Dear Reader:

If I had anywhere in the world I could have chosen to be for one of those “waiting places” in life…it was Edisto Beach with the Ya’s! The five day retreat flew too quickly but it was, definitely, the remedy for the “little c” blues. In fact the only “blues” that were visible were the different shades in the sky each day….hardly a cloud dared interfere with the daily blue beauty of the mortal vision of the majesty of God’s Creation ceiling.

Brooke told us one day (on the front porch) that while talking to her eye surgeon, after filling out all the medical and personal required forms… she commented about her aging eyes:  “I’m just too young to be this old.” The doctor graciously agreed! It became our mantra for the week.

(Last week passed without a call concerning the results of the surgery and pathology report. I was actually glad…this retreat was so extra special that I certainly didn’t want any last minute dark cloud  casting shadows on the magical time spent together. And we are only a telephone call or text away from happy news too!)

I imagine I will hear something back Monday or Tuesday and will certainly keep everyone updated. Right now I am unpacking, running back and forth to the television to watch the Clemson game (Tigers…you are making this way too hard on yourselves and my nerves...Let’s Go…WHEW Pulled it out Again!) and now just relaxing and remembering all the fun in the sun this past week.

It is hard to see ourselves aging isn’t it? Even when different parts of us start misbehaving…we just keep thinking we need a quick oil change and we’ll be back on the road again…as good as ever. We all are still moving ahead…though, sometimes, not as quickly as we did before the engine problems. But with older friends (and a history) we still see ourselves as those young gals we were when we first met…our outer shell is simply better at hiding our youthful souls.

I still get tickled remembering when Grandmother Wilson returned for a college (Women’s Erskine College) reunion when she was 85. When mother, later, asked her how it went, she began sputtering that hardly any body even bothered to show up and how rude she thought that was. (She, obviously, didn’t get the fact that they were dead which was a pretty good excuse for missing it.)

She then went on complaining that the handful of women who did appear looked terrible….”They were so OLD” Grandmother dramatically cried out. “I’m not going to another one of those things again…downright depressing.” (And she didn’t!)

With so much going on around the time of my actual birthday (Sept 24) the Ya’s decided to use this retreat for a Boo Birthday…it was amazing….when I told them that they spoiled me too much….they simply replied “So...you got a beef about it or something?” I did not.

Here are some photos from the porch party! It all started with this adorable jacket Brookie got me….and I wore it out when we went to a new restaurant on the island Friday night.

Then came a (Libby) electric pumpkin (that we kept lit on the porch every night for a little ambiance.) And an adorable Boo sign that I brought home and put on the dining room mirror.

Jackson gave me this beautiful decorated plate that says it all about friendship.…I might use it to ‘house’ two pieces of jewelry from Brooke and Libby.

Brooke is the queen of the internet when it comes to finding any and everything….from London she managed to find a moon flower brooch.  Libby picked me up a double dolphin bracelet (at a gift shop on the island) so I could tell everyone, upon my return, that I didn’t see one but two dolphins! Everything given to me was so meaningful, special, and I will treasure it forever my Ya’s!

This time Brooke and I were the only two to venture out to the beach on two occasions…I always want to look like I have been to the beach (a little bit) when I get home…usually this means a red nose like Rudolph. CVS Specialty Pharmacy had sent me some wonderful “hug” cards to share with others…I took them and made sure we kept the hugs coming.

So until tomorrow…I have a few more thoughts to share with you in tomorrow’s blog…and so many sweet notes and surcies that made my return home feel warm and fuzzy… but right now a ham sandwich is calling me (Libby brought a honey ham….so good!)

I, also, need to water my parched garden and watch a little more football… now that my nerves have settled down. Jackson, Libby, and Brooke….I love you friends to the moon and back!

” Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• It is hard to believe that it has been fifteen years since the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were attacked….in so many ways it seems like yesterday!
• Last year Brooke’s son, Henry, took this photo of us in front of the new World Trade Center….a powerful memory.
• But once again….it was the Survivor Tree that called out to me on our Christmas NYC trip…it was growing taller and stronger…I had to touch it….even with a reprimand (it was worth it) to get its strength to flow through me… and now even more so I am so glad I did!  The power of a hug includes everything in life…even a miracle pear tree.

