Memories are made of this!

 Memories are there to treasure and enjoy.   When we are making scrapbooks (in the olden times) we could pitch a picture that was bad or of someone unrecognizable but now we keep pictures or discard them instantly.   I wish we could discard bad memories as quickly!

It is not in my nature to tell someone off and then try to get them to forgive me.  No, I walk off and give them the eternal silent treatment, never wanting to hear from them again.  I don't like confrontation and I don't like remembering when I have been hurt by people.   My mother, God rest her soul, was the same way and she would tell me so--Don't get even -- Let them go!

I watched a show last night on 60 Minutes about people who kill in  a mob scene and how they have the same gene in their brain.   Has this gene gotten hold of a nation?   Does it start by other people in their families walking away from them because they can't cope with their behavior?   

No man is supposed to be an island.  Who is the island, in reality!  The person who walks away or the person who is walked away from?   Too many questions but so few answers.  Put the discarded pictures together again.  This is all the time we have!

It's Mama Cooper's birthday, today!

May Lawrence Cooper had a house full of kids and she focused on feeding them and keeping them clean.  She cooked with a scarf around her head so she did not get a hair in the food.  She picked vegetables, raised chickens, washed on a wringer washer in the basement and hung the clothes up to dry on lines.  She worked.   She drank a Dr. Pepper every day at 2:00 and she sat on the porch and watched the world go by.  She never complained about how much she had to do --she tried to make us carry our load.

And she was a wonderful nurse.  She knew what babies needed.  I once took Mark to see Dr. Rolwing in Charleston and he told me to go ask Mama--that she knew babies better than he did.

One thing we had in common  -- All of us children adored our parents.   We did not always adore our siblings but we adored our parents.  I hope they knew it.

Lucas to the rescue!

Today when Lucas picked me up for breakfast, I told him I didn't get my paper yesterday!  We headed for Missourian and a tour!  I love unexpected adventures like this!

We then went to my Daddy's and ran int volleyball team and Ann Tlapek!  Those were unexpected pleasures as well as meeting with Adam at Missourian who had spent the night trying to find Ben!  Ben who?  Not Ben Hur!

Thanks, Lucas for spicing up my life!

Get over your techie woes!

Decided to overcome evil with good!  So I haven't lost stuff;  just have to learn to find it again!  But it will be a cold day in hell before I deliberately hit the update button again!  Or the upset button!

Went to funeral home last night for Marge Eaker!  Saw a lot of Lst baptist people!  Including Kim Eaker Brazil!  Was nice to see them and Jess!   Marge was such a nice person!

Karel is coming to do yard work today!

Upgrades should be condemned!

I am in a state of hysteria.   I did the upgrade on my phone and I have lost all my appointments.   I will not write another word until I find out what I can do.   This is going to be a long day and not the best of days.
Technology, I hate you.

Greg Brune and Ben Afleck

There is little that makes them comparable!  Greg who makes me laugh and dis at the same time and can figure me out sometimes and Ben Afleck who is in town eating and working out and filming at the bridge and a new bar downtown!

So we eat and then go look for filming!  We, at least, found the bar!   And Greg and I had our laughs for the day!

Mark Finney Scully

I went up on campus yesterday to do a television interview with Dan Woods about Academic Hall!  I had a good time remembering all those good times!  I especially talked about Mark Scully and all the things I learned from him!

It is good to remember and acknowledge and accept the past! It is of real and lasting value!  And I like the picture of Mark Stacy and Mark Scully and me at my house on Christmas Day.

Darryl Strawberry

Debbie Bickings teaches in a group at St. Andrew's lutheran and Darryl Strawberry was their speaker last night.  About 200 people showed up for speech and food and a kick-off Fall session.   He was wonderful and spoke the word saying that making mistakes does not make a person a mistake.   And he identified with all those there who have fallen from grace and risen again to stand and make a stab at living.

It is not easy to find the strength to rise again.  I admire him for his courage.   Debbie has told me so much about the people who attend these sessions regularly.  They will never know what it was to be on top --most of them are struggling to keep from winding up where they started and consistently stayed --at the bottom of the heap.   But they face the same struggles wherever they started and that is to find a strength that keeps them keeping on.

I wish others had found something this week to hold on to.  And I'm glad Darryl Strawberry did.

