Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

When I saw this visual observation on the internet….my first thought was…my name must be on it some place. As a single parent (when I was still teaching) I felt exactly like today’s title message.

I could hardly wait to get the rest of my ‘to-do’ list done after school (grocery store, dropping and picking up kids from after-school activities, medical, dental, or even insurance appointments, etc.) so I could  get home and “do nothing.”

Of course, sadly, it was an illusion… (the proverbial oasis in the desert that keeps disappearing.) Appointments ran over-time…sports practices ran over-time…so by the time the family was home…tired and hungry “What’s for dinner?” my hope for “nothing” had dissipated…turning into several exhausting “every things.” The endless list of chores to do didn’t stop until I fell into bed praying I had run off enough copies of the lesson for the next day’s classes.

When it came time for retirement… people started asking me what I wanted or planned to do with “all my time“…my answer remained constant….“nothing.” It didn’t turn out any better, this second time around, than my earlier dreams.

I found myself teaching at the two local colleges and then “hitting the road” with Carol Poole, my Social Studies Co-hort, while working with the state education department, giving social studies presentations around the state.

Then came the wonderful timely events that followed…Mandy’s wedding, then Walsh’s and lastly Tommy’s. It was after Mandy’s wedding that I was diagnosed with breast cancer and my life changed drastically…my time was consumed with medical treatments of all kinds….surgeries, chemo and radiation sessions.

Life is not made for “nothing“…it is made for lots of challenging “somethings” that mold us into who we always were destined to be.

I was thinking about this the other day when a friend asked me “What I was thinking” (at the moment)…I gave the old automated response “Oh…nothing” and smiled. Yet think about it…is it humanly possible to “think about nothing?” In order to be thinking about ‘nothing‘…we first have to have thought about ‘something.‘ Confusing…but true.

And now, for most of us, we ‘stay at home’ citizens, have guess what? Time. And if we don’t… we can only blame ourselves for filling it back up to the top with a lot of fluff to get through some long days…especially with children around parents 24/7.

One of my favorite educators (I did a research paper on in college) Mary Ellen Chase, once wrote all her young nieces and nephews this memorable piece of advice about turning bland ‘dates’ into days filled with wonder and awe. She started this idea one Christmas when she wrote….

My dears,

Christmas is not about the 25th of December. We don’t celebrate a date.

We celebrate the coming together of family. The goodwill upon neighbours. And the letting of bygones be bygones.

 

Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.

One which puts a permanent smile on your face… and on your heart.

So until tomorrow…

Now that so many of us really do have the time (and can no longer remember the days of the weeks…much less the dates of the month) let’s consciously and purposely make each day stand out from the other by creating “nothing” discoveries… in a new state of mind.

We can do this by finding one thing in nature or a book that we didn’t know…something new we just learned that fascinates us….time should be spent looking at the stars, finding little insects in the blades of grass, identifying a new flower, etc. ….discovering the wonders found in all the visible and invisible worlds we inhabit.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Come to the garden with me…filled with wonder and awe! 🙂

Feeling ‘lost in time’…you’re not alone! 🙂

Dear Reader:

This sign at the Community Theater in downtown Summerville makes me smile…one…because it shows a lot of “spunk” but two…because of a memory I have concerning a very long movie intermission.

I think I was about 11 or 12 when I first “experienced” Gone With The Wind … I remember  sobbing at the end of the first half (along with my little girl friends)…before the very  l-o-n-g intermission began.

When we had gained some composure we all hurried to refill our popcorn buckets and stand in the very long line in front of the women’s bathroom.

What stands out in my memory (still after all these years) was the extra tissue boxes lining the counters where we washed our hands…everyone was grabbing (and hoarding) tissues galore… in lieu of what might lay ahead…(The tissues would be needed  in the next half, too, we quickly discovered.)

The word intermission is defined as a pause or break…or a period during which action temporarily ceases. We certainly understand and recognize that  last example of the definition because we are living it…our normal, everyday “actions” have come to a standstill for many…especially those out of work and due to the pandemic ‘stay-at-home’ policy the rest of us are adjusting to lack of action concerning  going anywhere we wish whenever we wish it.

