Dear Reader:

I didn’t sleep as well as I thought Monday night because I was still so keyed up…besides I had to try out new dance steps on Dancing with the Stars. 

I have an appointment with my oncologist, Dr. Silgals, next week…it will be interesting to see his perspective on everything that has gone down since he thought out loud…“I think we need to go on and check this out…not wait any longer.” It proved to be a very wise decision.

I thought it was interesting in the title photo (that I took of a Gerber daisy pot I have on one of the benches in the garden) that this fall-colored (reddish-burgundy) Gerber daisy suddenly appeared. Earlier in the summer the only colors popping out of it were pinks, yellows, and oranges. Then suddenly, with the official first day of fall arriving tomorrow morning, this fall color emerges.

It is almost as if the Gerber daisy is privy to the first fall day garden notification party… and it wanted to dress appropriately for the occasion. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze and delight me!

The title for today’s blog I discovered in the latest edition of Azalea Magazine. I was flipping through it, waiting on a prescription, when I saw an article by Susan Frampton titled: “Circling the Sun” and under the title…it read: “The number of trips around the sun may still indicate the years of your life, but who says they have to determine the life in your years.”

Bingo! Exactly what I think…these words couldn’t have appeared at a better time with hope now for some more time “to determine the life in my years.” My hope is that my time is spent well, justifying the oxygen I consume on this earth. My hope and prayer is that I will be ready to follow new paths as instructed by our Creator (Tour Guide)…that I allow myself acceptance to the inevitability of change instead of hiding from it, and stay open to new possibilities and adventures. Now that is a life well-lived.

One constant that I know will never change is my love of reading. It can always take me on new adventures in exotic countries I can only dream about…but most importantly books always hide secret gems inside….one phrase in one passage can change my outlook on life forever.

During this recent (trying waiting period)…it was reading that saved me from my over-active imagination involving the whole gamut of possible outcomes from the surgery… scenarios depicting the worst to the best. Reading is my closest friend and has been since I was young. I can’t imagine going through life without it.

“Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And then – the true meaning of Christmas came through, and the Grinch found the strength of *ten*Grinches, plus two! “

Well, if the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes in a day….then mine must have grown 300 yesterday. Never in my life have I received so many messages of gratitude and thankfulness and joy for the “Clear Margins” surgery report. I was completely overwhelmed all day and evening. I feel stronger today (ten grinches plus two) than ever!

Like the Grinch’s heart stretching…the graph on the number of views (comments) just kept climbing and climbing and climbing. So who says people aren’t interested in good things that happen in life… Or that in order to sell books, movies, newscasts bad things must happen. I agree to disagree because I have seen it happen to me. Thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my heart…I have never felt such love!

So until tomorrow…Love, love, love you back!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy 9 Months Birthday to Caleb…Bee’s (Brooke) little “Boogie Boy! Nine months….time is flying!

*

With summer waning and summer flowers following suit…the garden is definitely in a transition stage….but, also, because of this rather barren state… every flower that does bloom gets its 15 minutes of fame all by itself…and more. The hybrid morning glories are still glorifying the mornings, afternoons and early evenings….just beautiful!

My moon flowers have hung it up I think… but Anne caught the last of the season of her moon flowers over the weekend.

Dear Reader:

Brooke took this picture as we left my surgeon’s office yesterday afternoon. It literally took me several hours to take in the report Dr. Litton gave back to me. I kept pinching myself….a case of reality sprinkled with hope and continued miracles.

I still have breast cancer…the only difference is now I know where it has been ” the past three years” while on my “miracle” medication…in my left breast where it started eight years ago. However the difference is….the margins were clear! This means that the breast cancer is “contained” and has not spread to other areas since starting the new medication. My oncologist and I refer to my medicine as the catalyst that keeps my ‘little c’ at bay. We simply know now that the cancer is literally located there…at the “bay.”

We have come full circle. A medicine, originally, intended for another type of cancer is keeping my breast cancer in check…not completely eliminated…but in check…It has done so for over three years when all other options were gone.  Dr. Litton said to ‘keep on keeping on’ the way I have… enjoying life to the fullest.

I can not begin to thank Brooke enough for accompanying me to this important appointment….she took me to the first surgeon’s appointment that did not go well eight years ago… I was diagnosed immediately with breast cancer and surgery was set up in 24 hours. Brooke said when I walked out, that time, I looked like a “shell-shocked” soldier and all the light had gone out of my eyes.

