Dear Reader:

*** A God Wink happened yesterday. Another blogger had read this post and liked it….I was trying to remember when I wrote it ….actually almost two years ago. It is funny how, even I, as the author, need to take time to go back and re-read some of my earlier posts…because at certain times in life we need to hear the same message again. The timing was and is perfect for me to hear this …as I hope for you. 

Madeleine L’Engle once said:

“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.”

As children, don’t we all remember wanting to be all grown-up? We wearied of being a child and wanted the independence and freedom we thought we saw in our parents and other adult lives around us. Until one day, it dawned on us we were now grown-ups and we felt even more restrained and restricted some days as “mature” adults. Images of childhood suddenly appeared carefree and uninhibited…we wanted to return to those “good old days.”

Excerpt from Walking on Water: Madeleine L’Engle:

” If we try to follow in Jesus’ way, what the children see us in does matter. Jesus told his friends and disciples over and over again that not only were they to let the little children come to him but that they were to be like little children themselves.”

‘I need not belabor the point that to retain our childlike openness does not mean to be childish. Only the most mature of us are able to be childlike. And to be able to be childlike involves memory; we must never forget any part of ourselves… at any chronological age we are at we must also be able to be four or twelve or twenty-three, thirty-one, forty-five and…and …and…”

“For growing up never ends, we never get there. I am still in the process of growing up, but I will make no progress if I lose any of myself along the way. “

…………………………….

I saw an article written the other day by one of the famous atomic physicists responsible for the production of nuclear weapons (Dr. Friedrich Dessaurer,) A man of science he wrote:

“Man is a creature who depends entirely on revelation. In all his intellectual endeavor he should not strive to superimpose the structure of his own mind, his systems of thought upon reality… because at the beginning of all spiritual endeavor stands humility, and he who loses it can achieve no other heights than the height of disillusionment. “

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In reflection upon my own continued “growing up” stage in life, I do look for new revelations each and every day….a new thought might surprise me while watering the garden or hearing a catch-phrase on television or reading a book and it takes my train of thought off into a new Never-Land of possibilities.

There has to be a certain amount of trust embedded in us spiritually to open ourselves to the invisible world around us like a small child can do. Jesus told us call the Creator of us all ABBA. Not only Father or Sir or Lord, but Abba-Daddy- the small child’s name for Father. Not Dad, the way Daddy becomes Dad when children reach adolescence, but Daddy, the name of trust.

The precious peeks we receive occasionally into another world that will one day beckon us home can exist only within the realm of trust as a small child trusts his Daddy….our ABBA.

*** I think since I grew up without a father…a daddy…I have always considered God as just that…my daddy! I do maintain a childlike trust in God as a child would with his/her own daddy…and I hope I always will. 

So until tomorrow….Father, thank you for those precious peeks of eternity you give us as a gift of grace. They give us hope to continue growing towards You as a child of God.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy official birthday Betsy and Butch! November 18….a very good day!

Happy Thanksgiving Mickey!

Go Tigers!

Go Tigers!

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was one of those days I had circled on my calendar in red…a day best wished for it to be over….kind of day. Yet, it turned out anything but…

Since losing my long-time friend and oncologist, Dr. Silgals, to retirement, I  just recently was scheduled for a CT scan (chest, stomach, pelvis)  so my new oncologist would have a baseline for future treatments. This was a new one for me.

I remembered having a PET-Scan initially and some x-rays for surgeries but not this particular type of x-ray. The term “computed tomography” (CT) is often used to refer to X-ray CT, because it is the most commonly known form.

To patients going through it like me…it means the x-ray where you have to drink that thick, pasty-tasting barium. I was more afraid of it than the x-ray itself….I was scared I wouldn’t be able to get it down and /or  keep it down long enough for the x-ray.

My first guardian angel came in the form of Gin-g Edwards who had just had this same x-ray done weeks before. She gave me all the best hints on how to get the stuff down without gagging it back out. She insisted I needed someone to go with me for this x-ray because the drink can make one feel queasy (she was right) and no need to risk  driving myself…she was taking me.

I came through like a champ getting the drink down because I had come down with a head cold following my flu shot and was congested enough to not taste or smell anything. (God works in mysterious ways.)

I will have to admit, though, my poor stomach was not very happy with it and I was nervous I was going to get in that machine in stomach crisis mode. But instead…another guardian angel opened the door to the CT Scan room with a big smile and told me to come on in. She pointed to another half-filled cup with the barium mix in it and I groaned…”Really? More?” 

