Chapel of Hope Stories

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Dear Reader:

Haven’t we all heard the expression “Make your life worth living?”  When I came across this poster, however, I realized that this was the right message, because the only way to make our lives worth living is by loving... God, our fellowman, and ourselves.

We were all saddened yesterday by Rudy’s medical report that the cancer has spread. Rudy, of course, doesn’t know this and like Tommy told me last night…“Rudy is just being Rudy.”

I am sure Tommy didn’t realize it when he and Kaitlyn started seeing each other that he was getting a “double shot” of love… with Rudy as the sidekick. Everyone in the family was so happy to have Kaitlyn come into Tommy’s life and all our lives… but the biggest “shocker” was Tommy’s relationship with Rudy. He and Rudy became “best buds”….Tommy’s “little man.”

We didn’t have a pet when the children were growing up so this was Tommy’s first real experience with all the ups and downs of caring for a pet…but he embraced it whole-heartedly. Everyone in the family just shook their heads….Rudy showed Tommy another dimension of love.

Unconditional love…total acceptance of oneself by a little canine or feline friend is so addictive and so all encompassing. It comes closer to the type of love that Christ preached about than most human love…with all our “conditions” and “restrictions.”

Dogs and cats (pigs, too Honey) don’t judge…they just patiently wait until we get home to let us know how much we are missed. Isn’t that all we want from humans too…to know we are missed when we are away and that someone special only asks to spend time with us?

‘Loving time’ together…that is the greatest gift of all.!

And that is the gift that Kaitlyn and Tommy and all who love Rudy will give to our special little friend now…loving time….lots and lots of loving time.

Madeleine L’Engle said in her book: The Rock that is Higher:

” We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes.”

I think every time we feel unconditional love…we are home…don’t you?

So until tomorrow…Let us pray daily that God shows us His face in the face of others…including our beloved Rudy.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Kept Eva Cate and Jakie for John to take Mandy out for her birthday last evening…I got some ‘good loving’ in ….lots of hugs and kisses.

Dear Reader:

Since my savings definitely took a dip from all the home renovations…(a well-worth-it dip…but still a dip)…I have been trying to get creative by using old “stuff” in new places to fix up other areas of the house.

I have had to break down and get a few new purchases… like mums for the front porch, orange flowers, and my “Boo’s Blessing” Plaque but Big Red is back on the newly painted white bench… and I am praying it will bloom again soon.

The blog title picture I actually ordered because the refrigerator on the B&B side is old with some little rust stains (which even Mr. Clean’s Magical White Pad won’t get off.) The poster is actually a stick-on art wall decal. * Great idea for covering up “oldness” with “newness.”

( Wheatpaste Art Collective Posters That Stick Wall Decal What a Wonderful World by Katie Daisy, 18 by 18-Inch)

On an earlier post I was bemoaning the fact that the grass in my garden was winning the fight this summer….shooting up in and around the pretty flowers and plants. The summer has simply been too hot to pull grass each day.

When Ernie, my yard man, came yesterday I took him back to the garden…and pointed out all the garden “stuff” piled up on the yellow bench. I told him I removed all the garden decor, placing it all on the yellow bench…and all around it to clear out the garden as much as possible..

I then said, “Ernie, today you are going to take that weed-eater and eat up all the grass in the garden….I will stand right here by you to point out weeds from flowers…but we are going to do this…are you game?” He just laughed and it gave me such joy to see the weed-eater consume  90% of the grass mounds around the plants and flowers. Victory was in our grasp!

After he left…I looked at all the garden “stuff” on the bench and then looked at how nice the garden looked without it and re-evaluated what would return and what would be tossed or given to Goodwill.

Last week the furniture and hangings, on the deck, were taken out and placed around the yard so the workers could paint the trim and insert the windows. When it came time to return the items to the deck, the workers asked me where I wanted them placed and suddenly I didn’t want all the items replaced. The deck looked so much better with less “stuff.”

(I will have to replace my HOPE letters, however, because my deck can never be hopeless….especially since Hope the Dolphin has now moved to the deck.  I think I will put the new cloth letters up on the banister beside her.)

