Sometimes life cries out for a nice break from the daily routine …… a pie break, so to speak. A time to sit, to listen, to reflect. To taste the sweetness of life.
Well this coming Monday is the beginning of a new school year in The Burg. The University of Central Missouri begins classes and I begin watching my wee grand girls once again.
Am I ready? Well, it depends what perspective you take. I think I’ll take God’s perspective and just love on them. It’s the best I can give them and me.
This year the oldest – four years old – will be gong to a pre-school, in September, a few days a week. I think she will enjoy that and that means Penny June and I can bond deeper.
I love the transitional period when school begins for all ages. I love driving through campus and seeing the parents carrying refrigerators and boxes and bedding and sad faces trying to look happy when they say good bye to the children. I don’t take pleasure in their conflict but I am excited for the students and sad for the parents. I had many tears when we drove away from our kids. 😦
Our campus here just opened new dorms overlooking the football field and a Starbucks (for those who have yet to experience real coffee) and a Spin Pizza – all open to the public for all to enjoy!
University of Central Missouri – storeNew dorms and shops – UCM
I’ve mentioned before that I have a passion for seeing people progress into their destiny. For seeing their potential and hopefully I can encourage them to get there.
I am not a professional in that area. Heck, I don’t even know what to call it. It’s something that I can do.
Let me tie the title of this post and the paragraphs above, together. Bear with me on my thoughts here.
Today, I went to a function in our lovely town. It was a Christmas event where people dressed as characters from Dicken’s era. Some set up in shop windows weaving a basket or drinking tea, etc. Some were on the streets strolling around town. Some were singing Christmas Carols and some were carrying instruments to local businesses. There was a cart pulled by two horses that you could ride in around the town. There is to be a tree decoration and lighting in about an hour.
All great ideas but poorly attended. The very dreary weather and penetrating dampness could have been a factor. We went into the old courthouse building, mostly to get warm, but some students/faculty from University of Missouri encouraged us to go inside for a hot drink and cookies. We did, apprehensively. You see, our town is a University town. But not for University of Missouri. We have UCM – University of Central Missouri. We went in and I asked the people if they knew they were in Mules territory. We all laughed. I was secretly trying to scare them. No where did we see recruiting for our beloved UCM. Just a banner on the courthouse lawn. 🙂
Now, I know I’m new to town and I am still new to the way of thinking of the Mid-West. I admit that. But I just couldn’t help it, as I walked around I saw potential. I saw potential in the community, the locals, the ones not even connected to the University. I realize that towns in the midwest are likely not to be connected geographically – there are a lot of farms out there – like a vast ocean between towns. But The Burg is the county seat. I could see building up this type of event to the point where more people will want to come.
So now, where I’m really going with this. It got me thinking about my own life and potential.I think too small. I get ideas of things I can do or see others with their ideas and then I get discouraged. I actually talk myself out of those dreams and desires and ideas. They look too gigantic and just down-right impossible. But are they?
I do not see the whole picture. I do not see the hows and the whens. I give up way too easy. I think most of us do.
I also have a firm belief that my dreams and desires do not start with me. They start with the God that I put trust and faith and anchor my hoper in.But do I really believe that? I confess right now, that when I doubt and talk myself out of pursuing my desires and dreams, that I do not believe that they can happen. That’s not good. I’m my own worst enemy.
This part shined right out at me: “For the longer payment is withheld, the better for you. Compound interest is this law’s greatest benefit. While you wait consider it an investment in your character.”
Payment being what I dream and desire……my character is being greatly invested in.…. if I let that happen. We really need to stop looking at delays and discouragement as failures. Failures should be the very instrument that makes us succeed. We need to get a new perspective on our life. Many great people will tell you of their failings and how they were necessary. We do not see the whole picture of our life – we just don’t. But we can gain a new perspective. A higher view, so to speak. A God’s – eye – view.
I can do this. I can dream and I can slow down and gain new perspective. I can also encourage others that I see doubting and floundering around, on the verge of giving up. Let’s help ourselves to rise up to new heights and let’s help those around us. Every human being has potential to be great.
I’ll leave with this thought. From the movie, Saving Mr. Banks, the main character, PL Travers, handed her driver (Ralph) a piece of paper for his daughter (who was disabled). The paper had a list of names on one side:
Even with their deficiencies, these people succeeded to greatness.
It’s been about three weeks since we moved into our new town and our new place that we call home. It has taken me awhile to post with all the unpacking, cleaning and getting things into working condition.
As I have posted before, I have the privilege of helping our youngest son and his lovely wife with their two fantastic daughters while they attend University full time. That is why my husband and I moved to the small mid-west town that we affectionately refer to as The Burg.
When we found this rental we were getting a bit anxious. We had been looking for months to no avail. We had a planned road trip vacation to the east coast coming up the end of June into July and wanted to secure a place before we left.