“Just make it quick…you can do it” Sheila (as I later discovered her name) said. “This is the last worst part, I promise…once you get in the tube the whole procedure will only take about eight minutes.”

I picked up the glass and gulped it down in one swift gulp. “Wow…you are good Sheila said...I still have to hold my nose.”

“I would,” I admitted, “except I have a head cold and can’t taste or smell much of anything.” “Great timing” Sheila responded!

As Sheila prepared me for the CT scan I asked her how long she had worked there (11 years) and how she gotten interested in x-rays. She told me a story about working with a cancer patient when she had just started…how the elderly woman would bring fresh homemade cookies each time she came for an x-ray. One day she didn’t come and she discovered she had died in her sleep over the weekend.

Sheila told me that it hurt so much she decided not to work with cancer patients at the time but God was slowly leading her back…and eleven years earlier the Charleston Cancer Center decided to include their own CT Scan X-ray Lab. She was asked to head it up. She was ready now to work with cancer patients and told me she absolutely loves it! She was put right where she belongs.

The lab room was large, white, bright, with windows lining one whole wall…not like the old dark, claustrophobic rooms I remembered. There were fall leaves welcoming me into the “tunnel” and Sheila could hardly wait for Christmas to start decorating the waiting room and the x-ray room with lots of Christmas cheer.

When I finished she went over to a basket and pulled out two chocolate chip cookies, one for me and one for Gin-g…something she did for all her patients dating back to the sweet gift of the elderly lady years before.

Gin-g, Sheila, and I talked for several minutes after the procedure about Thanksgiving, cooking turkeys, etc. and we all left feeling better than before we arrived. Sheila, the CT Scan Angel had turned a red-circle day to a bright gold star day…a day to remember God sends us the right people at the right time to help us.

So until tomorrow…Let us all remember:

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Yesterday when the blog on “Big Red” went out Cindy Ashley asked me if I had read the “Happiness Project” yet…I have not but I do remember it was an answer on the game show Jeopardy, no less.

Cindy said in the book the first chapter starts setting the path for happiness with ‘purging stuff.’ Exactly what I am doing. And to tell you the truth…it does make me happy…When I got up yesterday morning and walked in the computer room I started grinning from ear to ear….(This room was starting to torment me with guilt feelings for having so many books that should be used by educators, teachers, students, book lovers but instead the books were just collecting dust…

I thought about the Nuremberg Trials and remembered the first excuse many defendants were prepared to use to  excuse their conduct in the concentration camps was “I was just following orders.” Once that excuse was thrown out as a legal defense…it was pretty much over.

I decided that my lame excuse for not getting control over all my years and years of book collecting and workshop clutter was starting…it was so overwhelming…I didn’t know where to begin.

But then once I got going and had thrown out a few bags of stuff…I started purging with the best of’ ’em!

Purge: To rid, clear, or free.  Ridding the computer room of hundreds of copies of old worksheets, notebooks, coursework requirements, obsolete paperbacks and textbooks was just so liberating! Even though I was really tired after Monday…I knew that if I kept at it Tuesday I could finish this mammoth project and I kept picturing how happy this would make me feel. And it did!

Even yesterday…when I walked back into the computer room to work on this blog post…I found myself smiling again. Jumbled thoughts felt like they had been purged too…instead my thinking was clearer and lighter.

One thing ‘little c’  has taught me is not to waste time with negative people…they only bring us down. It is okay to choose the company we want to be surrounded with…people filled with humor, fun, charisma, perseverance, and hope…people who lift us up like an air balloon.

We all get sad and down sometimes…that is normal…the people I find myself purging from my daily life are the eternal complainers, whiners and gloomy nay-sayers…the people who never see good in any situation and always look for the worst in people.

That is why yesterday it was so wonderful to be surrounded with the Ya’s, Linda and Betsy…all women of courage, hope, and optimism….besides just being downright funny!

California Dreaming here we come! This has gotten to be our birthday gathering place for Jackson and Betsy…Nov 16 and 18. We always have such a good time, the food is delicious, and the company the best…laughter and more laughter. Together we lift everyone to a higher level of happiness when we gather.

No matter how many serious medical/health obstacles have found one or more of us during the previous year…the slate is wiped clean and we are all convinced that the new birthday year is going to be the best year ever! And you know what? As long as we can all still gather the next year at the same time and same place…life has been at its very best!