Yet…in spite of some challenging and downright frustrating adjustments to daily life…we are discovering some parts of the “new normal” are actually beneficial…cooking healthier meals at home instead of eating out fast food, really getting to know and understand loved ones better with time to see things that were once beneath the surface. Now there is time for stories too about our families’ past.

We also appreciate the few in-between times when we can see and interact with other  friends or family members…and then hold on tightly to the memories of those rare and special occasions. We need to save them for the one future day that an event is recalled…like…

“Remember when Eva Cate turned 10 during the pandemic and the great big birthday sign her parents had placed on the front lawn so her birthday would still be very special.” 

Signs, like our Community Theater’s marquee…can be thought-provoking to motivate us or make us pause  a moment to absorb the wisdom in the words. I like this restaurant sign!

*My garden teaches me about life daily….This fence sign fell down (with the blustery winds yesterday) landing right behind three new blooms from last year plantings,  left alone by the fence, the flowers are just “going to town” on their own. Another good idea for a daily pause.

So until tomorrow…When we all have those low points during this “intermission” time…let us remember that the second half of our life movie is just getting ready to start…no matter our age. So don’t get down on yourselves…the best is yet to be.

P.S. Go get more popcorn!

***A Shout-Out to Eva Cate’s “Official” Birthday today….April 27….Ten years Old!!!!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Smile:

Dear Reader:

It is a benchmark moment when your oldest grandchild goes “double-digit.”

“No way…there is no way” you tell yourself… but there it is…Happy 10th Birthday Eva Cate! (Memories come flooding back to the night I got the call that this was it! The car had been packed for a month. I remember I was watching Dancing with the Stars waiting to hear the final vote on the winning couple when the call came in.)

Everything was moving fast…so fast that by the time I turned into John and Mandy’s neighborhood in West Ashley… I bumped into them pulling out…so I u-turned and followed them to the hospital. Everything continued to go fast… until it didn’t….poor little Eva Cate was stuck and couldn’t get out.

An emergency c-section followed…we should have known then that drama had entered our lives and life would never be the same again…only larger, more dramatic… and so much fun! 🙂

Eva Cate’s official birthday is tomorrow….April 27 but John and Mandy decided that yesterday, Saturday, would be the perfect day to celebrate…to keep it just in the family with her three cousins who have all been home-bound too since the virus hit. It would be a chance for the kids to finally see each other in person. A day to celebrate in many ways.

When I count my five blessings… extended to my life… that I had little hope at one time of ever seeing any born…much less growing up…my eyes fill with tears of joy and blessings far beyond anything I could ever have anticipated. (***And my 6 granddogs!) 🙂

There is nothing else in life I could wish for…except for my grandchildren’s lives being fulfilled with purpose, meaning, and joy.

These three attributes all of my grandchildren have given me….at six months Eva Cate participated in her first Race for the Cure…she has always supported her Boo Boo, along with all the other grandchildren who followed.

It was a shot of happy medicine…to see all my family including my grand-dogs. It is amazing how the children knew intuitively to stop and wave or high-five or just yell out “I love you”…it was all that was needed. They played in the pool all afternoon while I sat by the pool or on the porch just listening to the screams of laughter …music to my ears.

I think this birthday will stand out for all of us…a rare chance to gather and catch up on all our lives…the cousins were beside themselves getting to see someone else outside their siblings….

Anything Eloise’s big brothers do…she copies…no fear.

Eva Cate is turning 10, Rutledge is turning 7 and Eva Cate might have an inch of height on Rutledge…Rutledge is going to be a tall one like his daddy. Eva Cate picked out her birthday cupcake as soon as they arrived. I was so excited to see pizza…haven’t had any in probably six weeks! Missed it!

Pip…or little Pippy has made it into the finals for Lowcountry Dog Contest…he will get his professional photos made in the next two weeks…more details coming when we can all vote. He is a sweetie!

The water lilies are waning but still beautiful.

So until tomorrow…Last night my dreams were  filled with visions of loved ones surrounding me and everyone telling each other they love each other…”We can do this”…Everyone has been extra “good” and our reward was a few hours of open sunshine for everyone…and a celebration of life and continuity.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Every time I sit down to eat at a family gathering…I have three pairs of eyes staring intently into mine under the table….okay I admit it…I am a soft doggy grandmother…I always sneak a treat to them and they know it. A weak link! 🙂 But hey…I was their eating partner…socially distant from humans…just trying to be nice.

