Stuff Money Can't Buy

If these heels could talk they would say, “I have ALWAYS believed that no personal encounter is by mistake.”  I truly believe that EVERY person that we encounter has a purpose.  Call me crazy, but I believe it.  I believe it with every ounce of being I have. 

The encounter could be by choice or by chance either way there is a purpose. 

A while back I accompanied a friend on her daily grind and I assisted with her business.  She needed help and I needed something to do....so I went. 

By me going,  I was fortunate enough to meet the most pleasant lady.  She was eighty years old.  If you don't know one thing about me, it is this... I LOVE OLD PEOPLE. They have stories, they have a history........ 

She asked if I could help her out in her garage with a few things and I was obliged to help.   Next a blessing came.... not for her but for me. 

She spoke of her things.... She said, "I am too old for ALL this responsibility."  She spoke of her late husband of fifty four YEARS!!!!  She said how he was so unorganized and she showed me his area where  he kept his tools.  I found it funny that even after his death his things annoyed her by being everywhere. While she spoke of how unorganized he was, I could tell that she missed him terribly.  Even with his un organized self.... she longed for him... someone... even at eighty years old. 

She explained how her daughter lived hours away and was busy in her career. Most of her friends had died and she ate alone a lot. My heart broke for a lady that I had just met.  

We work our whole lives for THINGS.  Houses, clothes,j jewelry, cars, THINGS.... and in the grand scheme of life all we want is companionship.  

Someone to talk to. 
Someone to confide in.  
Someone to laugh with.
 Someone to cry with. Someone to hope with.
 Someone to die with.  

My mother taught me years ago that Love is truly the most important thing and if you have love you are wealthy by many means. 

I was reminded of that on that day. 

You can't take money with you.
You can't take stuff with you.
 It is what you leave behind that is important.
Memories ..... 

Memories are priceless.... Even the most wealthiest can't buy them.

Never Forgotten - 9/11

Never Forgotten

If These Heels Could Talk they would say that "most things that we remember often are things that were triggered by some life changing experience."  It can be a tragic event or a happy event. No matter what the event was you can always remember the time, place, surroundings, people involved and the outcome. It's forever carved in our brain.

I can't remember what I was doing last week at 8:46 a.m but I certainly know what, when and where I was fifteen years ago at 8:46 a.m.

I was sitting on the couch feeding my one month old new born and flipping the channels. I was sleep deprived, hormonal, tearful yet overjoyed all at the same time. I remember thinking how I would love just three hours of uninterrupted sleep. Jacob had hit a growth spurt and was eating what seemed like every thirty minutes. I felt like a heifer with ten calves wanting to eat all the time. Moms know what I mean.

Then I stopped on the news channel and saw the absolute unthinkable.  I saw where a plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center and I remember thinking this is ridiculous what idiot can't fly a plane without hitting a building. It still wasn't clear what was happening.  So as with any curious person I stayed glued to the TV. Then at 9:03 a.m. I saw another plane hit the South Tower and immediately knew, "this ain't good."

The media starting chiming in with all the details. I felt in my heart an immediate concern for people that I've never met and probably never would have met and for a state I had never visited. I saw as the buildings collapsed. I was in complete shock. I was furious. I know how I would have felt in that situation and can only imagine that emotion being amplified a million times. Because really I might think I know, but until I live it I don't.

As with every other red-blooded American I spent the next weeks in anger, guilt, remorse, and disbelief. I never felt fear because once you feel fear then the enemy has won.

I know that as messed up as things seem sometimes, I still live in the most beautiful country in the world. I can wear, say, worship, live, drive, and become whatever I want because of our Freedom.

The thousands of people that died that day was tragic and so unnecessary. History is present to teach us all a lesson in order to improve our future. If we watch such an event and take away nothing then that in itself is tragic.

There are thousands of men and woman that put their lives at risk daily so that we may go about our lives. Police Officers, Fire Fighters, EMTs, Servicemen and Woman work diligently to serve and protect and often lose either their mind or life in the process. Let us not forget.  And I thank all that serve and protect. (Even those that issue my traffic citations) I shall not forget this and I thank you all.

I remember and think of the families that lost someone.  Each life lost and each life lived had a purpose. We will never know all the stories and sometimes we only know ours. I know mine.

I no longer felt sleep deprived or hormonal after what I watched. I no longer wished for just a few hours more sleep. I actually thanked God that I was given another day to hold, love and feed my precious new born.

And now fifteen years later that precious newborn is driving and I am learning more each day how to continue to appreciate this life that I am given.  I appreciate those moments with all three of my children because I know that at any minute my time could be up.  I just hope that memories will Never Be Forgotten.

Matters of the Heart

If these heels could talk they would say that, "sometimes the heart may not always be what is wrong with us, it could be a matter of the mind."

Years ago, let's say about thirty, my family and I lived right beside the Flint River in a two bedroom, single wide trailer. Now I know that I have told the story of this lovely home before but for those that didn't read that one, let me paint the picture again.
My dad bought the trailer for $500.00. He hooked it up to a tractor and pulled it to it's resting spot where it was put on cinder blocks. It was actually very unstable and when my brothers would start fighting my mom would yell, "stop fighting younguns before you knock the trailer over!"

We did have well water that we tapped into via my uncle's well but there was no septic tank. Just a pipe that ran for yards and yards that only the Good Lord knows where it ended. I never looked for the ending because I figured that's would be just another  shitty ending I really didn't want to see.

As you can imagine, this trailer had no central heat and air.  In the summer, either a box fan in the window or a window AC unit was used for cooling off. And during the winter we had a wood burning stove/heater for keeping us nice and toasty. 

That wood burning heater could really put out some heat.  My mom also cooked a meal or two on that heater during a snow storm or power outage.   Yes it was just like something out of Little House on the Prairie.  At night time the heater would often burn out because we would all be sleeping and there was no one to put wood on the fire.  For these times we would utilize electric blankets to tie us over until we could stoke the fire back up the next morning.

One winter my mom started complaining with what she believed to be heart issues.  Day in and day out she would tell my dad that she felt like something wasn’t right.  She would say, “ole man every night when I lay down I hear a buzzing noise and then I have this weird feeling come over me.” 

As with all matters that my mom would bring up to my dad, he quickly told her she was losing her mind or in his words, “you are crazy as hell woman.” But then it finally happened; my dad laid down one night and caught exactly what my mom had been hearing for weeks.  He started laughing uncontrollably and then he said to her, “damn ole lady that ain’t cha heart, that’s the electric blanket and it has a short in the wires.” 

What my mom thought to be her heart buzzing was the electric blanket.  The weird feeling she was getting was from the anxiety she had thinking it was her heart.

Moral of the story:  we are all going to have a moment in our life when we feel discouraged and we feel like our heart is no longer in it and we feel weird because we have let anxiety about not knowing effect us.  (Whatever the IT is) Maybe it isn’t our heart that isn’t in it any longer, maybe it is our minds allowing outside elements to affect our thinking and that negative thinking is changing our heart. 

A positive mindset goes a long ways in all things in life. 

I never went looking for the end of that poop pipe but I bet at the end of it the grass was super green.  Sometimes a shitty start can have an amazing ending.  It is all a matter of perspective and mind set.  The grass can be green exactly where you stand.   Stop looking for reasons to not be happy and instead spend a little time daily looking at your blessings.