I have a friend that has chosen to close down her old life in the wedding industry and open a new door. She and I both have a passion for writing and I've been so encouraged by friends to pursue what I've always just considered my pressure valve for letting off steam: writing.
I am working on a book, nearly done, and already I have three or four other things in the hopper to work on. I really don't want to go back to doing the same thing I've been doing for 12 years in the wedding industry. It's exhausting and takes time away from my family. I cannot begin to count the hours I've lost with my family because there was always work to be done. I came home from church yesterday and remarked to my husband about how nice it was to be able to take my time cleaning up and getting a few things done so I could sit down and work on the book. For years it's been, "Hurry home, throw something together to eat, and then sit for 12 hours working on envelopes." While it's been a good way to stay home and be with my family, it's taken a toll and now I'm ready to turn over a new leaf. I will never completely leave it behind, but the work I've done on the Quaker Marriage Certificates has been so rewarding. I will focus on those and keep a foot in the door.
But writing! I so enjoy weaving things together to share a story. To touch someone's life, to speak encouragement, to educate someone--what an incredible gift that is, both to the reader and the writer. Computers have completely revolutionized it so I can literally write a book and publish it from my laptop. I wonder how many people over the years had really worthwhile things to say yet their subject wasn't considered relevant by a few that sat in an office high up in New York. We can now take our words to any number of websites and in a matter of days have those words reach millions. Amazing.
So, my "office" will now be this laptop and I can write wherever I want on whatever I want and know I at least have a fighting chance of those words reaching people.
My teens were some fun years, working hard, planning for the future. My twenties were hard, although I became a mother for the first time and I'd have to say that was one of the best things ever to happen to me, becoming a mother, heartache and happiness, every bit of it. My thirties were difficult, but I found the love of my life and gave birth to another precious child. My forties have been challenging but oh! the wisdom I've gained! I wouldn't trade my wisdom for anything. I have one and a half years left of my forties and I'm looking forward to seeing how I can wrap up this decade.
But my fifties--now, that will be a sight to behold. With each new decade new opportunities have come along and I do believe this one, should the Lord tarry, will be one of my best so far and on this keyboard I pray I can capture it all.
Join me for this new adventure!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
A black writer summarizes Obama
I make no secret of my absolute disdain and disgust for the current squatter of the White House but this is PERFECTION. Read on....
A Black Reporter Summarizes Barack The below summarization of Barack and Michelle Obama’s 5 year reign in the White House is by far the best I’ve ever read as it squarely hits the nail on the head. And it took a black reporter writing it to make it as effective as it is. A white man’s account would be instantly criticized by the liberal media as pure racism. But, how can anyone scream Racist when an exacting description of the Obamas is penned by a well known journalist of color? BEST SUMMATION OF BARACK AND MICHELLE EVER! Mychal Massie is a respected writer and talk show host in Los Angeles. The other evening on my twitter, a person asked me why I didn't like the Obama's? Specifically I was asked: "I have to ask, why do you hate the Obama's? It seems personal, not policy related. You even dissed (disrespect) their Christmas family picture." The truth is I do not like the Obamas, what they represent, their ideology, and I certainly do not like his policies and legislation. I've made no secret of my contempt for the Obamas. As I responded to the person who asked me the aforementioned question, I don't like them because they are committed to the fundamental change of my/our country into what can only be regarded as a Communist state. I don't hate them per definition, but I condemn them because they are the worst kind of racialists, they are elitist Leninists with contempt for traditional America. They display disrespect for the sanctity of the office he holds, and for those who are willing to admit same, Michelle Obama's raw contempt for white America is transpicuous. I don't like them because they comport themselves as emperor and empress. I expect, no I demand respect, for the Office of President and a love of our country and her citizenry from the leader entrusted with the governance of same. President and Mrs. Reagan displayed an unparalleled love for the country and her people. The Reagan's made Americans feel good about themselves and about what we could accomplish. Obama's arrogance by appointing 32 leftist czars and constantly bypassing congress is impeachable. Eric Holder is probably the MOST incompetent and arrogant DOJ head to ever hold the job. Could you envision President Reagan instructing his Justice Department to act like jack-booted thugs? Presidents are politicians and all politicians are known and pretty much expected to manipulate the truth, if not outright lie, but even using that low standard, the Obama's have taken lies, dishonesty, deceit, mendacity, subterfuge and obfuscation to new depths. They are verbally