The Big Day is here

Tonight we gathered together to rehearse the wedding of Christian and Aimee tomorrow in one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Plaquemine, LA boasts the longest aisle of any church in the South. I will be escorting my mother down the aisle and Jeremy, my oldest son will be escorting Beth, the mother of our four children. I must say the whole experience has been a little nerve-wracking and stressful at times, but I think anything worthwhile doing has a bit of stress and anxiety. Chris and Aimee's story is a love story that started with a pregnancy, the birth of this beautiful little soul named Caleb and the love that developed between the two people who brought him into this world and dedicated themselves to raising this sweet little boy. In that process, their love sparked and grew into the event that we will celebrate later today; their wedding.

The rehearsal dinner started with this video montage created by Katie, Christian's youngest sister. It was, to repeat a phrase used all too often, an amazing presentation of pictures from both Chris and Aimee's early years to now and ended with them and Caleb. Yesterday, by the way, was Caleb's 4th birthday and it was a spectacular day, probably more low key because of the wedding plans taking place, but spectacular nevertheless. Then, there was dinner, pork and redfish were the offerings and I chose the pork and was very glad that I did. The meal, though was not the highlight of things, it was the toasts and the tributes.

Beth started off the proceedings and really talked about how special and precious Chris and Aimee are and how special Caleb is. Granted, you usually fall in love, get married and have babies; but Chris and Aimee's story is one of the power of love through adversity. I don't recall a lot of what Beth said, but she prayed a very sweet blessing over Chris and Aimee that had all in tears. Aimee's dad, Leland spoke next and recalled Aimee as a child and how special she was and how people just gravitated to her. Again, the tears flowed and I wasn't even sure I could stand and say anything, but I did.

First, I toasted Beth for her sacrifice and her steadfastness as a mother. She and I didn't make it as a couple, but she has always been there for these kids. Mothering is and always has been her gift and our children show the fruits of her effort. I then talked about Christian.

I drove around a lot today and was thinking what I would say if I said anything and one word came to mind and that was diligence. This kid was creative and inventive and above all else, he was diligent. It didn't matter if he was trying to make the basketball team or finding creative ways to make money at home the word "diligent" came to mind. When he found out he was going to be a daddy, he freaked a little bit, but then he stepped up to the plate and did everything in his power to provide for that little boy, and in doing so, he fell deeply in love with Aimee.

The testimonies and tributes continued around for a while with Monique, Aimee's sister sharing her thoughts and Jeremy, Hannah and Katie sharing theirs. Many of Christian's band mates who are also groomsmen joined in the well-wishing and shared stories and anecdotes that I had forgotten or had never heard.

It is a happy time when weddings or births take place and I am looking forward to this union producing more grandchildren for I know that is their desire.

to be continued.....

There's Wedding Coming Up

Lots of stuff is happening in the lives of my children. Jeremy is starting back to school in the fall. Hannah is continuing her grad studies in Tennessee. Katie is having a blast drawing, watercoloring and sculpting over in Ballyvaughn, Ireland and Chris and Aimee are getting married in two weeks from this coming Friday. It's going to be quite an event. I'm looking forward to getting back to Louisiana, having some Cajun food, and hooking up with some old friends as well as seeing my youngest son marry the love of his life. It will be a bang-up affair with Aimee's siblings and Chris's siblings all participating in the event.

My mom, brother and sis and two of her kids will be there (my niece, Micah, is over in the Phillipines for the summer) as will Beth's (Chris' mom) family. Between grandparent's, parents, brothers and sisters on both sides there will be quite a crowd. I bought a new suit for the event ( my first in years) and am looking forward to this celebration. My wishes for Chris and Aimee are a long and very happy life together and the blessings of more children. (Caleb needs some brothers and sisters!) I know they love each other and they love that little boy, Caleb.

Mother's Day

Today is the day we salute the mothers of the world and heap upon them, flowers, accolades and honors fit for the queens that they are or have been in our lives. Mothers make the world go round, they have the magic touch when it comes to skinned knees and other owwies! They can make that special meal that lifts us out of the doldrums of life. They are there with an encouraging word of praise or a living rebuke when either is needed. They travailed in delivery to bring us into the world and have suffered great heartache when premature loss takes us from them.

They come in all shapes, sizes, colors and personalities and they love us from cradle to grave. I acknowledge that today is their "special day" but when you get to the heart it all, every day is Mother's Day.

Bear Bryant did a commercial back in the 70's where he looked at the camera and implored all to call their "mamas" because he wished that he could. If you haven't yet, call yer' mamas and if you can't; call or text a mama that you know.

College girl becomes an alumni

Yesterday, my niece, Micah Taylor Williams became an alumni of Mississippi State University. Congrats to her! College girl, as her mom calls her, is now an alumni! How did it happen? Where di the last four years go. The picture here is of she and her Granddaddy from many years ago taken at his house in Jackson, MS.

I know he is smiling down from heaven.

Daddy and Hannah

The picture posted on my blog is my dad and Hannah sometime in 1987. It was taken after September I am sure because the door in the background looks like the door of the apartment where we lived at that time. Dad would have been probably 59 in this picture.

