Thank everyone for my birthday wishes. I have always been blessed with special people in my life and your well-wishes are just proof of that. Wow, I am 61 today and the day has started off like many days do…with my feet in two worlds, or at least it feels that way. I woke up to thunder and a short poem running through my head. There was more to it, but years ago I discovered I have to write down the poems as I receive them, or I lose them. As my Momma use to say, “Hit while the iron is hot.” Rolling thunder, thunder roll, Like the voice of God Resonating across the sky Reminding us of the two sides of God. A God of love, a God of judgment Asking us , “How long will I strive with man?” A question asked, a questioned answered? I was also looking forward to going to church so I could share the answered prayers this week. Our daughter Kim Bonds got a new job that she is so excited about. She has her own office and the perfect office manager, Lisa. She starts on Tuesday and is beyond excitement. She will also make a difference in many people’s lives as she matches the elderly with the right sitters. Kim has always been a great social worker, long before she had a degree in it…lol. She has a heart for helping others and she is definitely our “Go To Gal.” Then Jennifer received a promotion and a raise at Lourdes this week!! Like Kim, she loves what she does. There are many more answered prayers and I know God is not through yet. There are many other things I cannot share at the moment, but I have said for a long time that I feel like Job at times. We have lost people and God never replaces one child with another, but it is important to remember He always has a plan. I just have to remember to thank Him for what I know he is doing as well as pray. For me, it is a two-fold process. Of course, Momma was on my mind. I have always said she was with me when I entered this world and I was with her when she stepped into eternity. As with everything with God, a beginning and an end. He always has a plan, even when we don’t see it. Thank you, Momma, for the life you gave me and the many things you taught me. Life was not perfect nor are we, but you gave me far more than you will ever know. You taught me to appreciate my roots in this world. I was, I am, and I always will be from Between the Rivers. Home simply does not describe my connection of feelings about Between the Rivers and the people from there. When everything else is falling apart or out of sorts, I have always been able to return to Between the Rivers and draw strength from that place and my heritage there. In my mind it will always be people with life as it once was rather than what it has become under the fraudulent usurper who have laid claim to it. As you always said, “That is our blood and bones and sweat there, not theirs.” Billy went to MCCH as usual first thing this morning and returned with donuts. Just what we need, of course, but it did not stop me from eating one with orange juice. There was the great part of the day. We are both still in recovery mode from a wonderful day yesterday. We took our friend Rita L Mckellips from Maple Sink with us to see the Nina and Pinta at Green Turtle Bay. We had so much fun and the workmanship as well as the history of the original ships as well as these two reconstructions was wonderful. The heat index of a 105 was actually an asset as we thought of the sailors who originally sailed with Columbus. They could not step from their world into a nice air conditioned room for a reprieve. Day in and day out they worked in the heat or cold or storms with little compensation. I stood on the deck and imagined the journey on the open ocean, no land in sight, and the uncertainty of the adventure they had taken. How brave they were! We had lunch at Knott’s BBQ and I saw Dr. Terry Calhoun while I was there. He said Martha was traveling for a wedding yesterday and of course, we both had to brag on that beautiful granddaughter of hers. I always enjoy seeing anyone from Between the Rivers. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Terry had had his guitar and could have share a tune. Like most people from Between the Rivers, he is talented in many areas. Trace was less happy. He was so tired after our day out yesterday that he fell asleep coming home. We managed to get his shorts off to put him to bed, but we could not get him to take his medicine. He is still adjusting to his new medication and it is not in his system well enough that he can miss a dose without consequences. Boy, could we tell it this morning. After a dozen or more melt-downs and finally getting him settled into his chair to calm down, I told Billy to go to church without me. I love my Sunday school class and my church. I was getting dizzy by then anyhow and settled down in my chair to watch “church” this morning. Just then a knock at the door and who to my wondering eyes would open the door but my sister-in-law “Sissy” Carolyn Sue Culp with a card and a birthday cake for me. How sweet is that? She is one of the most giving people in the world and we are so thankful for her. She has also had a wooden cross made for Matthew to place at the site where he was killed. When we can get together with our family, we will all go and place it there in his memory. If you