May 9, 2009
May 2, 2009Where do I start? Might as well start from the beginning.....
FRIDAY NIGHT:
It was a beautiful evening. The stars were out; the sun was setting and Liz was dared to go 90 mph in her old lady Toyota Camry. Never being one to turn down a dare, she did as she was dared. Unfortunately, the gas pedal stuck in the DOWN position & nothing she did could get the car to slow down much less stop. Another unfortunate part of this story was she was on the road that leads directly into the lake......yep, the LAKE was getting closer and closer and she was running quickly out of road. As she tried in vain to stop the car by standing on the brakes to no avail, and passing the Marina going 90 mph, all the friends waiting on her to arrive there thought that the blur that just went by looked like her, but just weren’t sure.......until they heard the grinding gears and burning rubber of the car going into neutral. They waited anxiously to hear the “splash” that they just knew was about to happen. Fortunately, that never happened. She got a glimpse of intelligence & turned the car off. As she tried to turn down the volume of Chuck yelling at her & making sure her backseat passengers, Troy & Becky, were okay & hadn’t soiled themselves from fear, she discovered the floor mat had wedged itself on the gas pedal which caused a near-catastrophe. That was Friday.
SATURDAY:
We had been looking forward to having Chuck’s family out to the lake for a weekend of boating, fishing, jetsking and visiting for weeks. Everyone started arriving that morning.........along with the rain. Didn’t matter though. We were determined to achieve all that we had planned on doing that weekend anyway. After all, what’s a little rain??? At last count, we had 11-14. We jetskied in the rain; we boated in the rain; we ate brisket in the rain; we visited in the rain. And it continued to rain....and rain...and rain... After several jetski falls in the cold water and pouring rain (I don’t need to exfoliate this week.....ouch.....that rain hurts when it hits your face at 60 mph), we decided to head indoors. Unfortunately, not all of us made it into the house safely. Diane, my sister-in-law, slipped on the slick tile back porch and hit her head. So, we headed to the ER to get her checked out. We hadn’t been there very long when we hear loud sirens going off and a man’s voice sternly announcing “CODE GRAY” “CODE GRAY” over the loud speaker system. Quickly we learn we are in the path of a tornado heading our way. Well, of course we are, I thought to myself! After all, that’s about the only thing that hadn’t happened yet that day. Fortunately, within an hour or so, we learn the tornado is no longer heading our way and that Diane is going to be fine. Great news!! And that was Saturday.
SUNDAY:
Sunday came slowly as most everyone had a restless night with thunder, lightning, wind and RAIN. More rain......and then a little more rain. Woke up just needing a large, strong cup of coffee. Made my way into the kitchen, poured me a nice big cup of java, put my usual two ice cubes in it....... and then I looked out the window. I believe my first words were “holy crap” but it might have been something else......this part is a blur. There was no longer a defined line between the lake and the yard. It was all one now. And what was that thing floating out in front of the dock? Ahhh, that’s our jetski that used to be on the other side of the boathouse. I quickly get a ball cap on, throw on a coat and, still in my PJ’s with horses on them, head outside in the pouring rain to get the jetski tied down. After wading through ankle deep water, I arrive at the boathouse to find the other jetski is also gone. With the help of Chuck & his brother, Doug, I get on the only accounted for jetski and went in search of the other jetski. I find it floating at the neighbors boathouse. Just a reminder here; it’s still pouring and I’m still in my horse PJ’s. I drag the runaway jetski back home and notice our neighbors jetskis is almost sinking. Plus, their other jetski is also missing. I finally locate their other jetski down the lake a bit. I push it back to its home where Doug ties it down. Already a full day and it’s only 7:00 am and I still haven’t had coffee yet. I was impressed with my ability to function without that first cup of coffee; I’m guessing the cold water and rain was my caffeine. As we watched the lake billow higher and higher closer to our house, my only thought was, “I sure am glad I took out that Flood Policy two years ago.” I’m probably the only person on Lake Cypress Springs (after all, it’s a “Constant Level Lake” according to the realtor who sold us the house) with a Flood Policy. Yea for me! Rest of the day was pretty uneventful with the few exceptions of finding a snake in the dryer and valet-canoeing everyone to the boat and back. And that was Sunday.
Just another weekend at the lake.........
(Thanks to Doug, Diane, Tiffany, Ray, Christy, Scott, Stacy, Brandon, Garrett, Dylan, Ashley, Chuck, Troy, Bella and Brie for making this a weekend we won’t soon forget).
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family:
Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”
And we’re eating LOTS of Ice Cream! WOW! We scooted into Brenham, home of Blue Bell and the Texas Bluebonnet, yesterday and were greeted with miles and miles of Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes and our dear friends Norm, Sue, Brad and Betty.
My Mom........to her friends she’s known as Dorothy; to some she’s known as Dot; she’s Mamma to Lance, Jacque & Patty; and to Debbie, James and I she’s just Mom. If I were asked to describe & define my Mom to a stranger, I would probably use nouns such as soft, sacrificing, honest, caring, loving, strong, sometimes insecure, a bit shy and beautiful. She is all of these and more to me and you need to know that she is also one of my Best Friends.
Mom is an excellent bowler; she loves to fish with a cane pole; she’s nervous around water and she loves her grandchildren more than life; well, at least equal to her dog, Missy. She met my Dad in downtown Dallas in the 50’s and they married on what is now a Love Field Airport runway. She worked for years at Sears; not in the climate controlled retail stores, but in the hot warehouse assembly line so us kids could attend church school. She smuggled Dr. Pepper’s to me at boarding school and was the only family member that didn’t reject me when I pierced my ears. She never said “I told you so” when my first marriage ended in divorce. She just loved me.........unconditionally.