Michele took this photo and thought of me and my Clemson love attraction…the perfect colored combination….I pray every night that some kind of football season will take place if possible… a fall without football is a sad contemplation.

Thanks for the photo Michele and thinking of me! 🙂

So now back to my solitude chamber aka home…I will have to content myself caring for my ‘flower children’  longer and pray the future will unfold with a new world of unique and unforeseen possibilities.

Smile…

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was a perfect day…warm with slightly cooler breezes that just seemed to float effortlessly into my home…with all the windows raised…and everything within… smelling  fresh and green!

I like the new scent of my home now…it has absorbed cooking smells from the past month…with me cooking so much more and actually enjoying it. The smells of a pot roast cooking or baked chicken or different pastas welcome me back inside from the garden some afternoons.

…But I have also come to realize that my love of creativity comes into play…especially when the cupboard starts getting a little bare. Lately, for some reason, I have been craving mashed potatoes…so the other day I found one big baking potato left…I sliced it and boiled the potatoes until soft.

I scrounged around my kitchen cabinets until I found my old “antique” electric  (wedding gift) hand-held (two-beater) mixer. I was shocked it still worked. I added butter and milk to the potatoes and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. I was in heaven…hog heaven.

(Which reminds me…Brookie sent the Ya’s this hilarious cartoon on staying at home and eating too much…perfect insert here.)

As I looked around to see what I could eat with the mashed potatoes…I came up with the idea of sauteing tomato slices and onion slices in some butter in the frying pan…I had some left over lima beans in a bowl in the fridge…which I added to the mixture at the last minute…finally adding a little garlic salt to the mix….supper called: mashed potatoes and sauteed veggies. It was yummy-different but good!

I am aware today that there are many families suffering with food shortages and the prospect of selling their homes for something smaller or a rental during these dire economic set-backs. My heart goes out to them…

I think it was the combination of the mixer and the plight of those being forced to down-size that brought back this story from my memory told several years ago.. Home in this story was chocolate-chip cookies…the scent that brought home back into a house..

This story was actually based on a true event… It is about a rather large family that had to make a difficult choice to move to a new place and a smaller home. The older children would have to share rooms and the overall house was not anywhere close to being as nice as the home, they all loved, left behind.

The transition period, going from the familiar to the unknown, wasn’t going well, especially for the children. They wanted their old friends and schools back.

On the first day of school…after fixing breakfast and getting all the children off to school…the mother sat down and held her aching head. She had worn a forced smile on her face for the children for so long…her head actually hurt. She sighed…” Life is tough.”

She knew everyone would eventually adjust…but she wished she could think of something that would help that transition along…without adding any expense to a very tight budget.

Suddenly she had an idea…she would make the kids chocolate chip cookies…their favorite. Then when they all arrived back home…the house would have a familiar smell to it.

Her energy renewed…she got out all the ingredients and started to mix it all together…when her fairly new stand mixer suddenly stopped and a burnt smell filled the kitchen. She quickly unplugged the appliance…the cord was severed.

Her spirits immediately dropped…”Come on God…Give me a break…I am just trying my hardest to help my children.”

She had no money to buy any kind of mixer…the one she was using had been a gift from all the children and her siblings one Christmas. Now what?

Immediately a thought popped into her head. What did your mother use? She laughed to herself…an old white hand-mixer that brought more happiness than any other appliance…her mother was a great cook.

Wait a minute. Didn’t she keep that old hand-mixer when her mother passed away last year…could it possibly be? She ran into the attic and finally found the box with her mother’s name on it.

At the very bottom was the old hand-mixer. It looked pretty bad…in fact when she first turned it on…there was only silence…and acute disappointment. Surely God didn’t plant that idea for this to happen.

Then she remembered her mother jiggling the cord sometimes when it would stop working….nothing to lose. She jiggled and the old white hand-mixer came to life…she squealed with excitement.

When the children arrived home that afternoon to the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies…the smiles on their faces said it all. “It smells just like home” the youngest cried out with joy in his eyes.

And then the children ate cookies, drank milk, and shared all the excitement about the new friends they had met with their mother. Everything was going to be just fine. God and grandmother would see to that…with a “wink.”

