Dear Reader:

Like Rutledge, Lachlan, and Eloise…it had been weeks on end since I saw Jake and Eva Cate. But Saturday night I babysat while John and Mandy grabbed some precious “alone” time for dinner at the Mustard Seed to talk without interruptions.

Until you are around children a lot, or grandchildren, adults quickly forget how difficult it is for adults to talk with another adult with children vying for their attention or asking a zillion questions… if they can do this or that?

John is going to be gone most of this week at some work-related conferencing…leaving tomorrow…so I will be ‘back in the “Boo Boo” saddle’ again…helping Mandy get the kids up and out in the mornings for school (toughest part of the day) and then helping with homework, supper, baths, etc. in the afternoons and evenings…second toughest time of the day. It really does help to have a second pair or hands and ‘lungs’ to survive daily “dual” challenges.

Yet when I saw Eloise again last Thursday and Eva Cate and Jake Saturday… both times my eyes teared up…they all had grown up during the January/ February cough/congestion blues. It was scary listening to Eloise talk in complete sentences off and on throughout the day and have Jake write his full name (Jake Dylan Turner) for me.

Eva Cate …who struggled early on with attention deficit  and learning disabilities…such as writing her name when she was much older than Jake ( who is in the four-year-old class ) has learned how to compensate using her strength and natural abilities in art.

(*She showed me how she likes to sign her name….with an artistic twist…a late-starter but how far she has come. She has definitely got her mother’s art genes in her, along with other family talented ancestors.)

Thank goodness…some games of childhoods past remain the same. Jake and Eva Cate both love the outdoors and begged me to let them play Hide and Seek...before it got dark. What we do for love…I put on my big coat against the cutting wind and out we went.

Both children were very creative in hiding places and for four years difference in their ages played very well together with Eva Cate stopping the game to tie Jake’s shoes over and over…a good big sister.

Jake hid in his favorite tree and Eva Cate climbed in the back seat of my car.

The kids picked out “Back to the Future 3″ for their movie (Jake climbed in his cowboy outfit to watch it…I had forgotten how entertaining those movies were when I took my own kids to see them…we ate pizza, watched movies, and danced to some “Dino” rap songs…Jake really got into the moves…clothing attire and all.

I can’t help but think that children, left to their own devices, figure out their own learning styles based on their interests and passions. As a teacher it always seemed like an oxymoron situation when we teachers spent summers and staff development days learning about differentiated learning and how to address it with all the different styles of learning in a diverse group of students in a classroom..

…Only to turn around and give them the same national or state standarized grade assessment (throughout each nine-weeks and at the end of each year) or the S.A.T type assessments for all students wanting to go to college their senior year… the type of assessment that only benefits the visual easy learner and “linker.”

When I saw this cartoon the other day it made me smile…my sentiments exactly.

As I pulled out of John and Mandy’s subdivision yesterday this message on the community board made me smile and beep.

***The posts this week will be shorter than usual…with so many to write before I leave tomorrow… since I won’t be back until the weekend…but I hope you might find a pearl or two hidden in at least one of them along the way or better… a laugh or hidden chuckle!

So until tomorrow...Two things you discover when you’re older and wiser — you’re not actually any wiser, and behind the wrinkles, you’re not any older, either. ~Robert Brault

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

“Posin’….on a Sunday afternoon…..”

Dear Reader:

“Nature is the living, visible garment of God.” Goethe

Now I will never have to wonder again what God will be wearing tomorrow….a thought I have had since a child….”What does God wear every day?”

After coming across this quote yesterday I suddenly realized that the answer had been right in front of me my whole life…and yet I had missed it. Of course God dresses in garments of nature…beautiful, breathtaking nature…garments of His own design and creativity.

It makes me smile to think of God in human terms deciding what He will wear each day….ocean blue, magnolia green, gray Spanish Moss, yellow sunflowers, or brown earthy mountain tones. A different garment for eternity. God definitely dresses for success!

Sarah Ban Breathnach from her bestseller- Simple Abundance-starts her book by asking readers to “pick up the needle with me and make the first stitch on the canvas of your life….they are the golden threads of a simply abundant tomorrow.”