*Have you ever seen so many shades of blue…Betsy and Linda went black but it looks like the rest of us called each other (like middle-schoolers) and decided to all go “blue” in dress but “bright red, yellow, oranges” in atmosphere! Happy official birthday today Jackson!

So until tomorrow…Good health and happiness go together so let’s all be just as happy as we can be!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Look Anne what is hanging on this wall at Jackson’s home….your adorable painting of Jackson’s tractor when she was five years old!

Dear Reader:

“Big Red” is starting to attract neighborhood attention. Vickie came over and took a picture over the weekend (the photo above) when I was in Mt. Pleasant (Vickie said the morning sun had just set it aglow) helping keep the grandchildren. Then Sunday afternoon I saw a car slow down and was about to go out on the porch to see if someone was stopping when I heard the driver telling the story of “Big Red”and how it had bloomed ever since I had come home from my first breast cancer surgery… almost a decade ago.

By the time I got out on the porch the car had driven off so I don’t know what neighbor was sharing the story but it sure made me happy to know that the story is being shared and passed around.

And now here it is Thanksgiving…and “Big Red” is in full bloom…healthy and happy. “Big Red” is my best health o’meter cheerleader and keeps me smiling at the determined red geranium… who will be ten years old this May. Wow!

The idea behind “Big Red’s” name came from the children’s book on the westward movement called Red Flower Goes West. I thought I had lost the book but Monday and Tuesday I tackled the last chaotic room in the house….my computer room and book shelves and found it.

In the children’s story the little boy traveling west with his family knows how much the red geranium means to his mom….her only vestige of life back east. Through droughts, floods, famine, etc. the red flower, with the help of the little boy, survives. Somehow he understands that  the family will only make it out west safe and sound if the red geranium survives so it can be planted on their new homestead.

*( That is the way I feel about “Big Red”…as long as the leaves are green and buds appear…I feel like “little c” is still in check and life goes on. )

At the end of the story….the grateful mother hugs her children and says:

After two days of throwing away bags, projects, and/or old notebooks and workbooks, clutter that has grown over time, setting more books aside for friends and colleagues to read…the computer room is de-cluttered!!!!!

My reward has been finding special books like Red Flower Goes West for all my hard work. Special stories are grouped together, spiritual stories are closest to the computer for easy access and ideas for stories tucked away in my brain…where it has finally become de-cluttered too.

What a delicious feeling of freedom and space to walk into my computer room and find organization again. The older I get the more I need de-cluttered spaces around me in order to think, imagine, and create.

So until tomorrow…Thank you God for “Big Red” in whom I see YOU each and every morning…letting me know we are still holding hands through this journey in life. Joy does come in the mornings!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Gin-g….pumpkin bread and now chicken/pimento cheese croissants…I think I have my own personal “meal on wheels” in the form of Gin-g Edwards! Thank you friend so very much! Until our next adventure…

*Speaking of adventures…Brooke and I are heading to Columbia today for Jackson’s birthday…as well as…Betsy’s too. Love any opportunity for us to all get back together…even for only a few hours!

*So glad I will be gone tomorrow when the trash is picked up…my trash can feels like it weighs two tons and I could not have squeezed one more bag of stuff in it if I had tried.

Dear Reader:

One of my favorite local writers has always been the late-great avid sports writer, Ken Burger, who later branched out with his writings authoring my favorite book of his, Baptized in Sweet Tea.

I could and still can relate to so many of the southern expressions he heard growing up from his mother and other relatives. He mentions in the book that every time he left the house his mother yelled out at him “Be Sweet now, ya hear?”

I got a lot of “Be sweet’s” too from mother and grandmother whenever I was leaving to go somewhere, but actually the farewell “warnings” I remember best all started with “Mindful.” As in:

“Becky Lynn…be mindful of your manners or Becky Lynn be mindful of others, or Becky Lynn be mindful of your mouth and only say sweet things.”

The term “mindful” has made a big comeback in the last few years…going from a southern colloquial expression to a new age ideal…now more associated with words like meditation, yoga, self-awareness, living in the moment, etc.

There are hundreds of books, magazines and newspaper columns on the market these days talking about the term “mindful” or “mindfulness” and even more hundreds of institutes, camps, workshops, etc. available for anyone to attend.

