother-in-law (my main reason for being so involved). It was an awesome experience standing there and listening to the man singing such beautiful songs. Also, there were luminaries spelling the word, "hope", arranged on the bleachers which shone throughout the area. At one point during the early evening, the county Sheriff's Department color guard placed a purple wreath on the stage area in honor of all survivors. The Deputy trumpeteers then played "Amazing Grace" which was beautiful. Our small team worked hard and I am so proud of our church members who took time from their busy schedules to participate in the event. They provided baked goods for our booth; some worked in the booth; and, some gave moral support. We have 2 survivors on our team and they participated in the Survivor Walk (people stood along the edge of the track cheering these wonderful people; so touching). On the second lap, the caregivers (great people) joined them in their walk. It's so difficult to express the feelings one receives by observing and participating in such a worthy cause. My sister and I tried so hard to make it all night there, but it got so cold especially with the cool, damp winds blowing that we decided to go home for a couple of hours mainly to get warm. We left from around 3:00 AM until 5:30 AM along with most everyone. There were 2 who stayed at the booth next door who watched, through sleepy eyes, our things. Much of it we carried with us then brought it back with us. Our team ended up contributing almost $2700. and that is great for us. The main thing is that we were helping a worthy cause. Overall, our county raised, as of Saturday at 1:00 AM, almost $150,000. In 7 years, our county has raised over $1 million, something to be proud of.

If you never have participated in nor witnessed a Relay for Life event, I can highly recommend it to you. I doubt there is a single family anywhere in our country who hasn't had some relative fall victim to cancer. Of course, there are other worthy causes out there too which I wish would fight as hard for: heart-related illnesses, etc. I would do nothing but work for the causes.

Because of the the Cause

Just a quick blog before getting busy for today. This morning, Sis and I have to work on Relay for Life stuff: packing up things; making posters for our sales; getting beads, bracelet materials together for the kids' walk at 7:00 AM Saturday morning; getting raffle tickets together that we are selling for a beautiful fruit bowl; packing up things we need throughout the night such as sweatshirts, coat, blanket, flashlight, klickers (lighters for luminaries), markers, tape, bags, etc., etc., etc. This will have to be done before 5:00 PM because I have an honorary fraternity meeting to attend tonight (my daughter is president and will be stepping down tonight). I have little pies and brownies to bake this afternoon or tonight after the meeting; I also have to pack the cooler with drinks and water which we will be selling tomorrow too. This ends up costing my sister and me a small fortune; yet, we continue to forge ahead, mostly alone, because of the cause: fighting cancer. I wish someone else would step up to the plate and help more or even take over. I am getting too old to try to stay up all night in the cool outdoors for any reason. But, as I said, I do it because of the cause.

One Goes; All Go

Our Relay for Life is fast approaching and I'm not ready for it yet. No matter, it will be here Friday afternoon, ready or not. They are still calling for showers and maybe even a thunderstorm, which I do hope won't occur. We need to raise lots of money; therefore, we need the people to show up for the occasion.

I enjoyed choir practice tonight. We have a new choir member who is from another country but speaks very good English; he is a bit of a "Ham" however, pretending that his eyes won't work hard enough to read the words when we sing a faster song. He is quite entertaining and has a very good voice.

Today, my sister and I spent much of the day in the nearby town trying to purchase a pedaling toy tractor for her grandson. We finally found one but they have to put it together, which they said would only take 1 hour. Wrong! 3 hours later, it was still not together and said that it would tomorrow before they could finish it. Now my sister wants me and our other sister to go back with her to pick it up, possibly go to Belk store first. I suppore I will go with her but I really need to stay here and get some things done. But, that's how families are; we tend to go when one says, "Let's". When one goes, we all go!

Time to Relay

I cannot believe how laid back and lazy I have been today, so much so that I have procrastinated about even getting dressed. I must say that I have fixed our bed, washed and folded 3 loads of clothes and put them away. I have also spent some time working on Relay for Life stuff and preparing some things for the Baptist Women's meeting tonight. They will be going to the nearby assisted living place tonight to sing for them; however, Sis and I have our final Relay for Life meeting to attend. We really have to attend that to get our final instructions, pick up our shirts for our team members, and turn in some of our money. Afterwards, we will meet the women at a restaurant where we will have a brief meeting and enjoy some desserts. I always enjoy going to the assisted living home because the residents there seem to really enjoy having us visit.