abusive to the citizenry, and they display an animus for civility. I do not like them, because they both display bigotry overtly, as in the case of Harvard Professor Louis Gates, when he accused the Cambridge Police of acting stupidly, and her code speak pursuant to not being able to be proud of America. I view that statement and that mindset as an insult to those who died to provide a country where a Kenyan, his illegal alien relatives, and his alleged progeny, could come and not only live freely, but rise to the highest, most powerful, position in the world. Michelle Obama is free to hate and disparage whites because Americans of every description paid with their blood to ensure her right to do same. I have a saying, that "the only reason a person hides things, is because they have something to hide." No president in history has spent millions of dollars to keep his records and his past sealed. And what the two of them have shared has been proved to be lies. He lied about when and how they met, he lied about his mother's death and problems with insurance, Michelle lied to a crowd pursuant to nearly $500,000 bank stocks they inherited from his family. He has lied about his father's military service, about the civil rights movement, ad nausea. He lied to the world about the Supreme Court in a State of the Union address. He berated and publicly insulted a sitting Congressman. He has surrounded himself with the most rabidly, radical, socialist academicians today. He opposed rulings that protected women and children that even Planned Parenthood did not seek to support. He is openly hostile to business and aggressively hostile to Israel. His wife treats being the First Lady as her personal American Express Black Card (arguably the most prestigious credit card in the world). I condemn them because, as people are suffering, losing their homes, their jobs, their retirements, he and his family are arrogantly showing off their life of entitlement - as he goes about creating and fomenting class warfare. I don't like them, and I neither apologize nor retreat from my public condemnation of them and of his policies. We should condemn them for the disrespect they show our people, for his willful and unconstitutional actions pursuant to obeying the Constitutional parameters he is bound by, and his willful disregard for Congressional authority. Dislike for them has nothing to do with the color of their skin; it has everything to do with their behavior, attitudes, and policies. And I have open scorn for their constantly playing the race card. I could go on, but let me conclude with this. I condemn in the strongest possible terms the media for refusing to investigate them, as they did President Bush and President Clinton, and for refusing to label them for what they truly are. There is no scenario known to man, whereby a white president and his wife could ignore laws, flaunt their position, and lord over the people, as these two are permitted out of fear for their color. As I wrote in a syndicated column titled, "Nero In The White House" - "Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood... Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation, and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement - while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed."
A Black Reporter Summarizes Barack The below summarization of Barack and Michelle Obama’s 5 year reign in the White House is by far the best I’ve ever read as it squarely hits the nail on the head. And it took a black reporter writing it to make it as effective as it is. A white man’s account would be instantly criticized by the liberal media as pure racism. But, how can anyone scream Racist when an exacting description of the Obamas is penned by a well known journalist of color? BEST SUMMATION OF BARACK AND MICHELLE EVER! Mychal Massie is a respected writer and talk show host in Los Angeles. The other evening on my twitter, a person asked me why I didn't like the Obama's? Specifically I was asked: "I have to ask, why do you hate the Obama's? It seems personal, not policy related. You even dissed (disrespect) their Christmas family picture." The truth is I do not like the Obamas, what they represent, their ideology, and I certainly do not like his policies and legislation. I've made no secret of my contempt for the Obamas. As I responded to the person who asked me the aforementioned question, I don't like them because they are committed to the fundamental change of my/our country into what can only be regarded as a Communist state. I don't hate them per definition, but I condemn them because they are the worst kind of racialists, they are elitist Leninists with contempt for traditional America. They display disrespect for the sanctity of the office he holds, and for those who are willing to admit same, Michelle Obama's raw contempt for white America is transpicuous. I don't like them because they comport themselves as emperor and empress. I expect, no I demand respect, for the Office of President and a love of our country and her citizenry from the leader entrusted with the governance of same. President and Mrs. Reagan displayed an unparalleled love for the country and her people. The Reagan's made Americans feel good about themselves and about what we could accomplish. Obama's arrogance by appointing 32 leftist czars and constantly bypassing congress is impeachable. Eric Holder is probably the MOST incompetent and arrogant DOJ head to ever hold the job. Could you envision President Reagan instructing his Justice Department to act like jack-booted thugs? Presidents are politicians and all politicians are