My lovely daughter-in-law, Kaitlyn, just wrote her latest blog entry on this term and updated her mother-in-law to the new meanings of the term. She incorporates the term into her graduate class on legal ethics.

I really enjoyed the blog. I love Kaitlyn’s writing style- honest, clear and concise. So I asked her if I could share it with you today so we can all get updated and be “mindful” of our place in this old world…and our contribution to it.

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Dear Reader:

Never have these words (Grateful for Family) rung truer than this past weekend…when the family split up forces/shifts to go in and keep Rutledge and Lachlan while Walsh and Mollie took one last weekend alone… until Eloise makes her appearance in late December and or early January.

Next month is also a benchmark birthday for Walsh so Mollie wanted to include a little birthday celebrating this past weekend, also, since Eloise could arrive on or around dad’s or Uncle Tommy’s birthdays. We will have a lot of “Kringle Dingles” around!

Friday night, the James Island Festival of Lights, had to be altered because John came down with some sort of “yuckiness” and had to turn around and drive back home. With Carrie’s help Mandy and I and the kids continued on with our plans of seeing Mandy’s school Christmas postcard, ride the train through the enchanted forest, drink hot cocoa (and believe me it was hot) and let the children ride the carousel. A beautiful night of wonder.

You enter the park through an enchanted bridge and forest.

The train trip through the enchanted forest is always the highlight of the visit.

Then on to hot sugar cookies and hot chocolate!

The carousel was calling the children (someone just passing by gave Mandy some tickets)…we couldn’t use them all…so we passed them on too!

And then finally we walked along the trail of the “Christmas with a Heart”…theme for the schools’s Christmas Postcard entries this year. We all loved Mandy’s students postcard….emphasizing that the heart of Charleston is the largest and most important piece of our city. *One entry had little gift doors that opened and one had a mirror in it…saying you are the heart of Charleston.

We all slept good Friday night and then Mandy, Eva Cate, and I headed over to Walsh and Mollie’s to start Shift One of the Dingle Weekend. It is with much gratitude that I thank you Mandy and Eva Cate for helping out Saturday morning, afternoon, and evening.

Eva Cate learned quickly you have to learn how to hang with the boys and Poogie the dog!

You learn quickly to keep the boys active for as long as you can so when they drop…they really drop. Both Lachlan and Rutledge fell asleep early…I did have a couple of  midnight and early morning “hiccups” from Lachlan but he managed to go back to sleep after each episode.

At six-thirty the boys were wide awake and ready to start the day Sunday.

Breakfast and then back out to play until re-enforcements arrived in the form of Tommy, Kaitlyn, Atticus and Pip. Go Team Two! Again, they went with the on-going theme….wear those little nephews out!

So there was lots of outdoor time and plenty of running and races before bath time and jammie time!

Tommy and Kaitlyn will drop the boys off at their pre-school this morning and then mommy and daddy will be there when they get home from school. I know they will be so excited.

So until tomorrow….

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

At 8:15 this morning I heard a ping and it was from Kaitlyn and Tommy…they had just finished dropping the boys off at pre-school…happy and safe. Mission accomplished! Way to go Team 2!

Dear Reader:

I never tire of stories that remind us that self-perceived or self-imposed stumbling blocks in our eyes often turn into our most important personal stepping stones.

I have been gone since last Friday….I am helping keep Rutledge and Lachlan, along with other family members, for Walsh and Mollie to take one last weekend together before the baby comes and life changes again for the Dingle family.

Friday night I went to the James Island Festival of Lights with John, Mandy, Carrie and the children to see all the Christmas post cards the schools made this year for the art contest. The lights are beautiful and it is a great way to bring in the Christmas season.

Then Saturday Mandy and I let all the cousins play together at her house before taking the boys back for naps. Tommy and Kaitlyn are taking a shift too over the weekend so it really does take a “village to raise a child…two actually….soon to be three.”

When I came across this unknown story  it once again reminded me of how important it is to use  all the talents we have been given…even the ones we don’t consider assets to ourselves.

“A Stumbling Block Becomes a Stepping Stone”

Arturo Toscanini was one of those people who turned a handicap into a blessing. He was extremely near-sighted and, at nineteen, was playing cello in a small European orchestra. He couldn’t see the music on the stand in front of him, so he had to memorize it.

One day the orchestra leader became ill and young Toscanini was the only member of the orchestra who knew the score from memory. That evening, he conducted the entire program without referring to the music. His performance was flawless. The audience applauded enthusiastically. 

