Blessings

Yesterday was Thanksgiving 2011.  It was a wonderful day.  This year has been full of surprises, and some disappointments as well.  But yesterday was all about the good that we have shared, all the many blessings we have received this year and the many years before we honored today.  One of the sweetest blessings I received this year was on Thanksgiving Day itself.  I was able to talk to my daughter in Tennessee for a bit, it was the greatest thing.  I have not seen her in 18 years, she is my first born and I lost her when she was just a couple of years old, and I never saw her again until she was 18.  Then it took another 18 years for me to find her again.  It's a story of lost and found and lost and found again.  She sounded just like me, and everyone says she looks like me, but I think she looks like her dad too.  I have two grand children I have yet to meet and I can't wait to get to meet them.  They are coming down for Christmas, what a wonderful day that will be.  She was born when I was really young, sixteen to be exact, or to be more exact four days before my seventeenth birthday.  We could have grown up together but the fates didn't allow it, choices were made, hard choices and they forever changed our lives.  She is an adult now, and she can make her own choices, so we will see how it all turns out.  A mother never forgets a child, at least this one didn't, no matter the circumstances, the memory of that child will haunt a mother till her death.  But because I know I have a loving Father in heaven, I don't have to wonder anymore, he has made a way for us to be together again, and I am so happy.  That's one blessing I will cherish forever!

My BFF

I have a friend who is like my sidekick.  She keeps my in check, she also makes me laugh, and lifts me up when I am down, calms me down when I am angry, she's all those kewl things a friend should be and more.  She has more money than me, but she doesn't act like it.  She has a bigger truck than me, but she doesn't flaunt it.  She is way smaller than me, but she loves my fluffy self just the same.  I love this friend of mine, because I can be myself around her and never worry that she is judging me.  She never, ever tries to one up me by acting better than me or trying to out do me on anything.  She's just my friend and I love her, and I can always count on her to be there for me.  But not just me, she loves my family too, and she would give anyone the shirt off her back if she needed too.  She probably has I just don't know about it, cause that's how she is.  She doesn't ever brag, in all the time I have known her the only thing I have heard her brag about are her family.  We do that a lot!  I love her and her family and I want to be as good a friend to her as she has always been to me.  So I just want to say thank you my BFF!  For making my life a better one, for always having my back, and for loving me too!  You are the best girl and I hope we grow really old together, cause life without you would not be as happy!  Besides, who else is as crazy as me?

The Flight

When a baby bird leaves the nest, they do just that, they don't come back home on the holidays for a visit, or get together for birthday parties and anniversaries.  No, they just fly away, look for a mate and start their own life sometimes, far away from the parent birds. That's how it is, our children grow up in our shadow, loving us, learning from us, then one day, kazam, they are gone, just like that.  The empty nest syndrome, I dreaded it all my adult life, not wanting to ever deal with the day when my last baby bird flew away.  But it happened and you know what?, I survived it.  I realized how sweet it was going to be not to have to pick up after her anymore, to sit back and watch her grow into her independence and like it.  It's a right of passage most all of us go through.  We can't wait to leave that nest and be on our own.  To fly anywhere we want whenever we want too.  It feels good actually to have so many baby birds out there on their own, spreading their wings and doing their own thing.  And me and daddy bird, well, we are enjoying the always clean house, the less laundry, the dinners for two instead of for eight.  The nights watching what we want to on TV.  Going whenever we want not needing a baby sitter or guardian looking out for the baby birds left at home.  It's a freedom I can't describe, a deep breath released slowly, but more than that it's a feeling of pride.  We fulfilled our purpose, to the best of our ability and we succeeded in molding parts of us that are very much their own persons.  Free at last, free at last...isn't that the old saying.  Well, don't relax to much, because guess what...unlike baby birds...children always seem to find their way back home!  Sooner or later, they will find they need help from mom and dad and so you never lose your children, you just give them what you can and hope for the best.  And always know that they know the way back home when it's time.