Well, we did. And we are thankful to our God for this home. The Burg is a small college town. The University takes up a good portion of the center of town, so you will see many students living, well, everywhere and anywhere that will take them outside of dorm living. It was hard to find a house with a fenced yard for the dogs that wasn’t trashed by intellectual a house full of students with landlords that really don’t seem to mind.
Aside from securing a home before we went on vacation, I had it in my head to move in a couple of weeks after returning. I wanted our thirteen year old grandson – who was returning with us to Missouri until the first of August – to see where we would be living and to experience our new location.
More on the area next time. Now for the real reason I’m writing this post. Love.
Almost fourteen years ago, I had the most amazing experience of my life. My oldest son’s wife invited me into the birthing room for the birth of her third child, the one who came home with us this year from vacation. The one I mentioned above.
During his mom’s pregnancy,I talked to her womb often. I basically said. “Hi. It’s okay. I’m here.” When the moment came and this wonderful little boy popped out into this strange world – he cried. The nurse took him over to the other side of the room to wash him and weigh him and so on. He was lying there on a table just crying his lungs out. I walked over to him and said, “Hi. It’s okay. I’m here”. And he stopped crying instantly. We bonded for the second time at that moment.
This incredibly talented and big hearted boy and I became very close from that moment on. When we left the east coast, five and a half years ago, my heart tore and cracked. I didn’t think I could do this journey without him near me. I was wrong. My friend Jesus was there every step of the way for both myself and this young lad.
Every time we visit our family there I cry when we leave. So you can see how important it was for me to have him see where I would be. So he could have a visual.
Well, on August first, he left me again. My husband did too. They flew away together and my husband had business so he was gone for a week. I thought that it would be a fast moving week because of all the unpacking and such that I had to do.
It was rough. Here I was in a new town and just the dogs to talk to. My buddy went home and the tear in my heart hurt.
When I had children my heart grew. But when I had grandchildren it got stinkin’ big!
I never knew I could love so much. I never knew that true love can hurt so bad. We lost a daughter and our hearts exploded. But our hearts heal. The scars are there and the cracks and the wounds and cuts are there. I do believe that these things make our hearts stronger and even bigger…….. if we allow.
There are times I want to close the door to loving someone. To getting close to friends or loved ones. I know it’s because I don’t want to hurt if they leave or when they leave.
Driving through town today we saw many parents leaving their kids at the University for the first time. I saw it on their faces. It was all too familiar. You are happy for them and their adventures but your heart is aching and cracking a little as you say goodbye.
It’s part of life as a human. You have, you have not. You love, you get hurt. You give and you take. We do have a choice. We can choose to love so much that it feels like the earth flew off it’s axis. Or, we can decide to with hold love – giving and taking it – so that we will not hurt. That’s the worst. I know. I’ve tried both. I’d rather risk the hurt than never have loved.
Alfred Lord Tennyson said it well:
I hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.
If you have read any of my previous posts you know that I do like adventures. So here I am, once again, beginning a new adventure. The University begins classes this Tuesday. The little lassies will be over to Mammy’s house and we begin a new school year adventure together. I write this with a tear in my eyes thinking of the journey I am on with these grand daughters. To be able to be such a part of their life is amazing. Just as I am a part of my grandson’s life. We still have that bond – even though he is entering his teen years – I am his Uma and will always be.
Keep your hearts open, my friends. Love is there, around every bend and in every step we take. I hope you choose to take the love.
The Glory of Love
You’ve got to give a little, take a little
And let your poor heart break a little
That’s the story of, that’s the glory of love
You’ve got to laugh a little, cry a little
Before the clouds roll by a little
That’s the story of, that’s the glory of love
As long as there’s the two of you
You’ve got the world and all its charms
And when the world is through with you
You’ve got each other’s arms
You’ve got to win a little, lose a little
And always have the blues a little
That’s the story of, that’s the glory of love
As long as there’s the two of you
You’ve got the world and all its charms
And when the world is through with you
You’ve got each other’s arms
You’ve got to win a little, lose a little
And always have the blues a little
That’s the story of, that’s the glory of love
That’s the story of, that’s the glory of love
Songwriters
LOVETT, LYLE PEARCE / HILL, WILLIAM J.
I have the earliest memories of longing for adventure. We lived in a simple ranch house, just big enough for us. The yard was big enough to hide in and play baseball or whatever. We had woods across the street that we took ownership of. But, when I attended elementary school and was invited over to a classmates house for the first time……..
Well, to put it simply – a whole new world opened up to me. Everyone I played with in our neighborhood had the same houses. But the development next to ours, well, they were amazing to this little girl. The simple life in a small ranch house became a split level house. So much more for the imagination. From that moment on I longed to move. I wanted something different. Something more imaginative.
