Confessions of a Former Groupie

What has happened in my life that I am thankful for the last few weeks, 21 days to be exact? I had my share of life's ups and downs as always, but lately there seem to be a lot more ups. I am very thankful for all my ups. The downs certainly make you appreciate the ups more.

I guess my muse has deserted me again poetry-wise because the poems have now stopped. Others have stopped sending them or sending lines back. I haven't done much art, but I am not really worried. I haven't had time to create a new blog yet because.... We have certainly been busy with band practices, football games as well as an out-of-town Band-O-Rama last Friday night. I am loving being a band mom! I have a t-shirt idea but I have only shared it with close friends and family out of fear of someone stealing my idea although few would want it.
I am so proud of our son. I took a pic of him walking up from the field as he passed by me at the first game. I was so proud I almost cried. That is now one of my fave pics of him. When I told him this later, he simply patted me on the shoulder and whispered so seriously, "Everything will be okay" which cracked me up.

The Band-o-Rama was awesome. Some bands were smaller but still had great routines to compensate for their lack of size in my book. Auburn University band was the best of all though. I figured Rhett would want to go there because of it. Even though AU did "Crying" by Arrowsmith as Rhett's band did, they gave his band credit which was nice. I still liked Rhett's band better because it had horn solos. It was funny everyone would stand up for AU's fight song except me, my son-in-law who is a die-hard Alabama fan and the lady next to me. I told her I was a Georgia fan and she just suddenly hugged me because she is one too! My husband looked at me so I explained why this strange woman hugged me.

My mom fell last Saturday, but she is okay thank goodness so I am thankful for small blessings. Our older kids lost their grandfather. I knew the visitation funeral would be really hard on me since it would be the first once since Daddy's death. I wasn't sure I could do it but the kids have been there for me in my losses. I felt I needed to be there for them. Even my husband's ex said she knew this was hard for me which I thought was nice. I did pretty good until they played "Taps" at the funeral and I lost it. It brought back so many memories of Daddy's funeral. It was also hard on my husband who lost his father-in-law. Our preacher was present and I worried how he was dealing with it since the loss of his wife Katherine a few years back but we survived. My friend Tracy cheered me on that I could do it; that I was a strong woman.

My BFF Penny FINALLY got on Facebook. She recntly told me an old mutual friend rode his motorcycle down to Savannah to see her at her mom's. While he was there, he called the lead singer of the band we used to be groupies for so she could talk to him. I could just hear his soft, sexy voice as if he was talking to her or me. It brought back some wonderful memories. David was one of Penny's FB friends. I befriended him and went into his friends list where I found other members of the band. I was so excited!!! I had not been this excited in a long, long time. I got to see old pics of the group. They had a reunion last weekend and had posted some videos. I got to hear old songs. I got to hear Ralph's voice simply saying, "Oh, No!" and it was like yesterday again. I was seeing old friends I had not seen in 30 years!

I admit I was a former groupie with pride. I am not ashamed of it for I did nothing wrong or bad. I had a past. One I would not change because that past led me to where I am today. It seems I have made a lot of lifelong friends along life's way and I am so thankful for them all. So very thankful to reconnect with them again.

Also on the way to work this morning, I crossed paths with Satan. I passed a car that had a Christian fish symbol only it had Darwin in the center of the fish with feet! I had no clue what it meant. I asked but was told it was a follower of Darwinism. Later I was told by a friend to google it which I did. I was told this, " Maybe they were our Jesus Christ feet carrying the fish that ate the darwin." LOL I said I would follow Jesus thank you very much. My friend Pat said this, I am happy and content to know that my Lord Jesus Christ carries me when I need Him. That is enough for me." Amen.


What are you thankful for this week? Care to share? Then please join us at the following...
http://www.eph2810.com/

Future Poetry Blog

Dear blogger

Hi ya'll! I have missed you. I have grown in so many ways since my last post. I have found that I do not need some things like I thought I did in the past. I have outgrown some things.

I have been really busy lately being creative, crafty, photographing and waxing poetic. I recently won a book from Leah's blog Creative Everyday ....
http://creativeeveryday.com/
I won The Year of Writing Dangerously by Barbara Abercrombie. Thanks again Leah! This book was really timely for me as I had this idea... which I also stole from Leah's blog, thief that I am. LOL I wanted to start a poetry round where I sent out a line and my friends would add another one sending it back to me or write their own poem using that line. Some sent a line; some sent more than one line. The next day my friend Mike E sent a complete poem. Mike always writes the most excellent poems and should publish them. Hint. Hint. Then I got a poem from the least expected person... my old friend David who I rarely hear from except for a rare occasional email or if one of our old co-workers are ill. His just totally blew me away! Still can't get over it. His was like a gift to me the day I read it. They all were but his most especially because I don't hear from him often. Then my friend Tracy sent a woman's point of view to add to the mix. My abstract artist friend Cindy send me a very artsy poem I really liked. My artist/photography friend Johnny was a line adder and I was also pleasantly surprised by him and his poems. I had no idea either of them had it in them. Funny that I heard more from men than women. LOL I am so loving it! It has really inspired me. So much so that I wrote three poems yesterday! I am on another creative roll.