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So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

It’s time for our daily garden stroll…two new Gerber daisies are smiling, Jake and Lachlan’s Japanese Maples are making the annual transition from red to green leaves, and HOPE still blooms!

There are now three Asiatic lilies blooming!

And Hope blooms eternally…!

Sign of the Times: 🙂

Dear Reader:

Lately I have included in my daily prayers a little addendum that basically says “Give me continued strength to keep growing, Lord.”

How easy it is, as we grow older, to slowly let go of growing in the sense of learning new things…things that should still fill us with wonder, awe, and excitement. I ask my guardian angel to “bend over me and remind me in a whisper to “grow, grow, grow.” 

In educational terms…we call this becoming a lifetime learner... not just intellectually, but for me spiritually.

We must continue to be open to daily miracles that remind us Who is still in charge of this world we call home. Witnessing God’s Hand in each day keeps us shaking our heads in astonishment at the wonders of such a Creator.

With limited mobility to be out and about with people during our”stay home” pandemic restrictions…I, now, turn inward to books and conversations to keep learning within the home… and outward in my garden …to witness the miracle of life on a continuous basis. Every new bloom makes me soar in happiness.

If you’re green, you grow…if you’re ripe you rot.” Kermit the frog had it right all along. In order to keep growing, both physically and spiritually, we have to continue to stay green…to stay open to new experiences and challenges. We have to deliberately choose to keep growing.

Yet…don’t we fight this every day? We spend much of our lives trying to protect ourselves against life…to get past the constant “green” of change in the early stages of life and get settled into a “ripe” sense of security …good health, abundant savings, and controllers of time.

But no matter how hard we try to outsmart life…it always wins. Life doesn’t allow complacency and “security.” It is a series of challenges from the time we are born until we die. In order to live…in order to continue producing “green sprouts” year after year…we have to quit fighting the ups and downs of life…and instead accept them for what they are…life.

Most of us have to get backed in a corner to accept difficult changes in our lives…until we eventually arrive “at the day when the risk it takes to remain tight in the bud is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom.”  * (Anais Nin)

So until tomorrow…Life is constant change and  growth… We must continue to fight the odds, to find the courage to produce one more tiny speck of green, to let go of the familiar, and instead, show the world our unique bloom in it.

“Today is my favorite day.”  Winnie the Pooh

What’s blooming in the garden today:

Vikki, Lee, and Rhodes live downtown, downtown Charleston…about as downtown as you can get ….where they run the ‘Not-So-Hostel” hostel. It doesn’t leave much room for planting…but then planting doesn’t take much room to bring amazing results…especially with Vikki as the gardener.

With lantana planted along the back pathway…Vikki has saved her little plot of land to produce a vegetable garden. She has planted…tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, basil, carrots, broccoli, kale, beets, and salad greens. (My mouth is watering…just thinking about the fresh summer vegetables!) Way to go Vikki!

Thanks Tommy for my Clemson mask…it came yesterday and I love it…now that I have two masks…it will be easier to wash one and let it dry… while I wear the other one! Go Tigers!

I have always loved this cartoon as a teacher…(seen in Education Station/Mary Davies) but I realized the other day it, also, provides a good metaphor for the pandemic….

Before the crisis…the world was just swinging along when suddenly one unnoticed ‘germ’ knocks all of us off the swing…a new kind of physics and motion problem in the world.

***Now we have to make the choice to do all we can to help everyone get back “in the swing” again and soar!

Dear Reader:

I just felt like we needed a day off from too much over-thinking about the “What-if”s.”  The “What-if’s” will take care of themselves in good time…but in the meantime…let’s go for a chuckle or two today….

Some of you might remember the popular book, a few years back, on humor and spirituality by Father James Martin called Between Heaven and Mirth? Once in an interview Father Martin concluded that laughter is a spiritual release for us…explaining…

“Many times we laugh at something that is ridiculous so there’s a sense of perspective that the world is not perfect. If we can laugh at ourselves, it’s even better. It’s a sense that we’re not God. Even if we just laugh at a joke, we can enjoy life. There’s a release of spiritual energy. It’s like saying “I love this life” or “I enjoy this world” or “I’m not so perfect after all.” How can we say that each of those insights is not spiritual? ”

I have a feeling Father Martin would appreciate the humor in this coronavirus cartoon during the pandemic.