As neighbors began to move on to the latest housing developments in other towns, we stayed. Year after year we stayed. I know now that I am an adventurer. I love change, I love challenges. Some challenges are awful but I never turned and ran the other way. I may try and plant my feet in the ground and cry and throw something…… but then I take a breath and jump in. Still scared, still crying, still wanting to throw something but I jump in.
I married a man who also was not afraid to jump in. We have moved often in the forty years we’ve been together. It’s been good. So, once again I am surrounded by packed boxes and a new adventure is waiting for us. Soon. We are moving a week from Friday!
I spent the last school year, four days a week, in university housing with my son, wife and two daughters, helping care for the wee ones while their parents attend classes. That was a long, cold, tiring year away from home and hubby – but an adventure and I would do it again if needed. We finally found a house just two blocks from them! The girls will come to me and I will sleep in my own bed each night.
Some may say I have a restless spirit. It’s the ones who are content to stay that think those thoughts. But I describe it not as restless. I love adventures and I love change. Don’t fault me on that. I’ve tried hard to not be that way. I even stopped moving the furniture around often. LOL. But adventures…… it is me. Just like the ones who are not that way – that is you. And you know what? All of us are OK. Neither of us are wrong.That’s the beauty of being human.
So once again, the beach girl is moving and I’m moving to a tiny mid-west town that is surrounded by farms and US Air Force and farms and full of university students. Can’t wait to tell you all about it.
I have the privilege and honour of being a care provider for my two grand daughters. Lucy is 2 1/2 years old and Penny June is three weeks old. I pack up and my husband takes me an hour away to their campus housing at their university. It is an older apartment complex but not bad. But I am without my Memory Foam bed and without my doggies and my warm house and my food. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing this and I would do it over and over again. Serving my children brings me great joy. My son and his wife are moving forward in music related degrees and looking forward to their future. I am needed. There is no paycheck involved and that is fine. They do feed me and give me coffee and an air mattress on the living room floor. I think the insulation in these apartments disappeared years ago so the couch is warmer for me some nights. The girls are awesome and I don’t mind being awakened to the cries of a newborn in the night. I am really glad I don’t have to get up with her. My husband and I hope to move to this small university town because we fell in love with it. But until that is possible I go and I return four days later.
Sacrifice can be annoying. But that is up to us. I chose to do this for the kids and therefore I will with a joyful heart. It is challenging and my back aches and my shoulder aches – who would have thought a skinny eight pound baby could do such damage – and I miss the comforts of home. But they are family, therefore, it is an extension of my home. And it won’t last forever. Who could resist this:
Summer is over, even though the temperatures are still summer-like. The colors of the leaves are lighter and some have actually fallen. You can feel it in the breeze – the changes are coming. Soon we will have our fall clothing on and jackets and the leaves will turn gorgeous colors while we sip on spicy hot apple cider while dunking the cinnamon donuts. I love fall but I hate the end of summer. I didn’t go anywhere this summer but it was pleasant here in the mid-west. The temperatures were perfect. I enjoyed my own backyard and drives into the country.
Once you are a mom whose children go to school outside the home you get ingrained further into you the school year schedule. I still like seeing the school buses go down the street and the quietness of the neighborhood during school hours. My youngest son and his wife are doing an amazing thing. They decided to go to college. D has a couple of years finished and K has his basics done. This semester they went big league. They moved into family housing on campus of a university in the mid-west along with their two year old daughter and another daughter to be born this fall. I admire them greatly, especially the pregnant one. Of course they realized early on that they needed me still to stay with their daughter a few days a week. Needed me, Mammy. I made my son say it three time, “We need you”. So I go there and stay with my little buddy and it’s fun. She came to my house last week and I got to dislocate her elbow. Yup. Good Mammy. Not. I was devastated. But life is full of always learning. I learned that this is pretty common and easily fixed. So easily fixed that there is a video on youtube to show you how to fix this. Apparently it can easily happen again until they outgrow this…….thing.
I even have been really bad at my homework – blogging. I am behind reading blogs I follow. Forgive me fellow bloggers.
I am behind writing. I must forgive myself. But I have two new ideas for books. Good grief.
So once again Summer days have gone by and the newness of an autumn, yet to discover, is upon us. I wish you all good health and old and new dreams coming true………
Enjoy a great cup of fall tea.
And enjoy this classic song as summer sadly comes to an end.
Hello! I took a break for a few weeks. I came down with a cold-type sickness – first fever in about twenty years – house guest arrived for a week and then my son and wife were moving and grand daughter had to spend three nights with us. So, when that week was over I started nursing my sickness.
Now the season is changing – even though it’s about ninety-six degrees outside – I will be going and watching little Lucy a couple of days a week in campus housing at UCM and she will come home and spend the night with us. Busy times but enjoyable.
So, here is a song – a little sad but full of hope for all you need it……..
Let's Have Another Piece of Pie 