known and pretty much expected to manipulate the truth, if not outright lie, but even using that low standard, the Obama's have taken lies, dishonesty, deceit, mendacity, subterfuge and obfuscation to new depths. They are verbally abusive to the citizenry, and they display an animus for civility. I do not like them, because they both display bigotry overtly, as in the case of Harvard Professor Louis Gates, when he accused the Cambridge Police of acting stupidly, and her code speak pursuant to not being able to be proud of America. I view that statement and that mindset as an insult to those who died to provide a country where a Kenyan, his illegal alien relatives, and his alleged progeny, could come and not only live freely, but rise to the highest, most powerful, position in the world. Michelle Obama is free to hate and disparage whites because Americans of every description paid with their blood to ensure her right to do same. I have a saying, that "the only reason a person hides things, is because they have something to hide." No president in history has spent millions of dollars to keep his records and his past sealed. And what the two of them have shared has been proved to be lies. He lied about when and how they met, he lied about his mother's death and problems with insurance, Michelle lied to a crowd pursuant to nearly $500,000 bank stocks they inherited from his family. He has lied about his father's military service, about the civil rights movement, ad nausea. He lied to the world about the Supreme Court in a State of the Union address. He berated and publicly insulted a sitting Congressman. He has surrounded himself with the most rabidly, radical, socialist academicians today. He opposed rulings that protected women and children that even Planned Parenthood did not seek to support. He is openly hostile to business and aggressively hostile to Israel. His wife treats being the First Lady as her personal American Express Black Card (arguably the most prestigious credit card in the world). I condemn them because, as people are suffering, losing their homes, their jobs, their retirements, he and his family are arrogantly showing off their life of entitlement - as he goes about creating and fomenting class warfare. I don't like them, and I neither apologize nor retreat from my public condemnation of them and of his policies. We should condemn them for the disrespect they show our people, for his willful and unconstitutional actions pursuant to obeying the Constitutional parameters he is bound by, and his willful disregard for Congressional authority. Dislike for them has nothing to do with the color of their skin; it has everything to do with their behavior, attitudes, and policies. And I have open scorn for their constantly playing the race card. I could go on, but let me conclude with this. I condemn in the strongest possible terms the media for refusing to investigate them, as they did President Bush and President Clinton, and for refusing to label them for what they truly are. There is no scenario known to man, whereby a white president and his wife could ignore laws, flaunt their position, and lord over the people, as these two are permitted out of fear for their color. As I wrote in a syndicated column titled, "Nero In The White House" - "Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood... Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation, and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement - while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed."
Friday, October 4, 2013
The after-bath
You
would think that once a cat's bath is over, it's done, gone, buried,
never to be brought up again. Not with Gus, apparently. My once
normally loving biscuit maker who loved nothing more than snuggling up
to me last night wouldn't come out from behind the couch, despite
copious coaching and begging on my part.
This morning, he climbs up on the bed, flounces past me, steps on my pillow to jump into the window sill for his morning gaze at the world. I awoke looking straight up into his ass hanging over my end of the headboard. "Yeah, look at THAT, human. That's how I roll when you violate ME."
All day long, he's skirted past me as quickly as possible. I've not had any kitty whoring on the floor--not once has he dropped to his back to show me his tummy and beg for rubs and loves. I'm persona non grata. When he gets upset or wants to prove a point to me, Gus will crawl into the litter box and not just move stuff around. No. He SHOVELS it out the door to where our laundry room floor looks like a giant sand dune. I awoke to about a bucket full of dry cat litter on the floor. I could just see him unloading over night.
"She dumped me in the (swish!) tub, and she (swish!) got me soaking wet, and (swish!) she soaped me up, and (swish!) she tried to love on me while pouring water over me.....and (swish!)" as the litter went flying.
As I'm sweeping up the mess he was sitting in the dining room observing me with a look. "Take THAT if you think you'll ever bathe me again," as he turned with a flounce and headed back down the hall to hide under the bed.
Sweep it up, dump it back in, mop the floor. Little turd.
Today he crawled up into Mike's arms and I SWEAR he looked back over his shoulder at me with a look that said, "That's right. I USED to love YOU. Now I love HIM. Suck on THAT, human. This human won't do to me what you did to me."
"Gus, of course he won't, you walking slipper, he CAN'T get down on the floor to give you a bath. But I can. Oh, I can and I WILL. And the next time? I have a surprise for you. Meet my little friend. I call him SHOWER MASSAGE."