I want to leave the entrance to my bedroom open now…so I can go straight out on the deck  in the mornings.

I am sure I will add a little something more…but not much more!

Because I am now proceeding (like The Garden Song) tells us to do….“inch by inch, row by row, I’m gonna make my garden grow…All it takes is a rake and a hoe (and a big weed-eater) and a piece of fertile land.”

Dave Mallett – Garden Song – YouTube

My new Boo’s Blessing, inside and out, still looks familiar, yet different….same old items in new locations and ‘less is best’ rules. For me this does bring forth that “wonderful world” we all seek!

“So until tomorrow…”Tread slowly but carry a big weed-eater!”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I have some sad news to share with all of you concerning Rudy….the lymph glands indicate the cancer has spread….our little fur ball of love and loyalty…the perfect little dog to put a smile on our faces and love in our hearts. He makes this world more wonderful for simply being in it. We love you Rudy!

Dear Reader:

Within the “Ya” friendship circle lately…there has been a lot of chaos spreading out among us. Health concerns for our children, grandchildren, financial worries, unexpected renovations, and unexpected health issues for Libby and Jackson.

So when I saw this Kelly Roberts poster…it perfectly summed up the emotional turmoil going on in our lives right now. Nothing is life shattering, mind you, perhaps a little altering…but certainly not shattering.

As Beverly Barutio, (creator of St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope used to say about her cancer) we are all experiencing a multitude of little “annoyances.”

It has been Libby and Jackson who have experienced the most annoying “annoyances” lately.

“You heart will never be alone.”

*Jackson decided to get some moles checked randomly because a few looked funny to her. None of these were a problem…but then one teeny tiny little mole in the center of her back   (she didn’t even know about) came back as potentially serious and needed to be studied again.

It isn’t malignant but at a high pre-cancerous level. It looks like they got it just at the right time. Jackson will now have to go back and let them check the margins around the neighboring tissues to be sure everything else looks good.

Her biggest dilemma is getting someone to help change her bandage once a day since she can’t reach it…all of us have probably been in that position at least once in our lives (mine was tubes from the last surgery) where we just have to have help. It is humbling when we experience that situation for the first time in life.

One of her main helpers has been Libby….Jackson runs over to her house and Nurse Libby takes care of the bandage change.

*As we all know from the blog Libby has dealt with her daughter Betsy’s thyroid cancer, which was also caught just in the nick of time…only to discover that she, herself, has a blood disorder. Libby makes too many red blood cells…her blood is too thick.

In fact the medical personnel at the hospital recently said that none of them had ever seen blood that thick….not exactly the title we dream of as little girls.

So now Libby has to go for “blood-letting” (removing blood from her body) every couple of weeks. Yesterday she was returning for the second round of this…and not looking forward to it. She felt, after the first experience, that she was the thick blood lady in a carnival freak show the way so many nurses gathered to observe on her initial trip.

Her sister couldn’t go with her so she was “soloing” it but to her surprise when she got to the hospital…there was Jackson to “pay it forward” and backward for all the help Libby has given her…but mainly, Jackson was there, because they are friends.

*When Libby texted us the “surprise” photo with Jackson in it she also commented:

“Oh my goodness!!! You never know where you will see a Ya Angel!!! I walked in and thought I was having a vision-Sweet Jackson was there! Made everything better….no words except our YaYa’s  make me happy!”

The friendship between the four of us dates back to 1967…our freshman year at Erskine…and today we can all finish each others’ sentences…and do!

 Of all the thoughts about friendship that exist…(and there are a ka-trillion) I chose the following three that best seem to apply to our fortuitous meeting in September of ’67. 

1. Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ― C.S. Lewis
2. *Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. – Aristotle
3.  A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow. – William Shakespeare
4. …………………………………………………………………………………………….

So until tomorrow…”Let us keep our hearts open to the chaos around us and keep on truckin’ “…taking time to stop and help our fellowman along the way.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Prayers for Libby and Jackson as they “keep on truckin” through their treatments are always welcome and appreciated.