This time my eyes were lit up and I proudly announced “Clear margins” to Brooke in the waiting room! (Now I have clear eyes and clear margins…grandmother was right about ‘good things happen in threes.’) Two other women, sitting across from us, clapped their hands and one said “Praise God for He is good” while her friend said “Holy Jesus!” Amen to both!

Suddenly I was starving…..it was time to celebrate…we went to Oscars for a beer and h’oeuvres! Best beer I ever tasted and best food…an appetite for life increases when faced with the reality of its fragility!

So bring on Jakie’s and my birthdays next Saturday…a party down day! A celebration of life for us both.

I, once again, enter the ranks of millions of individuals who are living with cancer, thanks to research and modern medicine. Our lives are being extended so as to watch our families grow and share in their ups and downs while love and hope abounds. We race for the cure every minute of every day.

I apologize if I didn’t get back to some of you yesterday afternoon or last night….After letting the children and family know, close friends, neighbors...I hit a wall. I haven’t slept that well lately (hummm…wonder why?) and suddenly I couldn’t keep my eyes open….slept on and off most of the afternoon and evening.

There will never be a doubt in my mind that it was your prayers that kept those margins clear….as Cherry called you…the powerful prayer warriors. Powerful beyond belief! The gift of time, however long, has been extended, again, for me.

The breast cancer and I have learned, somehow, to co-exist, and as long as it continues to stay “put” this relationship continues for, however, long God deems. Each day becomes even more precious… so right now, this very moment,  I am still “in the game called life” and that is all that matters. Batter up! WE hit a homerun yesterday!!

Mev said she found herself humming one of her favorite hymns yesterday morning “Through It All” while saying a prayer for me.” It made her feel better but she wasn’t sure her pups appreciated her “morning voice.” (“Through it all I’ve loved to trust in Jesus, through it all I’ve learned to trust in love.”)

Anne saw a rainbow spread across the sky first thing yesterday morning, as well as, my niece, Carrie, on her way to school…and both thought it was a God Wink in the making. It was!

Pam sent me an illustrated card of a rainbow for good luck.

…And Stephanie sent a super-hero costume picture….I think Rutledge, Captain America, would be jealous if I wore it. After all, I would have a turbo charged tutu! Hard to compete against that…

So until tomorrow…thank you God for tomorrows! My continued goal is to take each one and make the most of it in God’s honor.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Tommy didn’t want to spoil my good news yesterday so he waited until after I had contacted the family with my joyful revelation, to release the sad news that Rudy died yesterday morning.

Life is made up of good and evil, life and death and sometimes, it seems, they balance out in strange, coincidental ways.

While I was winning one more battle in the on-going “Eight Years War” yesterday…Rudy’s fight ended…with honors!

This brave little dog ignored all the vet’s predictions about his cancer and very limited time on earth. He just decided that he wasn’t ready to go any time soon. He wanted to be the ring bearer to present the engagement band to Kaitlyn from Tommy…. the two people he loved most in the world. And he was there! He lived a year past the original prognosis last Labor Day -(being given three or four months tops.)

We always hugged because there was a special bond between us…we were both living with cancer and fighting every day to stay. I, always, sensed that Rudy knew I had cancer and that we were soul mates in the fight against it. Rudy was my canine mentor whose courage, perseverance, and unconditional love knew no bounds or limits. I will miss you my brave comrade-in-fur!

Dear Reader:

Tommy and Kaitlyn came to see me yesterday and we all went to Eva’s for brunch/lunch. It was delicious! I had given Tommy and Kailtyn a gift card to eat there as part of their engagement package.

We got caught up on all the news….Kaitlyn has been hired to be the receptionist at Brook Styles Law firm where Tommy works…( Kaitlyn said she will also be working for Tommy so this will definitely be the first test of their engagement period.) 🙂

Kaitlyn also brought me sunflowers that  enhanced the season of pumpkins (of all kinds) as a table setting… Big bright yellow flowers just add so much sunshine to the room!

Finally the day has come when I will receive some information on what lies ahead. I wouldn’t be human or honest if I said I wasn’t apprehensive and nervous….I am…but the God Wink, the rainbow the other night, felt like a covenant between me and God…He might not promise to make everything all right when I want it to be all right…but He does promise to be with me, hold my hand, and in the end, reassure me… it will turn out all right.

My appointment today is at 1:30….my adorable Brookie is coming to go with me. She didn’t want me going alone…I love you Brooke!

Yesterday afternoon, before Tommy and Kaitlyn left, they commented on the number of cards I had received and I replied, “Yes…I am very blessed.” So after they left I re-read them and realized that God was speaking to me through so many of them….Let me share a few with you, along with some email messages/ pictures (you sent) that were right on target too.