Dear Reader:

I am drawn to any nature scene where sunlight ripples through it… like a moth is drawn to light. I was out in the yard on Labor Day picking up some light debris when I saw the sunshine cascading on this section of the yard and it looked so inviting….I had to freeze the moment in a photo.

Nature is just so beautiful…it is like God provided everything He could to make us feel loved and secure in His Creation. Every single detail of each human, animal, and plant specimen is planned down to the minutest particular. Life is really mind-boggling.

And now for our last three Erma Bombeck quotes of the week:

*Grandmas defy description. They really do. They occupy such a unique place in the life of a child. They can shed the yoke of responsibility, relax, and enjoy their grandchildren in a way that was not possible when they were raising their own children. And they can glow in the realization that here is their seed of life that will harvest generations to come!

*I remember thinking how often we look, but never see … we listen, but never hear … we exist, but never feel. We take our relationships for granted. A house is only a place. It has no life of its own. It needs human voices, activity and laughter to come alive.

*There were really only two men I knew who ever got a laugh out of paying their income taxes. One was cheating the government and getting away with it. The other had a sick sense of humor and would probably have set up a concession stand at the Boston Tea Party and sold sugar cubes and lemon slices.

So until tomorrow….I am transitioning from the beach back to my home and garden. It always takes a little while to acclimate back to the quiet and solitude….but then I cherish the time to converse with God and catch up.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

***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]

Dear Reader:

I pass this wooden saying everyday (above the kitchen sink) but last weekend I paused and really read it again. Then I smiled…the life I am living is better than I imagined. (I am not sure I even imagined myself at the age I am now… years ago)

When we free ourselves from other people’s expectations about our life and instead, concentrate on what makes us feel like an essential and necessary piece of the universe, then we are living out our dreams and imagination.

Here are three more Erma Bombeck thoughts and quotes:

*I wanted to go to a place where you were important and people listened to what you had to say. Mothering hadn’t done that … and yet … wouldn’t it be ironic if my turf yielded the most important commodity being grown today? A family? A crop of children, seeded by two people, nourished by love, watered by tears, and in eighteen or twenty years harvested into worthwhile human beings to go through the process again.

*He who laughs … lasts.

*I question the value of name tags as an aid to future identification. I have approached too many people who have spent the entire evening talking to my left bosom. I always have the insane desire to name the other one.

So until tomorrow…The nice thing about spending a week with old friends is that you can still put on your old Shadowline nightgown and hear whoops and laughter the rest of the night. Or as Erma Bombeck reflected:

I never leaf through a copy of National Geographic without realizing how lucky we are to live in a society where it is traditional to wear clothes.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Moon flowers and morning glories….meeting at last.

Dear Reader:

Chocolate! What would the world be like without it? Tommy’s and Kaitlyn’s engagement cake was totally “engaging” in its deliciousness….pure heaven!

Besides being essential to life….food symbolizes everything that is good about life….fellowship, friendship, family reunions, holidays, vacations, comfort, security, healing, and love. It is the first thing the Ya’s talk about before heading off to any of our get-aways….who is bringing what food? And of course we always end up with enough to feed a small nation….maybe Vatican City?

Here are three more Erma Bombeck quotes….the first one goes along with the importance of food in our lives.

*’Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the ‘Titanic‘ who waved off the dessert cart.’

*”My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.”

*“Friends are “annuals” that need seasonal nurturing to bear blossoms. Family is a “perennial” that comes up year after year, enduring the droughts of absence and neglect. There’s a place in the garden for both of them.”

So until tomorrow…Let’s thank God for friends and family….can anyone imagine going through life without either?

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 ***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!

To electronically make a  donation or register… use the following link:

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]

*Look what I woke up to Tuesday before I left for Edisto….life is beautiful!

Dear Reader:

The best decision I ever made, concerning location of plants, was to (kinda selfishly) plant the Ginger Shell  outside my “computer” window so I can watch it grow!

It can get to be as large as four x four feet (width and height) and it is getting closer to that goal every day. Ever since the tropical storm, Hermine, went through,  it has grown in leaps and bounds. This fall it should bloom and the sweet smell of ginger will hopefully permeate the computer room when I finally get to raise my window and let the fresh air back in. I can hardly wait!