Breathnach makes the visualization, metaphorically, using six threads that can create abundant living by producing a tapestry of contentment that wraps us in inner peace, well-being, happiness, and a sense of security.

They are:

1. gratitude– after completing our inner spiritual journey we will discover that our mental and spiritual inventory of all we have…makes us very rich indeed.
2. simplicity– the desire to clear out, pare down, and understand the basic essentials we need to live life abundantly
3. order-after paring down a sense of order in our life begins to take over…replacing the earlier chaos in our personal lives
4. harmony-provides us with the inner peace we need to appreciate the beauty surrounding us each day
5. beauty– then opens us up to joy…
6.  joy– the highest elation of sheer wonder and awe of life itself and our Creator

I have come to realize that simplicity works in every area of our lives…a bouquet of flowers is beautiful but after throwing out some dead flowers the other day…I left the last one blooming in the vase and it was more lovely now, by far, all by itself.

So until tomorrow…“Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity! We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.” Henry David Thoreau

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I would love to dress in this shade of azaleas blooming beautifully in my front yard….the color is gorgeous!

Walsh was finally able to get the kids out Saturday ….a little chilly and breezy but the sun finally came out...Walsh took the kids on the Shem Creek Trails….lots of fun!

Dear Reader:

Get ready…here we go again…it is time to spring forward an hour tonight into…a lot of changes for our sleep habits, daily habits, and health issues…which create some challenging situations.

But can we blame Ben Franklin for putting us in this growing unpopular annual event?

Daylight saving time—the practice of moving the clock forward one hour—has many critics. Losing an hour of sleep only to wake up to darkness? No thanks. But is Benjamin Franklin to blame for this “invention”?

Daylight saving time is one thing that Franklin did not invent. He merely suggested Parisians change their sleep schedules to save money on candles and lamp oil.

He wrote an article to the citizens of Paris suggesting that rising with the sun would save the citizens of Paris, where he was living at the time, a great deal of money: “An immense sum! That the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles.”

But with that one article…the idea died out…so Ben is not the scapegoat….some fellow named George Hudson is… a Zealand entomologist who wanted more daylight in the evenings presented the suggestion in 1895. The idea took awhile to get to America and this is another example why we should not interfere with Mother Nature…we lose every time we do…and not just loss of sleep.

Today as more and more states are in the midst of the legal process of ditching day light savings time (Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states who have completed the process) we are discovering some unsettling information between the loss of time/sleep on our bodies as linked to more serious health issues. Here are a few examples I found from different articles.

1. heart attack spikes   2. stroke rates rise  3. high school students are very vulnerable to induced sleep loss (car accidents) 4. significant increase in headaches  5. elevated moodiness

As more and more states begin serious reconsideration of the ambiguous “benefits” of daylight savings time vs. the reality of human physical, mental, and emotional adjustment… the opportunity to vote for or against daylight savings time is becoming a real possibility.

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Libby saw this new definition for women of a certain age (with still a love of zest for life) and thought the Ya’s should add this title to ourselves during this stage of togetherness.

Libby reminded me of a time at one Edisto retreat (a long time ago) when I took it upon myself to have all the Ya’s read this book that characterized what type of individual queen we all were… according to different questions about our unique personalities, etc.

All they remember is having to do homework in order to do the queen “lesson”…Libby even found the book we used. I told her I couldn’t remember it or the activity…but obviously they still can…reluctantly. 🙂

 The grown-up woman’s guide to claiming happiness and getting the life you deserve.

***Now I do vaguely remember planning this activity and having so much fun doing so…even if it went unappreciated…apparently. 🙂

I even gave everyone a “surcie” for finding out what type of queen they would make…certificate of Queenliness completion and a tiara. Personally I loved the “event”! 🙂  🙂  🙂

And speaking of being “Queen for the Day” (or perhaps night) Libby accompanied her son-in-law (Collin) to the Old Newberry Opera House where the “getting better not older“ Lettermen were playing and Libby (in all her enthusiasm) ended up on stage with them.

*Now you know what kind of queen you are Libby…center stage queen! 🙂

So until tomorrow…”Like in chess…in life the queen saves the king.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Mollie and the regional team are making the most of the Beauty Counter changes to a  mini-conference in Asheville/NC… after the national San Francisco convention was cancelled due to the virus…They are staying in a large mountain house…and attending a small conference. Just the friendship of being together is always worth the time and trip. Lots of time to have others answer questions the reps night have needed answers to…or suggestions from other participants. Have fun girls!