Time passes so fast, doesn't it?

Death

Once again, death has raised it's head and snatched a friend from this life to the next. It's hard; really hard to watch the passing of someone via a slow death like cancer. In one sense, there is that time to say goodbye, mend fences, remember the old days or forget them, and in general talk about the things accomplished, the things undone and in general, prepare for the inevitable. In sudden loses, like those brought on by storms as in the case of the recent tornadoes, or car crashes, or sudden death due to medical issues, the pain is even greater. I think because there was no time for goodbye; no time to have affairs be placed in order, fences mended, etc.

That is why it is good to take the time, every day, to tell those who are close to you, that you love them and are proud to have them in your life. Every person has worth to someone, every person needs to know that they are loved and matter in this life. To me, it is the only thing that makes sense.

Musical Weekend

I had a really great musical weekend. Dixieland jazz at the Westminister Presbyterian Church on Friday night. Great musicians from the DC area and a tap dancer straight from Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Tremendous outreach to the community provided by this church in an old neighborhood in DC. On Monday's they have Blues Night. I hope I can make it tonight.

Saturday night I got to hear jaz guitarist Earl Klugh and his band. Another aural experience. I had never heard him live before but his albums and CD's have passed through my hands over the years. It truly has been a good year for music for me....

Meatheads and Blowboys and the collision of culture

Years ago when I was starting out my life, I followed religiously the game of football and baseball. My favorite teams for baseball were the New York Yankees or the American League and the San Francisco Giants of the National League. For football, it was the Green Bay Packers during the Lombardi years. I still followed the Pack after Lombardi moved on to the Redskins, but by the then the hapless New Orleans Saints has joined the NFL and I began a long a painful fan relationship with the Black and Gold. I had college teams that were favs as well, but that's a discussion for another day. About the time I was in the 4th or 5th grade, my parents allowed me to play Tom Thumb football in my hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi and thus began a long career of every summer practicing on the fields for the upcoming fall season. My summer baseball playing started much earlier than even the 4th grade.

It was also about the 6th grade that I became aware of instrumental music and was introduced to the elementary band program via the Clarksdale Public school system. My dad had played the flute in the CHS band under the direction of Simon Kooyman, a Dutch immigrant who in 1926 founded the first high school band program in Mississippi in the burb of Clarksdale. When I asked about the possibility of joining this program, I was told that I could be in the band as long as I played something the school owned or my dad's flute. I must have wanted it badly because I endured all sorts of ridicule for the first semester by playing that worn out old flute. Second semester I was allowed to switch to percussion with others whose instrument rentals had run their course and their parents opted for the "school owned" instrument as well. For the next 6 years or so, I pounded the percussion in the marching band, concert band and in the jazz or stage band as we called it. It was around this time that I received my first guitar and began to pursue the learning of that instrument in all of its various forms.

It was around these early days that my athletic and musical interests began to collide. There were conflicts and practice schedules that needed to be worked out and compromises made concerning chores and when they would be done, not if. It was also about this time that derogatory handles began to circulate; "meatheads" was the affectionate term of endearment reserved for the athletes and "blowboys" or "girls" reserved for the band folks. Teachers clearly had their favorites in classrooms, for their were definitely some who gave preference to the athletes over the music students and vice versa. The truth be known, these words were likely uttered out of either jealousy or awe from both viewpoints. Through the years I have recalled those moments of athletic or musical success with pride, for I remembered the work required to learn the music or the plays and the fact that none of it came without the sacrifice of time and energy.

The collisions of culture; the arts versus athletics still continue today, but the battles are fought now in the areas of budget cuts and appropriations. How did we get to the place where the ability to be educated in the arts comes down to a matter of dollars and cents? Granted it costs money to run music programs and teach the arts, but is not the end result worth the investment? I remember the youth sports programs I participated in as a child and these are still going on. Communities still find a way to sponsor athletic events for the youth of the community though it seems private funding of these endeavors has and is continuing to rise. Hopefully communities will take the impetus and move toward to the funding of arts programs as well. I think it would be sad if we lost either of these two communities as part of our youth's development.

The Metro Adventure

I live just one block off of Washington Blvd near Lyon Park in a basement apartment. I did the green thing on or about March of 2009 by giving my car to my daughter in Louisiana when hers died. I surmised that I could do the Metro thing using a combination of bus and train to get me to and from my job in Alexandria. It all worked well until yesterday....when it snowed.

I normally take the 77 ART (Arlington Regional Transit) bus to Shirlington, a neighborhood of Arlington where my employer provides shuttle service from the Arlington campus to our Alexandria campus. At a total cost of $3.00 a day I am on the verge of coronation as a bonafide "skinflint" due to the lack of monies spent on my commute. Sometimes, if running late, I will catch the 42 ART bus to the Pentagon and take the Blue or Yellow line to King Street to accomplish the same purpose. This usually adds a couple of bucks more to the commuting cost but I am still ahead of the game financially.