*Kaitlyn and Tommy will probably get the results of the biopsy on Rudy today…please keep them in your prayers also.

*Marcia shared this extraordinary photo off her Facebook page with me last evening. The title is: Beyond words, what a artist GOD is!!! (Scott Blaney) *Thank you Marcia!

• One more ” decline of the art of conversation” cartoon to share with you…

*Sis made a sweet comment about friendship and then laughed at her choice of words concerning Libby’s situation:

Hi Becky!
Great post today about friends and how “thick” y’all are – the “Ya’s.” (Oh! no pun intended on Libby’s situation – really! Only realized it when I was proofing what I’d written.) Y’all are truly lucky to have each other and for such a long time; the friendship y’all share is a wonderful gift. I love how you ALL embrace it.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was the day of the dirt, and nails, and hangers, and lots and lots of “stuff” bags… stuffed into the back of my car to take to Goodwill. Whew!

I am back on my mission of de-cluttering and minimizing. I must be going through some kind of stage but I can’t stand a whole lot of clutter around me anymore….I start feeling claustrophobic.

I suppose “we are our mother’s daughters” because, even as a little girl, I always had to hold mother’s (one) hand when we went shopping and we needed to ride the elevator-she turned white with a claustrophobic attack… and mother never got on an escalator. I suppose with one hand…she felt like there would be a good chance of losing her balance and not having the right hand available to grip the hand rail.

Now that I am reaching a certain age called “Now it’s your turn Uncle Sam” (Didn’t think you would have to send me a check did you…gotcha!) some of mother’s idiosyncrasies are starting to show in me.

Actually I like to think of myself as a “Savvy Senior” but when it comes to pulling weeds in my garden…I am about to raise the white surrender flag. I can only do a very small section before I call it a day. My problem is more with the grass than the weeds…and pulling grass stalks up by the roots can be tough going.

Monday I went to the back of Lowe’s where the flowers/plants…who  look like they are going down for the third count, are placed. Dee Dee would have been so proud of me…she could come home with some of the most pitiful plants I ever saw and by the next season you never would have known they had been transplanted and “transformed.”

Yesterday…by the time I finally finished planting the new additions to the garden I was so hot I was about to keel over….but I was rewarded for all my hard work!

I plopped down on the garden bench and suddenly a beautiful orange butterfly lit on my newly planted zinnia plant…and it flew up and down the path until it found two more flowers I had just struggled to plant.

I had my Iphone in my jean pocket and began following the butterfly from flower to flower…it appeared to be posing for the camera…just exquisite.

Suddenly at the tip top of one of the branches on Rutledge’s Japanese Maple…a dragonfly appeared and then it kept reappearing and posing for me also…

More rewards, for all the hard work, were coming my way with the arrival of my friend Anne’s (pseudo-name) Dr. Marigold. But this time she came armed, not with flowers or seeds, but with wall hangers and wire.

I had jumped in the shower (to get all the dirt out from under my nails) and just gotten dressed when the doorbell rang…it was Anne who had come to help me re-hang the lavender fields photo over the dining room table. (It fell while Gin-g and I were scarfing down that chocolate cake the other day….we were on too much of a sugar high I think) * Anne definitely secured it “for 25 years” – much improved from the earlier hanging…hung with a prayer and a hope.

We also had discussed what to do with the colored glass window frames since they no longer really worked with the new windows…so we came up with an idea. See for yourself!

The title picture today is actually a birthday card from Mollie and Walsh (& Rutledge) last year. (Are you like me…I have a hard time throwing away old birthday cards and I am so glad I found this one cleaning out dresser drawers.)

It is true what the card says: “Often the path that will bring us most joy will need some clearing.”

So all my de-cluttering and clearing out makes me tired but it also brings me such joy….my home now is a blessing beyond blessings.

So until tomorrow…May we all flourish under God’s blessings… bestowed upon us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Forty years ago today ( I can’t believe it!) a precious daughter arrived in my life and it has never been the same again. Happy Birthday Mandy…I can’t imagine my world without you in it!

