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8.28.2007

WE'RE BFF!! WE'RE BFF!!

My BFF! We have been friends for so long, it's difficult to remember life without her! We have been through it all! We've even argued...well...disagreed...from time to time (and I mean this with all serious-ness, those times were always because of me! OH! I'm sorry..."yeah...you're the sorriest thing I've ever seen!"), and our friendship has grown stronger. We're closer than sisters, if that's possible. She has been the voice of reason in my very self-turbulent, dysfunctional life. I was a mess inside and out. Meeting BFF was literally a divine intervention that perservered because of her incredible patience and obedience to our Father! If you know her...if you know her and I together...you've already said "AMEN TO THAT!" See my hands??? I cannot thank God enough for bringing this woman into my life. I am so proud to have HER call ME friend. I am in awe of her life..I wanna be her when I grow up!!

She is so talented. She's a great Mom, (according to Poppy, she's a hot mama!) a wonderful, loving Nini, a devoted daughter and sister, an adoring wife (really...seriously! How many times can you actually SAY that anymore! It's awesome!), an avid runner, an amazing quilter, a beautiful singer, and the list goes on and on. Most importantly, she is a woman after God's own heart, and you know it. You can see it in her. She doesn't need to say a thing. It's in there.
And she's funny...hey...she's the "tan-loud-lady!" We crack ourselves up! Doesn't she look like BDE in this pic???

MAHVELOUS DAAHLING!!! Yeah...we're weird...that's all part of the charm that makes us...US!!!!

Now THESE two...there's just not enough space to write everything I believe about Chief and Poppy together. The gangsta-pranksta's! You do not even WANT to know what's happening in these pictures!

Still, Poppy has been a great influence on Chief...and he's pretty influential, himself. They make an awesome pair, I love them together. Chief has many friends in his life, but none as close as Poppy.
The four of us together make a pretty good team! Chief and Poppy make us laugh AND gross us out! We love them dearly. And our families have always been pretty close. Our kids were perfectly "arranged" in age for friendship...T~, Cheerios, MamaJuJu, Happy, Maestro and Rachigga. In that order. They pretty much grew up together and definately have stories of their own they could share. I'll leave that to them. Someday. Here's the youngest reason there are stories! Rachigga's second parents: she loves them so much! And they love her just as much.

For a long time...because of Chief...our fav thing to do was play pinochle. And we played it A LOT!! Goose and Mav. Ahhh...the memories. Not so much in recent years, there's just so much more to do now that we are older and retired and all that good stuff. And because we don't get to see each other all that often any more, cards seems like a waste of precious catching-up-we-haven't-had-chocolate-or-coffee-or-El-Sarape time! We used to spend every New Year's Eve together...no matter what party we were all invited to, we always left early so we could spend that ball-dropping moment just the four of us. We'd toast the New Year and play cards! Much to the children's dismay. I do remember one New Year when Poppy discovered he couldn't eat all that salt anymore. Now those were scary times. PTL THAT'S over!

All in all, it has been an amazing, incredible, awesome, loving, very, very, fun 22 years! BFF is my duet partner for crying out loud!!! We have done it all, and there's so much more to do, I cannot wait for the next 22 years!! Thanks for the memories!
And, here's to our NEXT picture-taking adventure! "Hey Nini...what's THAT???"

8.22.2007

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Rain
by Robert Louis Stevenson

The rain is falling all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.

How appropriate for today. How appropriate for this entire week! It's like: "water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink!" It's from an old rime (yes, RIME) called "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Very old...very long, but it is in there...in the second part, if you can make it through the first part...20 stanzas (there are actually seven parts)! Sailors had a lot to write about back then...they had nothing better to do, thus the ship's log!

Ugh...I ramble. Rain. It's good, right? It's needed, right? Of course it is. But, why so MUCH of it? Why here? Why not in drought-ridden Georgia? Why every day? Actually...not DAY. It has been sunny and warm and humid the last two days...then those big, black clouds roll in. Thunder. Lightening. (The way you love me it's frightening...sorry...musical moment) Then the down pour. Amazing.

I actually love a good thunderstorm. The thunder, the lightening, the rain...especially in the summer. The smell of a summer rain on the hot, dry pavement. The sound of the rain on the roof, on the window. The thick, beautiful green grass after it's all over. Okay...I am NOT diminishing the obvious ramifications of a weeks worth of inches of rain on our community...I just love a good thunderstorm, that's all.