AND a Shout-out to Honey Burrell….a BIG Happy Happy Birthday!!! Next week I will be updating everyone about our Honey’s latest achievements…even with her wrist still in a cast….Honey never stops creating.

…And her wonderful, lovable husband Mike never ceases to surprise Honey on special occasions…they spent her birthday in Asheville Thursday with special lunches and dinners and am overnight hotel stay. Mike knows how to do it ‘up right.‘

But it doesn’t stop there…Mike is also a talented artisan/wood craftsman. Look at this original bread bin he made his “Honey.” Amazing! Don’t you love it?

Dear Reader:

I thought I was ready for Miss Eloise yesterday morning as I arrived at her house in the pouring rain…I had gotten her a new Touch and Feel book as well as Peek-a -Flap book, two of her favorite types Mollie promised…but there was no book, or toy in the world that would have bribed Eloise long enough to want to initially stay with Boo… when all she wanted was Mollie.

The problem, of late, is that with all my sickness during January and February (cough/congestion) and the children’s different bouts of colds and bugs, etc. I haven’t gotten to see the kids hardly any since the holidays and the last time I saw Eloise it was to babysit too….Eloise has the memory of an elephant.

As soon as I walked in….she pointed her finger at me and told me “Bye-bye…go home Boo Boo…Bye-Bye.” A variety of different versions of this same message repeated itself over and over as she became more agitated when Boo Boo didn’t leave but mommy did…to her conference in Asheville, North Carolina.

I pulled out some pink Peep (bunny) ears I had gotten her and she tearfully put these on, not overly happily (as you can see) in the first photo but at least they stayed on her head and she had stopped crying. Tearfully she asked for her baby dolls and held them for awhile as if giving herself time to comfort herself while she played mommy to them…good self-soothing technique Eloise!

And then the big break-through ( in a movie the sun would have shot through with the Hallelujah Chorus singing in the background)…*I suddenly remembered that as I had gone out the door early yesterday morning I (at the last minute) grabbed one of those tiny potato chip bags (2 for a dollar) and something now made me open the bag and offer Eloise a chip.

(I have always been a potato chip addict since I was Eloise’s age…I would refuse to eat any kind of sandwich without my beloved potato chips to accompany it…maybe just maybe some Boo potato chip genes would surface as a dominant gene. It did!

Eloise’s eyes lit up…she threw the doll babies down and made a grab for the bag…it was the potato chips that saved the day! Thank you Lord for dominant potato chip genes!

From there on out things improved greatly…Eloise took the chip bag over and climbed in the clothes bin that is her boat while watching the Mickey Mouse cartoon show…By the time it got to the very popular “Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog” theme song…her hands were in the air dancing and she was happy again!

I fixed her lunch on one of the bunny plates Mollie had for the boys in the Easter theme and then I let her sit on a pillow and eat at the table instead of her high chair. She thought she was hot stuff….she loved it and obviously the food on it too….

Peek-a “BOO!” became the big game after lunch…Eloise is good at finding places to peek through like the slit between the back of a kitchen chair and the seat!

After eating Eloise changed into a “hot number” and let me take a photo of her blowing kisses to me and mommy so mommy would know her little girl was all happy again!

As if on clockwork….at 12:30 Eloise was ready to take her nap- a nice three hour one -…great break for Mollie and Boo appreciated it too.

The whole morning I had been trying to keep things quiet since Walsh had come in earlier in the morning from his job and was sleeping….when he got up we talked about the weather…it was flooded in downtown Charleston but I didn’t know that Summerville was getting so much rain until the road by the Main Street CVS was overflowing with rivers of water…while trying to pick up a needed medication I had to get to take last night.

Boo’s new pond greeted me pulling in while the water flowed down the driveway and street.

So until tomorrow….“Time heals all...even mother-child separation blues…especially when accompanied by potato chips!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Donna Clark forwarded this precious picture/comment from author, Louise Penny’s post….don’t you love it?

