Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

I came across a devotional by Quinn Caldwell that made me pause and contemplate man’s on-going search for security through our own  man-made armor and not God’s…it might make us feel safer but usually ends up in a lesson in futility.

“Bird’s Armor”

When the artist Seamus Moran visited the Tower of London, his attention was arrested by a disturbing sight: standing amid the rows of suits of armor for men and horses, a little metal outfit, maybe two and a half feet tall.  A suit of armor made for a child.  Probably it was made for ceremonial purposes, not for battle.  But still: what sort of world so glorifies war and violence that it would dress a child in metal so heavy he could hardly have been able to move?
In response, Moran created Harness: Armour for Birds, now on display not far from the child’s armor.  The ridiculousness of a bird wearing armor is exactly the piece’s point.  At what point do you become so self-protected that you can no longer do the thing you were created to do?  How much protection do you need—and how much can you bear before you stop being able to grow, or fly?

Jesus knew about burdens, the ones the world gives us and the ones we give ourselves.  He knew about harnesses, and yokes.  Don’t put on the heavy armor, he said.  Put on the light armor.  Don’t put on the armor that smells like grease and machines and war.  It might protect you, but it will sink you to the ground.  Instead, put on the armor that feels like feathers on the wind and smells like the sun on a child’s skin.  Don’t put on the world, he said.  Put on me.

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I couldn’t help but think of the David and Goliath story I first heard as a child….I remember being mesmerized by preparations for the encounter…David being placed in armor to the point he could’t stand or move much less fight…it was too heavy for his young, lean body. So he made the decision to remove all the armor and to only arm himself with his slingshot from home with five pebbles. (He ended up only needing one pebble to conquer his foe.)

Today we are armed with nuclear warheads that can cause unimaginable destruction…yet still we hear God tell us quite simply how to prepare for conflict: Ephesians: 6-18 (excerpt)

*(Instead of putting physical armor on ourselves or digging bomb shelters-I remember seeing as a child growing up in the Cold War period-  we turn to God for our help, our protection, against our enemy.)

¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

I remember reading a passage from Helen Keller that said (something to the effect) that there is no such thing as security in this life, the animals know this…but man spends so much of his life on earth consumed by finding it…instead of loving the time spent here with his fellow man.

Leo Tolstoy, also, knew this when he said: “Where love is God is.” When we leave love behind to fight and hate our enemy it is made harder because God has been left out of the equation.

“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love…”

So until tomorrow…Help us all find the faith strength needed to face conflict…which can be mostly avoided if we, also continue to love our fellow man…with no armor needed except God’s.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

For Anne’s birthday we went to Hollow Tree Nursery and got some plants and then lunch at Duke’s in Ridgeville. It was so beautiful outside and we had the best conversation with Lisa (owner). She, too, has had breast cancer and told us how she made herself take up an earlier passion for painting…taking on many of the worn ceramic and stone statues throughout the nursery.

We had both commented on how fresh and bright (all the pretty and creative/cute) signs looked coming down the dirt road into the nursery. Now we knew the answer. She said it helped pull her out of her depression. She looked great and seemed at peace with the world.

Here are some pictures of our trek through the nursery and the fields nearby…with the car loaded up as usual on the way home.

Thought this bench was symbolic of the the good-byes to summer and hello to fall…..watermelon to camellias and pine straw….

What is that superstition about passing a field with bales of hay? Something like…Make a wish and turn away. Hope everyone has a good day today…devoid of conflict.

I am so glad I checked my mail before heading to Charleston because Honey had sent me a Clemson pinky ring and Breast Cancer Clemson insignia for the game…I put them both on before I headed to Mt. Pleasant to babysit!

Eva Cate made me a Christmas ornament for the fight against breast cancer.

Dear Reader:

I was looking at two trees on Country Club Blvd while walking the other day… remembering how breath-taking they were last year. But this year they have’t turned yet. So when I got home I looked up a picture of them (from the blog last year.) It was taken over Thanksgiving weekend. So that explains why they haven’t changed colors. Too early. Now I have something wonderful to look forward to in a few short weeks.

I remember dancing in the streets (literally) when I first saw them in bloom last fall…jiving down the street. The Ya’s can all attest that this is the one thing they remember about us walking to the college cafeteria (down a wide avenue every day our freshman year)…is them walking and me jiving all the way.

