Ms. Gladys

I'm sitting here tonight, remembering a lifetime ago. I was 19 yrs old. Married. Pregnant. Trying to make a new home in a new town with basically a 100% turn around from where I had been 18 months prior to that.

We moved to a little town called Bogue Chitto. I swear, really, it's called that. Sunnydale was the youth minister for this tiny church there. Tiny church. Did I mention that this place was tiny? I could tell you how tiny but I actually have fond memories and I don't want to come off as offensive...LOL

So there we were, Sunnydale was driving all the way up to Kosciusko to go to school on Mondays and Tuesdays at MBC. Needless to say, I got lonely when he was gone. We only had one car, so when he was gone it left me at home. I began going on walks up and down the street we lived on.

One day, on one of my walks, I noticed this older woman outside. In that southern hospitality that I truly love (and miss) we exchanged hellos. I recognized her as one of the older women at out church. She knew who I was and invited me in for some sweet tea.....(miss that too). Well, we began these visits regularly when Sunnydale was gone. And even when he was home, Ms. Gladys would invite us over and fix THE best meals. Let's just say we were well fed!!

On one of my visits she asked if I knew how to crochet. I said I didn't, but wished I did. Well that was all it took. She had tiny white thread wound around my hands and through my fingers with a needle going to work in no time. Those are some of the fondest memories I have. She would tell me stories about her life, when she was younger, and I would sit and crochet, fascinated with her.

Ms. Gladys was 93 when she taught me how to crochet.

An old friend called tonight, John Mark Smith, to let us know that Ms. Gladys had passed on to be with our Heavenly Father. I probably had an odd response, I thanked him for calling, it was extremely thoughtful, after all these years to think of letting us know. But now that I think about it, I didn't get any info for the funeral.....how she died, where she was...nothing. Here is this woman that I've thought of so often over the last 9 years and I didn't ask anything.

Then it occurred to me. I am very simply at complete peace with her passing. My very first thought was to thank John Mark for letting us know. It didn't occur to me to cry or mourn her. God had a reason for allowing her to live on this earth for so very long. She touched more people than just me, I can tell you that.

I'll remember her for her kindness, her loving compassion and endless smile. Never a harsh word or thought of judgment crossed over her lips onto my ears. She was very careful in how she taught me. I've never forgotten her and I never will.

Tonight, I celebrate her life. And I'm happy, for her, that she's home.

Chores

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes,looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.
He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.

As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do

all day?"


"Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it"

"A Year of Memories" Life After Katrina....

Wow!
Sunnydale has been blessed with the opportunity to fly to New Orleans this weekend for an event held in Pontiff Park.

Emergency Medical Services
"A Year of Memories"
Held at the Veterans Memorial Square
Pontiff Park
New Orleans

He wrote a song a little over a year ago called "I'm Not Afraid To Fly". It's a beautiful song and he's going to sing it this weekend along with "God Bless America". I sure wish I could be there!!

Please keep his travels in your prayers. Also, please keep all the people and families that Katrina affected in your prayers. Anniversaries have a tendency to be very difficult.

~C.H.

You will NOT believe this!!!!!!

I am absolutely stunned at Adrienne. She cracks me up all the time, but this one hits #1 on her chart of hilarious things.....

I was looking through Adri's backpack this afternoon and came across a worksheet of math problems. Now, for those of you who don't know, Adri is in the 1st grade. She is repeating the first grade because her reading skills were not 2nd grade level, so we decided to allow her to repeat 1st. She started school when she was 4 so this is actually better because now she's with other 6 year olds.

Anyway, this math sheet had the basic of all basic math problems. For example....2+1=
So I noticed out of the 20 something problems, you could see where the teacher marked 16 of them WRONG. Ok, well, my first reaction was....ummm....what??? At the end of the year last year she was doing double digit addition, what's the deal?

So I brought her in here to talk to me about this without any of the other kids around. We sat down and I asked her about the worksheet. I told her that I need to know what's going on because I know she can do this math. This is the EASY math!

She put her hands on her face and said through her hands..."Mom, you're all mad at me and you don't get it......"

"Then please explain it to me, Adri"

She sat up in her chair looked me straight in the eye and said...

"Mom, if I do them all wrong the first time, then my teacher will have me erase them and I get to do them again"


WHAT???


She is doing them wrong on purpose because she likes math! She gets them wrong, then she gets to sit there and do it again.

That's hilarious. But clearly the wrong way to go about schoolwork.

Ok, so it's obvious she needs to be doing math that challenges her and this isn't it. I told her that tomorrow, if she'll get them all correct, then I'll tell her teacher that she has to give her extra worksheets to do. She said "You can do that?"