I have received so many hilarious cartoons and videos these past few weeks from friends that have had me doubling over in laughter at man’s attempts to control something as massive as an invisible enemy who has successfully captured our world as we know it. It is our sometimes feeble attempts that bring humor into a serious time…but oh how we need the release!

I love homespun humor the best…the closer it gets to everyday life…the funnier I find it. With the tight quarters couples and families are living in while quarantined…this observation had me laughing out loud.

Libby sent me these stand-alone humorous coronavirus situations… that we can all relate to in daily life these days.

1. Tomorrow is the National Home School Tornado Drill. Lock your kids in the basement until you give the all clear. (You’re welcome) 🙂
2. I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm… just to talk to someone. He asked me what I was wearing.
3. 2019- Stay away from negative people. 2020- Stay away from positive people.
4. The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house, and their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!
5. You think its bad now? In 20 years, our country will be run by people home-schooled by day drinkers.
6. This virus has done what no woman had been able to do- cancel all sports, shut down all bars, and keep men at home.
7. Since we can’t eat out, now’s the perfect time to eat better, get fit, and stay healthy. We’re quarantined! Who are we trying to impress? We have snacks, we have sweatpants- I say we use them!
8. Day 14 at home and the dog is looking at me like “See? This is why I chew the furniture!”
9. Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands????
10. I never thought the comment “I wouldn’t touch him/her with a 6-foot pole” would become a national policy…but here we are!
11. Me: “Alexa, What’s the weather this weekend?” Alexa: “It doesn’t matter- you’re not going anywhere.”
12. Can everyone please just follow the government instructions so we can knock out this coronavirus and be done? I feel like a kindergartner who keeps losing more recess time because one or two kids can’t follow directions?
13. I never thought that I could wear a mask into a bank and ask for money and not get arrested.
14. When this is over…what meeting do I attend first?…Weight watchers or AA?
15. Quarantine has turned us into dogs. We roam the house all day looking for food. We are told “No” if we get too close to strangers. And we get really excited about car rides! 🙂

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I hope you got a chuckle or two…perhaps a hint of a smile, or even a knee-slapping guffaw!

So until tomorrow.    ..

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Besides laughter blooming in my garden…here are some more pretties..I love sun-loving flowers, especially in clusters and for the first time the magnolia bush looks like it’s planning a surprise party.

Smile:

Dear Reader:

Remembering my grandmother’s words of wisdom are becoming easier and easier…much more so than remembering something that recently happened or even happened just a few years ago. Age brings with it… lots and lots of memory hiccups and idiosyncrasies. Of this there is no doubt…since I find myself experiencing these lapses more frequently.

One popular bit of advice Grandmother told me rather frequently was to remember to “Become bigger than your problems.” As a child I never really “got” this statement…I would just nod wisely like I understood but I was clueless. Since I took the advice literally and was always physically “vertically challenged” I never could quite decipher how I was suppose to grow bigger than my problem.

Today, of course, I realize that the statement had nothing to do with physical growth…but everything to do with intellectual growth coupled with faith & trust.

Today, whenever, I bump into a problem that causes me stress, it tells me that I need to grow myself so that I can deal with it. In other words, ‘Don’t wish for things to get better, make yourself better!’

I love this analogy on problems and water… re-told by Madeleine L’Engle ….

“Become a Lake”

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice
returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.
“How does it taste?” the master asked. “Bitter,” spit the apprentice.

The master then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake nearby. Once the apprentice swirled
his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?” “Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.

“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master. “No,” said the young man.
At this, the master took the young man’s hands, offering, “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain
in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in.

So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of self, of being . “STOP BEING A GLASS. BECOME A LAKE.”

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Aren’t problems always lessened when we talk to family or friends about them and get some advisory options to pursue? Instead of just “me” against the “giant” problem, it is now “we.” What a sense of relief it is to go into combat with friends who have our backs.

Now if we can also, understand that God is beside us to guide us….and in us…to hear us….than suddenly we finally understand that  God is everywhere and  we are never alone in facing any obstacles. God is always larger than any problem! The universe lives in us.

I like this “a-ha” moment J.D. Salinger shared once during an interview.