Last year I started humming and dancing to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams upon seeing the beauty of the trees. That was the first time the thought entered my head that life should have background music….like one of those “life’s extras” Archibald Rutledge wrote about…

“Happy” (2013) 23 second sample of “Happy”

I believe it was the old Motown song by Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” that got me literally ‘dancing in the streets’ back in my college days. After all Martha told us in the song “All we need is music, sweet music…there’ll be music everywhere…they’ll be swinging, swaying, records playing…dancing in the streets. 

What Martha of the Vandellas was asking for was life background music when we needed it.

Martha & The Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” – YouTube

What if we had all been born with some type of musical jukebox embedded in our DNA that we could switch on and off at our leisure….classical, rock n’ roll, Motown, beach music….you name it you could hear it. And not only could we switch it on and off…it would automatically switch on when we needed to hear something specific at that very moment.

Now let’s think of what a wonderful, beneficial instrument of warning that could provide. For example… I remember skipping Music Appreciation one day (the weather was too nice outside) and the next day we had a pop test on something the professor had said the day before. I was doomed….

But what if I had heard this warning…prior to going in and had a chance to glance over someone else’s notes before class….the warning? (A 25 second famous two note warning from Jaws)

Jaws Theme Song – YouTube

Think how great that warning would be before anything in life that might take us by surprise in a bad way…a child’s report card or the family pet who just consumed your best shoes or your college student who just maxed our his/her credit card….

Another example of how music could inspire us to be successful in an academic or athletic competition perhaps…or even a job interview…would be to listen to a  “GO Get’em kind of tune”  like Johann Strauss’s famous Radetsky March.

Radetzky March  Austrian Johann Strauss’ Radetzky March (1848), which became popular, arranged for the U.S. Marine Corps.

When we are at the movies we know ahead  of time if something is going to be scary, romantic, sweet, violent, funny, sad…by the background music. Can you imagine watching a movie without background music?

Yet in life we must listen to nature’s music or make our own while walking through life (no cheating with headphones.) We have to get to know people through kindness, time, patience and generosity…not waiting for a tune to enter the room to figure out what kind of mood our boss is in that day. (no shark warning)

So until tomorrow …Let us remember what my pocketbook reminds me:  “Some days you have to create your own sunshine” or in this case “we must create our own music.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* I think the music for Nala loving on me would have to be”Good Lovin” by the Young Rascals.

And Mandy’s picture of little Jakie (after his doctor’s appointment on Daniel Island… playing at the park) is “It’s a Beautiful Morning” by the Young Rascals.  

School Halloween Parades and Parties: An album of animal sounds

The Dingle Zoo was there in force, along with Mama Giraffe! (lizards, elephants and giraffes!)

*And don’t forget to look for our beautiful Kristen representing all breast cancer patients tonight at half time during the Clemson game. Lots of pink balloons, determination and hope!

Dear Reader:

Did you know that the first man-made maps ( ever created) dealt with the heavens…the stars, moon, and sun?

Guess what? I learned about it from the twelfth (sadly next to the last -to date) Louise Penny  detective novel in the series. (A Great Reckoning) The mystery in this book deals with an old WWI map. While studying it Commander Armand Gamache asks a fellow professor what he thinks the map is about….

Almost in awe…the professor replies “Maps are magic.”  He then continues with the origin of the name and creation of these instruments of knowledge and direction that most of us dismiss today… replacing them with GPS and other computerized devices.

Professor Charpentier recounts: ” Maps have become so mundane we’ve forgotten how magical they really are. They transport us from one place to another. They illuminate our universe. The first maps were of the heavens, you know. What the ancients could see. Where their gods lived. All cultures mapped the stars. But then they lowered their sights. To the world around them.”

…”All maps are drawn as though looking down. From a bird’s point of view. From their gods’ point of view. Imagine being  the first person to think of that. To be able to wrap their minds around a perspective they’d never seen. And then draw it. Incredible. It became, not only a source for survival, but also a strategic military advantage in war if your side knew the terrain and surroundings better than your enemy.”

“Map comes from mappa mundi. Mappa is latin for napkin and mundi means the world. A napkin with their world on it. The mundane and the magnificence..Map.”

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The title picture is of the famous “Nebra Sky Disc.”  It is the oldest map of the universe-the heavens, sun, moon, and stars….dating back to 1600 BC. Wow!

What is the Nebra Sky Disc?

So what exactly is the Nebra Sky Disc and what was it used for? Many researchers believe  it is the oldest known realistic representation of the cosmos yet found, perhaps a kind of astronomical calculational tool to determine planting and harvest times.  It was used as an advanced astronomical clock. For thousands of years all across northern Europe monuments were aligned to mark the summer and winter solstices, Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, and Newgrane in Ireland, being good examples.