Lines of Encouragement

“Trust in your faith to get you through this…and trust in our Heavenly Father to be there for you.”

“There’s an angel watching over you…to keep you safe and always light your way-for you’re someone very special who means more than words can say.”

“Hoping you know how much you’re capable of. Not even this is a match for the amazing likes of you.”

“There are things only you can do, (and you are alive to do them) in the great Orchestra we call life (You have an instrument and a song.) …And you owe it to God to play them both sublimely.”

“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.”

“Whatever comes your way today-circumstances around you or feelings within you…Praying you’ll be certain of God’s still, small voice saying, “You are Mine…I love you…and I’ll never let you go.“

So until tomorrow…Armed with these heavenly messages and all my “spiritually scripted” jewelry and good luck charms…I will have all the protection I need to “Be still and know that You are God” while the surgeon talks to me. After all he is one of your blessed instruments through which all healing begins.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy Birthday Lassie! To the gal with new “sights” on the horizon!!!

Delight of the Day:

Dear Reader:

Before coming across this message one day….I am not sure I would have ever put gratitude and fear together in the same thought-wave. They, not only, don’t match as synonyms, they actually feel more polarized …like antonyms.

So I pulled up some articles on this strange combination of words and the light began to dawn. These particular lines, in one article by Robbins, got me thinking on the right track:

In order for each of us to recognize the special gift of life we have been given, writing, painting, making friends easily, numbers, words, problem-solving, teaching, building, engineering, conversing, growing plants, caring for animals, caring for others, nursing, etc. we must be filled with gratitude for our gift.

“Because, the moment in which you start thinking about gratitude, that is when you start seeing what you have rather than what you lack.”

In other words we start seeing the “abundance” of gifts we have been given to carry with us along our individuals paths. We are to share these gifts with others because everyone we meet through life is suppose to happen. Either the other person is there to help us, along a slump in our own life, or we are there to help the other person through a similar difficult period.

“People who need people truly are the happiest people in the world.” They are grateful to be sharing life with others. They embrace strangers rather than fear them and this opens up a whole new world of opportunities to grow outwardly and within.

So until tomorrow….By giving thanks and grateful praise to God throughout our lives and then sharing our special blessings bestowed upon us, in the form of individualized gifts, we overcome fear and open up the portal to our dreams.

“Today is my favorite day.” Winnie the Pooh

Brooke’s little grandson, Caleb, a.k.a “Boogie” is playing at Edisto Beach, staying at Ted and Bee’s beach home with Veronica’s family. Rolls are so cute on little babies…wish they stayed that way on older seniors. Keep smiling precious Caleb.

*Honey reminded me the other day, after seeing the image of the rainbow in my back yard, that the first time she took me to St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope a rainbow spread across the sky as we started back around the mountain. I think the rainbow, the other evening, was a special God Wink. All is right in the universe and all is right with you. “It is well, it is well in my soul.”

* I am grateful for all your support thus far in the Race for the Cure.…eight years and still able to participate….so grateful for life and watching my family grow.

Eva Cate in the 2012 Race for the Cure….she hasn’t missed one yet!

***RACE FOR THE CURE – Saturday, 10/15/16.  Gates open at 7:00.  Participate in a morning filled with hope, love and strength as we lace up to run breast cancer out of town!

http://lowcountry.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/CHS_LowcountryAffiliate?px=13398752&pg=personal&fr_id=6459

To mail in a donation, please make checks payable to:
Susan G. Komen® Lowcountry
50 Folly Road Blvd. | Charleston, SC 29407
Phone: (843) 556-8011
Email: [email protected]

* Finally…I was able to actually breathe during a Clemson game this season! Where have you been Clemson Tigers…I have missed you the last two games?….But yesterday you came roaring back and I thoroughly enjoyed eating popcorn and watching you play! Thanks for returning your spirit back into your bodies again and letting them perform all the magic we have come to love. Please don’t leave again, okay?

Dear Reader:

Kaitlyn sent me this message Friday and I had to read it a couple of times for the meaning to become ingrained. When it came to the part of “Reject the brutal, reject the beauty” I paused..I can’t reject beauty? And then I re-phrased it as “If we reject the brutality of life, then we also reject its beauty.” I got it! We can’t have one without the other. Great metaphor of interconnectedness.

Life happens for us…not to us.

If we go through tough times….it is because we are being strengthened in our faith and love for those exhilarating, wonderful days ahead. Too many blue sky, sun-shiny days and we find ourselves taking them for granted…even bored with them. If life were too easy…we would never have a chance to reveal our true character hidden under societal expectations.. We could live under a pleasant-looking mask for the duration of our earthly stay.