*Please continue to keep Kaitlyn, Tommy, and Rudy in your prayers…he didn’t have the surgery yesterday…because (even though the x-rays came back clear) a scan showed some swollen lymph glands and they are going to biopsy that before proceeding.

We are all hoping it is just from infection but we won’t know until probably Friday. Thank you for all your sweet emails and words of encouragement…the bond between pets and people is such an amazingly strong one, isn’t it? It all boils down to love!

Dear Reader:

When I pulled out a book on poems the other day…this beautiful picture that Joan drew (a few years ago) slipped out where I had marked a piece of prose that seemed to match this painting.

This is one of those paintings where we feel like we are taking a photo of the scene and are inside the frame, experiencing the sounds, smells, and sights from within. Does that make any sense to you?

Fall colors sprinkle the boardwalk…as if summer is coming to an end …and I find myself wanting to walk faster down the plank walkway so I can wave to the sailboat to turn back towards land…to turn towards me…so, I, too can sail away to the land of dreams.

I have decided today to pause and turn around to share some wonderful comments several of you have written lately…because they have added such much to the daily themes. Your comments make me sail faster and stronger.

For example…the blog yesterday on the special beauty of the lights of September brought these comments to “light.”

1.  ((Susan)

*I feel EXACTLY that way about September!! 

September, October and November are my 3 favorite months………and I feel like I’m finally in sync with things….. I also feel a bit of homesickness or nostalgia or whatever it is; and I think it’s because I have such wonderful memories of these months throughout my life. Nothing can top the high school memories of football games, new school crushes, lots of beginnings and excitement….Then college autumns….mostly remembered as being the only one up in the cool dark mornings to get breakfast before heading to the conservatory.

YAY for September!!

2. ( Jo)

You are so right about the feel of Sept. Not only the lights, but the fall colors seem to arouse wonderful memories. I remember: being allowed to jump into a pile of leaves that had just been raked (takes a patient person to allow that, but that was my Mother), parties with bonfires and melting marsh mellows until they were black, the crisp air on my face (that may come later this month), crops getting right to harvest and many being harvested, new school clothes which we wore no matter how hot the first day of school was, and of course, football (when I was in high school we had 7-man football teams because the schools were so small, but it didn’t matter the excitement was still there, and the upside to that was everyone who wished to play had the opportunity.) Thanks for your blog today which has started my day with such great feelings as you brought back wonderful, peaceful, happy memories, and by calling Colby and saying, “rabbit”!

Joan sent some hilarious cartoons (but also scary because they hit too close to the truth) on the demise of conversation today. Perhaps that is why I enjoy you sharing your thoughts about a particular blog post with me…it is rarer and rarer to hear people’s thoughts through the written medium.

I have a feeling that little Grady, Harriett Edward’s newborn grandson, will share everything he knows about conversation loudly and incessantly! Congratulations Harriett! So happy for you, Frankie, and all the family!

Rudy is scheduled for surgery today!..Please pray that his scans for further tumors come back negative so they don’t have to abort the surgery at the last minute.

We would all like to keep our “little man” around for as long as he can still enjoy the quality of life he does now.

Anne and I were laughing at this big little moonflower bloom that decided to just sit on the ground and not bother climbing anywhere to bloom. Earlier I had put the bud over a little stick in the ground and sure enough that is where the bloom appeared. Anne got my (seen a better day) little rabbit out of the garage so he, too, could have his 15 seconds of fame.

Dear Reader:

Isn’t there something quite special about September? In our family… birthdays reign throughout the month…but that isn’t the reason.

I have never quite been able to explain the different feel to this month before I read an article titled “Ode to September” and in one paragraph the author solved the mystery. It is the ‘lights of September.’

(So I began walking around my yard late yesterday afternoon and saw what the author was describing…a completely different sensation belongs to September…almost a type of longing for a time long ago when we first realized -when we were young- that there is something quite special about this month.)

Article “Ode to September” (excerpts-www/nature-tracks.com)

…I know others feel something different about September as well, yet they are really as lost as I am to explain what it is. A crispness in the air? What does that mean? I’ve been snowed on in July and frosted in August, yet these didn’t feel like September. What then, makes September different?

