Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Grandma Has Grey Hair...

This post is for Brandee at Smooth Stones.

Brandee is a wonderfully uplifting and talented friend here in the blogosphere, and she asked a couple of questions on my last post that I wanted to answer in this one... just for her. :-)

Yes Brandee I am a 48 year old grandmother of 10.  The fact that you thought I was so much younger just made my day....you are a jewel!!  Sometimes I feel like I am 80 and others I feel like I am 25, but at the end of the day I am still a creeky kneed 48 year old.

The awkward soul is easy to know if I am standing before you....not so much on the other side of a computer screen...you see I have hidious posture and I am not the most coordinated person in the world....so that is why I put that I am an awkward soul. 

The photo above I took today so that the blogosphere could see my grey hair that I righfully earned over the years. :-)


Thank you Brandee for being such an amazing friend...you writing is inspiring and your support is a blessing!



"If I had to sum up Friendship in one word, it would be Comfort." ~Terri Guillemets




Friday, November 18, 2011

Definitions of Me



"I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart.  I am.  I am.  I am." 
~Sylvia Plath


"I do not define myself I have found this to be true.  It is all the experiences and the people I love that do."
~Me


I am a chaser of words
I am a daughter
I am a hardworker
I am a sister
I am a singer of songs
I am a mother
I am a people pleaser
I am a grandmother
I am a searcher of meaning
I am a cousin
I am a classic enabler
I am an aunt
I am an awkward soul
I am a friend for life.




Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Building A Life (For My Son)


"Life is the sum of all your choices."  ~Albert Camus


Gifts come into our lives from the time we are born.  We cry for our first breath, and our first one is granted.  From that moment on we receive them perpetually.  A bounty presents themselves, not just booties, tricycles, and car keys, but traits as well.  A father’s smile, mothers eyes, and an uncle’s humor are all part of the package of trophies you are awarded along the way.
For an inheritance is not a set of papers nor an estate with a large bank account that can be squandered or lost.  It is an accumulation of gifts, some tarnished with the hard lessons of foolish ways.  While others are brilliant with the wisdom of time.  These offerings cannot be bought, nor wrapped.   They are the attributes that make us who we are.  The principles and the struggles we face are all part of a legacy of choices of all our ancestors before us.  The traits trickle down like raindrops on a window pane, collecting at the sill for us to soak up with a cloth.  They are the offerings and tools we can utilize to build our lives, or to consume them.   All the talents, mistakes, lessons, triumphs, and experiences mold the clay of the ceramics of another generation.  We are truly products of the past, be it strong, or be it weak.  God gives us life, an opportunity to be, and through His grace, He gives us the power to choose how we will use that gift.
This year my birthday gift to you is a simple crafted wooden box.  It was built by a young man that grew up to be your grandfather  Parkes Van Horn.  He was born February 15, 1922, and grew up enduring the struggles of the great depression.  He was a man whose hardships throughout his childhood out-weighed the carefree times children usually experience.  When all was said and done, the difficult times he faced molded him into a stronger man, and made him a wonderful example of the power of overcoming the adversity we may face in our lives.  As a young man, he built this box with the same integrity that built his life.  All the admirable qualities, and every lesson learned both through wisdom, and foolish mistakes, are instruments that shaped the legacy that he has left behind.  This simple wooden box is just one part of many gifts that he has given me, and also passed down to you.  These are truly a genuine and valuable inheritance that is yours to embrace.
Yes, inheritance is more than a set of papers and big estates that can be squandered or lost.   It is the values and purpose that build our lives.  These ideals are the true gifts that our heart learns to carry along the way, and no storm, nor thief can take these prized possessions away.  We can either choose to accept them whole heartedly embracing the lessons that come from them, or let them lie stagnant in waste never progressing or moving forward.   For all these choices are the legacy that we not only leave behind for the ones we love, but we also take with us when we pass away.  My hope for you my son is that you choose the ones that not only build a better life for you, but also for your children and your grandchildren to come.





What we are is God's gift to us.  What we become is our gift to God.  ~Eleanor Powell


Linking with lovely Emily at Imperfect Prose

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Under His Umbrella



When I was an adolescent I walked to the end of the street to catch the bus every day.  When it was raining, my Dad would urge me to take an umbrella.   Sometimes he would just hand me one and send me on my way.  Well, he might has well have given me rain boots and a yellow rain coat as far as I was concerned.  There was no way I was going to really use it.  So when I would get to the corner I would run up to the last house and place it on the front porch to leave while I went to school.   Then I would pick it up on my way home in the afternoon.  He never realized I did not follow his advice, and I never told him. 

Many years have gone by since I walked to catch the bus at the corner of our street, but I still find myself doing the same thing in a different kind of way.  God provides everything I need in life to prosper, and grow in Him, like an umbrella of hope and protection, and yet I find myself at times still disregarding His direction. I am still leaving the umbrella at the corner house.  I choose to weather the rain on my own, holding my foolish pride in hand.

Now that I am getting older, and have weathered  many a storm in life, I have learned the hard way enough times with scars to prove the lesson, that life's journey to the corner is much more pleasant and rewarding when taken under His umbrella of protection and guidance.  I may stray from time to time, but I never lay His umbrella down for long when I know the rain is heading in.



Also sharing with lovely Emily at Imperfect Prose