Here are three more of my favorite Erma Bombeck quotes. Hope you enjoy them too today…that they put a smile on your face and perhaps a chuckle in your voice.

*There is nothing more miserable in the world than to arrive in paradise and look like your passport photo.

*“Did you ever notice that the first piece of luggage on the carousel never belongs to anyone?”

“All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them. ”

So until tomorrow…send a hug forward. They are free and feel absolutely wonderful!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*John and Mandy took the children to Hilton Head over Labor Day weekend to a Disney Resort Hotel with lots of activities for the children….Mandy sent some photos to share. It looks beautiful. Happy Birthday Mandy!

Dear Reader:

Well, I’m off to Edisto today and will return at the end of the week. After the rather turbulent roller coaster ride of the past two weeks…you can only imagine how strongly the beach and camaraderie is calling me. I need time to re-fuel for more glorious living!.

So I am going to keep things simple on the blog this week….a photo of one of my favorite things and some great quotes by Erma Bombeck (who I always thought had the wittiest, funniest, and most poignant look at life.)

Title Photo: I walked into my “Happy Room” the other morning and the sun’s rays caught this flower arrangement and literally set it on fire. It made me smile….“Well, good morning back to You, too, God and have a good day!”

Three Erma Quotes Worth Remembering:

*When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.

*Never have more children than you have car windows. 

*Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I’m taking with me when I go.

So until tomorrow….Remember to take time…to take time… for yourself. Enjoy life!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Look who came over to see me and bring me a “Winnie the Pooh” gardener. Stephanie Ballard (she will always be to me.) She and her beautiful daughter went to Disney World and hit it just right with the spectacular garden extravaganza and picked up Winnie the Pooh with his basket of flowers! He is heading to the beach with me today! Stephanie hasn’t changed since she was a teenager babysitting Mandy for me while in high school. My family loved her! So patient and kind!

Honey kept her record going…the first person to respond to the Race for the Cure Challenge….(minutes after the blog was published yesterday morning.) She always sets the “pace” for the race and I love her for it! Thank you and Mike from the bottom of my heart Honey!!!!! The Race is On!

*I will place the information for registering or for donations to the team (Legally Pink) at the bottom of each blog a couple of times a week. Not trying to be pushy, just that I know that accessibility to these links are important for supporters and donations.

***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]

Dear Reader:

Honey sent me this picture of a pink tractor earlier last week….she saw it on the way home, slammed on brakes, turned around, and went back to the Johnson Family Farms corner lot outside town (Hendersonville) to take the photo. Definitely a God Wink.

There comes times in our lives when we have to make a decision whether to stop plowing or take a deep breath and plow right through the obstacles in our lives. It reminded me of the scripture verse (that I was sometimes confused by but think I understand better now) about plowing.

Luke 9:62: Jesus said, “Anyone who begins to plow a field but looks back is not prepared for God’s kingdom.” 

I vaguely remember watching my granddaddy plowing the fields to plant  cotton using just a plow and a mule. One day a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and I recall grandmother frantically yelling at “Charlie” to leave the plow and mule and get inside for safety….but he was halfway down a furrow and refused to stop until he had finished.  Grandmother just kept knitting furiously and repeating scripture (and probably a few other “choice” words) under her breath.

One interpretation of this scripture reading helped me understand this passage better.

*Looking back means trying to take the reins of our lives back into our own hands. It means looking to something else, or someone else, when Jesus Christ is meant to fill our whole horizon. “Looking back” leads  to us becoming people with split vision, followers with divided hearts.

“Looking back” is what I experienced prior to my “letting go” of my unexpected health situation and turning it over to God last week. Metaphorically it is the difference between night and day or outward turmoil and inner peace. We can’t look back and forward at the same time….we must choose which path we wish to follow.

If I spend all the time “looking back” trying to figure out how this turn of events, concerning my breast cancer  came to be, the furrows ahead of me will start turning crooked and subsequently, I will stumble and lose my way along my special path through life.

So…I am plowing ahead with life. Everything is on go to continue as usual….and one of those “things” (very important to me) is the Susan Komen Race for the Cure which will take place Saturday, October 15 on Daniel Island.