“You might have already seen this, but over lunch here in NYC yesterday someone showed me this and I wanted to pass it along to you. Service dogs at Stratford Festival in Ontario being trained to be calm in live theatre. They’re watching Billy Elliot. Sigh…”

Dear Reader:

I had just gotten back from the Oncology Center yesterday afternoon (to pick up my monthly medicines) and was already climbing out of my soaked raincoat and back into “Pinkie” my most faithful comfy robe…when I heard a beep on my iPhone.

It was Tommy sending me the latest u-tube video update on the beloved host of Jeopardy Alex Trebeck. I said a quick prayer he wasn’t saying good-bye yet…and then turned the video on. I sat there mesmerized as I listened to this unbelievably amazing man calmly and sincerely update his first year “living” with pancreatic cancer… or perhaps “fighting” is the better description. *He is certainly proving himself a formidable opponent to this insidious disease!

Every story has a hero and the Jeopardy story will, of course, always end in the form of a question…What show host displayed his greatest courage and integrity while remaining host of Jeopardy?

Answer: Who is Alex Trebeck?

Trebeck (on the first anniversary video) was honest about his good and bad days…days of doubt, days of pain, days of encouragement, days of strength through the love of others cheerleading him on.

After another chaotic week of news recently…  the spreading of the coronavirus and unsettling responses to it…tornadoes in Tennessee, more cases of public figures misbehaving sexually “badly” with noted trials bringing down figures once considered “untouchables”…Americans are more than ready for heroes who posses dignity, respect for others, calmness, openness and gentle humor.

So to be able to pause a moment and watch a person fighting the most important fight of his life…for his life…still thanking everyone for their support touched me and restored my faith in humanity. 

I will insert the u-tube video at the end…but first I wanted to give you a copy of the transcript in case your computer doesn’t pull videos or mine doesn’t work when you go to pull it.

Here is the transcript of Trebek’s full statement.

“Hi, everyone. If you’ve got a minute, I’d like to bring you up to date on my health situation. The one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is 18%. I’m very happy to report I have just reached that marker.

Now I’d be lying if I said the journey has been an easy one. There were some good days but a lot of not-so-good days. I joked with friends that the cancer won’t kill me, the chemo treatments will. There were moments of great pain, days when certain bodily functions no longer functioned and sudden, massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it really was worth fighting on.

But I brushed that aside quickly because that would have been a massive betrayal, a betrayal of my wife and soulmate, Jean, who has given her all to help me survive. It would have been a betrayal of other cancer patients who have looked to me as an inspiration, and a cheerleader of sorts, of the value of living and hope, and it would certainly would have been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf.

 You know, my oncologist tried to cheer me up the other day. He said, ‘Alex, even though the two-year survival rate is only 7%,’ he was certain that one year from now, the two of us would be sitting in his office celebrating my second anniversary of survival. And you know something, if I, no, if we — because so many of us are involved in this same situation — if we take it just one day at a time, with a positive attitude, anything is possible. I’ll keep you posted.”

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So until tomorrow…Alex has shared that ‘God’s Grace has lead him this far…so let’s see how much farther our journey continues together.’ 

“Today is my favorite day” …Winnie the Pooh

A SHOUT-OUT to Phyllis…my faithful cheerleader who always ‘pumps me up’ when I arrive at the oncology center. I told her yesterday that I finally felt like “Becky” again and especially “Boo”! I was gaining my strength back and my appetite.

She started giving me “fist pumps” and everyone around us was smiling at our excitement.

So Dr. Ashley Jeter, my oncologist, is the oncologist of the year and Phyllis is the cheerleader (“pump me up”) receptionist of the year who puts a smile on everyone’s face! Love you Phyllis!

Dear Reader:

I love the big oaks with the swaying Spanish moss that seem to lean over our sanctuary with protecting arms. If these trees could talk…what sights and stories they could share…starting with the exploratory history of the first colonists to live in the area.

(Title photo) This is the section of property that I cross to short-cut down from the higher level parking spots (where I park “Surcie” for worship days) to the lower levels where the sanctuary lies. Even though we had to lose some beautiful acreage to add drive-ways and parking areas…(or as the Counting Crows sang…”We paved paradise and put up a parking lot“…the church still did a good job of saving as much nature as possible.