Other chances to conduct followed, and Toscanini was on his way. If he hadn’t been nearsighted, he might have continued playing cello instead of becoming one of the finest conductors in the world.

(Bits and Pieces August 16, 2000) 

*As I return home later today I will get fun photos of the sights and sounds of the weekend together to share with you. Always fun to be with the grandchildren and always fun to come back home to my Happy Home.

So until tomorrow: A teacher asked one of her pupils, “What is the national’s capital?”  The reply was, “Washington, D.C.”

When asked what the “DC” stood for, the pupil added: “Dot.com!”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Speaking of veterans….look at “Big Red” ….that geranium has lived almost a  decade to date and has battled freeze burn, insects, drought and floods…but still beams proudly, not with red poppies but bright red geraniums blooms. My hero! Love ya “Big Red.”

Dear Reader:

How many of you remember the “Where’s Waldo” books? They came out at just the right time for my children growing up…especially the boys. I would give Walsh and Tommy a book for their Christmas time birthdays and it would keep them occupied for hours searching for Waldo.

As time went by the books and pages shrunk and the search grew harder, the U.K. went to “Where’s Wally?” and several spin-offs emerged also…even, to the point, of having yours personalized while family and friends looked for you.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had a game puzzle or book called “Where’s Jesus” and we got to pore through the Holy Land searching for him on page after page. Come to think about it…we do have such an experience.

I love this old story (I found in Bits & Pieces) dating back the year of the millennium. It was simply called “The Messiah is Among You.”

“A monastery fell upon hard times. Where it once was filled with monks and music of God’s praises; it now only housed a handful of old monks shuffling through the cloisters and praying quietly with heavy hearts. 

An old rabbi built a little hut near the monastery where he would go to pray. The monks welcomed him and considered themselves blessed by his presence. 

One day the abbot of the monastery visited the rabbi and poured our his heart to him. The rabbi listened and together they prayed. Then the rabbi spoke:

“You and your brothers are serving God with a heavy heart yet you should be joyous…for The Messiah is among you…he lives with you now.” He then made the abbot promise to tell this only one time to the other monks and never repeat it again.

With great excitement the abbot shared the good news with the other monks….exclaiming, “One of us is the Messiah.”

The monks were startled….what could this mean…Was it Brother John or Thomas…was it me?”

Time passed but this secret had a profound effect on the monastery. The monks began to treat each other with a special reverence. There was a gentle, wholehearted, human quality about them that was immediately noticed. 

Visitors found themselves moved by the life of joy and charity seen within the walls of the monastery. The number of people who came to see the enlightened monks grew stronger year after year. Joyous prayer and song rang out and echoed through its walls. 

No one ever saw the old rabbi again…he never returned but they always felt his presence.

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Wouldn’t our lives change drastically if we heard the Messiah lived in Summerville or anywhere else for that matter? Wouldn’t we all be looking for Jesus like “Searching for Waldo?” We would be on our best behavior not knowing if someone we bumped into might actually be the Messiah? Yes, the rabbi had spoken the truth. Christ in God does live among us…in fact so close to us we can hold His hand whenever we wish.

Today, on 11/11/11, the official date of Veterans Day...don’t we always feel sorrow at the gravestones and markers of men and women who never returned from a war? In our hearts don’t we still look for them among crowds, on buses, in cars or in grocery stores…thinking we see someone who looks just like our loved one for a split second?

Yet, some days we do see our loved one through the actions of a friend or stranger helping us or guiding us. We are all part of the spirit of God and as such we need to look deeper into each other on a daily basis. For God, indeed, does live among us.

Ben concludes his Vietnam story with these comments:

“I’m often asked, “So where is God in all of this?” My answer is the same… that God is where He has always been-right beside you. Should He be busy, He has lots of angels ready to do His bidding. I’ve bumped into a few of them along life’s journey. I also ran into a few of them in Vietnam.”

“I don’t see PTSD as some sort of disease. Rather, in my case, fighting PTSD has opened doors and avenues of personal development that would never have happened otherwise. It may seem like a big price to pay but I know that I’m better as a person because of what I have had to learn about myself and the mysterious way God works. Amen.”

So until tomorrow…”Amen.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Something strange is going on with me and feathers lately. Suddenly they are turning up everywhere…stepping out of my car and (bing!) there is one on the driveway when I step down, or hiding behind some books on a book shelf I am cleaning, or finding a Christmas ornament that apparently disappeared at Christmas and now has reappeared as a clear glass ornament with a beautiful white feather within.