As a history teacher I remember teaching my students the four components of history: Place, Time, People, and Stories. Man’s story on earth always starts with place…long before we arrived on the scene. Then over time (millions of years) man appeared and adapted to the environment in which he was born, his dot on the map, and today we know about these ancient cultures through man’s ability to remember and pass down oral stories…  only later writing stories down. Maps, like the compass,  changed the way explorers discovered new worlds and re-wrote old maps.

For me, the importance of having God in my life is that I know He has the map and He knows the universe from star to star… from molecule to molecule. God is my “Map Master”… whom I trust to lead me through my own personal journey of life…and eventually lead back to the heavenly light from which I came.

Mollie texted me yesterday morning with some sad news that a friend (from a mother support group) of hers  just discovered that a lung tumor, recently removed, had come back showing a rare and aggressive form of lymphoma. She and her husband have a four-year-old and an eighteen month old.

The support group is setting up a prayer time every morning to lift her in prayer…Mollie asked me if I had a special prayer I have used through my cancer journey and I quickly responded that I did and this is it:

So until tomorrow:

Dear God, Hold my hand and guide me

through this unknown journey in my life.

You are my Physician and Healer. Into Your

Care I place my Trust.  

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Mandy’s students just finished their BIG LOWCOUNTRY CHRISTMAS CARD entry for the James Island Christmas Festival of Lights. Go Buist! Great job students!

A

Brotherly love on a Monday morning before school…now that is a miracle! Way to start the week Eva Cate and Jakie!

Dear Reader:

If I could recreate a real-life version of “Groundhog Day” (where, as in the movie, each day repeats itself) I would have chosen yesterday. Does the sky get any bluer than October with temps in the sixties, and the sounds of pre-school classes of children laughing/giggling in Hutchinson Square at all the community decorations for Halloween? I don’t think so.

Come join me on my sojourn through my favorite town…Summerville!

This wonderful community project has been going on so long I can’t even remember the first time it started (at least 25 years ago)…It always ends with the Ghost Walk on Saturday night before Halloween. For years I was situated at a station around the town square telling ghost stories. My favorite was “The Boo Hag of Beidler Swamp.” (a story I created from snippets of different ghost stories I had heard or read as a child and later a teacher.) So many memories….

Then when Mandy first started teaching in our school district, as the art teacher, she always had her students put an entry in each year and won several times…again great memories of this project to raise money for the schools.

This year some of the exhibitions were: Rainbow Ponies,  Fashionista Skeletons, Mexico’s Day of the Dead decorated rocks to circulate, traditional witches stirring their cauldrons, Noah and his animals asking everyone to “Get on the boat,” creative “rakish” scarecrows, upside down pumpkin scarecrows, giant dinosaurs with tutus, Halloween trolls, and social issues like preserving primates with Halloween monkeys….creativity at is best from the community.

Eva Cate is going to be Rainbow Dash from the Rainbow ponies collection for Halloween this year…so when I saw a rainbow pony at the square…particularly one I could easily get into…I had to let Eva Cate know that Boo Boo can be a Rainbow Pony too.

It really was fun and such a beautiful day to walk around. Even riding home it gave me such pride in our town that streets and individual neighborhoods had decorated for fall or Halloween too…Summerville is definitely ‘in the spirit’ this year!

So until tomorrow…Home is where the heart and spirit is (or perhaps spirits)….especially when you find someone forgot their hat! Halloween is getting closer!

More home and  neighborhood pictures…. (Vickie and Luke’s homes)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*And don’t forget! 

Dear Reader:

When Brooke, Jackson, and I went to New York City (five years ago-2012) to see the Broadway Show…The Jersey Boys… we had a ball. We, also, wanted to go see the Twin Towers Memorial Park (Ground Zero) and Museum.

I had braced myself for the fountains and names of those who died on September 11, 2001 but I wasn’t prepared to have an emotional “meltdown” over the Survivor Tree. Before I even knew the history of this amazing tree that survived the “un-survivable” I fell in love with it. I literally stood there mesmerized and I felt the greatest sense of hope flow through me.

I was at my lowest point, both physically and spiritually, having decided to quit chemo and just take a break from treatments when this little tree seemed to beckon me to just ‘hold on’ …something out there was waiting for me. (And it was ….a new drug that kept me stabilized for almost four years!)

