Take Me Out to the Ballgame

"Oh, no!" Andrew says while his brother Aaron holds the Yankees' fan sign ... even though he's wearing a Tigers shirt and hat. It was a win-win for both sides though as the game ended in a tie.

No apologies to Tigers' fans from this Yankees' fan! We had a great time at the last Spring Training game which was in Tampa at Legends Field. It was good to be with family and away from work!

The Present

I woke up this morning to the sound of the garage door going up. It was Bill, home hours ahead of schedule from his conference. I wasn't expecting him until this afternoon. What a lovely surprise to wake up to the present of his presence! It was kind of like having someone unexpectedly tell you to "close your eyes and hold your hands" and then opening your eyes to find a wrapped gift. That unexpected present fills us with excitement and wonder.

What a difference we would see in our relationships with others if we would remember to see them as a gift!

Once Upon a Time...

"Once upon a time, two people met and fell in love...They took every smile and every tear, a few differences of opinion, some major triumphs, and several minor miracles and turned them into something beautiful." (Hallmark)

Yesterday was the 36th anniversary of the day we met. Actually, we couldn't remember if we'd met on March 20th or 21st, so I googled a 1971 calendar of March. But after looking back at the 1971 calendar, it's now official, we met on March 21.

We had met on a Sunday at church. Bill was 22-1/2 years old, in the Air Force and stationed at Fairchild AFB in Spokane. I was 18 years old, attending college in LaMirada, California. I came home on spring break and went to church that Sunday with my family. Bill says that the moment he saw me walk in, he knew I was the girl he was going to marry. He still remembers my long blonde hair and flowered granny dress.... I remember a young man with an engaging smile and green eyes that caught my attention when he came up to me and introduced himself.

There are some unusual ingredients in our courtship:

• an old boyfriend (an emotional rollercoaster of a relationship)
• one pizza date -- Bill told me he was looking for a wife. Now that's boldness and initiative for you!
• a failed attempt to get Bill to kiss me using a Scripture verse - "Greet the brethren with a holy kiss", which just showed me what an honorable young man he was!
• my family's move from Spokane to Cheyenne
• cross-country correspondence by letter -- with Bill waiting for that first letter, wondering if he'd ever hear from me
• two marriage proposals on the same day via telephone -- one of which I turned down and the other I accepted :-)
• a pit stop in Cheyenne the weekend of July 11-13 for Bill on his way home to Iowa to visit his parents before being assigned to a base in Italy
• an "official" marriage proposal and our first kiss on July 11
• engaged on July 12
• "Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be home again..."
• more correspondence
• one long distance phone call from Bill on December 1st from Spain with instructions to be prepared to get married on December 18th

Pizza: $8

Engagement ring: $300

A five minute long distance call at $7 a minute: $35

Love of a lifetime: Priceless!

We could write a book!

Celebrating special days helps us look back and remember what drew us to one another. How thankful I am for God's hand in bringing us together!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The bees are buzzing, the flowers are blooming.... and the weeds are growing!!

Have you ever watched someone weeding a garden? They dig up, root out, yank, prune, clip, crop, pare, shear, trim, lop, thin, eliminate... You get the idea. All of those words create a picture of actively, vigorously, getting rid of something unwanted! As I was out working in the flower bed this morning (a good place for thinking, by the way), I was reminded of words I had just read earlier today in Deuteronomy 12 where Moses is giving the Israelites instructions on what to do as they went into the Promised Land. They were to utterly destroy, tear down, smash, burn, cut down, and obliterate the symbols and altars of other gods. That doesn't sound very tolerant you may be thinking. What about live and let live? But not only does God want our undivided loyalty, He knows how easy it is for us to be ensnared by other things that turn our hearts away from Him.

Out in the garden, I was working at ripping out the weeds. I could not be one bit tolerant of those weeds as it doesn't take much at all for them to grow back! I also know that weeding once won't get rid of them. This is a neverending job! After all, it is their natural habitat and they were there first! They don't need any nurturing, just a little neglect on my part. They won't die off and go away if I just ignore them; instead they'll thrive and choke out the flowers that I've planted. And the result of my neglect won't be hidden. Not only will I know it and see it, but so will everyone else as the flower bed is situated right on the front corner of our lot.

God wants me to be actively vigorously rooting out the weeds -- like anger, impatience, unkindness, pride, selfishness, just to name a few -- that grow in my life. He knows....and I know....how fast they can grow and how easily they will entangle, ensnare, take over and choke out the good things.

It's not enough to just weed the garden though. It's necessary to follow up by planting something else in the empty space. Then there are weed barriers to put down, watering, feeding, fertilizing, and the never-ending vigilant weeding.

There is a similar idea in the words of Moses to the Israelites. He used the words seek, come, bring, eat, rejoice. And just like the Israelites, I am to seek the Lord, to come to Him, to bring Him my offerings (my heart), to feed upon His Word, and to rejoice in His blessings! ....And to vigilantly weed!!!