…I think that sunlight is ultimately responsible. The Earth’s slingshot ride around the sun positions our hemisphere where the sunlight of September strikes obliquely, not with the overhead pounding of the summer sun. It may be this angle of the sun that makes September feel unique, caresses the leaves to sleep and incites the elk to riot. We literally see the world in a different, sweeter light, making it seem new and especially alive.       

I’ve said it before. I would gladly trade March for a second chance at September.  I don’t think I would tire of it and I might just have barely enough time to do many of the things that I want to do. Mostly though, I want to bathe in September’s rich light a little longer.

……………………………….

In the following poem (“September”) John Updike uses all the human senses to describe this memorable month.

“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”
–   John Updike, September

I think the smell of burning leaves is one of the most poignant smells of fall…don’t you? As much as I love the smell…it always makes me a little homesick…but for what…I am not sure. Perhaps memories of high school bonfires before Homecoming or Halloween cook-outs with roasted hot dogs and smores galore.

I, think I too, would be willing to trade another month for two months of September with all her mysterious sights, sounds, and smells. September is a laid-back month with the battle of the seasons ending with fall the victor and summer the vanquished.

This seasonal battle for dominance reminds me of my “Zebra” cone that I like to get at the Tastee-Freeze. It is a swirl of chocolate and vanilla…and the winning flavor left standing until the last “lick”  depends on the preference of the taster.

As for me…give me September over summer any time!

So until tomorrow… let’s follow September with memories of our youth and then promise to make this September so special it will be  another one to remember.

Josh Groban – Try To Remember – YouTube

“Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow–follow, oh-oh.”
–  Try to Remember, Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*For me the ‘light of September’ began the day before (yesterday) with a visit from Gin-g…it made me so happy…she brought beautiful flowers and two pieces of chocolate cake that we consumed like cast-aways on a deserted island.

(Thanks sister Susie for baking this…the best chocolate cake I ever put in my mouth!)

It is September 1 -the first day of the month…so I decorated Ms. Rabbit up in birthday attire…since in our family we have Mandy starting off the month on the 3rd, Jakie and I on the 24th…and John rounding out the month on the 30th.

I also have good friends like Jerry and Sherri Houston…who have September birthdays too…Jerry’s is today (Happy Birthday Jerry!) and Sherri’s is the 30th…the beginning and the ending…pretty cool.

And to all the other September birthday “babies” ….don’t we have the best month of all? Say “Rabbit” and have a marvelous month!

Dear Reader:

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

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

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

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

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

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

They are:

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

It is amazing how going through an external home make-over motivates us to do the same thing for the internal side of our home. Yesterday found me climbing my four step ladder to clean my plantation shutters because the new windows were so clear and attractive… I didn’t want dusty shutters taking away from their allure.

In moving the furniture to get to the shutters I noticed how dusty the floor was behind these tables and desks…so I started sweeping the floors and getting rid of stuff off the tabletops. Simplicity really is best…de-cluttering does bring order into our chaotic lives.

Even something as small as removing some wilted flowers from a vase and letting the one remaining flower bask in its own beauty…simply quite charming…four flowers are pretty…one is stunning.

So until tomorrow….when I wake up and see my bright white shutters reflecting off my bright clear windows…I will be in harmony with life and filled with joy at the beauty of one orange flower.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* This past weekend was the Turners’ family favorite days…they went to Hilton Head to stay at a Disney resort hotel there….overall the weather cooperated fairly well…and they were able to squeeze in most of the activities they wanted to do with the children while there. John shared with me some family pictures from this beautiful resort.

https://goo.gl/photos/rknHU2RM5gMUdZt17

* Anne will be flying back out this upcoming weekend to stay with her sister Nancy following another chemo treatment…please keep both of these gals in your prayers… because as a cancer patient…I know how much harder it is on love ones and caregivers.

*Little Rudy will have surgery Wednesday to prolong the quality of his life…please keep Kaitlyn and Tommy in your prayers that all goes well Wednesday.