The Steel Magnolia's

Once...when I was young, I had the best friends any one person could ask for.  We did everything together.  Church, School, sharing baby sitting jobs, riding bikes around the neighborhood, just hanging out.  There were five of us, each different in our own way, yet also so much alike.  We shared our hopes and dreams, our plans for the future, our secrets.  Never did we ever believe we would be without one another, we just thought we would always be around.  But time and life have a way of changing even the best laid plans.  And so it was that we drifted apart, one going this way, another that way, each in a different direction.  Life gave us each what it had planned for us, and some of it was not always good so it seems.  But we have survived this life so far and we have proven once again how strong we really are.  We all got married, most of us had kids, and now our children are having children, yes, time passes on.  But then a miracle happened, and thanks to modern technology we found each other again and like there had never been any years between us we struck up right where we left off.  Friendship is like that you know.  It's a kinship between souls, an unseen bond that defies the test of time.  I love these women with a love I can't explain, they made me smile when I was blue and they still do.  We were there for each other through thick and thin, and I can promise you it will be that way still.  This weekend we are getting together for a long overdue friends reunion.  The reunion of the Steel Magnolia's.  Coming from all over to be together and share our dreams once more.  Plus, share our heartaches and blessings from the past.  It will be a great time I am sure, one of many reunions to come God willing.  I look forward to hugging my old friends and laughing and crying and doing all the things we used to do.  Friendship...is there anything more wonderful in a persons life.  This lady loves her friends, and you know...she knows they love her back.  Yes life is good...and all is right in the world again.

Little Things

Once when I thought of little things, I meant a soft rain on a spring day, or a gentle snow on a winters night.  Maybe even a road trip with a good friend to discover the wonders of the land.  Eating Capn Crunch cereal before bedtime to ensure sweet dreams.  Little things were affection from a four legged friend, saying hello to a neighbor and getting a feel good feeling over it.  Or maybe walking into the garden to  find a new bloom on my favorite flower, seeing a little tree frog after many years of absence.  An ice cream treat on a hot summer day, shared of course with one you love.  But these days when I think of little things, I literally mean little things.  My beautiful grandchildren, each one uniquely different, yet strangely the same in a lot of ways.  Their happy smiles, cuddly hugs, affectionate caresses.  Beautiful and sweet they bring joy complete.   It is true you know, grandchildren are the gift of God in older age.  I think I am a much better grandparent than I ever was a parent.  I have more patience, more time, and more emotion than I can ever remember.  I love those little people, and I can attest that it is the "little things" in life that do matter.

Sarah

I have a dog, her name is Sarah...she is a German Shepard.  Kind of ironic huh?  A German dog with a Jewish name.  I did it on purpose.  I love the name Sarah, and I love the Nation of Israel and Lord knows I love my girl.  She is so loyal...I complain sometimes because she is always under foot, but the truth is, I like her there.  I know she loves me as much as I love her.  She sleeps with me when my sweet husband is away and when he is here, she sleeps beside us on her bed beside our bed.  She likes to get bones out of the garbage, a habit we are trying to break her of.  She also likes to bark at strangers, until she realizes that they are no longer strangers.  She likes to chase our cat Rusty and give her a hard time, but really she just loves her so much and wants to play with her.  Yes, she has some not so great habits, but she is warm and affectionate and sweet spirited and we love her.  Man's best friend is Woman's best friend also, she is my protector, my guardian, my companion.  I feel safe when she is around and I feel loved unconditionally.  I know Dogs are God's gift to mankind.  He gave us a wonderful gift, the gift of love so great, that only a human and their four legged friend can understand it.  It's like the love between ourselves and God, it's there, and we can feel it, even when no words are spoken.  I hope we have a long and happy life together, that we grow into our old age together and that one of us can comfort the other when the time comes to leave this world.  She's a great dog my Sarah, and I thank God he loved me enough to share her with us.

Tender Mercies

After months of drought here in Southeast Texas, a tropical depression came through with lots of rain fall.  It's sad how I take the littlest things for granted.  A good rain fall, cool winds, a roof over my head, food to eat,  good health.  But then I received a phone call from a dear friend of mine today, and she told me she has been diagnosed with MS.  She is so brave and so strong that I had no doubt that she will come through this as her independent spirit would not allow other wise.  But then something horrible happened....just before we hung up, she began to cry.  Oh no God, not my brave, strong friend. If she breaks down, what does that mean for the rest of us?  Then I remembered how tears were the cleansers for the soul and we all have to break down sometime.  And even the bravest of us have to cleanse the soul every now and then.  I love this woman so much, she has been one of those special blessings in my life, enriching it with her wisdom and her joy.  Now she needs those of us she has touched with her life to be her strength, to be her rock.  She is a single woman, and her friendships are very dear to her, as she is very dear to us.  I pledge to be there for her.  To give her a shoulder to cry on, a ear to listen and a voice to cheer her as the months and years go by.  Devastating illness's are never news anyone wants to hear.  It is hard for the person hearing it and for their family and friends also.  She has been our rock of friendship for so long, and now it's time for us to step up and be her rock.  Yes I plan to be there for her, through thick and thin, with all the tender mercies that God allows me to share. Because that's how true friends roll!