For example…our church history explains how we came to own 42 acres of a wildlife sanctuary with almost a mile of walking trails…all part of our church campus. It all had to do with a “sweet deal” Dorchester Presbyterian Church made with Westvaco in 1990 (the land was bought at the very low sum of $12,000) with the understanding that the land would remain perpetually undeveloped as a nature preserve.

In 2008 the maintained walking trails added a prayer labyrinth named The Richard Cushman Wildlife Sanctuary when Dr. Cushman retired.

What I especially love about our sanctuary are the walls of windows where one can sit and lose themselves in the beauty of the locale as the Word is read and hymns of praise sung. There is a real sense of getting away from the world for that precious time on any given Sunday. Like our sign says…”Let there be light” and our sanctuary has it in abundance!

Characteristically early churches wanted to try to capture a little piece of heaven in their sacred architecture…stain-glassed windows, clear open windows, art decor, heavenly music, high ceilings pronouncing the loftiness of our Creator. Church buildings are still built to provide a type of refuge to escape the challenging world we live in the other days of the week.

Who remembers going to church camps and eagerly awaiting the last night …because the moving candle-light Vespers ceremony never ceased to provide a sense of security and bonding among all the campers with one common belief…God is an essential part of our lives?

My children went to church summer camp  in Montreat in the North Carolina mountains and loved it…especially Mandy who adored Youth Camp and the candle-light Vespers ceremony on the mountain by the lake the last night. There is something special about worshiping outside in nature.

However whether we worship inside a building or outside on a mountain the most important architectural design has nothing to do with trying to imitate some builder’s idea of heaven. Because when we get to heaven Quinn Caldwell believes that something else will be the most important component of the scene before us….(and nothing to do with the building, furniture, or design of our place of worship)

“But take heart; I don’t know whether heaven will have the same carpeting your church does, but there are a few elements of your sanctuary’s design that I’m quite sure you’ll see again when you arrive: the ones who are breathing.”

So until tomorrow….Let’s try to find and then keep a little piece of heaven in our daily lives.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Look what Vickie showed me when I went over to her house yesterday afternoon…a planter pot with a young geranium in it forming clusters of blooms. She then surprised me and said “You’ve got another geranium grandchild in the family.” 

As I stood there dumbly trying to understand… Vickie told me that a large stem fell off the big red geranium…after putting Big Red back on the porch following one of the earlier freezes. She saw it on the porch floor…took it home…put it in the soil and has been nursing it ever since.

As soon as “baby geranium” gets a little older Vickie is bringing it back home to “Big Red!” Two clones now…dad and junior!

I was just about to click off the computer last evening… when I set the timer and date for tomorrow’s post and realized it was March 4…the anniversary of my little brother, David’s, passing… shortly before he graduated from Erskine College, March 4, 1973 (21) and also Kaitlyn’s big sister, Amanda…March 4, 2016 (37)

It is important to pause and reflect on the lives of our siblings and the role they played in our own lives…even if the time was short for both of them.

To David and Amanda…we reflect on your caring memories, remember your loving presence in our life, and miss you so!

Dear Reader:

Some days isn’t it hard to try to figure out where to start the day, how to prioritize the check-off list, and finally how to land where you should have been all along…in a place of peace?

Such was yesterday…a company had ‘lost’ two checks from me for gas/electric utilities I sent over a month ago ( sent out along with all the other bills in the same slot at the post office) and they couldn’t figure out either why this happened but I would need to go ahead and pay two months right now…then they could sort it out later. (Deep breath…count to 10 and slowly release one’s breath)

Then at the local water commission payment drive-around…a gust of wind sent my two bills flying out of the tray…I had to pull up, get out of the car and chase the two bills flying through the air. Miraculously I caught one in mid-air and stepped on the other amid applause from other customers in the cars behind me. (Thank you 🙂

When I got home…I had to pile all the dirty dishes in a wash bin and take them next door to the  other dishwasher because the one on my side started retaining water, along with the sink.

By then it was time to eat lunch and I was already exhausted…but I refused to give up. After standing in all the long yard/garden lines at Lowes and other out-door centers over the weekend…I had four beautiful purple (aurora blue) delphiniums to plant in my garden and five Japanese maples (the grandchildren) to enrich with potting soil, fertilizer spikes and peat moss. A lot of work.