*Even before Honey read the blog today she sent me this picture of the “threads of life” artwork that she and Mike awoke to on their deck this morning. (The blog title picture was actually taken by a tourist traveling through Georgia.) Isn’t nature awe-inspiring…the garments of God.

*August 31 was always a special day in my family….it was my amazing Aunt Eva’s birthday (who was like another mother) and my two wonderful cousins’ birthdays….(Charles and Marilyn) brother and sister…who were born three years apart on the same birthday…August 31!

*I have heard you know you are getting older when you talk about the weather and how time flies….well, then, I am officially “old” because I can’t believe that in another day….September will have arrived and I pray some of these strong rains dissipate throughout this week.

Dear Reader:

When Rutledge, Lachlan, and Mollie arrived yesterday (amidst the driling and hammering of new windows) Rutledge called out to me “I want Hope, Boo Boo”…“I want Hope, Boo Boo”!

I knew, of course, he was referring to the rocking dolphin but still, for a deja vu moment…the words echoed and reverberated throughout my consciousness.

Later when I looked at the first picture I took of Rutledge on Hope the Dolphin…(with the last three words visible on my family room sign…”my Happy Place“seen behind him) the window of my heart opened wide to a most glorious moment. There was such a look of happiness and contentment surrounding him…it was as if Hope the Dolphin has just taken the Happy Room up a notch…adding hope to the happiness.

As Mollie followed Rutledge in…carrying Lachlan, a physical feat of honor in itself, she told me that all Rutledge could talk about, on the way over,  was how much he wanted to “ride Hope.”

“Ride Hope.” In a sense… isn’t that what we all do throughout our journey of life…ride hope and hold on as tight as we can… for as long as we can?

The Free Dictionary defines hope as:  To wish for a particular event that one considers possible

I don’t know that I totally agree with that definition…I have done a whole of hoping (against hope) for things that I don’t necessarily consider possible within the restrictions of human life and laws of nature.

My hope, instead, falls under the subcategory of “miracles” which always falls under the second subcategory of “faith” which lies directly under the main category called God.

On those rare but “off” days when I simple don’t want to “people” that day…when I am upset and just want to be alone…that is when I realize that hope is always synonymous with God…not man.

Yesterday…I was so-o-o- ready to “people” with Mollie, Rutledge, and Lachlan! We got lunch from the Continental Corner and brought home. Rutledge ate in the big boy (adult) chair with the rest of us while Lachlan made his debut in the historically “white high chair” of old…It has seen quite a few generations of Baby Dingles sitting in it.

Then we all walked out to the garden…to make wishes in the fountain, swing on the rope, and just enjoy the beautiful cool day.

Lachlan decided to eat his toes for recreation and hang tight with mom…

After lunch Mollie and Lachlan went shopping but Rutledge wanted to stay with me (I was so thrilled)…though I must admit part of his decision dealt with all the trucks in the yard from the workmen installing the windows.

…Plus I told him we could go into the “magic secret closet” and I knew I had him then.

The top shelf of the linen closet is dedicated to keeping about ten of Tommy’s Hess trucks from every Christmas as a toddler to young adulthood. (Doodle, the gift that keeps on giving!) Tommy has the rest of them with him….so you can imagine Rutledge’ eyes when I open the “magic, secret closet.”

“Rut Rut Ding-Truck” is totally overcome with excitement each time we open the “Best of Hess” to play with…

Rutledge really lucked up with the Hess truck pulling the shuttle because the batteries still (magically) worked on it and the red light on the shuttle beeped and blinked…he hit the jackpot!

Rutledge also demonstrated his dancing “Moves” for me with a little number called “Stinky Legs.”

Later we did a “duet” dance to it…I could get down…getting back up was tougher.

All the workers were so kind and let Rutledge sit in their trucks while they were banging away….and then Rutledge “drove” Boo Boo’s car….

About two hours after he left I was going to run to the store and forgot about Rutledge’s pretend driving…I started the car and the wind shield wipers started wiping furiously…the radio blared  at the top of its volume capacity and my left turn switch stayed on until it dawned on me it was still blinking halfway to the store. Yes Rutledge had a big day…and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

So until tomorrow…Let’s all ride hope for as long as we can because it takes us the farthest in this world called life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*By the time Rutledge left he had outplayed his outfit…so he was now down to his skivvies…in a manner of speaking.