Tommy (our captain again this year) and I will have participated in this special event for the eighth time with the rest of the family following suit the year or so after. *Anyone who wants to join the team to walk , run, jump, do somersaults…whatever …come join us! * Registration to join the team (Legally Pink) is $5.00 off through midnight Labor Day…so the cost goes from 35 dollars to 30. Please let that be your donation if you are participating as a team member because just your company means so much to me.

And if that isn’t possible…once again I ask for your support, in the form of a  donation to go to cancer research funds (most of which is kept in the lowcountry area.) I am a prime example of someone whose life is being prolonged due to new medicines arriving on the market. And it is quite possible, that newer medicines will continue to play a vital role in extending my life, as well as countless others, while, also, improving the quality of our lives!

Team members from 2015 Race for the Cure-“Legally Pink”

 *Here is a link where you can pull up information on donating to a team or individual member on the team….either way is perfect…it all goes into the final team summary. 

Dear Friends and Family,

I recently accepted the challenge to participate in the
Komen Lowcountry Race for the Cure® and raise funds in
support of Komen’s vision of a world without breast cancer.

I am writing to ask if you would consider making a tax-deductible
contribution in support of my personal fundraising goal. Your
contributions will help fund vital breast cancer screening, treatment,
education and research programs.

You can make an online donation to support me by clicking on the link
at the bottom of this message. Or if you prefer, you can send a
tax-deductible contribution to the address listed below.
No donation is too big or small. Thank you and I will be sure to keep
you posted on my fundraising progress.

Sincerely,

Becky

To donate online, please click here.

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]

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

So until tomorrow…The Race for the Cure gives me a way this year to physically give back to those who follow behind me….and since cancer is such an emotional disease…it feels good to walk and “kick butt” at the same time!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I got a great dose of medicine when my boys dropped by yesterday…taking my mind off everything but playing and laughing!

* Kaitlyn had an unexpected health problem develop yesterday that sent Tommy taking her to the ER. She was in a lot of abdominal pain and after several tests it was determined that she had a ruptured ovarian cyst. It is one of those situations that apparently you just have to let mother nature handle…but at least she was given something to make her more comfortable.  We love you Kaitlyn….hope you are feeling much better today!

Dear Reader:

In my memory of this latest “health escapade” in my life….the Hurricane/tropical storm Hermine will always be associated with the day of the surgery. So yesterday I decided to look and see if there was a meaning or origin behind the name…and it was.

Hermine is a feminized version of the German name Hermann, which means “Soldier.”

I felt just like “Alice in Wonderland”… suddenly things were getting “curiousier and curiousier and I was forgetting how to write and speak “good English.”

Early Friday morning I did feel like a female soldier going into battle as I left for the operating room. There should have been a chorus of voices singing “Onward Christian Soldiers.”

Rutledge has been right on both occasions, the eye surgery and now (especially) the breast cancer surgery, “Be Brave Boo Boo, Be Brave.” It does take courage to ‘come alive‘ when your health and existence are in jeopardy.

I remember my mouth and throat were dry, my heart was pounding in my ears like drums going to war, and I could feel my life flow pulsating throughout me like a jolt of electricity. I was immersed in the ‘most alive’ feeling I have felt in quite awhile… heading down that corridor to surgery.

***(I just had an “interruption” with the internet telling me it was off-line when my computer told me it was on-line…don’t you hate it when that happens? All I know to do is unplug the modem and hope for the best… that did the trick. It got me thinking, though, that wouldn’t it be nice if we humans, while experiencing health shut-downs could just unplug ourselves for a few minutes and then be perfectly healthy again?)

“To say clearly what’s alive in us
in any given moment
we have to be clear about
what we feel and what we need.”

When I came across this quote from the latest blog of Kate Wolfe-Jenson it made me pause and think about it. In order to feel alive we have to know and understand “what we feel and what we need.”

I am the worst possible case scenario for this thought process because I am always “fine.” And I honestly think I am….as compared to (let’s say) dead….but I have a tendency to skip over several degrees of  separation in that shallow response. I might be saying I’m fine in being alive and not dead, but to identify what is “alive in me” might be a harder task during difficult times in my life.