What a great sense of accomplishment it is to struggle, then find our footing in faith before slipping and falling! And even falling is sometimes a good thing.

Think about Alice in Wonderland for example:

Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other. Eric Burdon

The way I look at this latest health “conflict” is that hopefully this particular battle is over…I would be gratefully relieved if that happens. However, I know that the war against my invisible, formidable enemy will most likely continue. It is a matter of ending one battle and staying alert to the next or continuing the fight within this latest discovered battle site….knowing that eventually love will win out. It always does.

Let me take a minute to thank all of you for your cards, calls, emails, comments, texts, and stop-by’s. I know your prayers have yielded much power and that I do not go alone into this unknown diagnosis but I am armed with your concern and caring. The most powerful weapons.

I was thrilled when the doorbell rang late yesterday afternoon…there stood Jo and Colby…my favorite grandmother/granddaughter twosome. They arrived bearing early birthday gifts since they would be out of town next weekend.

A “Boo,” a pumpkin pillow, the best wish card from Winnie, and look at this necklace and bracelet….two more “winks” to wear next Monday. A “What Cancer Cannot Do ” bracelet (my favorite lines are ‘invade the soul”  and “kill the human spirit.”) And look what this beautiful necklace symbolizes. Jo and Colby you spoil me to death and I love it!!!!! And You!!!!!!!!!!!

Susan Swicegood, Kaitlyn’s mother, sent me (yesterday) a wonderful anecdote inclusive of today’s blog message….here is an excerpt from her comment.

Becky,

I learn so much every time I read your messages. They inspire me to look beyond my own pain and worry and remember there is still much beauty and joy to be had.

When I was learning to drive my dad would say 10 times a trip, Susan, don’t hold the wheel so tightly, if you give it a little slack it will be much easier to steer. He also turned off the radio and forbade me to wave or blow the horn (which was my favorite thing to do) concentrate on where you are going, he would say. I did learn to drive a stick shift and that really made me pay attention.

Even though I tried to do all those things there were rocks in the road to try to go around, or detours from the only way I knew to go. I’ve been lost so many times it ridiculous. Now we have GPS to help us navigate and cell phones to call for help. I now have a back-up monitor that blares at me if I’m about to hit something. It mostly just makes me nervous.

I have learned that even though you plan and pay attention life takes you in a different direction. Things appear that you never expected. However there are still beautiful mountains and sunsets to enjoy. Friends to accompany you on many of your journeys and God sitting right next to you even if it doesn’t always feel like it.

………………………

*I see now where Kaitlyn gets her gift for writing. Susan, you are so talented! Thank you for taking the time to share your life experiences, literally, and metaphorically. Perfect message for today! So glad we are all family now.

So until tomorrow….Let us all “Embrace life, with all its up’s and down’s, then live well and hard and real.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Monday afternoon I am wearing my cross bracelet, my dolphins bracelet, my what ‘cancer cannot do, my faith can move mountains ‘necklace and my moon flower pin for good luck.

I wore them Friday for my second eye surgery check-up and I can see so clearly…long distance and up-close and personal… that it is almost scary. Dr. Scarlett was beaming she was so pleased….two great eye surgery outcomes….hoping the old adage, “Good things come in three’s holds out Monday for me.”

Dear Reader:

Isn’t it strange how you can hear or read something and you nod but move on….and then later in life find yourself identifying with every verse written? That happened to me when I came across the poem “Slow Me Down Lord.” I remember putting it on the blog a few years ago and smiling to myself about the truth behind it…but this time I felt my soul was reading it aloud to me.

Slow Me Down Lord

Submitted By: Wordwind

Slow me down Lord
Ease the pounding of my heart
by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace
with a vision of the eternal march of time.
Give me amid the confusion of the day,
the calmness of the eternal hills.

Break the tension of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of the singing streams
that live in my memory.

Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking MINUTE vacations,
Of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend,
to pat a dog,
to read a few lines of a good book.

Slow me down Lord
and inspire me to send my roots
deep into the soil of life’s enduring values
that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.

Author: Wilfred A. Peterson

…………………………………

The poem is right where I am now :“Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams
that live in my memory” reminds me of the little spring behind St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope….what wonderful memories I associate with its soothing sounds streaming over rocks and stones. 

Brooke, you would have been jealous….all those troublesome barrels on Highway 61 were gone and a freshly tarred road took us to the eye surgery center. We did see a few trees down but someone must have been out early moving them onto the side of the highway. It was “Clear Sailing”….and even tropical depression “Julia” cooperated by vacating the coast so we had a nice dry trip to and from the surgery center.