But as soon as I started working I felt a wonderful sense of peace fill me in the quiet breezy afternoon…this is where I should have been all day…it took me awhile but my soul finally got me to the right place.

Someone has bought my neighbors’ rental house that had all the kudzu and bamboo…and they have cleaned it up to the point where I can actually see their back yard now….looks terrific. I just kept getting happier and happier yesterday walking and looking around at the Formosa azaleas…the last to bloom.

Today the rains return but that is just good timing for the gardener in me…I was beyond exhausted at the end of the day yesterday but it was that good kind of tired…the kind where you feel you really accomplished something…added some more beauty to the world!

Just as I wearily put up the last of the shovels, the heavy potting soil bag and all the other tools…the darkening skies opened up and the last rays of a late afternoon sun shone beautifully down on the deck, the yards…back and front. It was like a sign from God…I had followed my soul so my day ended in glorious rays of light.

So until tomorrow….***(Very Important to Remember Everyone and Especially Someone! )

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Libby texted me to say that the little March rhyme about the lion and the lamb coming into the new month… reminded her of a song she learned (Broadway tune from Carousel) when she got to sing with the National FHA Chorus in St. Louis!

The tune was Hi Lilly Hi…Lilly Hi Low (and Yellow Bird)…what memories pop back up from a life time ago…amazing. Libby said the song starts “March goes out like a lion.”

Dear Reader:

After all the cloudy days, chilly days and rainy days we have experienced this winter…yesterday March came in like the sweetest little lamb you ever saw….warm, sunny disposition, blue skies and an euphoria of happiness prevailed on the first day of March …absolutely nothing “BAAAAD” about it! 🙂

I wanted to know where the expression started and why today the original verse gets reversed a lot…like in today’s post title.

Here is a little short history about the origin of the expression.

*(One of the earliest artistic depictions of the phrase- British painter: Briton Riviera)

“March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb” means that March starts off with cold winters and ends with warmer, spring weather. Because March straddles the winter/spring line, this is the perfect idiom to describe the weather during this month.

The oldest known written reference to the “lion/lamb” proverb comes from English author Thomas Fuller, who included it in a 1732 volume of proverbs, “wise sentences, and witty sayings, ancient and modern.” (Soon Farmers Almanacs took it and included it in their March monthly calendar facts)

The simple explanation of “in like a lion, out like a lamb” is that when March starts it’s still officially winter. When the month ends, it’s officially spring. The month opens on fierce cold weather and ends on much gentler weather.

But… is this really true? You’ve almost certainly seen the reverse happen, with pleasant warming at the start of the month that turns into a snarling cold by the end. *(Like the lowcountry yesterday’s start! 🙂 

And this is why the “in like a lion, out like a lamb” phrase often gets reversed. It isn’t because people don’t remember the statement, but because  the opposite happens frequently. The simple way to boil this down is that March is all lambs and all lions: you never know for certain what you’re going to get!

(It’s kind of like the groundhog….it just always depends on the sun and/or the shadows! )

Since I am getting better and better at living in the moment as I get older and older…I no longer worry or care if the groundhog sees his shadow or not and how March arrives…I am pretty lackadaisical about these small things in life now. I am simply happy that March came and spring is hot on its heels!

Apparently I wasn’t the only one to get in the ‘planter’s and garden spirit’ over the weekend…Lowes and Home Depot, as well as, Tractor Supply had lines to Siberia and back…and I was in several.

I did get a few plants in hanging pots and fertilized other plants…hope to get out in the garden tomorrow with temps in the low 70’s and plant, plant, plant some new additions to the garden!

I also got some more bird feeders so the birds can eat around the beautiful azalea blooming bushes . *As I was watering some outdoor plants I looked down at one of the two “sentry” rabbits that line the side of my house along the driveway. Suddenly I noticed little lavender wild flowers had popped up around one rabbit. So for taking all the wear and tear of weather all these years I think it deserves to be “rabbit rabbit” for the second day of March!

*A huge shout-out to my wonderful oncologist, Dr. Ashley Jeter, who won “Oncologist of the Year” in our local paper’s annual awards contest.