So now we are toying with blog titles which I am still checking into before even mentioning them here. It has been years since I started a blog. There are the frustations of the beginning and setting up process as I am certainly no computer wiz. I need a blog that is very user friendly. Any suggestions?

Then there is the fact that I am really putting myself out there on the page as well as the world wide web for all to see but I am a sharer from way back. I am getting good feedback from my friends although I am not looking for compliments. I wrote a rather personal poem yesterday. The line I sent out for the poetry line of the day was "courting your muse" which came from the book I won. I didn't exactly court my muse, just told a true story of my life and sent it out to friends. I have been doing this for years so it is old hat to me. I did worry what our preacher would think and what he would say. I should not have worried for he was the most complimentary of all my friends. He is one of my biggest cheerleaders.

My friend Tracy couldn't get over the fact that I threw a line out there "indigo blue intertwining", later created art about it then wrote a poem about the art! I was getting responses for the line but I had nothing. Nada. And I am the poet! I may have been slightly intimidated by my friends much better poems using the perfect forms whereas mine are not. Mine come from the heart. It wasn't until I was at home in my fave spot where I do most of my art,  I pulled out my Crayola paint markers and began using the closest thing I had to an indigo blue but a deep forest green was dominating the page. A simple piece evolved. It may not be quite realistic as some artist would have done, but I am not out to please them or anyone else. Only myself. And my art makes me happy. So I had piece of my own art to go with the poem. Tracy thought this was neat and possible unheard of but somehow I doubt it. I am sure there are other poets who illustrate their own poems. I just sort of shrugged my shoulders at it and brushed the thought away. Of course only I would illustrate my own books anyway.

Today was another good day and I am thankful for this life I am living and enjoying. My friend Anne can "hear" my happiness in my emails. I just finished reading Return of the Highlander by Sara MacKenzie. Here is the link to the book...
http://www.amazon.com/Return-Highlander-Sara-Mackenzie/dp/0060795409

And today I discovered a Dark Shadows book written by Lara Parker who played Angelique on the tv show "Dark Shadows" back in the day. I couldn't put it down so I had to buy it. Just reading the character names such as Barnabas was like a family reunion with an old friend. It was like yesterday again. Here is the link to this book...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Salem-Branch-Dark-Shadows/dp/0765304570

Also check out Julie Nuttings blog at the following...
http://julienuttingdesigns.blogspot.com/


Read this awesome post...
http://www.spirituallyunequalmarriage.com/my_weblog/2012/08/worship-with-feathers.html#comment-6a00d83451ee9f69e2017617214e26970c
So I am very, very thankful for this creative streak I am on. I hope it continues for a long time to come. I hope to soon be able to send you a link to the new poetic blog but please be patient until I can set it up. But never fear, I will still be here.

And like Laurie at the following...,
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/
I am taking a small risk by starting this new poetic blog venture. Wish me luck.

What are you thankful for today. Care to join us? Then go to the following....
http://www.eph2810.com/

Reconnections

Lately I have been thinking a lot about reconnections.... I have recently reconnected with an old classmate from elementary school named Tracy. I have known her that long! Almost as long as my BFF Genie. She commented on my Daddy's obit and we have been emailing since then. Tracy and I used to read the Dark Shadows books. Although we don't think we will like the new "Dark Shadows" movie with Johnny Depp, we agreed to go see it at the cheap movies but that hasn't happened yet. I have my official Dark Shadows t-shirt waiting and ready! LOL Tracy has dreams of being a writer too so we are finding we have a lot in common. She has made me want to write again. I have been sharing my poetry with her.

Then I ran into an old JCP co-worker, Pam, who shares my love of vampire/dark hunter novels. It was so good to see her and reconnect after all these years. We have become email buddies too. Who knows maybe some book cons are in our future.... Pam seems to be really lucky at meeting authors and winning stuff esp books on line. Must find out how she does it so I can start winning free stuff too! LOL

And I have reconnected with my friend Abby who I met on a blog years ago. I always loved going to Abby's blog and did it daily; religiously. Her's was one of the 1st blogs I found besides Susannah Conway's Ink on My Fingers blog. I love the way Abby writes. She is also very creative and crafty like me. Abby has two blogs now as well as being on Facebook. I am so glad she is blogging again. I tried to add her blogs to my blog but since all the new fancy changes, I am lost as to how to add them so I will just add them here now until I figure it out...

http://www.inmyboops.blogspot.com/
http://www.positivelyperservering.blogspot.com/

Who or what have you reconnected with lately?