I was just coming off my last chemo infusion feeling extremely tired but just seeing this tree and later reading the true remarkable story behind its survival put me in tears of happiness and hope again. I felt like this was my tree and it stood on sacred ground. 

A month after the collapse of the Twin Towers, workers on the site discovered a few green leaves showing through the gray concrete and ash. Clearing the debris, they found a badly injured Callery Pear Tree. She was rescued, taken to a nursery outside the city, and put in the care of Richie, a City Parks Worker. No one was sure if she would live. But the following spring, a dove built a nest in her branches and new green buds appeared.

Over the years, the tree, although still bearing scars, grew tall and strong. She is planted in a place of honor on the 9/11 Memorial Plaza and now known as “The 9/11 Survivor Tree.

What got me thinking about the Survivor Tree again was the cooler weather…it was fall when we first went to New York City. Then yesterday Brooke saw an article on it and sent it to me. The memories came flooding back.

Two years ago Brooke and I visited her son Henry in NYC and returned to the Survivor Tree once again. What a happy reunion!

As I pulled more articles I found a happy surprise! Just last month Charleston was selected to be one of three recipients chosen to be home for the Survivor Tree seedlings. What an honor! (Brooke and I both looked for more information on the planting of these seedlings around Charleston but to date we haven’t discovered any more information…if any of you have more news do send it to me!)

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2017 Survivor Tree Seedling Recipients Announced

Manchester, Charleston and Haiti — three otherwise disparate communities all recently impacted by violence or extreme destruction — have been honored by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum with the offering of Survivor Tree seedlings. The three communities have committed to nurturing these trees to serve as inspiring landmarks symbolizing resiliency and hope.

“The Survivor Tree embodies the strength and resilience demonstrated by our nation after the September 11, 2001, attacks,” 9/11 Memorial & Museum President Alice M. Greenwald said. “The seedlings distributed through this annual program provide hope and the promise of renewal to communities that have endured unimaginable hardship and suffering like Manchester, Charleston and Haiti.”

In Manchester, 22 people, including young adults and children, were killed in a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert. In Charleston, nine parishioners were killed in a shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during evening worship.

In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti, leading to more than 1,000 deaths and causing overwhelming destruction throughout the country. The Embassy of Haiti in Washington, D.C. will accept the Survivor Tree seedling on behalf of its country.

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I can’t think of a more perfect gift to give someone fighting a tough health, financial, career, family, or personal obstacle looming in their path…A seedling from the most famous “Survivor Tree.” Here is a description of it when one of the rescue workers decided it, alone, could be saved…the only tree left.

From beneath ruins, 9/11 rescue workers found an extensively damaged yet still alive Callery pear tree. Its roots and limbs were snapped, trunk blackened by smoldering rubble, yet it was still barely alive.

This tree, a survivor of 9/11 was found in October of 2001 and brought shortly thereafter to the Parks Department’s Arthur Ross Nursery in the Bronx to be replanted. The Callery pear tree was nursed back to health from eight feet tall to 30 feet tall. The tree was returned in 2010 to the National September 11 Memorial and became known as the “Survivor Tree.”

The Survivor Tree is just one symbol of resilience, rebirth, and survival in the face of immense destruction and hate. The tree, which was planted in the 1970’s was charred and mangled, yet bounced back in full healthy form to bloom again every spring.

A short video on the Survivor Tree Seedling Program- really interesting!

The Survivor Tree Seedling Program – YouTube

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So until tomorrow… I had to smile at this card I was sent in the mail. We should move on when we are stuck in a quandary for too long but then, sometimes, someone else helps us move out of a disastrous situation like the Survivor Tree and plants us just where we need to bloom.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

*Thank so many of you for your encouraging words and prayers concerning my new oncologist appointment. It was definitely different and I didn’t see any familiar faces until after my appointment so it felt funny. It will take time to adjust to someone new but the doctor was quite nice and made some changes to my medication treatments that she thinks will improve my low hemoglobin levels/chance for infection before flu season and winter comes around.

I am, also, on a mini-vacation from one of my drugs and then when I return for my next appointment the dosage will be lowered. Hopefully this will prove to be a good path to follow to prevent infection. Again, thank you for your support!

School pictures of the Dingle Bro’s…too precious! Lachlan and Rutledge

Dear Reader:

*Interesting God Wink. I was looking up something on the connection between the season of fall and faith and when I googled the two words …up popped my blog written just a little over a year ago today. I have been having the same thoughts that I had last year at this time during the fall. Strange and wonderful…so here is an excerpt from my post a year ago!