This morning, he climbs up on the bed, flounces past me, steps on my pillow to jump into the window sill for his morning gaze at the world. I awoke looking straight up into his ass hanging over my end of the headboard. "Yeah, look at THAT, human. That's how I roll when you violate ME."
All day long, he's skirted past me as quickly as possible. I've not had any kitty whoring on the floor--not once has he dropped to his back to show me his tummy and beg for rubs and loves. I'm persona non grata. When he gets upset or wants to prove a point to me, Gus will crawl into the litter box and not just move stuff around. No. He SHOVELS it out the door to where our laundry room floor looks like a giant sand dune. I awoke to about a bucket full of dry cat litter on the floor. I could just see him unloading over night.
"She dumped me in the (swish!) tub, and she (swish!) got me soaking wet, and (swish!) she soaped me up, and (swish!) she tried to love on me while pouring water over me.....and (swish!)" as the litter went flying.
As I'm sweeping up the mess he was sitting in the dining room observing me with a look. "Take THAT if you think you'll ever bathe me again," as he turned with a flounce and headed back down the hall to hide under the bed.
Sweep it up, dump it back in, mop the floor. Little turd.
Today he crawled up into Mike's arms and I SWEAR he looked back over his shoulder at me with a look that said, "That's right. I USED to love YOU. Now I love HIM. Suck on THAT, human. This human won't do to me what you did to me."
"Gus, of course he won't, you walking slipper, he CAN'T get down on the floor to give you a bath. But I can. Oh, I can and I WILL. And the next time? I have a surprise for you. Meet my little friend. I call him SHOWER MASSAGE."
Gus got a bath
September 19, 2013
In my life I've had about 15 or 16 cats. I've never had a cat that liked getting a bath and have been fileted, shredded, chewed up, spit out, ripped to bits, and basically destroy giving them baths. Petco charges $40 to bathe a cat and that's way too much for me, so today I bravely decided I would bathe Gus, our big orange male. He's a big lover.....as long as you let him do everything your way. He can be an asshat when he's done something wrong and you discipline him. He's also very, very smart. He has adopted Mike as his own human and he's forced himself into Mike's heart and Mike's had no choice but to accept his new buddy.
But Gus stunk. Bad.
Today was the day. I changed my will, kissed my loved ones goodbye, filled the tub with about 3 inches of water and animal soap, got the bubbles going, put on my gloves and went to get Gus. Water was warm and the bathroom was quiet, I was thinking that if worst came to worst......Gus would just die. Kidding. I'd just crawl into the tub and sit on him. Until he died.
I closed all the doors and rounded him up. Took him in the bathroom, shut the door, he saw the tub and kind of started to squirm and I hugged him, then lowered him into the tub, expecting to play soccer goalie, catch the kitty, throw the kitty back into the tub, catch the kitty, throw the kitty......
The strangest thing: His feet hit the water and he sank down into the tub gently and lowered himself into the water to get wet, then sat up on his haunches, straight back, and allowed me to wash him. Every inch got lathered up up and rubbed down. Turned him this way--no hassle. Turned him around that way--no squirming. No growling, no hissing, no biting, scratching, latching on. And then he really blew me away.
I turned on the water, expecting him to bolt and get stupid, and as I began pouring water over him, he began PURRING. I have NEVER experienced a cat bath like this. Whoever had him before us washed him often because what I was expecting would be a fight ended up being a treat for him. The running water didn't freak him out, he let me rinse him thoroughly, and kept purring until I turned off the water and took him out of the tub.
I dried him off, thanked him for being a good boy. He turned around, glared at me and hissed. He HISSED at me. After all that. Turd.
In my life I've had about 15 or 16 cats. I've never had a cat that liked getting a bath and have been fileted, shredded, chewed up, spit out, ripped to bits, and basically destroy giving them baths. Petco charges $40 to bathe a cat and that's way too much for me, so today I bravely decided I would bathe Gus, our big orange male. He's a big lover.....as long as you let him do everything your way. He can be an asshat when he's done something wrong and you discipline him. He's also very, very smart. He has adopted Mike as his own human and he's forced himself into Mike's heart and Mike's had no choice but to accept his new buddy.
But Gus stunk. Bad.
Today was the day. I changed my will, kissed my loved ones goodbye, filled the tub with about 3 inches of water and animal soap, got the bubbles going, put on my gloves and went to get Gus. Water was warm and the bathroom was quiet, I was thinking that if worst came to worst......Gus would just die. Kidding. I'd just crawl into the tub and sit on him. Until he died.