The time for the Relay has almost arrived. It is scheduled for this coming Friday and Saturday. As you know, I love rainy weather; however, I do hope that the rain holds off this weekend until our relay is over. We have all-night activities planned and there should be hundreds of participants attending if the weather does hold. We do need the people to attend so that we can raise a lot of money for a worthy cause.

A Busy Mother's Day

I trust that all of you mothers out there had a great Mother's Day. Mine was somewhat busy but mighty fine. We had a great Mother's Day service at church and I was touched when my two great nieces sang a duet so beautifully. Even though I was only able to be with one of my four children, I was able to talk with all of them on the phone for awhile. The youngest one spent part of the day with us and the young grandchildren spent a few hours with us. They are such a treat! Later, my son who lives an hour away called; he was unable to visit due to the storms that were hitting all around us today. I told him that I would rather he stay safe and off the highways instead of endangering himself when the weather service was advising everyone to forfeit their trips. Soon after talking with him, my daughter who live about 3 hours away called and we enjoyed a long chat. I hope to see her in June as she plans to come up so we can scrapbook on weekend. Then, tonight, I was thrilled when my son who lives several thousand miles away called . I enjoyed our 30-minute chat about different family members, past adventures and future plans. I hope to see him and my daughter-in-law in July. DM has always been my "protector". Whenever anything happened that involved a safety issue, he was always there to protect. My youngest daughter still recalls the many times her older brother took care of her; she always felt special to him and she truly misses that feeling of being his "baby sister". Remembering the good old days is so much fun and I do love all my children and miss them now in a very special way. Sometimes, I just wish that time would stand still, when they were younger and all at home with us. At least I have the memories, and am busy trying to put those treasured photos in my memory albums.

One Storm Has Passed

One serious storm has passed and I just talked with my son who resides in the affected tornado area. What a relief to learn that he and his home and business are fine and so are his fiance and her home. He indicated that the storm stayed west of him and north of his fiance. I do feel so sorry for all those people who met with disaster last night in the western part of the state. The lady who grabbed her two small children and barely made it to their under-the-stairs closet was a real heroine.

Tornadoes are so frightening to me and to my children since we lived in the tornado zone in Oklahoma. Every time the disaster sirens came on TV or were heard outside, we ran to our closet under the stairs where we kept a TV, radio, batteries, flashlights, pillows and a small cot mattress. Many a night, we jumped out of bed and carried sleeping children down to the closet. Oftentimes, we would return them to bed without their ever waking up (that was much better for us because we knew we were not scaring them too much). We had several tornadoes to touch down within a block or two of our home, once taking out part of our six-foot fence. (That's the time we actually met the neighbor who lived around the corner; we introduced ourselves, spoke briefly as Don and he replaced the fence, then never saw them again. That was not a very good memory of fencing, would you say?)

Weather reports are calling for the very same type of system to hit the same area of the state on Mother's Day. I hope they will miss that one. My son won't be able to visit us if that be the case. I told him that I would prefer him not to come that to be out in those conditions. Let's hope Mother's Day will be a beautiful day, and for all you mothers: may you be blessed with love from your family and enjoy a wonderful day.

$3.75 and Rising!

Today is Friday, isn't it? I have been messed up all week with the days. I have been working on my Sunday School lesson since it's my Sunday to teach. I also fret over that because I'm always afraid I won't do a good job, that I won't reach the people, and I just don't think I'm a good-enough person to be teaching. The lessons have been very familiar, Joseph's time in Egypt; however, sometimes that makes the lessons more difficult to teach when everyone knows the story. I am working now on bringing it home to the members.

I had to ride to town today and I received quite a shock: the price of gasoline at one of the local mini-marts had been raised to $3.75/gallon! I had been accustomed to seeing $3.65 at most area places so that sent me into shock. On my way back home, I saw one station which had only raised its prices to $3.68; needless to say, I stopped and topped off my almost-full tank. I had recently received an email suggesting that I get my fuel in the early morning when the temperature is cooler and I would get more gas for my money. Don confirmed that theory for me. I was also told to fill up when the tank was no less than half full; also good advice. So, today, I followed those suggestions. The prices are continuing to soar! Oh, what will we do when the price reaches $10! One of my friends told me today to take a good hard look at her because when the fuel prices reach $10, she would never leave her home! Maybe all of these folks who are getting motorcycles are smarter than I thought (if we could just be assured of our safety, I might get on that bandwagon). My friend just returned from Italy, where she says the price is already $10/gallon where she was, and milk was the same price! I don't want to drive there!