I love it and she is so deserving…now I can brag and tell everyone “MY” oncologist is the “Oncologist of the Year!” Congratulations Dr. Jeter!!!

Dear Reader:

I have often thought that there ought to be more templates available for different deposit slips that have nothing to do with money or finance…instead they are deposit slips that can be used each time we do something to make someone else’s life just a little bit better.

Just like in the real world of banking deposits and withdrawals we need to remind ourselves each morning…that before the day is over we should have made at least one “deposit” into brightening up another’s life. It can be something as simple as a “smile” deposit…a “joke” of laughter deposit, a special “treat” deposit, a “surprise” deposit….a “happiness” deposit…as you can see “giving” deposits could go on and on.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful (if by the end of each month)…we all realize that we need to “re-order” more “life deposit” slips?

I found an article excerpt taken from “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families” (Stephen Covey) which dealt with family/particularly children’s emotional deposits from parents.

Ideas for making deposits in your child’s emotional bank account

• Apologize when you make a mistake
• Really listen- no interrupting or looking at your phone
• Spend time with them- play a game or cook with them
• Greet them as they come home
• Notice what they are doing
• Attend their activities
• Be kind and patient
• When children make a mistake, be compassionate and help them to solve their own problem
• Laugh with them
• Spend one on one time with them
• Keep your promises
• Relationships take time and lots of love.

We must remember, however, that in banking, as in life, we also make withdrawals and when dealing with family, friends…even strangers emotional withdrawals can take a toll…leaving us feeling depleted with an empty life account.

Some examples of these kind of ‘withdrawal’ mistakes are:

What are common withdrawals?

• Checking your phone when your child is speaking to you
• Nagging
• Yelling or screaming at your child
• Criticizing them
• Being sarcastic
• Talking about them negatively to others
• Interrupting them when they are speaking to you

When we realize that we are making these withdrawals, we need to quickly apologize and stop making these withdrawals. We need to replace the withdrawals with deposits.

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Personally to me…memory deposits are some of the most precious kinds of deposits. As a grandmother…this is very important to me…what will the grandchildren remember we did together that was fun or a great memory they can keep forever? These are the kinds of  Boo Boo experiences I want them to have!

Hopefully now that my strength is returning…we can do more fun things together again!

And speaking of memories…I think Walsh deposited a good one yesterday with Rutledge and Lachlan. Not only did they have fun running through the tunnel out on the Clemson football field and posing with the Clemson Tiger, watching a partial scrimmage but what about that basketball game between Clemson and Florida State? Clemson won at the last second by 1 point! 70 to 69! Walsh knows how to pick’em!

Clemson men upset No. 6 Florida State 70-69

So until tomorrow…Let’s all keep making those deposits that make us better people for being there for others…adding to another’s happiness account makes our own grow exponentially!

(The famous March Hare!)

Today is the first day of March…doesn’t that sound so encouraging…spring and March just seem to go together even though it is still a little chilly around here…especially when the wind blows…(which is all the time!)

March 1- SAY  “RABBIT…RABBIT”  first thing today and have an amazing month with more deposits than withdrawals!

***A special shout-out to Harriett Edwards…a fellow “little c” sister…who, also, continues to fight the good fight and is amazing in her hope, perseverance and tenacity. Have a special day today my dear friend…you deserve all the gifts, kisses, and hugs you can get…mine are on the way! 🙂 What wonderful children, grandchildren and family you have ….they love you so! (Also Happy Birthday!)

Dear Reader:

All of us are becoming aware (slowly or suddenly) of a very real situation that is coming faster than we imagined…the ‘frontier’ of the Caronavirus….in other words…the “unknown” and “uncertainty” of the potential and the reality of this quickly spreading virus and its effects on life as we have grown accustomed to it on a daily basis.

In our family it hit a little closer to home a couple of days ago while Mollie was getting packed to attend a five-day conference in San Francisco. We had talked and I was helping out with the children for a couple of the days while Walsh had to work. All was set on “Go” until it wasn’t.

Yesterday the phone rang and it was Mollie…plans had changed. The National Beauty Counter Conference was being cancelled due to the Caronavirus. The location was too close to the latest outbreaks and there were just too many unknowns to risk anyone’s health.