I closed all the doors and rounded him up. Took him in the bathroom, shut the door, he saw the tub and kind of started to squirm and I hugged him, then lowered him into the tub, expecting to play soccer goalie, catch the kitty, throw the kitty back into the tub, catch the kitty, throw the kitty......
The strangest thing: His feet hit the water and he sank down into the tub gently and lowered himself into the water to get wet, then sat up on his haunches, straight back, and allowed me to wash him. Every inch got lathered up up and rubbed down. Turned him this way--no hassle. Turned him around that way--no squirming. No growling, no hissing, no biting, scratching, latching on. And then he really blew me away.
I turned on the water, expecting him to bolt and get stupid, and as I began pouring water over him, he began PURRING. I have NEVER experienced a cat bath like this. Whoever had him before us washed him often because what I was expecting would be a fight ended up being a treat for him. The running water didn't freak him out, he let me rinse him thoroughly, and kept purring until I turned off the water and took him out of the tub.
I dried him off, thanked him for being a good boy. He turned around, glared at me and hissed. He HISSED at me. After all that. Turd.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Miss Mo
Spring
of 8th grade I became friends with a girl at Ackerman Jr. High.
Thirty-four years later, we are still best buds and tighter than ever.
Only God could have known how our differences would compliment each
other, and it's those differences that have kept our friendship so alive
for so many years. We have walked with each other through boyfriends,
jobs, parties (and a few hangovers), movies,
books, Rocky Horror Picture Show, college, parents, siblings, a few
concerts, MANY MANY late nights giggling until we were gasping for air,
road trips, weddings, marriages, divorce (mine), pregnancies (her twin
boys, my two girls) husbands, homes, families, lives. I was her matron
of honor with a beautiful wedding. I was happy to just go to the
courthouse for my wedding. She wanted the biggest crown she could find
in the bridal store for her veil. I got married to Mike in a dress I
got off the clearance rack at Sears. I think I paid $2.75 for it. In
many ways we are so opposite and in other ways we are scary alike.
As life stepped in and made us grow up (dammit) our times together grew further and further apart, as it's supposed to, but our hearts and minds stayed as close or closer. I called her when my uncle was murdered, she called me when her brother-in-law was killed in a freak accident. We both know the Lord and I cannot begin to wrap my mind around heaven with her as my friend. It's going to be AWESOME. "Hey Heidi, let's go get Noah to do the Time Warp with us on a cloud!"
One day she called me. "I'm having my hysterectomy in a few days" and it was a two hour conversation giggling about everything from painkillers to "happy little period my ass!" We are both now members of the Hysterectomy Sorority and life is MUCH funnier now. I can go to her with a problem, a worry, a fear, a thought, and I'm NEVER belittled, put down, laughed at (unless I'm laughing with her),or argued with. We each know when the other is at the end of our rope and we are the snapping turtle that chases the other right back up that rope to keep fighting the fight. She's my life ship's ballast and I can talk her down out of trees. Our parents are getting older and now our conversations are peppered with talk about those issues. I hate flying. After college she became a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines where she eventually met her husband on a layover. They've been married 21 years this month. I love her husband. Quiet, hard-working, tall (6'5"), conservative. Heidi and I were laughing about how excited we were when Bill Clinton was elected. Then Tim, her husband, quietly worked on her and she came over from the dark side (liberalism) (again, thank you, Tim), at about the same time I left the dark side and began the conservative life. Now we wonder what we were smoking when we were happy about Bill Clinton getting elected.
She married into a family that was a perfect fit for her, enjoying their vacation house at Lake Arrowhead, going on the cruises her in-laws put together, a beautiful house in CA with a pool. But she never lost that girl whose above-ground pool I flopped in summer after summer, she knows my life is much more sedate and quiet and there's no looking down her nose. She knows that's just how I live, it's how I am. That's just how life turned out. Her in-laws are the most delightful, unassuming people in the world. I don't have in-laws. So many things in our lives are polar opposites, yet we are still bonded together. Through all of our dark days here, she's been one of my biggest supporters and prayer warrior. She's a spin instructor at a fitness center, I've gained weight over the years (you give up smoking, get pregnant, have a successful business where you sit for 12 hours a day and see what happens) and looks fabulous yet never shines the light where she knows it's going to hurt me. I know it's time to take care of me now that I have Mike moving forward and I have to be healthy. She looked fabulous and I was OK with that and the truths in my life: Time to do something for me now.
