My fun began last night with the bracelet and earring-making craft night at Victory. Rachel brought her amazing collection of beads and tools and fun toys, plus completed pieces to show us. All this accumulation began only two months ago, when she made her first name tag lanyard for use at work. She had bought one from another co-worker, saw it was "easy" to make and launched her newest hobby of beading. Rachel told us that she finances this hobby by making and selling surgical caps for the docs to wear at work, making them unique and perhaps more "fun" than the basic green or blue. She said she does the calculations in her head, like, "How many more caps do I have to make in order to buy these blue beads.......?". It was so funny to see/hear her passion. She is an accomplished sewer, purse maker, baker, and musician. Add to that being a nurse, and now teacher, as she helped us make our breast cancer awareness jewelry, with the proceeds going to support research. Add to that great fellowship between us ladies, nothing better!
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Instead of going to sleep when I got home, I read on-line postings and comments on the news pages about the Somer Thompson case. One of the local news broadcasts showed a picture of a man being interviewed, a sex offender who worked on a damaged home nearly where the child disappeared. It seems that many years ago when this man was 19, he had an underage teen girlfriend which is where the charges came from. I guess he was never "judged" due to the circumstances but his name came up on a list somehow. Many in the area want to string up all the sex offenders and predators, tattoo them with a red letter on their foreheads, all that reactionary stuff. That is as frightening as having convicts living among us, now add vigilantism to the mix. In my mind, part of this reaction is that people are not entirely comfortable with how to express true sorrow or grief, choosing anger or hatred instead of simply laying into the genuine emotion these type of circumstances call for. Hopefully people will turn out to support the family in positive ways this weekend at the fund raiser event, or stand along the streets as the funeral procession goes by on the way to the cemetery next week.
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Yesterday I worked on the photos taken at the Precious Lambs Preschool and Kindergarten Open House Thursday night. Because I was meeting Twila for lunch, I printed off a couple for her which showed her granddaughter, Twila Jr., with her little ones who are students there. Mario is doing well in kindergarten, as Twila Sr. declared the teachers "unsung heroes". I will do my best to change that, and I know she will, too, now that she has seen them in action! Twila Sr. and I ate at Pengrees after her doctor appointment, where I had the country fried steak with mashed potatoes. Yummy! We each had a slice of peanut butter pie for dessert, my first time! It is good but think I would like just plain chocolate cream pie just as well. My friend, Christine, told me once to never start eating peanut butter pie, because "you will not stop"!! Thanks for the warning, but I think I am okay.
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In a few minutes I will be leaving to visit Tina in Palm Coast. We are meeting at Ruby Tuesday to have lunch after Maya's ballerina class. I can't tell you how perfect Maya is as a ballerina as she is quite the little princess. Bet she is just adorable, too. My friend, Janet, had to take her granddaughter to gymnastics Wednesday and was told by the leader that Jordyn is ready to move up to advanced class, meaning twice a week (twice the money), go to competitions and be on a team. This is a three-year-old child! What a racket that is, and Janet said her kids are well aware of that. While Jordyn can move up to a more advanced class, she will not go more than once a week nor will she compete. Janet said that kids just can't be kids anymore, everything has to be organized play or electronic. She has a hard time getting Zach to play outside or do any physical things, but as Grandma, will not take "no" for an answer.
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When Timmy died, a song was popular on the radio called "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack. It talks about never sitting back and letting the world pass you by, always have a sense of wonder, not taking life for granted and to remember "heaven". The refrain encourages us, when given the choice to "sit it out or dance, I hope you dance..." This is a song about living in the world, seeking what you can, and so on, but also has words of encouragement about remembering God and living life to its fullest. Not to miss a chance to do something versus sitting and watching the world go by. On the way to the funeral home for the visitation, the song was on the radio. And, again, on the way home from the visitation. On the day of the funeral, as we drove to church, there it was again! Not a superstitious person, it still hit me that there was something special about this song for me, since I am not a country music person normally. From now on, when I hear this song, I will remember hearing it as we drove to these special events in our lives. I gave a little book to my friend, Cindy, which had the song on a CD included in the back, for her remembrance, too. These recent events flooded my memory, what can I say??
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Justin sent me a couple messages yesterday, one funny and one more sentimental in nature. "Confucius say, "Man who farts in church sits in own pew..." ." A bit later he sent the message that twice in the day his iPod played "Godspeed, Little Man". This is the title of the story I am writing about his little brother, Timmy. The name comes from a song by (gulp!) the Dixie Chicks, where the lyrics describe a little boy playing with his dragons and dinosaurs, sitting on the sofa in his Superman pajamas.....