What is going on? I looked up the meaning behind finding feathers and this is what I learned.

“Feathers appear when angels are near.” This line seems to be the most consistent interpretation in my on-going research. My feather-finding experiences, of late, started when I began walking with Vickie and Maggie most afternoons.. I would bend down to pat Maggie or untangle her lease and close by would be a feather…mostly white or ones with blue or gray stripes.

Then Monday night, actually early Tuesday morning, I woke up around 4:00 and was wide awake. So lying there in the dark I made up my mind that this was the day to start cleaning out the computer room with hundreds of books, packed to the hilt, on the shelves. (The last big room from this past summer’s major clean-out.)

Here are some of the bags and boxes I am giving Dr. Linda Karges-Bone at CSU to help her students entering the educational field.

It was while I was dusting and cleaning off shelves that suddenly a little feather would come floating down from the shelf. At first, I didn’t think much about it…but then it started happening over and over. (The only feathers I remember ever having while doing workshops were some I wore in an ”Indian Rain Dance’ I did with children in their social studies classes.) The falling feathers were a mystery to me.

And then I found this Christmas ornament with the feather inside on a book shelf. I dusted off my memory, as well as, the shelf and remembered receiving this ornament that contained a message with it.

The guardian angel feather symbolizes God’s care for his people through the presence of angels. It is written in Psalm 91:11 “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

I have cleaned and cleared out two book cabinets and the computer desk…seven bags and two boxes of stuff removed, a few replaced, dusted and cleaned. The biggest chore is left…the closet of shelves where the vast majority of my books lie….Wish me luck! This project will take two to three days minimum.

*These two book cases were crammed with books and now…after…

My desk computer table and surrounding area had so many books stacked up that I was slowly getting swallowed up by them.

One of the most moving scenes in the movie  Forrest Gump is the beginning and the ending of the movie…when the feather circles Gump implying something new is about to happen in his life and in the closing the feather returns to heaven….the cycle has gone full circle. The Forrest Gump theme song is actually called the Feather Theme or the Feather Song...simple title to a most beautiful song.

Forrest Gump – Feather ending – YouTube

(*Forrest Gump opens and closes with the image of a white feather floating through the air. In the opening, it comes to rest in Forrest’s suitcase. At the end, it flies back up into the air, helping to symbolize the cycle that has now been completed—specifically, the cycle of life and death, and one of new beginnings.)

 Don’t we all love the thought that angels are around us looking after us and some are special ones. guardian angels, assigned to us for important occasions? My brother, Ben, wrote about this in his personal story about his Vietnam experience. He felt their presence on several occasions.

During one battle, he heard a voice telling him to leave the foxhole he was in immediately…(excerpt)

“In the midst of all this, something happened. Suddenly everything around ceased being so loud. I became very calm and felt a ‘presence’ close by. Everything going on around me looked as if it was in slow motion. I ‘heard’ a voice tell me to leave my current position immediately! The tone of the “voice’ was quiet but insistent.

(Seconds later his bomb crater exploded…destroyed by a round of mortars.)

That night Ben, once again, reflected on the “voice” he heard and commented:

“I spent the night thinking about what had transpired during the fight. Recalling the ‘Presence’ gave me a feeling of calmness. I remembered the Voice; it had no distinction. It was neither male nor female and as odd as this will read, the Voice was not “heard” in the usual sense. Instead, I felt the Voice rather than heard it. Was this the nearness of an angel?”

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So until tomorrow…May we all have “Someone to Watch Over Me.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Mollie called me about her friend, Amy, who goes in the hospital next week to start four days of intensive chemo. She asked me about socks, or a knit cap or what did I like. I told her all those ideas were great but our church makes “Prayer Shawls” (Susan Cadwell made and gave me one which I still treasure) and I told her I thought that would be really special.

So I went and picked out a purple one for Mollie since she had mentioned that lymphoma cancer (Amy’s type of cancer) is symbolized by purple. I hope it brings Amy comfort and fast healing to return to her family, husband, and two little adorable tykes.

*Anne and I went to lunch yesterday after meeting at the church to select a prayer shawl. We discussed how each of us have a problem that is going to take an “angel” to help us out.