She was in town this last week for our 30th high school reunion, she attended, I didn't, and yesterday for the first time since our 20th reunion we were able to spend some time together. She showed up at 3 and at 9:30 she looked up at the clock and said, "When did it get to be 9:30? I need to hit the road!" Time just stands still when you have that person in your life. Five minutes after she finally found our house, it was if we hadn't skipped a beat. There was no great RUSH of catching up because we communicate often in so many ways. That's what I love about her, we just CONTINUE whatever is going on with us and it doesn't skip a beat. She's the voice of kindness and calm that I need when my voice gets too critical or bombastic. She met Mike for the first time yesterday. He was so embarrassed about our life and worried she would look down at him, but Heidi was Heidi, and five minutes into their introduction they were chatting it up. He was over the moon that she loved his car. She has that magical ability to put ANYONE at ease. I've said she could venture into a mortuary and in five minutes have the corpses sitting up chatting like old friends. Alison fell in love with her and didn't want her to leave. When Ali was 3 she saw the photo on my office wall of Heidi and I taken at her wedding. "Mommy! You know a REAL Disney Princess?" I DIED. Yesterday, she brought Alison a Hallmark Keepsake Cinderella Princess Ornament. The minute she spotted Ali when she came in the house she came to a halt. "Oh, my Lord, it's a mini-me for you, Lor!" Truly, Ali is a dead wringer for me when I was a young girl. Within no time they were like macaroni and cheese. Ali is a toucher and a hugger and she just couldn't get enough of Miss Heidi.
I didn't want to turn her loose last night. I found me again for a little bit. I found the girl that giggled uncontrollably about Roseanne Rosanadana. We both still remember the lyrics to "Let's talk dirty to the animals", I'll sing it for you sometime. Or maybe not on second thought...... Sometimes all it takes is a look from one of us and we're giggling. I lost that girl in me for a long time. I need her back. Yesterday was such a gift because it reminded me that she's still there under the layers of doctor appointments, diabetes supplies, homeschool, weddings, politics, life. I saw Heidi and remembered just because I'm 48 I don't have to act 78. Our time together breathed that spark of life into me that I needed. What a GIFT He gave us that day in the library at Ackerman when somehow we ended up at the same table to work. And yes, I have a brain for things like that. I can't remember half of what I've cooked this week but I can remember the candle she gave me one year for Christmas. THAT is friendship.
I love that girl. Heidi Fordham. Life would have been so much less hilarious, fashionable, musical, danceable, conversational, employable, enjoyable without you. You have blessed me in ways I will never be able to put into words, but we have Heaven for that. I'm so much richer for knowing you.
As life stepped in and made us grow up (dammit) our times together grew further and further apart, as it's supposed to, but our hearts and minds stayed as close or closer. I called her when my uncle was murdered, she called me when her brother-in-law was killed in a freak accident. We both know the Lord and I cannot begin to wrap my mind around heaven with her as my friend. It's going to be AWESOME. "Hey Heidi, let's go get Noah to do the Time Warp with us on a cloud!"
One day she called me. "I'm having my hysterectomy in a few days" and it was a two hour conversation giggling about everything from painkillers to "happy little period my ass!" We are both now members of the Hysterectomy Sorority and life is MUCH funnier now. I can go to her with a problem, a worry, a fear, a thought, and I'm NEVER belittled, put down, laughed at (unless I'm laughing with her),or argued with. We each know when the other is at the end of our rope and we are the snapping turtle that chases the other right back up that rope to keep fighting the fight. She's my life ship's ballast and I can talk her down out of trees. Our parents are getting older and now our conversations are peppered with talk about those issues. I hate flying. After college she became a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines where she eventually met her husband on a layover. They've been married 21 years this month. I love her husband. Quiet, hard-working, tall (6'5"), conservative. Heidi and I were laughing about how excited we were when Bill Clinton was elected. Then Tim, her husband, quietly worked on her and she came over from the dark side (liberalism) (again, thank you, Tim), at about the same time I left the dark side and began the conservative life. Now we wonder what we were smoking when we were happy about Bill Clinton getting elected.