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When I came across this little picture message it really made me pause for a moment. “What if trees really did refuse to let go of their dying leaves?” It reminded me of the little story I shared with you a few weeks ago about “Abigail, the Reluctant Leaf?” In the story Abigail was afraid to let go and fall from the tree because she had heard terrible stories about what happened to these leaves. So she held on for as long as she could and then, one day, like the ‘Family Tree’ had promised her…she didn’t leave until she, herself, willingly let go.

We can all appreciate ‘Aibgail’s reluctance’ to let go of security and everything she knew to fall into something new….a fall frontier. In fact most of us try any and everything we can think of, in our daily lives, to postpone letting go for something new…any type of change. (Even going so far as to “clothespin” ourselves to the past.)

When I came across this little spiritual message it definitely hit home…I believe we do come across the right words we need to hear at the right times, don’t you?

Intellectually we all know statements, like these, are true but emotionally it is, sometimes so hard to do it. Yet, when I look back on my life…I see that the times I did leave my comfort zone and crawled out on the end of the branch and let go,  resulted in the best changes in my life. Faith, Becky….I remind myself over and over….keep the faith!”

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This morning I am meeting my new oncologist…my former oncologist unexpectedly took medical leave, then some family emergencies erupted and now it appears that he is going to retire. It is hard for me to get my head wrapped around this….I never imagined that he would leave the “team” before I did. We forget doctors are human too and have their own personal challenges in life.

I know God will be with me this morning holding my hand as I meet my new oncologist after almost 10 years with my former one. I must keep the Fall Faith and remember that God is in the driver’s seat and He is leading me in the right direction. After all God is the final Physician.

So until tomorrow…Let us remember that Autumn does show us how beautiful it is to let things go, though also so hard…Especially doctors who have been with you from the start of your ‘little c’ journey into a new frontier… until now.

Thank you Dr. Silgals for never giving up on me. You should have been a magician for all the rabbits you have pulled out of a hat to date! And hopefully like your last advice was… I will able to  “keep riding the horse” with my new drug medications.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

***Happy Birthday Joan! I got out the message on my desktop yesterday but don’t think it transferred over to the facebook publications….So let’s continue the birthday with some pink cake…quite appropriate and I don’t know what your secret ingredient is…but you must have found the Fountain of Youth… you look terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

So until tomorrow…Remember we can all learn from the seasons: “Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.“

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I think I have been slowly going through some kind of metamorphosis of late. If you look up the definition for this word the dictionary says: Definition of metamorphosis – (in an insect or amphibian) the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.

Like my insect and amphibian friends…I think I am finally growing up… (from an immature form to an adult form) maturing in my spiritual growth. I am finally starting to let go of being in charge of my life; instead I am observing (with amazement) what happens when we turn the reins back over to our Creator.

I am happier now than ever before…because I can see the difference in self-control and God-control. Let me give you a little example: I always try to give the team members who walk each year some kind of little memento from the race. But in the past couple of years the little souvenirs that used to be in stores for the Race for the Cure have evaporated to the point where it is hard to find small pink accessories that work for adults of both genders. The stores who used to carry items have stopped.

So this year I thought I would order some pink cupcakes and put them in individual containers with pink ribbons as just a little treat to take home.

Publix told me that they couldn’t decorate pink cupcakes with the traditional breast cancer ribbon because it was trademarked. So that meant I would need to order some decorations on line but then I wouldn’t be able to close the containers because everything on line stood up on the cupcake. It just didn’t seem to be working…there must be a reason.

It was starting to get ridiculous….so I ended up getting little Boo Y’all magnets with Thank You support cards and a written message thanking each participant.

Later when I asked Lisa Jones (Race for the Cure Communication Director) what the goodies were they were giving each tent…she said delicious cupcakes! Of course that is why it didn’t work out…we were all getting them anyway! God had already ordered them!

I am finally becoming more conscious of how God is steering us in the right direction on every single facet of our lives but then we decide to hop back in the driver’s seat and get lost all over again.

The most wonderful thing about turning the reins back over to God is the marvelous sensation of feeling freer than we have in a long time. Things will work out and it doesn’t take us planning our lives so tightly that we don’t have time to hardly breathe the fresh air around us, much less spend more time finding all the happy things just waiting to be discovered.

So instead of showing you some of my most recent favorite things…let me show you my happy things that make me smile!

