"We are all stories, not just biology"

What an incredible, insightful day I have had today! This early morning, I woke from a dream steeped in frustration (like THAT ever happens!). In the dream, I am attempting to travel overseas, am already at the airport when I realize I have forgotten my passport and phone charger. Both of those are deal-breakers. Fumbling with my phone, I was attempting to reach my spouse who was at home, but having every sort of problem getting my message through. I even had snowballs being thrown at me from a railing above the waiting area where I was struggling with the phone. It was as though everything was working against me getting to my destination!!! It was an absolute relief to wake up just before 6:00 a.m.! Fortunately I was able to go back to sleep after a quick walk and had a more restful snooze for another 45 minutes….

Once I was awake for real, I had my laptop fired up and began to watch more segments I had started the night before. A psychiatrist who wrote a book with a host I watch has some ‘patients’ who are using this how-to book to repair problems in their lives, publicly. Wow, is it ever interesting!! Watching the folks make progress week from week is quite exciting and satisfying. One man had lost his wife who left him after he gave up his job, then got them deeply into debt. He was going to take his own life but then decided to read the book and get help. Another story is a dad of a drug addicted son who wrote a letter after reading the book, seeking help for his son. The son, Ron, makes progress right along, too, and is free of drugs for nearly 6 weeks and gainfully employed. Another woman was in an abusive marriage and took to alcohol to ease her misery. She is making progress as well, all of them digging deeply into their pasts to see where the ruinous patterns developed. Sometimes painful to watch, but very hard to look away….

I had to quit to take my shower and prepare for the day. Justin called me in the a.m., but I cannot remember right now what he wanted…Oh, yes! He wants to go to Epcot before the Flower Show is over and he had checked the ending date of the exhibits. We have until May 15^thto get there. I asked him if he would be patient with me as walked through the park and his answer was, “I am always patient with you, especially at Epcot…” This is true but it has been years since we walked the grounds together and I am certainly MUCH slower than I used to be. Well, I told him we could certainly look into it, perhaps after Easter. He also mentioned that we saw a portion of “The Lion King” at Animal Kingdom but we are not 100% sure that his grandma was with us. We know my sister, Lori, and her family were there, as was Timmy so it pre-dates January of 2001. Hmmmm…

Today I was able to join my neighbors at La Nopalera for lunch, after a couple weeks of missing out. Before they arrived, I read some of my book while sipping on my strawberry margarita. What a wonderful, helpful book it is! “Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns” is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I had it along at Whitey’s the other day since I arrived before Jessica did but she was not interested in borrowing it when I am done. She reads fiction and is never interested in my subject matter. She is reading a book by the same author that wrote the book, “Water for Elephants”, which many of my reading friends raved about. So, back to my book, man, it is good. The author is a media ecologist, which I had never heard of before, but sounds fascinating.

This tied in with our lunch conversation as MamMa told me about her siblings, eight of them, with interesting given names and nicknames. Love when the conversation goes to birth order and how that plays out, especially in her upbringing. One of the ladies on the program I watched on the Internet this a.m. was the oldest of six girls (sounds familiar!) and considered herself to be the ‘plow’ in the family, she had to plow a path for the rest of the kids to follow. Tracy, who is a licensed counselor, found that fascinating as well, and told me about writing a paper once for school. She chose the subject of “What is Normal?”. This truly intrigues me, the entire subject, and we laughed when she reported that after 30 pages, the answer to the question was “we don’t know”!! I told her ‘normal’ is just a setting on the dryer!

Once home after our lovely lunch and conversation, I sat at my desk for a bit to open some mail. There was an e-mail from the CPA’s office with some questions and such regarding Justin’s tax return and such. We got that all straightened out. Judy J. is back from her long time away in Detroit and she called to let me know her status. She is emotionally wrought and weary, while being so very glad to be home. She appreciated coming home to a stuffy, hot house!!! She kept apologizing to her poor car for putting it through such cold, nasty weather. Poor ‘Betsy’ was shivering the entire time they were in MI! The two of us are going to a birthday party tomorrow in Mandarin and I thought I would be her driver for a change. But the hostess for the party wanted Judy to come about 4 hours ahead of time to decorate and help set up so Judy will drive herself. One of our members just turned 50, so Julaine is helping to host a surprise party for her former daughter-in-law. They remain close, fortunately and blessedly. Should be great fun to surprise the birthday girl!

In checking my e-mails, I had a note from a Facebook friend, whom I had 'met' via my friend, Jami's, blog. Darla had been diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and was undergoing treatment. She had reached out to me with her news privately and I was able to offer her some comfort and assurances from the Word, etc. She sent me a note today thanking me for my help and prayers, that she was now cancer-free. She said I was a good teacher. Such great news, thanks be to God!

I was not home for very long before it was time to head downstairs again to meet Brenda N. as I was driving Miss Daisy across the bridge to her real estate closing. We drove right up to the door of the title company and Brenda was quite impressed with my abilities. Well, we did have a little help from the navigation system. While Brenda was in the closing, I read some more of my book, and at one point, I had a tear running down my face. The author wrote about his infant daughter being diagnosed with leukemia and not given long to live. His wife and he stayed at the hospital with their daughter, and he would hold the baby in one arm and his hymnal in the other. One day he chose the hymn, “Abide With Me”, which moves many folks to tears without a dying daughter in their arms. Strangely enough, this a.m., I nearly posted on Facebook that I was having a “Hold thou thy cross…”-day, but did not. I regret not posting it, though, because this man wrote how he managed to get through the verses of the hymn okay, until he got to that stanza, "singing the comforting words as much for me, as for her…”

“Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes; shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee; in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me”