"...let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

My own Inflatable!

Here's my thought for the day: Why do they call it "middle age"?? Probably because I've reached the age where my middle has become the focus of my life -- it seems to be bulging and expanding with a mind of its own; kind of like one of those inflatable swimming donuts you put on your kids when they go swimming in the big pool. EEEEEEEKKKK! I have my own swimming donut!!

Time to hit the treadmill!

Stars Fell On Alabama

Guess what?! Stars Fell On Alabama is a song! I haven't heard it but it's been recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

We lived our little drama

We kissed in a field of white

And stars fell on Alabama

Last night

I can't forget the glamour

Your eyes held a tender light

While stars fell on Alabama

Last night

I never planned in my imagination

A situation - so heavenly

A fairy land where no one else could enter

And in the center - just you and me

My heart beat just like a hammer

My arms wound around you tight

And stars fell on Alabama

Last night

Whoever thought a license plate would be so romantic!

Stitch by Stitch

I'm an obsessive cross stitcher. Hardly a day goes by that you won't find me needle in hand stitching. That's been going on for probably seven years now. I've always enjoyed handiwork and over the years have made many things -- crocheting, quilting, sewing, and crafting of some kind or another. One of my dearest friends teases me and says that if I make one of something, I sometimes end up making 52 of the same thing because I enjoyed making the one so much!

Almost seven years ago, I just happened to be working on a cross stitch project when I started having strange blinking problems with my eyes. The funny thing was that the involuntary blinking would stop whenever I picked up the cross stitch to work on. After a year or so of thinking I was going crazy, I was diagnosed with a neurological disorder called blepharospasm (involuntary spasms of the eyelids). And one of the quirks of the disorder is that when you're involved in some kind of handiwork -- like crocheting, knitting, cross stitching -- the brain is distracted and the blinking stops.

So needless to say, my cross stitching projects are always near at hand. I write all this to say that the cross stitching didn't just help me see physically, but I think it's helped me to see into myself. What does that mean?

In the quietness of cross stitching, my thoughts wander here and there. I guess I do think about other things besides what to make for dinner and whether or not to start a load of wash.

The other day it crossed my mind that life can be like an impressionist painting -- sometimes there's no visible pattern in the picture until it's all done. It was that way while I was stitching The Garden of Flowers by Van Gogh pictured above. It just seemed to be globs of color with no discernible pattern....that is, until it was completely done. Wow! As the stitcher, I had to trust the graph which instructed what color stitch to put where. Just so, I have to trust God as He stitches my life stitch by stitch. Sometimes it seems there's no discernible pattern as to why certain things happen, but in the end, my prayer is that picture of my life will glorify Him!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Spring has sprung here in the Magic City. The Bradford Pear trees are blooming, the Tulip trees are flowering, and I even saw a few dandelions in our yard this morning. It makes you want to open the windows of the house and let in a breath of fresh air. Out with the old, in with the new!

Easier said then done at our house. It has old wooden windows that are sometimes impossible to open. But that fresh air would sure be nice and the house is starting to get warmer, I think to myself. Just try it, I say. Then as I'm banging on the windows trying to get the frame to release their death-like grip on the window, I muse to myself that there must be a lesson in this somewhere. Yea, like wait and let your husband with his superior upper body strength do this! But it will be too late by the time he gets home. I'll want to be shutting the windows by then! OK, OK... finally the frame lets go and I can push the window up....only to have the outer window slide down... I'm telling you, these are attack windows. I know it well...as one of them brutally assaulted me last year and I got three fingers on my right hand caught in between the two windows and had to quit crying long enough to rescue myself. Not an easy thing to do with the left hand which, as we all know, isn't as strong as the right one anyhow! I had nightmares after that whenever I went to open or shut those killer windows.

It comes to mind that making changes in my life is a lot like trying to open those windows. Old habits hold a tight grip on me and just when I get the window open and feel that fresh air in my life that change brings, the window slides shut. What did the Apostle Paul say? The things I want to do, I don't...and the things I don't want to do, I do.

I usually grab some kind of tool from my toolbox to prop up the window to keep it from sliding shut. I thank God that the Holy Spirit is that tool from His toolbox to help me keep the window open so the breath of fresh air can blow thru me --- out with the old, in with the new!

Carpe Diem!

Yesterday it was more a case of seize the moment!!

Tuesday we had traveled from the Magic City to Hilton Head Island, a truly magical place. We had expected that Wednesday would be a day of R&R for Bill who hasn't had much down time for quite some time. He's an Army chaplain and is on call 24/7. You have to be prepared to expect the unexpected.

Wednesday started out well enough. We had breakfast at a little cafe called Skillets. It was a gloriously beautiful day and we had plans to check out the outlet shops back over the bridge. It was around 11:00 when we pulled into the parking lot and went into the first store to look at patio furniture. We were walking around sitting in different chairs, checking out their comfort and whether or not they were made for people with short legs when Bill's Blackberry rang. He calls it his Blueberry, mostly because I think it makes him blue to be so connected all the time. Whatever happened to the good ol' days when we were blissfully unconnected and ignorant of all the emergencies that sometimes took care of themselves?! Anyhow, from that point on for the rest of the day he was more connected to the cell phone than he was to me. I'm really not complaining. I know he has an important job and people need him. But I felt bad for him that his enjoyment of the day was interrupted.