My Heart Art

We all have our good days and our bad days but hopefully our good days outweigh our bad ones. Some days we just feel plain yucky. Thankfully those days are few and far between. Or what begins as a yucky day turns into one that will be well remembered in the days to come as a yucky turn semi golden day. Yesterday was one those that turned a lovely golden shade for me. My bursitis had kicked in big time. I could hardly lift my arm without pain. I knew I had to take care of me and I did. I took time for myself but still felt yucky due to the Mobic I had to take in order for the pain to finally cease. My mom’s good home cooking helped. Chicken soup for my body. The chicken soup for my soul would come later in the day. Catching up on things and running errands took my mind off my yuckiness. We all pray to feel better when we are feeling bad or down. It always seems there is some tiny little thing that comes along to brighten our days and help us feel better. That is God listening to us, hearing our prayers and sometimes answering them. Each day I pray that the good Lord will give me something positive that I can share with others and He usually does. He is faithful like that and I am so thankful. My son and I had stopped at the library where I picked two free older copies of “Guidepost”. As Always I was judging them by what was on the cover. More about this later... We stopped at the dollar store. He needed a pair of sunglasses for band camp. He told me how a fellow horn player had wore a pair of $150 sunglasses one day and an $80 pair the next. I told him “Sorry.” I did not feel bad that my son was wearing a pair that cost $1 plus tax. I needed baggies and saran wrap but I just had to stop at the book section first. My son asked me what was I looking for. I told him I’d know it when I saw it. It turned out to be a book entitled Letters to God which had been made into a movie. So I bought it take to Bible class. Everyone thought the photos of the handwritten letter written by the boy suffering from cancer were cute and amusing except for the reason behind the letters. Each letter had a Bible quote beside them. One quote sang out to me.... “And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all will hear and laugh with me.” Gen. 21:6. If any Bible verse was about me, that was it! As I read more of the letters to the class, the boy was getting closer to death. Having recently lost my Daddy, I cannot deal with death in books or movies. The tears started flowing. Casey asked if she could take the book and read it to her little sister. I told her she could, but I warned her Jamie might cry. Then this morning I reached for one of the “Guidepost”s I had brought inside our house. It was an older Christmas issue with Martina McBride on the cover. Someone had drawn on her face giving her eyelashes which were okay. That look worked for her but the mustache and the outline drawn of her lips did not! I thought of writing Martina to tell her she might look neat in video as one of those sad looking clowns with lots of eyelashes. The “Guidepost” opened to a page that had a maple leaf with heart cut out of it which looked like something I would photograph. The story was about a mom who had MS & was walking her daughter to school using crutches instead of using a wheelchair. The pain was the worst. Her daughter was playing in the leaves. Some wet leaves got caught on the rubber tips of her crutches. She had to get them off so she wouldn’t fall. One last leaf wouldn’t come off so her daughter got it off. That leaf had a perfect heart shape in it. The daughter pointed it out to her mom. Somehow that one leaf helped the lady reach back home pain free. They later laminated the leaf and hung it in a window in their kitchen to serve as a reminder. This story made me think I am on the right track with all my hearts I find in nature and photograph and all the hearts in my art. I feel as if I am doing what I am meant to do. I am thankful for a lot of things this week. That I still have my mom. That Rhett is loving band camp. That things were not quite as bleak as I thought and worried they were. That I have re-found old friends lately. This has caused me to want to write more again. That I made a wonderful Texture Art piece my mom loves. I used her old wash cloth! LOL I am thankful for my many, many blessings.

A Near Perfect Saturday

Real Life is so much better than work! If I got paid for today it would be so worth more than a million bucks! We took mom to get her hair cut. Rhett & I both got shampoos. I took my hair products with me since it is my wet look season now. We were supposed to go over to Jena's to take their wedding gifts and let mom see their newly remodeled house that belonged to my BFF Genie's parents. The beauty shop took longer than expected so we had to reschedule the visit at 1 pm. For once we were early, but Jena & Colby were not back from their lunch yet so we rode around the block twice and passed them! LOL Mom loved the house. Jena has put so much of herself into it. She is so creative and artistic. So proud of her as if she were my own. She gave me lots of ideas. Like I needed more! LOL.

