Wednesday, August 4, 2010

"Do everything in love..."

When we moved here to this apartment , as I was going though my "Memory box" which has things from 50+ years ago, I found a little cedar wood carved "gun". I was such a tom boy...I loved the woods and climbing trees and playing cowboys, and all that. My grandparents lived next door ( I have told that) and they had a long driveway that went up to their house and continued around and cross the creek, and up the hill in the fields behind their house.
There was a small rental cabin there, only about three rooms and a porch. When I was about 12-13 there was a couple from Texas who moved there, as a retirement/getaway/outdoor-health place. They were so interesting! She, the intellectual, cultured teacher had fallen in love with her cowboy/outdoors man 18 year old young man and they had been married for probably 50 years by then. I, as a child, did not really know any details but they were fascinating, and I would visit them, she was always reading and he would roam the woods with me, and carved me the little "gun" at one point---one of my childhood treasures. Their daughter and her husband would visit and make sure their parents were OK. It seems they lived there for two years or so. They also had a son in Texas and his daughter visited the first summer they were there and she and I became friends. Every time she came to Nashville, we would go to her aunts and swim in the river and I introduces her to friends and to this day the Texas friend and another friend here in Nashville, and I have kept up with each other and still call and write. We both ended up being teachers!
Life has been good to my Texas friend...she also has had hardships , being widowed, and surviving cancer, but we still have lots of fun memories and we both love art...she is a very accomplished artist in a Texas Watercolor Society.
I was very blessed to have her granddaddy's companionship for those several years. I wish I could tell more about him, but my childhood memory of that time is slim! Maybe my Texas friend will email me with some more facts about both her grandparents.
I Corinthians 16:13-14 tells us to "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love."
My friend's grandfather was a man of courage, strong in faith and such a gentleman.
This has been a good day, I got lots done, went to church and friends tell me I look tired. I think I look tired all the time now, chemo does that to you! Maybe my body is tired of all this rat poison! Anyway, John and others tell me to rest...I don't want to rest---I will do that when I am no longer able to do anything Else!!! I do rest when I don't feel well (like on chemo week) but on an average day, there is just too many things to do to lie around!!!!! Blessings, prayers and Faith to all................

2 comments:

  1. Bev....even at the sickest time, I hated to lay down. I'd "drape"...I wouldn't sleep. I wanted to do something - anything. I made a table runner and 3 bags...then I couldn't do it anymore, as I couldn't sit up (dizziness). I colored, I thumbed through magazines because reading was no longer possible. I so understand and appreciated you saying how you felt.
    This drug is not as mean; my brain is not as foggy. I've just read two books (not large ones) and am starting another one. I have a stack to read and plan on reading everyone of them.
    Walking the path with you...kathryn

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  2. Barbara Johnson-ClarkAugust 4, 2010 at 11:27 PM

    Dearest Bev,
    When my Mom was on chemo for 16 months she couldn't be still either. She had this little green stool with a wicker seat. She would sit on it and scoot all over the first floor of their home to dust and do other household chores, because she was too weak and too sick to stand and do any work. My Daddy would help her get downstairs where their laundry room was. He'd carry that little stool down, and she'd scoot and do the laundry. She would never let him hire any household help. What a determined lady she was. Now you know where I get my stubborn strength and my tenacity! It has served me well as I have dealt with my blindness creeping in on my life. So I so understand how you feel. She was such a godly woman as you are, and perhaps that is one reason I so look up and admire you. I follow your blog every night and so love your stories. Please tell me either in private email or in your blog where the B&B was that John and you owned. I know I should know this, but it escapes me. Love you girlfriend!
    Barbara

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