This time the only obstacle was Anne’s car, itself, that we nicknamed Contrary for the elite group of Plains Indians who lived their lives backwards. If they were told to ‘come here’….they walked away, hot meant cold, speak up mean be silent…their whole lives were spent doing just the opposite of what the situation required.

Anne’s “Contrary” car we think might be dyslexic…she went to push her seat back and it threw her forward against the steering wheel, her visor keeps falling down blocking her vision, her roof upholstery is falling down, rolled down windows roll back up….you get it. A crazy ride to and from the surgery center.

I was the first one there, got called back, and was in surgery before eight this time….it was 9:00 on the dot when we walked back in the house. We ate a very early brunch/lunch with turkey and ham sandwiches and then I walked outside to speak to my neighbor, Vickie and tell Anne good-bye. Look at Vickie’s and my rose bush….fourth blooming this year.

So until tomorrow…Anne said she knew everything would be okay yesterday when she read this line of scripture from her daily devotional for me: My God Wink for the Day (or so I thought)

Psalm 36:9  For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

*God wasn’t through with me and God Winks about Light. Last night, on a “whim” (a little after 7:00) I went outside and was immediately drawn by the most unusual but intoxicatingly beautiful sunset filled with pinks and oranges.

I, then, looked up and there was a rainbow-(God’s promise to me that He is with me all the time)….two minutes later it was gone…but I saw it and then all kinds of beautiful lights began popping  as I snapped photos of God’s Light while a soft rain (that came out of nowhere) fell on me. “In Your Light, we see Light.”

It is  God’s rainbow telling me (like the dolphin earlier) that all is well with the world….and everything is just as it should be.

What had originally caught my attention was the way the fading sunlight was catching certain branches on the towering tall pines and setting one branch aglow on each tree….like gold….like this:

*Yesterday, upon returning from eye surgery I saw where I had a recording from my surgeon’s office reminding me of my appointment Monday at 1:30. So it looks like that is how I will learn the results of the surgery/pathology report. Just wanted to let you know.

Dear Reader:

The other day I came across an excerpt from the book Time and the Soul by Jacob Needleman. It made me stop, pause, and ponder. I love those moments…it is like God leads us to the inspirational thought and then waters and plants it within us.

Here is an excerpt from his book. I had to stop and re-read it several times and underline passages in my mind.

Some years ago, I was walking downtown San Francisco with a great friend and a learned Tibetan scholar. I asked him about one of the most striking ways that the Tibetans express the uniqueness of the human condition.

Imagine, they say, that deep in the vast ocean there swims a great and ancient turtle who surfaces for air once every hundred years. Imagine further that floating somewhere in the ocean is a single ox-yoke carried here and there by random waves and currents. What are the chances that when the turtle surfaces, his head will happen to emerge precisely through the center of the ox-yoke? That is how rare it is to be born as a human being!

In the middle of our conversation, I pointed to the crowds of men and women rushing by on the street and I gestured in a way to indicate not only them, but all the thousands and millions of people rushing around in the world. “Tell me, Lobsang,” I said, “if it is so rare to be born a human being, how come there are so many people in the world?”

My friend slowed his pace and then stopped. He waited for a moment, taking in my question. I remember suddenly being able to hear, as though for the first time, the loud and frenetic traffic all around us. He looked at me and very quietly replied, “How many human beings do you see?”

In a flash, I understood the meaning of the story and the idea. Most of the people I was seeing, in the inner state they were in at that moment, were not really people at all. Most were what the Tibetans call “hungry ghosts.” They did not really exist.

They were not really *there*. They were *busy*, they were *in a hurry*. They — like all of us — were obsessed with doing things *right away*. But *right away* is the opposite of *now* — the opposite of the lived present moment in which the passing of time no longer tyrannizes us.

The hungry ghosts are starved for “more” time; but the more time we hungry ghosts get, the more time we “save”, the hungrier we become, the less we actually *live*. And I understood that it is not exactly more time, more days and years, that we are starved for, it is the present moment. “Right Away” is not “Now.”

…………………………..

From a short synopsis on Needleman’s book….I found the following quote and have written it on a piece of paper where I can see it each morning at the computer.

“Needleman shows how we can understand what our days are for. It’s this understanding that allows time to finally begin to “breathe” in our lives.”

That last line really hit home…I think I mentioned in an earlier blog recently that I didn’t realize I held my breath so much when subjected to a conflict situation or even a holding time in my life… like now. Every time the phone has rung…my heart  has started pounding and I have literally held my breath.