Honey gave me this latest flower vase (she made in her pottery “shop” at home) for the Race for the Cure with all shades of pink in it…add a few flowers and it has made me happy all day today on this rainy Sunday.

I was playing around with colors on my Iphone and suddenly my white moonflower (have one on the fence left over from last year) turned pink with the fence transforming into even a darker pink. Happy!

Look what Jessica made for me (Coastal Produce ) for the Race for the Cure! I told her a little pumpkin she had made for me for breast cancer month lasted three years inside the house…and I had to throw it out a few months ago! So she made me another one…we will see how long it lasts! Happy!

My favorite birthday gift Honey gave me was this metallic angel of light! I have placed it in the hallway between my bedroom and bathroom…the perfect guiding light for those late night/early morning “excursions.”! My angel of light!

Patty Knight and I had a chance to talk yesterday on the phone. Many of you might know that her daughter (and mother to Patty’s three-year-old grandson) Kristen was diagnosed over the summer with breast cancer. This “angel of light” has continued teaching school while undergoing treatments…some of which are very tough on the body…with a smile on her face.

Kristen is one amazing individual and obviously many other people concur because she was just recently selected by Clemson to be their Spirit of the Tiger Honoree for this upcoming game Saturday night against Georgia Tech at Clemson Stadium. What an honor! And it is because this amazing young woman just blows people away with her upbeat personality, strength, perseverance and faith! Her doctors all adore her!

Patty and her family got tickets to the game and Kristen will be recognized for Clemson’s Support of Breast Cancer Month. (Kristen is just praying she will be able to stay for the whole game (8:00 night game) after teaching all week and having treatments on Friday afternoon.) What a gal!

Look at the t-shirt she received for the occasion! “ALL IN FOR KRISTEN!” (And we are…with prayers for our brave girl!)

So until tomorrow…Let’s all try giving it up to God literally…our Creator can handle anything we can’t…so let’s learn to ask for help for small things, as well as, big. It makes our lives run so much smoother and happier!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy Birthday Joan! You get younger every year girl! Please share your secret! Come back soon and visit…we are long overdue for a girl’s shopping day in Summerville!

Dear Reader:

The theme for this year’s Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure was…More Than Pink…and it certainly was! It was sixteen shades of blues, grays, blacks, tans, green, yellows and white. Sixteen family members and close friends who showed up to honor a cause close to my heart…a red heart that keep beating because of my love for everyone yesterday wearing all the different shades that love symbolizes.

*Excuse me…we also had brown….brown for two little dogs, Pip and Atticus, who also came to support the cause with pink bows in their hair! (18 in all!)

Let me back up a day to Friday…Doodle, Lassie and I left Summerville to head to Daniel Island to get settled in Walsh and Mollie’s vacant condo…and there we were met with a lovely surprise! *Walsh had left pink roses, pumpkin muffins, and a sweet note welcoming us to the condo. He had to work yesterday so he couldn’t participate this year but making the condo available to us with pink roses to boot…set the tone for the race!

We soon left to find our tent and start decorating…I say “we” lightly…Lassie and I mostly observed and commented on Doodle’s great ideas on decor and designs. We all worked on trying to get as many names in of those submitted “In honor” or “In memory” as possible and try to remember others off the tops of our heads.)

Another beautiful color we saw early Saturday morning, as we walked to the stadium and our tent, was the sun breaking over the water…a beautiful sense of awe and thanksgiving filled us. We were alive on such a gorgeous day!

The sign  on our team was up and goodies in the form of chocolate cupcakes with fudge icing awaited us…I mean really…who could possibly turn down a 7:30 a.m. cupcake for breakfast? We couldn’t nor the ‘adult’ children and grandchildren who came later. How many chances in life do we have this rare opportunity?

It never fails, does it, that the ones who travel the furthest arrive the earliest! Mike and Honey Burrell, came all the way from Pinnacle Mountain in North Carolina. They picked up their daughter Tarshie in Summerville and came straight on!

Mike and Honey had walked the grueling three day 50 mile walk for MS for eleven years. And this year Honey said they would walk the Race for the Cure with our family!

Now what beautiful color can we possibly imagine that measures up to that gift of friendship? Extraordinary….but then so is the Burrell family!

I loved the back of Tarshie’s t-shirt!A strange coincidence…Tarshie had come hoping to see Wendy of Coach Wendy’s Team and they also had made the top five fundraisers and were located right next to our tent!

The day is really almost a haze for me….between arriving early and setting up for the race, going to the Survivor’s Ceremony, then team picture, and off to the races….it flew by.

