Facebook

I fought it for as long as I could. I think technology moves way to fast. Just when I think I am “on it” people start something else. I remember the day I learned to e-mail. I had been listening to people talk about it for at least a year and I was too intimidated to even ask what e-mail was. Okay…Now you know. I am old. I was in the first group of Baby Boomers who were fortunate enough to have a television (mostly because my dad sold appliances in the early 1950’s).

I watched Miss Frances’ Ding Dong School and Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans. (and green was not about the environment) I guess he could have easily been Mr. Brown Jeans. Green, however, was colorful, and even though we all watched on our black and white TVs with rabbit ears, “green” gave us something to imagine.

But I digress. I am talking about Facebook.

It has opened up a whole new world for this old girl. My high school class recently celebrated their 40^th reunion…which I missed…and I mean I was not only absent but I MISSED and will remember that I MISSED forever. Most of us - 69 in number - went from first grade to twelfth grade together. From learning the ABC’S to Canterbury Tales, we did it together.

And for months we have been e-mailing and reconnecting and laughing over the ravages of time…laughing in a good way. I think we would all like 18 year old bodies with 50+ year old wisdom to go with them. So it is not going to happen. Even so, it is fun…really fun…and life-giving to look back and see the relationships that encompass decades.

We share the same history and the same memories and it is just…beyond words. I understand, from my two hour conversation this morning with my friend Ellen, that the tears were more like sobs in the parting and the togetherness at this season of life had nothing at all to do with anybody trying to impress anybody else. Our class was one, and more than ever, we were FOR eachother. Oh, how I missed it and yet don’t feel like I completely missed it because of Facebook and the pictures and stories we have shared.

I think our class is much like heaven is going to be. Okay…we will probably meet a few surprise residents J, but the joy over being together and knowing we will never ever be separated again…is that a great thought or what?

On the Road Again

Pat Pierce, President of the UMW at Crawford Street, Marilyn, and Phyliis Cowart, Vice President

I had a great time yesterday in Vicksburg speaking to the Crawford Street United Methodist Women at their Fall Membership Luncheon. It was very much a Mississippi gathering – you know when Southern girls get together, we always play, “Who do you know that I know?” Or….as our mothers taught us to always ask, “And who ah yo-wer peopul?” If we talk long enough we can always find a distant cousin somewhere. That’s one of the best things about being Southern.

I used my revised version of my talk on the Five Lessons I Never Meant to Learn. It seems there are always women who can easily identify. I know something about myself, and I am wondering if it is a universal girl thing. I was a very good student in school. I could definitely learn the material and take the test. But don’t ask me anything a week later about the material. Once I got my A, I seemed to completely forget the facts, figures, and anything else pertaining to the test. It was all about the A. So could we say I really learned anything?

Life lessons, however, are a different thing altogether - the ones that knocked me to my knees and left me feeling like there was a gaping hole where once there was a heart…well…I can remember those. I find that I am not strange. Most women feel the same way. I also notice that as nice as it is to be able to call up names and dates from long ago history tests during a game of Trivial Pursuit, the long term effects of a lesson well learned and indelibly written on one’s soul, is even better. Those kinds of lessons help us become a little better than we might have been at People skills and at hearing God’s soft voice in the middle of a very chaotic busy daily routine. I have discovered this fact, too. All women have “stuff-“ heart stuff that hurts.

I realized the other day that the one thing I do like about getting older is that when I sing “Faith of our Fathers,” it is no longer someone else’s faith I sing about. It is mine, too…that thought alone soothes the aging process in ways you can’t appreciate till you get there.

I am gearing up for a trip to Maine next week. Just wait till you see my pictures and hear about my trip. If you are into praying for a prodigal publisher, would you pray that I do not have to spend any nights in the airport and that all my flights depart and arrive on time….That almost sounds like a fairytale like “And they all lived happily ever after” after my last experience. (See Lucy and Ethel Take a Road Trip)

Update on Walker Dog: He got a great report at his last visit to the vet. I think Betsy is into cherishing every second with this sweet furry friend. He even got a pass on chemotherapy last week. We’ll see what this week brings. Will update you. God bless.

Tears, Cheers and HOPE

First of all, an update on my ‘grand-dog’, Walker may have a little “cat” in him – as in nine lives. He had his first chemotherapy last Thursday, tolerated it well, and Betsy is encouraged. The vet says this series of several chemos could mean another year or so of life without pain. If you are not a dog-lover, please stop reading now. You will think we are all nuts at my house.

If you are a dog-lover, read on. You understand.

Have you ever run across the bumper sticker that says, “Oh, Lord, help me be the person my dog thinks I am.” Well, it is not sacrilegious. You have to have been loved by a dog to appreciate the truth in those words.

I, for one, think God can use anything and anyone to teach us lessons that go deep into our souls. When it comes to love in a completely pure way…as one dog-lover to another (since all non-dog-lovers stopped reading at end of sentence #5) does this or does this not make sense? I think most of God’s most profound points He really wants us to grasp during our temporary tenure here on earth involve simple truths – like it feels really good to love and be loved back.

My dog, Daisy, affectionately called the “chemotherapy dog” (the one BETSY found at Corgi Rescue to help me through the chemotherapy I never had) sits beside me when I cry…and I think I mentioned in the magazine recently that I long ago perfected the art of crying. There’s good crying and bad crying. I am a master of both.

You know – sunrises, sunsets…music…good cry. Death, heartbreak…bad cry.

A lot of my crying in this era of life involves being overwhelmed by “the list” of self-imposed “shoulds” and “oughts.” I never seem to complete those guilt inducing categories in any given day, and it is frustrating. I keep getting interrupted by life. Even so, there is some lingering something inside me that bases my worth on how many things I can successfully check off the list of “TO DO TODAY.”

But to come home at night, feeling incredibly inadequate because I failed to get through “the list” and find Daisy waiting at the back door helps me let go of the wounds the day has inflicted!

I read something recently that said when it comes to “balance’ and “time management” Jesus was probably one of the worst ever at planning out the day and having everything fall into place…..”Let’s see from 9 to 10 I will heal the lepers. From 10 – 11 , I will heal the blind…etc. etc. “

He kept getting interrupted by life and crowds and unanticipated “stuff.” I know, I know. If He was God the Son, he knew ahead of time there would be detours, but I think he felt like he had to walk through those doors just to show us how to do it, too – how to let the list go at times and focus on the moment, the needs around us, and just be there.

Life is not a big circle that can be divided into equal parts so that we are balanced people. A big circle divided perfectly would work great if it were not for…real life.

I am thinking I might prefer passion over balance any day…just let me have passion for the things that are God’s passion . Passion seems closer to abundant living than being a bean counter or a list checker…you think?