Running here and yon

What a busy week this has been and continues to be! I've been tied up with Relay for Life stuff, Mother's Day program for church Sunday, our church summer trip, plus I have to teach Sunday School class Sunday. Also, Don has an appointment with the surgeon this week to discuss his future. Of course, I have had other things to deal with as well but these are the major ones. At least I am well and happy (like I have good sense!) But, you know, it's good to stay busy I think. Despite all of this, I have enjoyed my grandchildren one afternoon, made a couple of trips with my sister, and met a friend for breakfast this morning. These are great activities, aren't they? It's so great to have family nearby and friends to share times with.

I have to run now to meet our choir director at church to do some more planning for Sunday before we have choir practice. It's fun to be running here and yon!

Ready to Roll

Don says that he's about ready to roll, meaning he wants to go camping soon. When asked where he wanted to go, he said to the mountains of one of the southern states. Ah, but then, he remembered that he has to call his surgeon who is wanting to do some work on his shoulder and/or hips. Now, we will be waiting for him to check into that and make some decisions.

Today, the grandchildren came over on their little F-150 truck and stayed with us a couple of hours. I think they had a grand old time, playing, having lunch and snacking with the old folks. Clay colored a picture which I thought was very very good. They are a joy!

I woke up Thursday morning all confused! I thought it was Sunday and I wondered why my alarm didn't sound off. I reached over, set the alarm, and rolled over. After a few minutes, I realized that it wasn't Sunday but I still didn't remember the day until I woke up enough to concentrate. That was a bit scary but I think it happens to the best of us. That's what happens when we are retired and one day just seems like another day. I don't mind that because I so enjoy being retired!

Hidden Sins

I just have to comment on the evil guy in Austria who built secret rooms under his apartment building where he, then, imprisoned his 18-year-old daughter. How could anyone do such an awful thing to someone, especially his daughter! I'm wondering how they finally found out what was going on. The paper I read really didn't say how the rooms were found. I know that one of his children became ill but they may have been inferring that that was the reason the daughter and the other children were found. Can you imagine going 20+ years and ever seeing daylight? Oh, how much those children and the daughter missed in life! I am so thankful that his sins were revealed and I hope that he will be duly punished. This is a perfect example of hidden sins being found out.

On a happier note, hasn't this been a beautiful day, lots of sunshine, flowers lifting their lovely blossoms once again. What have you got to be thankful for today? I cannot begin to count my blessings, they are so numerous. Even the price of gasoline had dropped 7 cents a gallon when I stopped to fill up! And, my good friend and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch together and caught up on each other's life events. And, I received a phone call from a dear friend from whom I had not heard in months! I learned that she had been hospitalized nearby and I didn't even know about it. She is now awaiting that dreaded nuclear stress test.

One of my church friends has hit me up to assist in the 3 to 5 year old Vacation Bible School class; now, that is just not my bag and I pray that someone else will show up. Frankly, I am unable to keep up with that age, chase them down, etc. That was the scariest thing that happened to me this week.

I had to pause and catch the phone call from my son. Once again I received wonderful news. He was calling from the airport to let me know that he arrived safely from Shreveport, LA, where the tornadoes are twisting around. He was able to get on an earlier flight and get away from the uncertain weather. Sometimes it is a blessing to know nothing about where work is taking your children. My older son let me know recently that he was okay after getting into a row with a criminal who was determined to commit suicide. The guy rammed my son's police car but was unable to get to my son. The guy was finally fatally wounded during that fracas. Thank you Lord, for your many blessings!!

Working Out the Kinks

I have been so sore almost all week from exercising that I haven't done in many years. I'm not only hitting the heavy "artillery", I began line dancing on Tuesday afternoons. I cannot believe how tired and sore I was after one hour of that, moving muscles which had been dormant much too long. Today, however, I felt much better and was able to exercise at a faster pace than last week. Actually, I did the same amount of workout in 10 minutes less time. Now, that I am proud of!

Today, a friend from church asked for my help in teaching a class of the very young at Bible School this year. Ooh...how do you say no to something like that? As bad as I wanted to, I had to agree to be her ace in the hole (what does that mean anyway??). That age is just not for me, never has been, never will be I'm sure. I told her that I am not able to keep up with them and am definitely not able to "run/chase" after them. I'm just going to have to pray that she will find someone else who can be an asset to that age group.