She married into a family that was a perfect fit for her, enjoying their vacation house at Lake Arrowhead, going on the cruises her in-laws put together, a beautiful house in CA with a pool. But she never lost that girl whose above-ground pool I flopped in summer after summer, she knows my life is much more sedate and quiet and there's no looking down her nose. She knows that's just how I live, it's how I am. That's just how life turned out. Her in-laws are the most delightful, unassuming people in the world. I don't have in-laws. So many things in our lives are polar opposites, yet we are still bonded together. Through all of our dark days here, she's been one of my biggest supporters and prayer warrior. She's a spin instructor at a fitness center, I've gained weight over the years (you give up smoking, get pregnant, have a successful business where you sit for 12 hours a day and see what happens) and looks fabulous yet never shines the light where she knows it's going to hurt me. I know it's time to take care of me now that I have Mike moving forward and I have to be healthy. She looked fabulous and I was OK with that and the truths in my life: Time to do something for me now.
She was in town this last week for our 30th high school reunion, she attended, I didn't, and yesterday for the first time since our 20th reunion we were able to spend some time together. She showed up at 3 and at 9:30 she looked up at the clock and said, "When did it get to be 9:30? I need to hit the road!" Time just stands still when you have that person in your life. Five minutes after she finally found our house, it was if we hadn't skipped a beat. There was no great RUSH of catching up because we communicate often in so many ways. That's what I love about her, we just CONTINUE whatever is going on with us and it doesn't skip a beat. She's the voice of kindness and calm that I need when my voice gets too critical or bombastic. She met Mike for the first time yesterday. He was so embarrassed about our life and worried she would look down at him, but Heidi was Heidi, and five minutes into their introduction they were chatting it up. He was over the moon that she loved his car. She has that magical ability to put ANYONE at ease. I've said she could venture into a mortuary and in five minutes have the corpses sitting up chatting like old friends. Alison fell in love with her and didn't want her to leave. When Ali was 3 she saw the photo on my office wall of Heidi and I taken at her wedding. "Mommy! You know a REAL Disney Princess?" I DIED. Yesterday, she brought Alison a Hallmark Keepsake Cinderella Princess Ornament. The minute she spotted Ali when she came in the house she came to a halt. "Oh, my Lord, it's a mini-me for you, Lor!" Truly, Ali is a dead wringer for me when I was a young girl. Within no time they were like macaroni and cheese. Ali is a toucher and a hugger and she just couldn't get enough of Miss Heidi.
I didn't want to turn her loose last night. I found me again for a little bit. I found the girl that giggled uncontrollably about Roseanne Rosanadana. We both still remember the lyrics to "Let's talk dirty to the animals", I'll sing it for you sometime. Or maybe not on second thought...... Sometimes all it takes is a look from one of us and we're giggling. I lost that girl in me for a long time. I need her back. Yesterday was such a gift because it reminded me that she's still there under the layers of doctor appointments, diabetes supplies, homeschool, weddings, politics, life. I saw Heidi and remembered just because I'm 48 I don't have to act 78. Our time together breathed that spark of life into me that I needed. What a GIFT He gave us that day in the library at Ackerman when somehow we ended up at the same table to work. And yes, I have a brain for things like that. I can't remember half of what I've cooked this week but I can remember the candle she gave me one year for Christmas. THAT is friendship.
I love that girl. Heidi Fordham. Life would have been so much less hilarious, fashionable, musical, danceable, conversational, employable, enjoyable without you. You have blessed me in ways I will never be able to put into words, but we have Heaven for that. I'm so much richer for knowing you.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Imagine.
I have never been a fan of this song. I never got into the hippy-dippy mindset from which this song came from, the peacenik, hippy, free-love age. I was thinking about these words this morning and have often wondered:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Why would you want to even ENTERTAIN THE THOUGHT of there not being a heaven? There are days in this putrid, sin-filled world that the thought of heaven is the ONLY thing that gets me from wake up to good night. There IS a heaven and it was created for us to walk with our Lord and Savior after we leave this awful place called earth and all the pain and illness and sin and darkness. Contrary to popular thought, there is ONLY way to heaven, scripture tells us this in John 14:6: Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” and John 10:1, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.”
Hell is very real and it was created for the final resting place of satan at the end of the age, but society today doesn’t want that reality to cloud their view of hedonism and debauchery. It’s not cool to have to deny yourself that pleasure. You’ve earned it. Imagine all the people living for today? That’s what a majority of the world is doing. While it’s convenient, while they’re able, while they can. Live for today with no thought or consideration of tomorrow. How shallow, how empty, how lonely. Matthew 6:19-21 tells us, 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Heaven may or may not come for you today. But do you really want to live for today—to sacrifice eternity at the altar of the temporary?