I was six when I saw that everything was God, and my hair stood up tall…. It was on a Sunday, I remember. My sister was a tiny child then, and she was drinking her milk, and all of a sudden I saw that she was God and the milk was God. I mean, all she was doing was pouring God into God, if you know what I mean. ~J.D. Salinger

So until tomorrow…

When we pour God into God He grows and when we pour our hearts out to Him about a problem…God pours into us and we grow…larger than our challenges.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Today is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day!!!!!!

Did you know that the same letters that are found in HEART are found in EARTH? Coincidence…how about a God Wink.

God created our home…it is up to us to be (much) better stewards of it for all living creatures inhabiting earth…humans included. 🙂

Jackson’s son, Matthew, is a professor at Princeton and obviously doing a lot more on-line work these days…made a little more difficult with Chaski…but also so much more enjoyable! Isn’t he adorable?

He reminds me of Petey with the Our Gang (Spanky and Gang)  series of the 30’s! ) 🙂

…And speaking of dogs…this photo (taken about five years ago)…when Rutledge was two playing “tug of war” with a stick with Poogie is priceless! …Poogie always, always won! Still does!

Isn’t it strange how certain scenarios can take us right back to a desk in school? Yesterday the sky was a beautiful shade of blue…with no clouds to be seen…except later in the afternoon…just one…one seemingly lonely cloud.

You got it…immediately the first line of William Wordsworth’s famous poem came rushing back….

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Smile:

Dear Reader:

On one of the early morning talk shows yesterday they had author Emily Esfahani Smith talking about the four “pillars” of meaning in life and the importance of finding them.

A summary of the main ideas in her book are explained below…

This empowering book argues that the search for meaning can immeasurably deepen our lives and is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness.

There is a myth in our culture that the search for the meaning of life is some mystical pursuit – that you have to travel to a distant monastery or search through dusty volumes of ancient writings to figure out life’s great secret.

The truth is, there are untapped sources of meaning all around us – right here, right now.  Emily Esfahani Smith lays out the four pillars upon which meaning rests.

Belonging: We all need to find our tribe and forge relationships in which we feel understood, recognized, and valued – to know we matter to others.

Purpose: We all need a far-reaching goal that motivates us, serves as the organizing principle of our lives, and drives us to make a contribution to the world.

*Storytelling: We are all storytellers, taking our disparate experiences and assembling them into a coherent narrative that allows us to make sense of ourselves and the world.

Transcendence: During a transcendent or mystical experience, we feel we have risen above the everyday world and are connected to something vast and meaningful…Awareness that there is Something bigger than ourselves in the universe.

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The first thing that caught my attention in the conversation yesterday was a discovery Smith made in the vital importance of separating the meaning in life from the pursuit of happiness in life. She gave this example:

Meaning may be even more important than happiness

“Lack of meaning in life is a better predictor for suicide than lack of happiness. In other words, you are more likely to give up on life because it feels meaningless than because you don’t feel very happy in it.

This is  confirmed by the fact that suicide rates are higher in some countries that also have high levels of happiness… such as Denmark and Finland. (Remember…Denmark won the “Happiest Country in the World” in recent years?)

Smith asked the audience to think about the following observations she had made…

A comfortable life that has no meaning in it is not a great life. *Excerpt from Smith’s conversation:

“So that’s why I think that spending our lives chasing money, material things, titles and achievements we do not care about is a total waste of our time. I think we should turn inwards to see what matters to us and what we can do about it.

This is what will make our lives meaningful. According to famed psychologist Martin Seligman, meaning contributes to life satisfaction more than material things. We are better off if we focus on that. But how do we experience meaning?”

This is when she shared the four pillars of meaning already… cited for you in this post. When I got to storytelling…I stopped to read what her thoughts on this important pillar involved… out of curiosity.

It is important that we continuously “edit” our personal life stories as we change and grow. Our early stories are based on what we overheard our parents or adults define us by….

For me…this view of myself as a young child (early chapters of my life) included observations of insecurity, thumb-sucking for anxiety, overwhelming home sickness, fear of loss, fear of separation….in other words…my first years were spent as a terribly insecure child with anxiety disorders and fears from witnessing and being exposed to…too much tragedy too early in my life…

…my father’s early death, the loss of my mother’s left arm to bone cancer, living in different relatives homes during mother’s long convalescence….etc.