Ummm, yes. LOL

I suppose if you're going to have a problem at school, this is the one to have.

*laughing*

I should have known.....

I should have known by the way my day started that I was probably supposed to stay home today.

After I got the key situation taken care of, I got some housework done, got the girls up and off to school and then was on my way to daycare when.......

I caught a glimpse of a little boy, too little to be in school, walking down the road. I stopped the truck, threw it in reverse and backed up just to see if it really was a little boy....alone. I waited a minute or two (felt like 10) to see if his Mom or Dad came around.....still....quiet......he was alone.

I turned the truck around and drove down his street. When I arrived where he was, I immediately noticed that he was bawling. Not crying. BAWLING. His little face was all red splotched, you could tell he had been crying for a while. I turned my hazard lights on and got out of the truck. I asked him if he was ok and if he knew where his Mommy was. All he said was "My Dad's gone" over and over. He was maybe 4 years old...maybe.

So I looked around wondering what to do, I knew I couldn't put him in my truck so, off I went to the house where I had pulled over. I started to knock and saw it was cracked open. Then I thought, yeah, I bet he lives here. Nope. He didn't. Real nice lady answered though. She was just as upset as I was at the sight of him. He was that upset. Lost. Totally lost.

I asked her if she knew him and she said no then I said "I think you need to call the Police". She said ok and went back inside. I sat with him outside. When she came back outside after calling the Police, She held him while I pulled my truck into her driveway.

Then we noticed a man walking up the street. He was walking casually, not in a hurry. And when he reached her yard, she said to him "We found another one".....I was like huh? She explained that her own son had escaped her yard the other day while she was doing dishes.

So the man walks up and is talking to us he asked me where I found him and I explained what happened. Then AFTER THAT, he reaches out for the boy and takes him. It was HIS kid!!! And he didn't even say anything when he came up! The lady looks at him and said "oh! He's yours?"

The guy said yes and that was that. I couldn't believe it. The guy had left the kid home alone while he took the others to school. Sheesh.

I told him NOTHING was worth leaving him alone. Totally alone and asleep. Anything could have happened. Wow.

So the police came and took my statement and got the guys info and all of that but I have no idea what will happen to him, if he'll get into any trouble for leaving the kid alone. Probably just a good scare. Sometimes that's all that's needed is one good scare and then it never happens again.

What a day.

It isn't over yet. I'm going to hide.....

Oddities in Hayes Park

Ok, so if you haven't already, please read the previous post. It'll help you understand this one. *grin*

So here are a few things I noticed this morning when I stood on my front porch at 4:55 in the am waiting for Roadside Assistance.....

1. People drive carelessly, more so than usual. We live on a one way street that's in the shape of a half moon. Someone drove up the wrong way going quite fast this morning. It boggles me as to why people do this because going on our street serves absolutely no purpose unless you live on the street. We're not a shortcut in any sense of the word.

2. When the sprinklers come on, one of them goes around and around, continuously hitting the light pole and making this "zink, zink, zink" noise.......creepy

3. I was quite surprised how few lights I saw on other people houses. I just figured that most of the community, seeing as how we're all military, would be awake. But they are not.

4. The trucks alarm system works well and sounds especially loud and healthy at 5 in the morning.......I bet they're awake now.

5. An owl lives somewhere close to my house. I listened to it while I was waiting.

6. My neighbors have 2 flags in the front of their house, which they apparently follow procedure by taking down in the evenings. My other neighbors have a light on their flag. They are the only 2 houses on the street to have flags up. Hmm, I think that's weird.

7. And last but definitely not least, I am reminded of why I do not stand on my front porch in the dark...... little cute creatures called SKUNKS.

I think Sunnydale should cook dinner tonight. *grin*

How about some Peanut Butter & Jelly??

Roadside Assistance

We'll start this blog off with a smile.


:)


It's 4:46 in the morning and I just got off the phone with road side assistance. :)


Sunnydale locked the keys in his truck.


Er......someone locked the keys in his truck. :)


I'm sure it wasn't him. :)

He's all freaking out about the truck and I said, "you'll just have to take the car babe"...

There is this look on his face like...."the car.....but it's for girls.....I want my truck"

"it's ok, babe, things happen" is what I tell him. (guilt reminds me of last year when I locked the keys in the truck)

So he took the car.

I'm all proud because I spent my day on Saturday cleaning out the car. I mean I took a toothpick and an old toothbrush and cleaned my car, like I was going to sell it or something.

So I'm slightly disappointed that I don't get to drive it today.

However, I do get the truck. :)

It has air conditioning. :)

There's always a bright side.

So I called our car insurance and they are sending someone to get the keys out.

I'll blog again when it's over and I'm holding the "manly" truck keys in my hand. *grin*