So when I “accidentally” found this line of scripture…“He has made everything beautiful in its time” I found myself releasing a lot of pent-up nervousness and then began concentrating on just how nice this moment of discovery has been…finding  a  “verse” that reminds me God comes “first.” He is taking care of me in His own good time.

While you are reading this today I will have (most likely) already finished my second eye/cataract surgery and will be snoozing away in my Lazy-Boy chair. Not sure what hurricane/tropical weather and my surgeries have in common...except they keep happening on the same day! (Hermine and Julia!) Thank you Anne, so much, for driving!

*One month from the day the Boo and friends will be gladly walking one more time to “run cancer out of town” and hopefully out of  me! Legally Pink would appreciate your assistance in the form of donations to help us reach our goal and go over this year.

***RACE FOR THE CURE – Saturday, 10/15/16.  Gates open at 7:00.  Participate in a morning filled with hope, love and strength as we lace up to run breast cancer out of town!

http://lowcountry.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/CHS_LowcountryAffiliate?px=13398752&pg=personal&fr_id=6459

To mail in a donation, please make checks payable to:
Susan G. Komen® Lowcountry
50 Folly Road Blvd. | Charleston, SC 29407
Phone: (843) 556-8011
Email: [email protected]

Anne brought me a lollipop surcie back from Maine….a lobster sucker. She said her granddaddy used to get these barley pops for all the siblings when she was small….shaped as different indigenous animals.

Delights of the Day: Here are some beauties that just keep on making me smile on my deck, fence, and garden!

Dear Reader:

Yesterday I was surfing the net looking at Autumn pictures when I came across this photograph and felt hauntingly homesick…for childhood again. How many of you remember singing “Down by the Old Mill Stream” when you were young? It was a camp favorite to sing around campfires and social gatherings.

As soon as I saw this photo I started humming it, trying to remember the lyrics, and the fun responses to each lyrical line.

“Down by the old ” (not the new but the old)

Mill Stream (not the river but the stream)

Where I first (not the second but the first)

Met you (not me but you)

You were sixteen (not seventeen but sixteen)

My village queen (not the king but the queen)

Down by the old (not the new but the old)

Mill Stream (not the river but the stream)

…………………………

It appears looking through several renditions of the folk song…that lyrical changes and added stanzas can be found throughout the history of the song (written in 1908.) It became the most popular song sung by Barbershop Quartets harmonizing the refrains.

Isn’t it funny how one image or a stanza of music can whisk you through time to a particular moment? I believe that these are the moments that helped define and guide our lives…the best of life.

This is a fun social version of this song….with lots of personality!

Down by the Old Mill Stream – YouTube

It slowly dawned on me yesterday that tomorrow will be the official middle of September! What happened? It can’t be! All these unexpected medical detours have sent me scurrying around and I have basically missed half my favorite month. This has got to stop…and I am the only one who can stop it. It is time to return to the path of September with all its beauty and promise of fall.

So eye surgery or not (tomorrow)….I plan to make the most of this day and every day left in the month before my next favorite month arrives. I might be a little late….but “Hello September”…I have missed you!

(Officially) Fall arrives just before my birthday. I always looked on it as my favorite birthday present. The arrival of Autumn with all its senses of smell, sights, sounds, touch, and taste at the forefront of life! Bring it on!

Since Brooke will be occupied recouping from her first eye (cataract/lens) surgery today and follow-up visit tomorrow…Anne (who just flew in from Maine Tuesday) is planning on spending the night on the B&B side and taking me for, hopefully, the last medical procedure for awhile. Thank you God for giving friends!

So until tomorrow….( Still no news but I am busy baking cookies for our return this afternoon to DSS….it will lift my spirits higher than the eagles….never fails not to)

Walsh sent me the “Dingle Bro’s” motivational thoughts on life and courage. I will smile all the way through this last eye procedure.

Rutledge:

“BE BRAVE BOO

BOO…LIKE CAPTAIN

AMERICA”!

Lachlan: (1) “When it comes to this whole life, grip it and rip it.”

Lachlan: (2) “Life is like a cup of pudding; It’s messy, but worth it.”

Dear Reader:

The Ya’s tease me all the time about getting up and being dressed when I walk out in the morning at our retreats. Believe me, it has not always been that way. I could lounge around in pj’s or a gown and bathrobe with the best of ’em but all that changed after the initial diagnosis of “little c.”