It I were to give you the straightest answer from my heart right now….I would probably say…what I feel is a sense of loss…a betrayal of my body that I thought was “fine” again…and my “need”  would be my mother… who I want to re-appear to me like she did when I was a child and reassure me that “everything will be all right.”

…Or as Joan Turner hopes…I see another dolphin this week… like the one who jumped up near me at Edisto after my first diagnosis….leaving me with the mental message that “All is right and just as it should be in the universe…and you are too.” Wonderful thought Joan!

To sort out our “true grit” response to our ‘feelings and needs in being alive’ takes, I believe, conversation with another person who really knows you. I was so blessed to have Jackson come stay with me Thursday and Friday nights because we did have time for some frank, deeper conversations about our feelings and needs right now…at this stage in our lives.

What are you feeling?

What do you need?

Tell me yours

I’ll tell you mine

and we will

find beauty

in the between.

…………………………

Don’t we always feel better when we  have honest conversations with trusted ones, on each other’s lives, in each of our stages along the journey of life? We do come “alive” again, free from secret fears we have kept hidden for too long. Breaking the chains of silence provides a new sense of “aliveness” in each of us….comparable to the beautiful day we all experienced yesterday after the storm. Blues skies and bright sunshine!

So until tomorrow….let’s take time to occasionally give ourselves a “spiritual spa” day to cleanse away things that form barriers between simply existing and actually living life to our fullest potential.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Jackson with Libby’s youngest grandson, Rhett, while she lived with Libby last year following the 1000 Year Flood. It was almost a year ago, while at Edisto, that Jackson got the news her house had been completely flooded.
• Since then her life has changed upside down….but as we discussed…she came out stronger and her situation better in the end. We just have to hang tight and trust in God! (And “Be Brave”)

Dear Reader:

You are all my most wonderful ‘love-keepers’ …because I have received so much love from you that it must have been hard for my surgeon to operate while I beamed brightly from all the love sent my way! No operating lights needed.

I have discovered that when we really do turn our troubles over to the Lord…we feel so lightened from the burdens of worry (we have weighted ourselves down with) that we feel like we can literally fly like the angels. (In fact that is maybe how an angel comes to be….turning over all the cares of the world to its Creator.)

Everything went as smooth as silk….insurance/paperwork complete in less than ten minutes….prepped for surgery in half an hour, introductions from everyone who will be in the operating room and at 8:00 on the dot Dr. Litton walked in and said, “Let’s roll” and we did . It is the last thing I remember.

Oops!.…except for one very important thing…a special God Wink reassuring me He was there. Earlier, after I had on the medical gown and was talking to the nurse she, unfortunately, happened to glance down at my wrist and point to my cross bracelet. Gently she reminded me to take it off too.

I really wanted to keep it on, like I had been allowed to a couple of weeks ago at the cataract surgery. Mandy came and gently took it off for me…knowing I was disappointed.

I was feeling a little hazy by the time Dr. Litton came in and not very observant,  but Jackson told me later that when he came to talk to her and Mandy (following the surgery) the first thing she noticed was that he was wearing a cross on a chain around his neck. God did get a cross in the operating room.

A couple of days ago I responded to Mev in a Facebook response concerning this unexpected medical surgery amounting to a “drop back and punt” football situation. She responded by saying:  “No, it’s a chance to make a touchdown.” (Love it!)

The nurse told me that the operating room was scheduled for one hour from 8 until 9….but at 8:40 Mandy and Jackson were called back to talk to Dr. Litton. He said he removed tissue, made side and deep incisions to get the most accurate margin readings. Now we have to wait until the pathology report returns to see where we are. This will take about a week.

The most difficult part yesterday was getting there… in early morning torrential rains. Jackson and I were both glad Mandy drove and I have no doubt that she had white knuckles but once we arrived we were treated like royalty. There was an abundance of kindness, caring, and hope for good health.

*A personal shout-out to  the  whole fantastic staff at the Trident Arts Surgery Center! You made me feel cared about and protected.

The stitches are internal and will dissolve naturally and my outer skin incision was closed with “glue”….whatever it is….it is good stuff. Jackson says” I have been a bad patient because I won’t sit down and stay down. She is right….but I am just so happy that this sudden surgery is over and I am home again.”

*The Ya’s will be at the beach next week and I can’t think of a better respite/sanctuary after all the craziness of this past week than being with some crazy old friends.