I went in and out of stores shopping and he found a new bench to sit on outside each store where he continued dealing with the situations. I guess if you have to work, you couldn't ask for a better environment -- sunshine, comfortable temperatures, under palm trees. The only thing missing right then was the beach and a hammock to make it more perfect. In between phone calls and text messages, he would come in to the store where I was to see what I'd found. There was Carter's which was having a 50% off sale so I did some birthday shopping for grandchildren Abigail and Aaron who will be six years old in May. They're not twins, just kissin' cousins! And the Rack Room where I found some new sandals...and Liz Claiborne's where I tried on several outfits. I was having a good time :-)

We stopped for a late lunch -- Coke and cookies -- and then went into more stores on the other side of the road. He did find one treasure in between phone calls -- a statue of a fierce pirate to go on the shelf in his study.

We drove to Harbour Towne to have dinner at the Crazy Crab. His phone rang again in between the salad course and the entree. Another call he had to take -- this time to inform another chaplain that they'd been selected to go to Iraq. That's hard news to give someone and then think you're going to go back to enjoying your dinner.

The phone was blissfully silent during the time we walked on the beach and watched the sun set. And it stayed quiet during our walk over to the Frozen Moo for ice cream cones. But then came alive again after we got back to the room.

But we did have great moments to remember from the day -- breakfast together, the sunshine, the beach, the sunset, enjoying ice cream cones....

Seize the Moment!!

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the....

A funny thing happened on the way to the blog....I surprised my husband. And that's a good thing. He was curious about my blog, so I showed it to him so he could read it. Afterwards, he looked at me with surprise, curiosity, interest.... hmmmm.... I guess he still wants to know what I think about during the day, even after 35+ years of marriage. And that's a good thing.

Well, we're off on a road trip. We're going to Hilton Head Island for one of his conferences and we'll be in the car together for seven hours so there's plenty of time to share our thoughts with one another.

It reminds me not to let our everyday activities bog us down so that we don't share our deeper thoughts and feelings with one another.

I Learn Something New

I learned something new today in my Google search for "The Magic City".... well, after being directed to the Magic City Gentlemens Club in Atlanta.... oops! that was definitely a wrong turn and I did a quick U-turn!!! Anyhow, I learned that in the 1870's the railroads and land barons built a town that was named Birmingham after England's industrial giant. The new town quickly became a commercial hub with railroads crisscrossing the community. The new community sprang up, thrived and grew so quickly that observers said it happened .... yeah, you guessed it... "just like magic." Soon the nickname "The Magic City" was applied to Birmingham.

I like my daughter's comment better. Thanks, Sus, for the compliment!

This city didn't really grow just like magic. The same can be said for relationships. It takes stick-to-it-tiveness: an act of the will to hang in there no matter what when tough moments, days, weeks come along...and they will. Thriving and growing in a relationship takes nurturing, , pruning, watering, weeding and feeding.

I've been trying to be more aware of how I'm growing my relationships. How about you?

Where's the Magic?

I am a transplant. We've been here one year now and I'm still trying to figure out why it's called the Magic City. It's not because the Magic is here -- that's Orlando, if I'm remembering my basketball teams correctly. It's not because there are a lot of magicians who live and/or perform here -- that's Las Vegas. Why is it called the Magic City? And why do the license plates say "Stars Fall On" Alabama?? Is that from a song? Somehow I always think of Texas when I see that phrase.

When we found out we were moving to Birmingham, I figured out that I have moved 21 times in my time upon this earth. And, no, I'm not in the Witness Protection Program. Not only is my husband an Army officer, but I had the privilege of being a military brat as my dad spent 20+ years in the Air Force. After ironing BDU's ("battle dress uniforms" for the uninitiated) for years, I swore I'd never marry a guy in the military, but what can you do when those same uniforms set your heart to fluttering? Although, in this case, it was the man in the uniform who set my heart to fluttering, but that's another story for another time. From Texas to New York, from Michigan to California, from big cities to isolated posts, from down home country to foreign cities, I've seen a lot of fabulous places and made a lot of friends. At this stage of my life, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

After reading some blogs, I've decided that blogging is a form of journaling -- only with feedback. It's putting into words all those fleeting vague thoughts. When I was first married, my husband used to come home from work and ask me what I had thought about during the day....hmmmm...what to make for dinner? how much laundry I had to do? should I let the dust bunnies multiply yet another day? no, no he'd say, I mean what did you think about? Those are the things I thought about. So maybe in this day and age, blogging is a way to think out loud those deeper and more profound free form thoughts....or it's a way to avoid folding the laundry :-)