Rutledge joined Mike, Honey, Tarshie and myself on our walk on Daniel Island…he came through like a champ…never complained…just kept walking/running.

After the festivities on Daniel Island we all went to Mandy and John’s for a wonderful sit-down breakfast fit for a king and queen….lots of (Race for the Cure) royalty! A Family shout-out to Mollie…Happy Birthday!

Every year for over five years I have met up with Brenda Hollenveck at the Survivors Ceremony. This year was no different. We missed our third trio member, Harriett Edwards, who was in Florida, but it is so reassuring and a relief to see annual anniversary friends again and again!

*A special shout-out for our team captain who keeps us abreast of opportunities, like the team tent, and takes care of picking up t-shirts for everyone. Captain Tommy and Legally Pink!

So until tomorrow…everyday is filled with love…just pick one color and let it radiate joy and happiness for being alive!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*We did reach and succeed our goal…thanks to all of you and three wonderful beneficiaries who donated just at the right time Friday and Saturday. The donations continue through October…and then Legally Pink will have their final outcome to share. We are so happy!

Dear Reader:

*** It is finally here- the RACE FOR THE CURE! And BOO IS HERE! Photos and fun on tomorrow’s blog! We are so close to our goal we could sneeze and slide into home base… so if there is anyone out there who hasn’t donated and would like to…here is the link: You can be the one to take us over the top!!!!

Link: http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/CHS_SouthCarolinaAffiliate?pg=entry&fr_id=6930

Thursday evening as twilight turned to darkness I sat out on the deck staring at the beautiful Confederate Rose. Once again…it had started out the morning with mostly white blooms slowly changing to pink by afternoon. Now in the late afternoon hours the purple shade had finally emerged but only as a closed bloom…it was gone and would fall beneath the tree when I checked Friday morning.

I started thinking about my cancer journey starting two weeks following Mandy’s wedding in May of 2008.

The white blooms reminded me of the reason family and friends were concerned at my appearance at the wedding…I had lost a lot of weight and my skin tone was white…later found out I was severely anemic. Due to chemo infusions it remained that way for awhile but slowly my natural coloring returned and I still remember the day I looked in the mirror and saw me again…not a pale, ghostly face staring back.

Like the traditional white/pink transformation that goes on daily within the Confederate Rose’s blooms…my skin tone did the same…sometimes healthier looking than at other times…depending on the treatment I was undergoing at the time.

And then when my breast cancer came galloping back following surgery in January of 2013 and more infused chemo treatments following that…for the first time I felt how the purple remains of the once vibrant Confederate Rose’s pink bloom must feel. Dried up and withered.

Like the legendary Confederate soldier who is slowly dying of blood loss on a Civil War battlefield (legend of the origin of the name Confederate Rose) I, too, felt drained. But then came a new drug for another type of cancer and miraculously it worked for me until last year around this time. Since then I am on two powerful drugs, one a  daily oral chemo pill, and luckily I am having minimal side effects to date.

So today, while you read this blog, I will be walking, running, and even playing a little football around Daniel Island…caught up in the shared moments of the race with family and close friends. Piling those memories up for the winter days ahead…

Life is a race and not one we want to speed through but to stop and smell the roses along the path.

So until tomorrow….Like the ever changing  Confederate rose blooms…I will remember that the idea is to bloom as brightly for as long as we can…because there is a season for everything.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Mollie gave me this decorative piece of home decor (except it was actually meant for the garden) several years ago… depicting four sides covered with words of hope and encouragement for breast cancer patients. I loved it so much I couldn’t put it in the garden to fade with time….so I put it on my bedside table in my bedroom. Every now and then I turn it completely around so I can read the sides and smile. Great comfort. Thanks Mollie!

Tommy and Kaitlyn and their two little loves…

Dear Reader:

One book that I keep right under the ledge that holds my desktop computer is one of my favorite all-time books…Archibald Rutledge’s little book on Life’s Extras. (This book was once given by Henry Ford to all twenty-five thousand of his employees.)

It is a sweet little (thin) book on the reverie of the blessings of God’s nature that provides us, with not just the necessities of life, food, clothing, shelter, sunlight, air and water but, also, the extras …moonlight, starlight, music through breezes in pine trees, natural art in colors of flowers and leaves and the perfumes from flowers.