Nevertheless… he demonstrated his fast gait to me while wearing his Clemson cap …a future Tiger on the run.

* Joan Turner sent me these happy pictures and I found my smile growing bigger and bigger…Thanks for sharing Joan…they made my day!

Happy Pictures – YouTube

*Speaking of happy…the number of views “hit” 30,000 last night…I want to take a moment and thank all of you loyal readers for keeping this blog post operational since starting over last November…it means more to me than you will ever know…medicine for the soul.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday about half of my fourteen vinyl windows were installed and the workers are finishing the rest today.

I got so excited, after the first window was installed, that I ran around both sides of my home opening up the new windows, turning on all the ceiling fans and then bravely turning off the air conditioning…

I wanted fresh air circulating in the house. I have lived in this home since 1982 and I have never been able to open one single window…some days I felt like I was in prison…over time the windows had swelled and I physically couldn’t raise one single window and/or close it. They remained dusty, dirty, and the panes had even splintered.

New light came rushing in from the newly installed windows, like a laughing child playing hide and seek. Suddenly corners that had been dark were open to light and I felt like someone who had never seen life before… having her sight restored.

My new windows have made me deliriously happy….in perfect timing with mother nature’s “cooler” weather front moving in for late August. Here are photos taken from the different newly installed windows to date.

Scene looking out my new kitchen window on the B&B side

Another scene from the kitchen window on the B&B side

Another scene from the B&B bedroom window

The bathroom on my side (that will be the next major project somewhere down the road)… even  looks better with its own special window!

And, once again, the real trooper through all these changes has been “Big Red” my famous seven year old geranium…the young men painted my bench for me and now “Big Red” sits upon a freshly painted white bench…the “throne” of the geranium who won’t stop fighting for life…my role model.

“Big Red” lost a few more branches during the two week transfer but I think it  just “slendered up” to withstand the hot summer it has experienced.

While the workers were removing the old windows…I tried to clean around each window sill and keep the blinds or shutters out of the way of the operation… until the vinyl windows were permanently secured.

It reminded me of a story “Mama Mia” (Jackson’s mother who died from brain cancer) told me over the phone one day. She said that she thinks God keeps the shades down on our bedroom windows and over our eyes when we first awaken… so we won’t know what the weather will be…sunny or stormy.

God doesn’t want us going into the day with pre-conceived ideas about the day before it even unveils its glorious, special self. And aren’t we eternally thankful that God spares us the knowledge of the brevity or longevity of our own lives…but instead keeps the shades pulled down so we won’t worry about the future but live life in the moment?

I think the poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, had it right when he stated: ” All the windows of my heart, I open to the day.” Regardless of the conditions of the day…if we enter each day with an open heart our day will be a memorable one.

So until tomorrow (like author Anne Spollen commented from her book The Shape of Water) :

“I discovered windows one afternoon and after that, nothing was the same.” (Ditto Anne)

“Today is my favorite day“  Winnie the Pooh

*Honey and her precious little dog Gabby went on their routine morning walk yesterday and Honey returned with all these wild flowers…how beautiful!

(*This Title Message Art Work was created by Kristen Delap…an artist who specializes in “Lettering, Inscriptions, Musings, and Momentos”- Check out her blog on kdelap.com- She recently wrote a wonderful blog on patience…I needed to practice a lot of it this past week while snowed in….a rarity in Charleston, SC)

Dear Reader:

The other day Rachael Ray had Tom Brokaw on as a guest on her show…promoting his book and telling his story of how he is coping with a rare form of cancer called:  Multiple myeloma – it is a cancer of the antibody-producing cells in the bone marrow, which are part of the body’s immune system. (Treatable, but not curable.)

It was obvious when he walked across the stage set and sat down that he was walking stiffly, as if in pain, and he gingerly took his time sitting down. As Rachael asked about his health….he explained that because blood cells form in the bone marrow…this type of cancer is hard on the skeletal system producing excruciating compression fractures in the spine. .