We got to see the photos the professional photographer took and they were absolutely amazing. Here is the link to their photos...

http://www.parismountainphotography.com/weddings/wed12/JenaV/JenaV.html

Today was also Jena's birthday. Along with the wedding gifts, I had a birthday card for her. I had my pics of the wedding for her along with copies for Genie. Jena really liked some of mine better than the photographer's! WOW! I just had to ask what this photographer cost. I am in the wrong business! I almost let it slip that IF we moved to Indy, I had thought about photographing weddings but remembered mom was sitting right there!
The gift I gave them matched their house perfectly as I knew it would. It was one of those memory board with a filigree background in dark browns with dark brown ribbon. Not my colors but Jena's. Jena said she could put the pics I gave them in it. I had not thought of that! Cool! Mom gave them a beautiful glass tray that has swans for handles on each side. Very unusual. Jena said they are having a house warming in August which I hope to be invited to attend.

We so enjoyed our visit with them. Then we went to the library so mom could get a library card which I can use so I don't have to pay the $30 fee for a card. After that we went to Country's. I wanted a steak sandwich. Mom got barbecue. Rhett got a steak sandwich too. They were HUGE! We could have split one. I cut mine in half. The rest will be Don's supper.

I have to tell you I have a wonderful son who has learned to pray awesome prayers. He wanted to say the blessing. I guess mom was so hungry she had already taken a bite out of her sandwich. There she was with this big bite in her mouth looking like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar! It was funny. She apologized. Then Rhett said the prayer. He asked our Father in Heaven to be with his Grandma as she struggles without her loved one and to be with his mom as she struggles too. I lost it right there in Country's but I could not be prouder of him.

Then at times Rhett can get on my last nerve. I have gotten where I am constantly saying, "Stop acting like an igmoo!" I do this instead of saying the word idiot! Of course he wants to know what an igmoo is. I just tell him it is the way he is acting. I got a really good picture of Rhett with his head on mom's shoulder that will be her birthday present on 7/3. Just another perfect moment captured on a digital camera. She told him she loved him except when he is acting "afflicted". He didn't know what that word meant either. I was trying to explain that it was a much older person's word for someone retarded! About that time my nearly deaf mom said the word "retarded" really loud. We had such a good laughter about that. I went from tears of sadness to tears from laughing so hard. It was a good day.

We saw one of Daddy's old friends. He said he kept looking in the paper for my artwork. LOL I told him I didn't win anything at the show. He asked why not. I told him because I am not the apples, pears, grapes and fruit kind of artist. He suggested I take pictures of them instead! Great idea. Wouldn't that be something if I did that and won next year? LOL He told me not to give up. Never! I am not the giving up type. Then he and mom talked. He lost his wife to cancer not long ago. Rhett thinks he looks like Col. Sanders because he has that funny mustache. As we were leaving my comedian son said,"I didn't know Col. Sanders ate barbecue." Leave it to Rhett. But I love that he has such a great sense of humor. Just like his Momma.

I do hope you have had as great a day as we have had. Would that they all could be like this one was for us.

Another Turn

Daddy took another turn for the worse on Tuesday. It was a very difficult day for mom and I to hear that we are nearing the end; that he has the death rattle and today that his poor tired old body is beginning to shut down. My BFF Penny said maybe he will "rally back" as he did in the summer and then at Christmas. Well, he did rally back for one day only. Then he got worse.

Now I know how my mom felt when I was little and I had asthma. You so want to help them cough and breathe. You feel so helpless wishing you could do something to ease them so your loved one could be at peace. That is the prayer I have asked for for my Daddy.. that he be at peace and not suffering, laboring to take a breath without coughing or gurgling.

I am thankful for all my friends who have been there for me this week. I cannot truthfully say I am thankful this is happening to my Daddy. I want things to be the way they used to be but I know that they cannot be. So this is a very sad Easter weekend for our family. Someone asked me what our plans were for Easter. I have no plans except to be with my dying Daddy. That is all that matters. It doesn't matter if I have a new dress. I don't. I didn't have time to shop for Easter clothes. It matters not what we eat. Although I won a $25 gift certificate for a Honey Baked Ham. God was right on time with that one. I may not win the big lottery but, I KNEW I was going to win it! I realize I cannot win on everything but it is fun and exciting when you do win something.

Please pray for peace for my Daddy. Thank you. Hope you have a better Easter than we will.

Penny's Point of View

from my BFF

Hi Beck,
I had to tell you that the phone you heard ringing on your dream that woke you up was God's alarm clock that He uses when you have to wake up and your own alarm doesn't wake you up. I've been woke up by that cool phone at least two times. I don't know if you remember what it sounded like when it rang but the phone that He used for me sounded a lot like the phone on several of our kid's toy phones. It sure woke me up though. I would've overslept big-time though if that phone wouldn't have rung and woke me up. I thought that it was so cool that God would do that for me ! How's your daddy doing ? I've been praying for y'all.
Love you,
Penny