When I came across this little short (Erma Bombeck) story from Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul...I realized it just fit the theme of today’s blog and thoughts. Enjoy….quite memorable. (I am just summarizing)

When Mike was three, he wanted a sandbox but his dad complained that “There goes the yard….we’ll have kids over here constantly, and they will throw sand into the flower bed and it will kill the grass for sure.”

Mike’s mother said, “It’ll come back.”

When Mike was five, he wanted a jungle-gym set with swings and his dad said: “Good grief, those contraptions look like mud holes in a pasture. Kids digging their gym shoes in the ground. It’ll kill the grass.”

Mike’s mother patiently said, “It’ll come back.”

As Mike’s dad blew up the plastic swimming pool, he warned his wife: ” I hope you know what you are doing. The kids will track water everywhere, have a million water fights….and when we take it down there will only be ugly brown grass under it for all the neighbors to see.”

Lovingly, Mike’s mother said, “It’ll come back.“

When Mike was twelve he volunteered his yard for a charity camp-out. As his dad watched them hoisting the tents and driving spikes into the grass, he complained: “Why don’t I just put grass seed out in cereal bowls for the birds and save myself the trouble of spreading it around.”

Looking at his wife he said: “Don’t bother to answer. I know what you’re going to say: “It’ll come back.”

Years passed with a basketball hoop going up on the side of the garage and tons of middle and later high schoolers gathering each afternoon in the side yard, some forgetting to take off their cleats from earlier football practices.

Mike’s dad threw up in arms in frustration and resignation saying: “I never asked for much in this life-only a patch of grass.”

His wife squeezed his hand and said, “It’ll come back.”

…”The lawn this fall was beautiful. it was green and alive and rolled out like a sponge carpet along the drive where gym shoes had trod, along the garage where bicycles used to fall, and around the flower bed where little boys used to dig with iced-tea-spoons.”

But Mike’s father didn’t even notice. He anxiously looked beyond the yard and asked with a catch in his voice, “He will come back, won’t he?”

…………………………..

So until tomorrow….Thank you dear readers for coming back day after day to make my day.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Rutledge…I got your “Brave” message again and I want to tell you that from now on….my name should be “Boo Boo Braveheart.” (Now where is some blue paint?)

Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter Mandy, a wonderful wife, mother, and most importantly special friend to me. What a special day!

Dear Reader:

Whew! I was supposed to find this message because as soon as I did and read it… I felt myself exhale for the first time in a few days. I wasn’t even conscious that I have been holding my breath on and off since the biopsy report came back Monday. Thank you God for (literally) the note of confidence.

The biopsy report started the week off with an early morning phone call containing the bad news, then Tuesday a call came letting me know I was scheduled for surgery Friday and in between all that…I was happily distracted getting ready for the “surprise” engagement party on Wednesday.

It feels like I have been on the Tilt-a-Whirl too long and have a dull headache and dizziness from the ride. I’m just ready to get off but before I can get out of the car…the ride starts back up and I am twirling again.

In retrospect I imagine I will probably appreciate the fast expediency but right now, going through it… it is not much fun. I am not a detail person but I am a big picture one and I haven’t been able to slow down long enough to get the big picture of what is happening and how….when all the blood work and vitals looked good???

Add in a tropical storm with its own uncertainties and I think a story for the ages might be forming. Jackson decided to come on down yesterday afternoon instead of later today because of the storm predictions. So Mandy and Jackson were Boo’s B&B roomies last night. So many thanks for having both of them in my life!

From scattered thoughts….have come a few more God-sent messages I feel sure….God Winks….things like this:

*No problem lasts forever….there is always light after darkness…it won’t rain forever; the sun will shine again.

*As I look down at my scars from various earlier surgeries and treatments I don’t see ugly marks any more but symbols of strength over obstacles. My scars represent some of my proudest moments as a human being. Strength, not pain.

*I finally realize that my life’s struggles aren’t about following a specific path…they are my path….my life…my story to tell.

Again….thank everyone for all the calls, emails, letters, texts….you have lifted me farther than I have ever been lifted before.

So until tomorrow…Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at the best. That is my prayer of hope.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Flower sunshine always makes me smile.

• Special moments captured
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