Why did God add the extras…not just the necessities to our lives? Rutledge declares:

“Who put them here, and for what purpose? Furthermore, shall we not find, through some stories of personal experience, that the curious see more deeply. I do not presume that my actual living this mortal life has in any way been unique, especially as regards this matter of life’s extras; yet, if I can tell what they have meant to me, I shall perhaps be voicing the experience and the hope of many.”

……………………………….

I pray each day that my voice strikes a chord in others’ conscious state of awareness…enough to be reassured that we are all one and we all entertain, at different intervals, the disappointments, hopes, faith and love that comprise this state of being we call life.

Yesterday morning I decided to grab my Iphone and walk around my neighborhood taking pictures of examples of “Life’s Extras.”

My Boston fern is actually happy for the cooler weather…many of its brown spots (from over exposure to the brutal summer sun’s rays) have faded- wish I could find that magic formula to remove brown spots from my hands. I love this little special spot by my driveway…it makes me smile when I pull in each day.

What a great idea to create a hybrid (Encore) azalea that blooms in two seasons…early spring and later fall. Another smile at its longevity!

I only had one lantana bloom left on my whole “patch” of lantana in the front yard but that is all it took to give nourishment to this one small beautiful butterfly…(reiteration of the lesson on the “little things in life” that create good for the greater things.)

One of my neighbors, Jack, was cleaning up under his gigantic magnolia tree while I was strolling by. We stopped to chat and catch up….haven’t seen him in a long time. His wife, Jean, taught science at Alston Middle School, with me for years.

This magnolia tree is simply magnanimous! I couldn’t even get my head back far enough to take the picture. Jack said it was about six feet tall when he and Jean moved into the neighborhood the same year our family did…1982. And look now….It is the most popular hiding place for their six grandchildren! Case-in-point of life’s little extras becoming life’s greatest extras! We decided to name it “Perpetually Prissy!”

It is always fascinating to me when creativity meets with life’s extras to create another level of fun and enjoyment. Here are some examples: The first two photos were taken at the Sea Cow Eatery on Edisto Island…I stopped by there on my way out last Friday to pick up a barbecue sandwich…love them. They had decorated for their diner and the fall season… everything was so cute and creative!

More neighborhood fall wreaths and fun Halloween ideas for front doors.

My friend Cindy discovered zombies while shopping…some peer educators said they must be retired teachers…I told her…”Old teachers never die… they just zombie away!” (A little historical paraphrase… with apologizes to Gen. Douglas McArthur!)

(Now for my afternoon “life extras” while riding with Vickie on the golf cart to our “neighboring” neighborhood- Tea Farm!) Boo! Who did we see but Mary, our wonderful previous mail lady…she still gets to leave mail for Tea Farm but not for us a neighborhood away at Miler. So sad…but was so happy to see her! Now Mary is a treasured “Life’s Extra!” This “Life’s Extra” can get down ladies and gentleman…she’s got the moves!

Will show some more beautiful images tomorrow and fun decorations that need to be “shot” as darkness falls…but upon returning home from our golf cart tour… Luke, my amazingly wonderful neighbor across the street, asked if I would like him to pressure wash my middle walk-way leading to the front porch.

He had offered a couple of other times and he was serious…he said he was bored and wanted a project. So I told him to “Go for it!” (And he did….Look at before and after! (L to R) * I haven’t seen the walk-way that white and clean since we originally moved in…or even then come to think about it? )

It is like night and day….and Luke didn’t stop there. He climbed up on my roof and blew off tons of  pine straw…and then blew off all the pine straw on my back deck from cleaning the roof. He said he did it because he was bored…but I know better…He did it because he is an amazing young man who likes to help people. That he landed right across the street from me is truly a miracle! I owe you one God. Best Neighbor Award!!!!

So until tomorrow…Luke, it will be a long time before I forget your generosity of time and talents today. You are the epitome of unequaled kindness!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

This afternoon Doodle, Lassie, and I are heading over to Daniel Island to prepare for tomorrow’s Race for the Cure!  We are camping out inside the condo…a girls’ sleep-over. Fun memories will be created and saved in our memory ledgers no doubt! Thanks Walsh and Mollie!

Legally Pink walks for the next generation – our hope…to have no survivors because we have no disease known as breast cancer. Nil, None…Gone! That is our hope for Eva Cate and soon Eloise and all who follow in family and friendship legacy.

We would love to go out with a BANG! So if you would like to donate to our team or myself please use the follow link. Let’s end with a flourish! Thank you for giving and giving and then giving some more.

Link: http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/CHS_SouthCarolinaAffiliate?pg=entry&fr_id=6930