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
Sorry, John, there are countries for a reason.
On the planes of Shinar, Nimrod, the king of Babylon, built the Tower of Babel. This was the symbol of Nimrod’s desire to establish himself as ruler of the world, a one-world government. God wasn’t having any of that and scattered man across the world, confusing races and tongues.
God seeks us, our hearts. He created us to have a relationship with Him. Imagine no religion? Ok. I can live with that. What I can’t live without is faith. I have to have faith that He created me, He loves me, He numbers my steps and my days, He sent His Son to the cross for me to pay the price for all of man’s sin, and as Jesus said, He’s created a place for me to live eternally. How do I know this? Hebrews 11:1: Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I have faith. I don’t have religion.
Until satan is bound and chained to hell, there will be no peace on earth. Man is born with a sin nature. You can remove all of us pain in the behind Christians and you will STILL have that sin nature permeating every inch of this earth because Ephesians 6:12 tells us: 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Dreams aren’t going to bring peace to this world. Dreams are plans of happiness and success and peace and fortune. Dreamers are the ones that will likely be the first to fall should there be an attack or their lives have been destroyed by war because they did nothing to prepare. The definitions of “dreamers”—there are so many, some are happy and some are ridiculous, but a dreamer isn’t going to bring peace. The world won’t be as one as long as the sin nature of man still exists on this planet. I have yet to get through a day through the last several years where you don’t hear about a Muslim killing, raping, murdering, burning, stoning, hanging, or beheading someone that stood up to him or didn’t agree with him. While some do go off the reservation, you won’t hear of a believer, a true-saved-by-the-blood-of-Christ believer killing, raping, murdering, burning, stoning, hanging, or beheading someone that stood up to him. Woe to the man that calls himself one and then does any of those things. God’s righteous judgment is so much worse than anything a court of man can construct and anyone calling himself a child of God, yet commits any of those acts of aggression listed above is an unconverted convert and and an antichrist and will be keeping satan company in his final resting place. The world will NEVER be as one as long as man’s sin nature exists.
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people Sharing all the world...
Amazing. He’s describing heaven. The same heaven he denied in the first sentence of this song. If you wish to look cynically and humanistically at that paragraph, you have Section 8 ghetto housing. It’s called welfare.
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Unless he’s talking about a commune, it’s not going to happen as long as evil walks among us. Even the Rajneeshies had some with loose screws and they were supposed to be a commune of peace, happiness, and love, as long as you gave up all your worldly possessions for money which was then given to the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh for another Rolls Royce. I believe he had something like 96 of them. But that totally blows the “Imagine no possessions” part of this song.
Imagine this.
Imagine one day all believers, Bible-believing Christians are gone. It may be coming sooner than you think. I can just hear some of you now. She’s gone. She’s totally blown an o-ring and is thumping on that Bible again. I’ve lost so many so-called “friends” for my unyielding beliefs that I refuse to tone down or apologize for that it no longer bothers me. But think about this.
You have a friend. That friend may not have been the one that you could run around with and have a good time with a bottle or two of beer, but he or she was the one you could always count on for an ear or to offer a prayer for you when life had you down or you were experiencing hurt or pain. Imagine that friend is gone. Disappeared. Who do you have left to turn to? You have other friends, the ones with the beer bottles. Ask them to pray for you or with you? How many ways can they tell you no and laugh at you? That’s what THOSE people did. The ones that believed in God. They don’t want any part of that. Now, where’s that bottle of beer I had…….
There’s now an ache in you. You need that friend, the one that tried to show you God’s love through Christ and you rebuffed them. Joked. Laughed. Admit it, you laughed at him or her behind their back most likely. And that was probably the one person that would have been there for you during this time of pain or question or hurt. That faith they had isn’t looking so bad now, I would imagine.
So, imagine a world with no heaven, no hell, none of the boundaries that make for a civilized society. It isn’t hard to do. And we are living in it and it’s getting worse each passing day. A world where heaven and hell are laughed at and mocked. Where Christians are killed, shouted down, harassed, arrested, sued, made fun of, and turned away. Not quite as pretty as a song now, is it? Not quite the utopia he had in mind when he wrote those lyrics.
Imagine.
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