Every year at this time, I am getting ready to go back to teach. Not this year. I am deciding what devotional to use for my first hour. Not this year. I remember how quickly the first month of school passes, and how can I share with them the idea that the seasons are like our lives? Not this year...well, at least not with my students. I can share that with YOU! Aren't you excited??? Well, pretend you are, anyway. Just like they did. :~)

I won't go into the WHOLE schpeil (like that word???), just the part about summer. The rain. You have it, don't you! You already know what I'm going to say, but I will say it anyway. In every one's life, a little rain must fall. Unfortunately, some get the downpour, and some get the sprinkles. Personally, I do not mind a downpour once in a while. It keeps me humble. Steeped in humility. It helps me focus on the sky, constantly watching to see if the clouds are moving, closing my eyes with my face lifted up, to feel if the wind has shifted ("wind's from the east, mist comin' in, like somethin' is brewin' and 'bout to begin"). And then as sure as Bob's your Uncle...it's over.

Then I wonder, how did I ever make it through that storm? I can reminisce what my life was like before the storm and how it changed after. I can look back and see God's hand in it all. Where He carried me. Where I fought Him. Where I gave it all to Him. Those places are like this: after the srorm is over, we go outside and assess the damage. Every place where a pool of water has settled is an indentation, an indication, of my settling. Where I stopped to either pray or fight. Some of the pools are bigger than others, but they are there. I am safely on the other side of that storm. The pools of water will dry up, or be soaked into the ground, but I'll remember where they were. And, hopefully, know to avoid those divots during the next storm.

Because there will be another storm. With every one, I learn something different. I remember to close the windows. In my house AND in my car! I learn to check to make sure the sump pump is working. I bring in the umbrella from the patio so it doesn't blow away into the neighbor's yard, practically impaling their dog! And I still go out onto the front porch to watch the clouds come in and feel the wind shift. I remember that God has my heart in His hand and He has it all under control. And I think of Robert Louis Stevenson, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and, of course, Mary Poppins!

Here's to drier days ahead!

8.14.2007

Waxing Nostalgic...

I had this book when I was a little girl, called "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson. I loved it. Very much. I don't remember where I got it, a gift, probably, but from whom, (who...whom, whatever...) I do not remember.


This was probably my favorite:


The Swing
by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!


Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--


Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!


I don't know why I am blogging about this, I just felt kind of mellow this afternoon and was thinking about being a child and how these were the days I treasured the most...the "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer". Of course, my memories of when I was little, like Z-man and Flower are quite hazy, it was then, when I was not tainted by life's atrocities and abuses (until the age of 7) I was probably most happy.


A little older, maybe around 9 or 10, we had this swing set out in the back yard, behind the garage...a place where, at the right time of day, no one could really find me. I loved to swing on that set!! I really thought no one knew I was there...there was never anyone around, in my yard or in the neighbors, so I would sing, at the top of my lungs, every song I knew! Barbra Streisand had nothing on me singing the entire score from Funny Girl! Or becoming Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music or Mary Poppins. And Nancy Sinatra??? pphhhfff! "Who Will Buy" never sounded so sweet. I memorized Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Jack Jones, Perry Como, Judy Garland...my respite. My own swinging sanctuary.


Anyway, I loved swinging, and I really loved that book. Along with a few others that were kept at my Grandma's in Green Bay. So...I was just thinking about that today...weird, but true. I leave you with two adorable pics of my Z-man and Flower swinging...don't they look so contented and happy???



8.06.2007

Inseperable...that's what you are to me...

Well, this is us...the FAMILY! So proud we are of one another, and it's not that often we all get together. BDILE, Cheerios, Z-man, Flower, Happy, Flucos (that's Happy's husband...it's the name of their High School teams), Rachigga, Chief and me. I am ALWAYS in the middle...guess it's always easier to gather around the...well, for the sake of everything nice...I will just say, I really hate being the one in the middle. But...there I am in all my green-ness. We DO look happy, don't we??? I guess that's because WE ARE!!!

We had a wonderful week with Happy and Flucos here! We laughed and talked and planned and the guys went to a Cubbies game (Flucos really wanted to get a picture of THE WALL at Wrigley Field... though he is an Indians fan) while us girls had a baby shower for Happy. The absolute highlight of that night was seeing BFF, EOO and BDE!!! I was thrilled to see BFF...it has been, you know, like, forever! It was a wonderful night and Happy got such beautiful things!!! Here is the





quilt BFF made her, and then one of the afghans my Mom made. Beautiful!!!







Still...it wasn't all about the Cubbies and a baby shower. We also spent a day with Chief's family up at Big Lake. We had a blast and Z-man loved everything and everyone loved Z and Flower!!



All-in-all it was a great visit, and, as usual, it was way too short! We won't be together again until Christmas, and you better believe I am counting the days! I will go to see Happy when the baby comes, it seems like an eternity away, but I know it will come quickly! Now. to share some pics from the week...and to say:

"Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos." ~Charles M. Schulz

So..."HELLO"


Flucos lost a bet with my sister, so he was FORCED to wear an Urlacher jersey. Poor guy...HAHAHA