Mom is experiencing challenges right now in her life. She is not old, or at least I don’t consider 77 old, yet she is battling diseases that were meant for someone much older. Her battles include Parkinsons, Breast Cancer (survivor, I might add) and a little thing called Lewy Body Dementia. The Parkinsons is causing her to be unstable on her feet and fall a lot, which explains the broken hand she currently has. Nerve damage has set in and we are possibly looking at surgery the end of this week. The Breast Cancer appears to be under control for which we are thankful. The Lewy Body Dementia is her/our biggest battle right now. It is responsible for horrible nightmares, slowed movement, confusion, memory loss and the list continues on and on. If you’ve ever had a loved one travel through this twilight zone called dementia, you know what I’m talking about. I really can’t think of anything that has been more difficult in my life than to watch her go through this process. My 1st marriage/divorce to an alcoholic; learning I could never have children of my own; getting caught cheating on a Home Ec final cause I paid someone to make the dress for me; none of this compares to the pained heart I have for my Mom right now. She has had to give up her freedom of driving and going wherever and whenever she wants; she now has to rely on others for this. She has to use a walker now & we have threatened to velcro it to her hand so she doesn’t forget it. Some days are better than others and I have learned through this process that I can only look at today; not yesterday...not tomorrow....just today.
We know there is no cure for what Mom is experiencing. What we do know is that God has a purpose for Mom. Maybe it was to bring my brother, sister and I closer together, which it has; maybe it was to teach us all patience in a frustrating, helpless situation; maybe it was to teach us unconditional love; you know, the kind Mom gave us. I really don’t know why God allows these things to happen to His people. But what I do know is that HE knows and I trust in His decisions.
Please Say A Prayer For My Mom Tonight ...........
Yep, that’s me on the left.....I know, I know......where’d the brown hair come from? Truth is, where’d the BLOND hair come from?? It was either go blond or gray.....it’s in my genes (thanks Mom!) so I chose blond. Anyway, none of that is the point of this Blog......
What is the point is I stumbled upon these old VGA (Valley Grande Academy) pictures from 1978-1979 this past weekend and what a stroll down memory lane I’ve been having. I’ve enjoyed sharing these with my Facebook VGA Alums and hearing their hysterical laughter as they see themselves 30 years ago and remembering what fun we all had there. The lovely lady in the picture with me is Mara. I love this girl! I’ve been looking for her for years and I finally found her last month. She was such a special friend to me in high school and I had so much I needed to say to her and finally was able to. It means the world to me that I found her.
You either loved or hated your time at VGA. I happened to love my time there. The Christian boarding school was 3 miles from the border of Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley which opened up all kinds of doors for me to spread my wings and try everything I wasn’t suppose to. Here are just a few examples: My favorite is when I met this guy on a Southwest Airlines plane on my way back to school who was heading to Harlingen to go Skydiving (didn’t hurt that he was ADORABLE). I talked him into taking me, so I snuck off campus and went skydiving with him the next day. Or the time a friend and I decided it would be fun to sneak off campus and take a bus to Mexico City. Ya, I got caught, but it was still fun. I could never forget the time another friend and I thought it would be fun to sneak our boyfriends into the dorm and they, unfortunately, brought 30 other guys with them. These are just a few of the many wonderful memories. Have you noticed the common denominator between all of these stories?? I believe the word is “Sneaked”.....Fun, fun, fun.....
I thank the good Lord that Mom and Dad made the sacrifice to send us kids to church school (they’re probably wishing they hadn’t about now....) which ultimately made us into the people we are today. Thanks Mom & Dad!
I received an email the other day that really stopped me in my tracks. You may have received this email as well, but in case you didn’t, I wanted to share it with you because if you read it, and I mean REALLY read it, we can all see what truly matters in our lives. It is so very easy to get “caught up” in the troubles that are all around us right now; from the stock market to our elected officials to our health, and whatever is causing stress, discouragement, worry and anxiety in your life today. Print this off and keep it at your desk or in your car or taped to your computer screen. Let it remind us all what really matters........
Ready or Not, Some Day It Will All Come To An End.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,
Not what you got but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, forgiveness or
sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
What will matter are not your memories
but the memories that live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered,
by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to Live a Life That Matters.
Written by Michael Josephson
“Lord, we can get so bogged down in the busy-ness of life. Slow us down so we can spend more time BEING than DOING. We were created to BE in fellowship with You.”
Lee (on Twitter)
Well, we’re back from our little adventure on the road. We decided about a month ago to just “run away from home” for awhile. It’s been a stressful beginning of the year and we just needed to get away from everything and everyone. We loaded up Kruger the cat and Murphy the dog, along with the motorcycle, and headed East to Florida. We drove until we got tired or found a nice place to park the motorhome and stayed until we were ready to move on. We had no where to be or a certain time to be there. It was lovely!
We are now recharged........
“Lord, Your word is hope and peace. As Your beloved children,
may we rest between Your shoulders as You carry us (and our burdens).”
Lee (on Twitter)
Girlfriends.......It’s hard to imagine life without them.
Sometimes you just have to thank your Girlfriends. Thank you to my Girlfriends who remembered me and my “Challenging Week” over the past couple of weeks. Thank you for your prayers, your thoughts and your love. Your shared emotions meant the world to me.
I am blessed with wonderful Girlfriends. Girlfriends from my Bible Study group. Girlfriends I call when I want to go shopping. Girlfriends who like the same movies that I do. Girlfriends who are up for an adventure. Girlfriends who are just easy and fun to be around.
Even one Girlfriend is a gift of inestimable worth, and I am blessed with many. I only hope I can bless them half as much.
Thank you, Lord, for my Girlfriends.
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