are like me, each time you see a cross beside the road, you remember the family of that person in a short prayer. It is too late to pray for those lost. Their fate is decided, but as long as there is breath there is hope for those left behind and they need the peace and comfort only God can bring. While I was talking to Sissy, Trace decided he wanted to go to church with Billy. It was too late for me to get ready and I still had company, so I have settled in for a little time of reflection and sweet memories of birthdays passed. On one hand, I know today is just another day, yet in keeping with my feet in two world, it is a marking point on my journey in this life. I have been blessed in so many ways. I remember my seventh birthday. Momma made me a German Chocolate cake, my brother Jerry’s favorite. Lol. I did not care because it was still delicious. She had fried chicken, made mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, corn on the cob, the last from Daddy’s garden, sliced tomatoes, and instead of our usual corn bread, we had Bunny Bread rolls spread with homemade. Momma had made Lipton’s sweet tea. Like my Grandma Lucy, I have always loved hot tea. The tea was still warm from the making as I sipped it; I loved the mixture of warm tea over the cold ice. As usual, I was seated on a stool beside my Daddy and though I had a plate of my own, Daddy periodically fed me from his plate. The food on his plate just tasted better it seemed. If there were presents, I don’t them. Daddy was drinking coffee and when Momma was looking, he let me drink from his cup. Of course, they both told me about the day I was born. I was born at home and the doctor handed me to my Daddy almost immediately after my birth, telling him to get something warm down me. He and our neighbor Jake Cane had a big pot of coffee on the stove and it was as warm as one could get so he fixed a cup of coffee as I would drink it until he died nine years later…half coffee, half cream, and three teaspoons of sugar. He always said the same thing as he put in the sugar. “One for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Ghost.” (I still drink my coffee that way. My husband says I like a little coffee with my cream and sugar. Lol.) He and Jake proceeded to spoon-feed me that coffee while the doctor worked with Momma. Momma almost died when I was born and I was her last baby. She always said, “The day you were born was a real Labor Day.” It was years before I understood her tongue-in-cheek reference to my birth and the holiday. Even today my seventh birthday is my favorite one. I can still picture Momma and Daddy in our small kitchen in Old Eddyville. It was barely large enough to turn around. The gray chipped laminate table trimmed with metal with four worn red Naugahyde chairs sat by the window which looked out onto the screened-in back porch. A free-standing kitchen cabinet with a porcelain work top and built-in flour sifter stood against the wall which joined the living room. Momma had made matching curtains in a sturdy tropical barkcloth print for the windows and the stand Daddy had built around the sink in the kitchen. We also had a small gas stove and a Leonard refrigerator with a single door that lasted us nearly 35 years before Momma gave it to my sister. It was still running when Louviena’s rental home in Between the Rivers burned in the 1960s. Momma had painted the walls an eco-green which reminded me of a hospital. Plaster of Paris bananas, grapes, and apples with smiling faces decorated the wall behind the sink. My Uncle Martin had made them many years before in his ceramic shop on his small house in Benton, Illinois. The linoleum was so old and scrubbed so many times that except for the worn black spots it was a non-descript color. There was not even enough room for the trash can, so it was kept on the back porch and emptied it into a burn barrel once a day. I loved that little house in Old Eddyville and have many wonderful memories of living there with my Momma, my Daddy, and my brother Nicky. Next door was Old Eddyville School and down the lane lived my Aunt Irene Lawrence Faughn. She ran a small grocery store, the neighborhood visiting place of that day. Aunt Irene had company on my seventh birthday and could not eat with us, so Momma fixed her a plate and told me to take it to her. I was so excited to share my cake with her that I tripped on a root in the lane and spilled everything. I must have howled like a banshee because Aunt Irene heard me and came to my rescue. She picked me up, dusted me off, and walked me home. There was always something very calming about Aunt Irene. She never raised her voice, got in a hurry, or got excited about anything. She always wore a heavy corset, so hugging her around the waist was a bit like hugging a tree that patted my back. I loved the strong, safe feeling she provided. As I type this, the smell of roast, carrots, and potatoes is drifting to me from the kitchen. Billy and Trace are preparing my birthday dinner. Did I say I did not receive a gift on my seventh birthday? Silly me. Then as now I received the best gift of all…sweet memories that I will always treasure.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 17:32:12 +0000
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