Suddenly I became more aware of ‘tempus fugit’ and wanted to be ‘up and at’em’ every single morning. “This is the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” is my first conscious thought when I awake. The second one is: Choose joy!

We all have this simple choice each and every day of our lives…we can choose to see the half-empty glass and bemoan the fact that we don’t have this or that like someone else we might know in life. Or we can count our blessings for what we do have. And every Ya last week said the same thing at different times: “Life today, even with health issues that were not there in younger days…is still the best time of my life…hands down.” And it is for all of us.

Mother instilled this in me and she definitely got it from her mother….that until the day you die (and maybe even then) get up, get dressed, even if you are going nowhere. It shows the world that you still care about yourself, take pride in your life, and want to put the best face forward that is possible in your unique situation.

I was away at Erskine when Grandmother fell in the tub at my Aunt Eva’s and the sad conclusion was that she needed more help than mother, my aunt, or two uncles could provide. Mother sent me a picture of her last birthday taken at the “home” and I wept. Grandmother had already gone for all intents and purposes…she would never have greeted family for a special occasion in her gown and robe. 

There is something psychologically empowering by simply being dressed each day…no matter what is going on…or not.

I found an article by a young mother who discovered the same thing. When she had been working at home, when still single, she could have cared less about anyone finding her in bedclothes, old tattered robes, or gym clothes that need a shower worse than her.

Then came marriage and two small children. One night their four-month- old decided to party every hour on the hour all night and the realization hit her the next day that she was waving a white flag in front of her…something had to change and she was the only option left. Here are excerpts from the article titled:

Spending the day in your pajamas can really do a number on your mood. * Nicole Fabian-Weber

…I’ve recently realized that if I don’t get dressed in the morning (and I mean actually dressed, not cute-yoga-pants dressed), I wind up having a horrible day.

Alright, so I might be a little hyperbolic in saying “horrible,” but if I stay in my pajamas all day, it sets a truly bad tone. Same if I don’t wash my face. Or brush my teeth. Or run a brush through my hair and maybe throw on some mascara and fill my eyebrows in. Most of the time the only people who see me are my husband, my kids, the babysitter, and anyone I encounter while running errands. But you know what? Doesn’t matter. I’ve come to learn that if I look bad, I feel worse.

I didn’t realize just how true this theory was until a few days ago when I didn’t bother to change out of my pajamas one morning. It was a particularly wild night with my 4-month-old son, who seems to be under the impression that he, my husband, and I should hang out every hour and a half on the dot starting at around 11 p.m. When I got out of bed to start my day, I was so out of it that I kept my jammies on. Then my 2-and-1/2-year-old daughter woke up. Then my son woke up. Then my daughter had approximately nine tantrums. Then I ran out of coffee. Then, then, then, then. It was one of those mornings where I couldn’t find the time to go to the bathroom, let alone put clothes on.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, things had settled down, but I still felt kind of … ick. I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror and I looked terrible. Not terrible in the way that women often shame themselves for looking, terrible in the sense that I looked like I had just emerged from a yearlong stay in the forest. My hair was in a half-bun type of thing that I clearly did without looking. I still had my glasses on. And I was in the breast-milk-stained pajamas from the previous night.

Had I really not had five minutes to put something on? Surely, I did. After all, I wiped down my countertops and emptied the dishwasher. Also, I was holed up in my room working for a few hours. Why didn’t I get dressed then? My closet was directly in front of me.

Now clearly, putting on a pair of proper pants in the morning isn’t the magic antidote for all of life’s problems. But, when you’re a frazzled parent with practically no time to yourself, it helps. A lot. To me, getting dressed makes it feel like I’ve carved out the tiniest bit of time for myself. It shows that even though my life is so not about me these days, I haven’t completely forgotten about myself.

In the years to come, I’ll have more time to focus on myself and maybe getting dressed every day won’t be such a priority to me anymore. But, until then, I’ll be reaching for a pair of jeans and top, even if I can’t remember the last time they got washed.

…………………………..

One of the funniest episodes that happened at Edisto last week occurred while running errands with Libby one afternoon….on the passenger side (before I even got in) the belt buckle buzzer kept going off. What is causing that ….I asked?

(A direct quote from Libby) “Because my pocketbook is so heavy, the car safety system perceives it as an unbuckled passenger and beeps until I strap it in!!!!!!”)

You know your pocketbook is too heavy when…

As much as we give Libby grief about her mammoth pocketbook…we have all benefited from its contents….If you need anything from a screwdriver (the mechanical kind) to a particular type of band aid to sugar packets or filters for coffee….she has it. If a nuclear bomb drops and I am still alive I am heading to Libby’s….have the best chance of surviving longer there with her and her pocketbook than anywhere else on earth (Love ya Libby!)