Yesterday, the snow began sometime while I was deep inside the bowels of my building, but when I emerged to leave at about 4:15 pm snow was steadily and wetly falling (read big flakes that went 'splat"when they hit). Time to break out the umbrella I won in a raffle at my recent training class. While another lady co-worker and I were waiting for the shuttle, we noticed that the driver turned left and proceeded down a side street like the proverbial ' bat out of hell". We looked at each other and I voiced the thought that 'maybe he went for a coffee at 7-11". We both traipsed to the corner and noticed 'no driver in sight' and determined to catch the train.

Upon boarding the train, I decided that I would exit at the Pentagon and take the 42 bus since it would pass by my house and save me about a four block walk. After an hour wait for the bus, it finally arrived and I boarded said bus for the 15 minute ride to my destination. We left the Pentagon lot and headed for Army-Navy drive. Upon the turn onto Army-Navy Drive, we encountered a parking lot and remained in this parking lot for the next hour. In that hour we had proceeded up the street to the west side of the Pentagon (where the plane crashed) between the Navy Exchange and the Air Force Memorial. With traffic going nowhere, I decided to hike out towards home and so I did. I trudged up the hill and past the AFM and continued on my quest with quite a few other folks who had the same idea. The source of the traffic snarl; two Metro buses had locked up on the hill, thus blocking any traffic from moving. At this point, my decision to take the bus is whipping my ass.

While not familiar with the area from a walking perspective, I was sure that after trekking up Columbia Pike all I needed to do was to make a right hand turn and head in the direction of my house. From Google maps I have determined that this is about 2.6 miles as I walked up Columbia Pike to S Fillmore and turned north to my destination at S Fillmore and Pershing Drive. I made the trip in about 1 hour and 40 minutes considering I had to stop once for a bathroom break and trudging through un-plowed snow takes a bit out of the old legs.

I got inside and peeled off the wet clothes and shoes, hopped in the shower. Once warmed and dressed for bed, I made dinner; blueberry pancakes and bacon with a small dose of pure maple syrup and settled in to watch Criminal Minds and Blue Bloods. I don't remember the ending to Blue Bloods but I did get a good nights sleep.

The moral of this story is...ride the damned train and walk the four blocks to home. Why is hindsight so enlightening?

January 9, 2011/January 12, 2011

It is Sunday morning and I didn't go to church today...there is nothing unusual about that, I am a rare attender of church these days. In fact, I woke up at 7 and watched a movie called Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson. The got up and did the dishes and some other piddling stuff and decided to do something I promised myself that I would do as the New Year was rolling in....write daily for at least 10 minutes. I have written in my head, scribbled a few things down in a notebook, made some postings on Facebook, but I haven't parked it at the keyboard to do some serious thought regurgitation about a few events of 2010.

Family

The family is pretty much intact this year after the loss of my dad in October 2009. I have blogged about him over the past months as part of my own personal healing concerning his loss. At the end of 2009, my son Christian and his girlfriend Aimee declared themselves a couple and the week before Christmas he took Aimee to Tunica Hills out from Baton Rouge, LA and there he proposed and she said "yes"! There will be a wedding in July as well as a birthday for Caleb their precious son and my perfect grandson. For that I am grateful. There are, of course, transitions as Hannah and Katie continue their schooling. Hannah is getting close to her Masters and Katie is working toward he Bachelor's degree in Photography. Jeremy had a rough Christmas in the hospital battling a staph infection but he is out now and moving toward his recovery.

This was the first Christmas I got to spend with my birth family and my children and it has made me hungry for more of both.

Friends

2010 saw a great time of reconnection with friends from my past. There was a reunion of sorts with Facebook friends in Clarksdale in March, a college Baptist Student Union and Mississippi College football team reunion in the October and visits from Charles and Debbie (Mills) Delcambre and Ron Bruce. These reunions have brought back to memory many good times with people who I have known and loved for many years. The Facebook connections have been painful as well, with the passing of several friends in 2010 to sudden illness. I think this has hit me the hardest in that time had separated us for so many years and then we were recently brought back together only to be snatched away by death. The community of Facebook has allowed us to share in each others lives as we observe each others goings on through the pictures and wall posts that we make. Nevertheless, I am grateful for all of my friends where they are and however we may be connected.

Personal

2010 brought some changes in my life personally. I am single again and the reasons for it are more personal than I will share here. Just let it be known that I hope that I have learned to better express myself in terms of what it is that I want from life. My goal is to find and be contented in the place that I am and not try to look to others for fulfillment and comfort. That is not to say that a career as a hermit is in my future. That is not who I am at all. I strive to live the teachings of Jesus when asked by the rich young ruler. He summed them up as the following..."You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, this is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like the first, love your neighbor as yourself.

In all of Torah, only ten commandments were written Ex 31:18 “with the finger of God.”

The first three teach us how to love God: “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve,” “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” and “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

The remaining seven teach us how to love one another: “Honor your father and your mother,” “You shall not kill,” “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” and “You shall not covet your neighbor’s property.”

I think that pretty much sums up my theology from here on. Politics don't matter at this point, nor do ideology...it is the person that matters to me. Let's hope and pray I stay the course.

As the title states this was written over a period of a couple of days. I wish for you that read this a peaceful and prosperous 2011. Spend your days seeking ways to perform random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.