Instead the leaders decided on a shortened (3 day) conference that could be seen via “live streaming” in locations close to regional sales sites for the thousands of women working for the company. In the Southeast it is Asheville. So Mollie and I talked- rearranged some sitting times and she could start making plans for her teams.

You, too, might be having to change travel sites or do more work from home with your particular company or enterprise. As we watch other countries changing their daily cultural habits…like closing schools, large public buildings, medical facilities and other accommodations that have always been considered “norms”… we realize that our attitudes towards these changes will go a long way in how our families react to daily disruptions.

The attributes that have always worked for us during “normal” times…showing kindness, patience, generosity, and love towards our fellow man is going to be even more important in the weeks and months to come if this virus continues spreading.

The message above is so important…in uncertain times…the ‘control freak’ in each of us wants to try to keep things as normal as possible for as long as possible…but at some point it is a good chance that we will have to re-train our own way of thinking. Like the poster says:

“Your mind will always believe everything you tell it…so tell it positive things….Feed it hope. Feed it truth. Feed it with love!”

And who knows…we might all come out of this ‘unknown frontier’ stronger, braver, kinder, more patient, and more loving. One day when we look back on it…this part of our story…the struggle will be our most remembered part.

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

Mother told me one day about her personal experience with a “pandemic”…the Spanish flu of 1918. This “struggle” became part of her story.

Mother was born December 22, 1919…right in the midst of the Spanish flu that spread quickly around the world.

The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919.  In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918.

It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States. Mortality was high in people younger than 5 years old, 20-40 years old, and 65 years and older. The high mortality in healthy people, including those in the 20-40 year age group, was a unique feature of this pandemic.

There was no vaccine or antibiotics for this flu and mother, of course, as a small infant, was most prone to its deadly effects. She told me in the spring of the year when she was just five months old… the doctor thought she had contracted it but it turned out just to be a serious cold and congestion. Mother always was “pioneer stock.”

She also told me that she thought she had three more sisters than just her sister, Eva, and her older twin brothers. One of granddaddy’s sisters died from the flu and her husband was fighting in World War I…so they took in the three little girls for about two and a half to three years before Granddaddy’s brother-in-law returned home and found a job and home for them.

Mother remembers crying when her “three sisters left” with their suitcases to go with some man (their daddy) who they didn’t even remember. They were crying too…mother said it was one of her earliest childhood memories… losing three of her sisters.

Later as adults, the ‘three sisters” all returned together to share those early memories of the love and compassion mom’s family had shown them…memories they never forgot.

So until tomorrow….“Many times, the thought of fear itself is greater than what it is we fear.” 

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Walsh saw where Clemson was holding a special father-son football experience today with Coach Dabo and the other assistant coaches. He checked his schedule and  saw that he was actually off work this weekend…the signs were there. Go for it!

So he and Mollie packed the boys’ belongings and Walsh picked them up early from school Friday (they didn’t know a thing about it…a real surprise) to head up to Clemson.

I texted last evening and asked Walsh if they had gotten there (a little after 7:00)…and he said they had just pulled in… to one of Clemson’s oldest “historical sites” in the little college town…the old ESSO station.

I hope the boys got some sleep last night because I know dad was exhausted..At 8:30 a.m. they get to meet the coaches and some of the players, watch part of one of the spring football scrimmages and then watch the Clemson-Florida State basketball game before heading back this evening…a long but fulfilling day! What wonderful memories for all!

*** Hot off the Press:

8:38 a.m. Saturday morning…just got these first photos from Clemson Stadium!

Tommy and Kaitlyn came  to Summerville after work yesterday afternoon to visit Lassie and get some financial expertise from her as they start transitioning into a new partnership at work.

We ended up at Oscars for dinner…but it was almost 8:30 before we got seated even with a reservation…we were  starving but the food was worth waiting for- delicious and we had a great time  catching up. *The chocolate Bundt cake dessert with whipped cream and coffee ice cream was out of this world!!

*Obviously I was getting tired too since I forgot to take a picture of Tommy and Kaitlyn but rest assured…we had great company and fantastic food!! Terrific way to end Friday!