On the way to the studio earlier that morning he told the audience that he was feeling somewhat frustrated at his own slow, awkward gait until he saw a homeless veteran with no legs sitting in a wheelchair with a cup in his hand.

Then he said a wave of regret washed over him for feeling sorry for himself when this man would never walk again…he dropped money into his cup and wished the man a good day which the veteran, in good cheer, responded back accordingly.

Haven’t we all experienced this same situation while recovering from a pity party? It doesn’t matter whether it is a health problem, an emotional problem, or even a financial problem…there is always some one, actually thousands of people, who have experienced so much worse that our little problem would appear ant-like to them.

No matter how serious our problems might strike us…the vast majority of Americans can still return to a home, loved ones, pets,  warmth or coolness, food in the frig, and a comfortable bed to sleep in.

Some people, in this world, have never and probably will never experience a home, plenty of food, and a comfortable bed to lie on. No matter what happened during their day…if these people experienced lodging, food, and bedding…it would still be the the best day of their life.

Tom Brokaw thought he was at the apex of his life….semi-retired (choosing only certain specials to do occasionally) having more free time to spend with his wife of 51 years and his children/grandchildren. Like Jefferson…he finally had plenty of time to read and write.

Then in 2013 he started suffering back pain which only increased in intensity over time. It was the Mayo Clinic where his diagnosis was revealed…a detour was looming ahead in his personal journey.

Friends had always kidded him that he was destined to be a particularly lucky bright star. The diagnosis showed him (he admitted wryly) that his bright light had a dimmer on it.

For the past couple of years his cancer has been in a type of remission giving him time for the things he loves best…writing and playing with his grandchildren. He notes, in his memoir of hope however, that from the time of his diagnosis he knew intuitively that no matter what  state the cancer was in…nothing would ever be the same…that his old life of ‘false security’ was gone.

………………

It was this part of the book that I could really relate to…my personal and spiritual life was so elevated with my diagnosis of “little c” that going through this uncertain stage of keeping my cancer at bay…brings about a personal dilemma for me.

I don’t want to return to the person I was before my diagnosis…the “Pre-Cancer Becky” of old. There was nothing particularly wrong with me except my eyes weren’t open to all the possibilities God had in store for me.

Now as one of millions of people living with cancer…my appreciation for life is God-fold.. with Him in the center of my life…not pushed to the perimeters like before my diagnosis.

Everything looks fresher now (like my freshly painted trim, doors, and windows) along with my perception and gratitude for everything and everyone I come across along my life journey…It all excites me tremendously.

I keep seeing more connections than ever before and the world has become my playground of curiosity. I understand now that taking life for granted is one of the worse things we can do…because this attitude stymies the unknown frontiers of amazing experiences just waiting to dazzle us and mystify our imagination.

Mrs. Persons, Oh fourth grade teacher of mine, you were wrong when you told me there were no more frontiers left to explore…I am here to tell you that I have lived in the frontier of cancer for seven years now and it has been the most rewarding time of my life!

So whenever we want to feel sorry for ourselves…pause and look around and then go to your dictionary and see how one preposition can change the way we see others.

Sympathy is literally ‘feeling with’ – compassion for/ or commiseration with another person.

Empathy, by contrast, is literally ‘feeling into’ – the ability to project one’s personality into another person and more fully understand that person.

Just like the aim of  Tom Brokaw’s latest book  …helping others facing serious diseases through the sharing of his own thoughts and  stories while traveling through his personal frontier….we, too, should learn to take the extra step …going from ‘feeling with‘ to ‘feeling into’  those following behind us with kindred problems.

So until tomorrow…Let us always keep one hand free to reach behind to pull another up…someone whose entire life is our one “bad”  day.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Here is a sneak peek of the progress on the house…a column was added to the back porch because the whole trim side under the roof was bowed…now covered in crisp white paint…it is holding up the new roof quite proudly…the doors (on the front) are a rich deep caramel color to pick up the assortment of browns in the brick…the only thing left to do is install the new vinyl windows and that begins today!!!…So much excitement!