But then fifth grade arrived and a very special teacher took me under her wing and made me her “Eliza Dolittle” project…purposely choosing  me for all the important clubs…Student Council representative, fifth-grade dance princess, crossing guard (with my badge won proudly) for our class, etc.

Her commitment worked…I left fifth grade accepted by my peers, extroverted, with fresh eyes seeing life (no long as a tragedy) but an exciting adventure. An amazing turning-point adding an important new chapter to my narrative!!!!!!

Good things did emerge, however from these early sad chapters in my story. They were imagination, love of books, writing, creative visualizations, and love of extended family. Later this love would continue to extend to friends, strangers….I became an avid people lover.

The middle chapters of my narrative include my share of happiness and sadness, loss and new discoveries..(children, divorce, teaching, achievements, disappointments…all the building tools to keep pushing us to find meaning in our lives.

But it was breast cancer and the very real possibility of a shortened life that became the next turning point in my narrative. “little c” did more for me in my search for my own personal meaning than anything else…because I had to dig downward before I could expand outward.

I had to find and then trust  God to lead me to the meaning in my life. He lead me to St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope and this blog.

As my last chapters take form now…seeing life through fresh eyes, living in complete gratitude for the extra time God has deemed appropriate to accomplish His directed task.. For me to use my passions and talents (He bestowed upon me) to invite others to embrace life with me and come along for the shared ride through my learning post…sometimes bumpy, sometimes smooth…but always spiritually guided by my Creator!

So until tomorrow….Let us never forget to continue to edit our life story (as we change and grow through God’s guidance) knowing that…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Bliss (the little girl statue) knows how to find happiness and meaning in life in small gestures…Always turn your face upward to the Sun and God for directions, listen to the birds, and surround yourself with flowers.

Veronica, Brooke’s daughter-in-law, is a great mother…when in doubt just let children play in left-over free ‘natural’ entertainment…mud puddles! Life doesn’t get much better!

(Caleb is “Mr. Clean” and Emma Grey is “Mud Queen of the Puddles.”)

Smile!

Dear Reader:

I have to laugh when I looked up the term”unsettled” as it relates to weather conditions. The definition read:

...A condition in the atmosphere that’s likely to lead to precipitation. While not calm and sunny weather, it’s not super stormy either. Think: clouds, light rain or  blustery at times.

Really? We had “unsettled” forecasts last weekend/Monday morning and  we did experience precipitation (torrential at times along with hail) certainly not “light rain”…tornado strength winds (I think even Winnie the Pooh would admit that it was stronger than a “blustery” day) and certainly no one would argue against using the term “super stormy.” *All the post-storm news videos visually demonstrated this fact.

The reason I am bringing this weather lesson up…is that similar conditions to last weekend are returning again with our local weathermen calling for more “unsettled” conditions, lots of rain and wind. (*Am praying by the time you read this Monday morning…the worst of it will have passed us by with no emergency alert alarms going off like last Monday morning’s tornado warnings in the area.)

It does make me smile a little, however, because as a teacher I would usually walk into a classroom with the first words out of my mouth “Okay everyone…the bell just rang...Let’s “settle down” so we can start the lesson.”

This time around…I would love to look at Mother Nature with my stern teacher look and say something similar:

“Okay Mother Nature, you have been roughhousing long enough…it’s time to settle down and behave yourself.”

These days, of course, we don’t have to be talking about the crazy spring weather to use the term “unsettled.” All of us, whether we are quarantined at home, or still working, or watching the news with its on-going conflicting messages, are definitely feeling “unsettled.”

Our thoughts run the rampart…(as English teachers taught us to remember when writing a story)… Always include the (the Five W’s and one H) Who, What, When, Where, Why…and How?

The problem with using this educational formula today is that we have no background to compare solutions with … the answers to these questions are our best guesses using theories…since we have little to no former experiences to draw conclusions upon…  from the past.

So where does all this “unsettled” mixture of opinions leave us during this rare pandemic…exactly where it should have been all the time…in God’s Hands…while we fortify our courage with faith and hope. Only God has the past experience to see the future unfold.

So tomorrow…When in doubt…pray!

Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not on thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct that paths.” Amen

While we are experiencing this new way of life…we might as well have some fun with it…Tommy called and asked who wanted a Clemson mask…while modeling for the family!