No news yesterday back from the lab so life goes on….quite wonderfully actually.

So until tomorrow….If we can’t get dressed….at least let’s put on a smile.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

“Let’s hear it for the lefties this week….first Brooke gets her left eye cataract removed and then Thursday I follow with my left…for me this finishes up a whirlwind four weeks of two eye surgeries, a needle biopsy, and breast cancer surgery. My head is still spinning. Hopefully it will start winding down. Love you Brookie….good luck tomorrow…it goes fast!

Dear Reader:

The first thing we all noticed this time at Edisto (as we got settled into each of our “prescribed” porch chairs) was the appearance of lots of lovely, delicate-looking yellow butterflies. Since the skies were so blue their fluttering yellow wings against the azure firmament delighted us all.

We wondered if they were monarchs but they didn’t look like pictures of the ones we see every year heading to Mexico, still they did look like they were on an odyssey of sorts among their own species.

The fun thing was seeing a yellow butterfly along the shoreline…nature at its best. In the afternoons their flutterings made my own eyes flutter closed. I would day dream about the possibility of riding one of those fragile and delicate butterflies high into the azure.What a sense of beauty, peace, and freedom would surely prevail!

Actually this specific butterfly emerges in May when the soil grows warm and again in September for one last “romp” before the air grows cooler. They are called: “Cloudless Sulphur Butterflies.”  Here are a few interesting tidbits about them:

*Cloudless sulphur butterflies are common along the Coastal Plain from Florida to Canada. They actually stay here, and reproduce here, during the spring and summer, but they are most apparent now because they’re migrating — “just like the monarch,” Stickney said, “but not as far and not in such big numbers.”

*These sulphurs migrate a few at a time, Stickney said, and unlike the monarchs (who fly all the way to Mexico and Central America), they’ll only journey as far as Florida and the upper Caribbean area. They take their time; Stickney has seen cloudless sulphurs in eastern North Carolina as late as December.

Upon leaving Edisto Saturday afternoon I stopped at King’s Market to pick up tomatoes for my neighbor mail-picker-upper and family members. They were not low-country but vine-grown mountain tomatoes….delicious!

While I was checking out the clerk asked me if I had a good visit and I replied that it had been “one of the best.” In the conversation I mentioned how beautiful the yellow butterflies were but that the love bugs were pretty annoying on the porch this time.

Another case of the rose and the thorn she responded. When she saw my puzzled face she said that the “black flies” follow the migration of the yellow butterflies…they appear at the same time this time of year.

She asked if the house I was staying in had a white porch. I told her it did….she said that made it worse because  “love bugs” (alias “black flies”) were attracted to white…and to cars. She was right on both accounts. By the time I got back in my car swarms of love bugs covered my side and front windshield. Some of them didn’t even blow off until I got back on Highway 17 and could pick up speed.

After reading the information on both the yellow butterfly and love bug it was evident that the black flies weren’t following the migratory path of the butterfly…they just hatched this time of year and it coincided with the migratory cloudless sulphur butterflies.

(But it is true that for everything beautiful and good on Earth….come life forms that are not so beautiful; just downright annoying.)

I revealed a deep secret I had been harboring for several months  to the Ya’s (amid much laughter) during the “Porch Party” Wednesday night. Last winter or early spring Anne and I got our courage up and met with our pastor, Jeff,  picked out a place in our church Memorial Garden, and then went together to Parks Funeral Home to fill out papers revealing wishes for funeral arrangements.

One of the questions asked for the age at death...since I was hurrying to get through the paperwork and leave (funeral homes give me the heebie jeebies)….I wrote down my present age and then finished filling out the rest.

We left and went to Oscars to celebrate our courage in getting this done and talked about how nice it was to have a friend accompany us and not have to go by ourselves. Anne casually mentioned the question about the age at the time of death and she said she almost blew it by writing her present age down.

At first I chuckled at Anne’s mistake and then suddenly stopped laughing. I could visually see myself writing my present age down for the blank…without a second glance. Immediately I felt like I had put a curse on myself or something.

So Wednesday evening, while they were all laughing and saying ‘On no…you didn’t” I told them I would be so happy on the 24th for the numbers to change to get the “self-inflicted” curse off my back.

So until tomorrow…Please let us remember that diversity, not similarities, make us stronger and more tolerant.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*My garden is slowly starting to shut down for the summer but a few summer flowers are still singing their “swan song” quite beautifully! Can hardly wait to fill it now with beautiful mums!