My problem centered around the commode on the B&B side that has been overflowing when flushed…there was a lot of talk about having to replace the whole thing and rebuild the floor, etc. etc. etc. All I could think was “Not now…not right before the holidays.” But we managed to postpone the major renovation and fix the commode so it flushes properly…now I have to pray it lasts for quite awhile in order to save up for long-term renovations. But still…Whew…thanks Angel!

Then I received this email from Anne…and she had found an angel too at Advanced Auto Parts! Here is her dilemma and solution.

Well, I met yet another angel at Advanced Auto Parts at the end of Bacon’s Bridge Rd.  This angel’s name is Nikki and she showed me where I needed to disconnect the wires serving the lock on the gasoline door.

I cranked the knob and out popped the connection and I was able to open the gas tank door.  I showed her the gas cap and said it wasn’t fitting properly- could she possibly have a replacement? She said it wasn’t likely for a 1999 Mercedes station wagon but she’d check.

She looked it up on the computer and said she hadn’t EVER seen anything like that on the shelf but the computer indicated there was a match. She brought it out and said, “Go ahead and see if it fits, but it isn’t likely.”  It fit perfectly! $12.95, thank God! And I made it to the gas station ⛽️ before I ran out of gas!

Loving those angels!

Dear Reader:

Even if I didn’t teach history…I think I would have figured out, along the way, that teaching students is simply a lesson in helping them remember what they already know.

The quote “History has its eyes on you” comes from lyrics of the 19th song in the block-buster  musical, Hamilton. It speaks volumes about life lessons and how our actions trigger other people’s perceptions about us at each moment in our own personal history of life.

Just remember from here on in history has its eyes on you. 

In the lyrics from this song the actor portraying George Washington is remembering his first fiasco as a commander… as he watched his men get slaughtered and he wonders how those people who knew him then and  witnessed this debacle would perceive him… so matter where the rest of history took him.

Alexander Hamilton has begged Washington for a chance to command men in the American Revolution and finally Washington relents and gives him the leadership post, but somberly warns him that “History has its eyes on him.” 

HAMILTON*** – “History Has Its Eyes on You”, with lyrics – YouTube

If I were teaching a lesson on an historical figure…I would, usually, see bored faces staring down or around the room until I told a story about something that had happened in the historical figure’s life that the students could relate to…that they could remember themselves…sharing the same feelings in a similar situation.

For example: I would tell the students how close George Washington was to his half-brother, Lawrence, fourteen years older than himself. When Lawrence contracted tuberculosis his physician urged him to go to a dry tropical climate to heal his lungs. Since sea travel was hard on its passengers back then Lawrence asked his younger brother George to accompany him leaving behind his wife and young infant daughter.

Unfortunately Lawrence was not cured, instead George Washington developed smallpox which left physical scars on his face. Lawrence only lived about a year more following the trip. But two twists of fate interceded to put Washington where he was destined to be…Mount Vernon’s (Lawrence’s home) went to George Washington, in his will,  since Lawrence’s children/heirs/ all died young. Secondly, George Washington survived the ravages of smallpox epidemics that killed more soldiers than bullets in the upcoming American Revolution. (Since Washington already had the disease previously, he was  immune from it.)

I would stop and ask the students to write down a similar example of when something that started out badly ended up being, surprisingly, the best thing that ever happened to them.

These lessons made the students remember shared feelings and feelings trigger our memory neurons for long-term retention…the students had now built a personal relationship with an historical figure.

From her book Glimpses of Grace (Madeleine ‘ Engle) reminds us that “Plato talks of all learning as remembering.”

“The chief job of the teacher is to help us to remember all that we have forgotten….One of the great sorrows which came to human beings when Adam and Eve left the Garden was the loss of memory, memory of all that God’s children are meant to be.”

“In art, either as creators or participators, we are helped to remember some of the glorious things we have forgotten, and some of the terrible things we are asked to endure, we who are children of God by adoption and grace.”

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

As I was leaving Publix yesterday there was a woman with a dog and a crowd had formed around her….the dog was huge! It was a Newfoundland…all black. The sweetest dog… she had named it “Chewie” for Stars Wars Chewbacca! She told us what you need to know before you adopt one of these dogs is the fact that your electricity bill will double since they have to keep the air-conditioner on most of the year. (The dog was still a puppy…under two years and weighed in at 130 pounds…will be around 200 as a grown adult.Forget electricity…how do you afford to feed “Chewie?”)