Go Tigers! (I have no doubt the Gamecock masks must be out there too…and the thought makes me happy…don’t we all want to see our boys playing again and enjoying the home state rivalry…if we get to play this year…it will be even more special with everyone a winner for getting through the pandemic to at least a certain point. )

Grabbed a snapshot of these two beauties right before the bottom fell out around lunch time yesterday.

Brooke sent the Ya’s this adorable picture/poster….(Oops There’s work to be done! 🙂

Dear Reader:

The coronavirus has changed all our lives to a certain extent… some more than others …especially small business owners or workers laid off for lack of business and revenue.

As people look around for ways to supplement incomes…we have already seen creative ways some have responded and successfully found opportunities they would never have imagined…if not forced into an “alien” situation.

I have always felt intimidated by finances…and find myself squirreling as much money as I can away for  “rainy days.” However now…at the age I am…I  realize my knowledge and intuition is as good, if not better, than others whom I always felt intimidated by…because of their higher financial status.

I have finally grasped that my passion lies in writing and storytelling but my personality lies in PR skills…I love people and am very open to suggestions and ideas from those in “the know” at banking institutions.

By following some great advice and guidelines (along the way) I have been able to keep things afloat for many many years…which makes me proud. Life time learning is all about taking information from good teachers and mentors while putting your unique twist on it.

It wasn’t until the other day that I realized I had a connection with the miller’s daughter…turned queen… in the fairy tale classic….Rumpelstiltskin!

***This tale is a good one about believing in yourself while teaching a great economic lesson along the way. (Think about this as you read the synopsis. )

Take the fairy tale about the miller’s daughter who found herself in a tight spot because her ‘old man’ liked to brag too much about her special abilities when he had too much to drink. He must have been on a real “binger” to come up with the idea that his daughter could spin gold out of straw (which is what he told the king.)

The white knight who shows up to save the day is actually a wizardly-looking droll-like creature, who demands payment for his special talent (spinning straw into real gold)…the first time it is a necklace, the second a ring, but by the third night the miller’s daughter has run out of payment options and in desperation agrees to turn over her first-born child to the strange little man.

Soon after the birth of her first child the strange man returns for the child as promised. Here was a little man who could weave straw into as much gold as he wanted and all he wanted was a child. It was only the pitiful sobbing of the (now Queen) that opened up a special clause in the contract stating she had three days to discover his name.(a type of equity extension I suppose)

Now here is where the ball lands in the other court….the Queen doesn’t have a clue what the little man’s name is… but she has great PR skills. Because of her kindness to the servants, when she confesses her terrible promise, all the loyal servants want to help their queen out of this predicament.

One faithful servant discovers the little man yelling his name out in the woods and the story ends happily for everyone ….except for the strange little man with an even stranger name called Rumpelstiltskin

Lesson learned: When the Queen had to dig down deep, using her own special ‘talents,’ she discovered that her intuitive instincts were just as good as gold and she lived happily ever after. (Excerpt from Simple Abundance-Sarah Ban Breathnach)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

So why do so many of us feel insecure about our own ‘talents’ to the extent that we feel more secure in placing our ‘talents’ in someone else’s hands…even a stranger? Don’t you think God wants us to invest in ourselves… each of His beloved, talented children?

What is it inside most of us that makes us believe other people are smarter and more talented than we are? Even if we become successful using our “talents” the old monster, insecurity, keeps raising its ugly head.

Warren Buffet has always advised others: “Invest in as much of yourself as you can…you are your own biggest asset.”

So until tomorrow…Perhaps now is the time…when some of us have more time…to identify our unique God-given talent…and then decide how we can invest our time into something to share with the world.

I have learned so much about “banking” by investing in my garden…I have received “simple abundance” – the gift that brings me such joy!

The last pansy of the season…I had to clean out the rest of the dead pansies to make way for new flowers who can tolerate the sun and heat. *I don’t have to social distance with the fairies’ picnic!

*Even Poogie seems to sense that life is short… every evening before the sun goes down…she takes a dip in the water off the pier near Walsh and Mollie’s house…Walsh says Eloise loves watching Poogie getting in her daily laps. Poogie is “investing” in her health and longevity! 🙂

I love this cover scene…if not for the God-given talents so many front-line medical personnel invest in everyday…at sacrifice to themselves and their families…this pandemic would be grim indeed…with little hope.