Remembering today....

Janie May Lawrence Cooper, who passed away on August 17, 1994, was the mother of eight children; Allen A. Cooper, Dr. James F. Cooper, Velna Brown, Julia Warren, Betty Hearnes, Dr. Jennie Cooper, Rose Marie Jordan, and Jane Stacy. She moved to Charleston, MO from Brinkley, AR in 1933. Her husband, Rev. Allen B. Cooper served as a pastor of churches in Southeast Missouri and Arkansas for 50 years. She was a great cook and avid artist. This piece she painted was one of the many churches Brother Cooper was responsible for building in Southeast Missouri. She received the Missouri Mother of the Year award in 1969.  

 

A Wreath for the Living

I read in the newspaper last week that Marilyn Hill Lincoln died last month in Virginia.   So it had been a month and I had not known it but I had known her parents, Thurston  Hill, who was supt. of schools in Dexter.  I had known Marilyn,  Dr. Ron Hill (we were in college together) and Sue Hill Hellwege, who lives in Cape.   And I had known Marilyn's children, who were SEMO alumni.   I can't just send a card and wipe it off my mind.

Finally yesterday, I went to Trees and Trends and purchased a wreath of Thanksgiving and then went to Sue's house with it.  Her house was all decorated except for a wreath on the door and the first thing she said was I will hang it right there.  We hugged and remembered and she loved the wreath and mostly, she loved the remembering.  The entire visit may have taken ten minutes.

But I liked it.  I felt the warmth of being a part of the caring circle. To me, that is what ministry is.  Taking the time and effort to minister to one person.  I hope I remember the feeling.

RIP Marilyn Hill Lincoln

Cleaning out the cobwebs-

For the second time in a week, I have hired a senior design student at the university to help me on a home project! And do I recommend it!  This week it is Karel from the greenhouse and we walked thru the front yard yesterday in the rain and she told me what she would recommend!

And Thursday she starts doing all of it!  Rain or shine, I will be looking out the window and my back will not need Epsom salts or heating pad!  And thanks for the word on transplanting coreopsis!

Mama Cooper

I have been thinking of doing something for Mama for a long time!   Then I got involved with hospitals and especially Sikeston hospital where I learned that in Pediatrics, they only gave them a sheet of paper at a time because pads would "walk off". I thought of my Bryan and Colin and how they drew on everything!  

so I stopped at hospital yesterday, visited with Marcie eaves Lawson and Jan Barkett and we are starting "mama Cooper's Closet " in conjunction with her birthday on Sept 29!  Yes May Cooper, you would like this idea!

Fun times in bad times!

Today I met Randy And Sharon Shaw in pasta house to catch up'.  We had a great time remembering and laughing!  Maybe not laughing at all the past events, but what do we care!  That is camaraderie at its best !

Then we were joined by Kim heck ensure and Steve Taylor, 

Lawyers from Sikeston and we talked about death of Kenny Dement jr!  Sad and glad, that is how we live our lives!

Re-do time!

Spent part of the day with Lindsay, who will be updating my first floor bathroom getting it ready for my party at homecoming!  I said to her:  I want it to match the rest of my downstairs and she got busy photographing and drawing'. Go to it Lindsay!

I wish I could clean out my brain as easily and make it update with my views now and forgetting what lies behind.....,

State Historical meeting

Went up on campus for a meeting of the State historical Society last night!  We now have a presence on our campus and I am pleased!  Anyone can ask to see any papers they have on Governor Hearnes or Louis Houck or anyone and they can be brought down here!

We toured the location and then had lively meeting!   Frank Nickell is running it and Steve Limbaugh is heading it up!  (Pictured).   Then we carried the party down to Bella! Perfect way to have and end a meeting!

Singing the bluegrass!

Went up to Hemman Winery with Joan Gohn and Judy Brown to hear "barefoot on Sunday".  Leon Book, David Giles and Judy's cousin all played!  They joined us at intermission!  Then the three of us went to Gordonville Grill for dinner!

Friends who make you laugh and clap your hands are priceless!

I am so so blessed!  And I know it!

Jim Stacy has a birthday today!

There has never been a child like Jim Stacy and I am meaning that as a compliment.   He was never a go-along, easy child who did not care what was coming off.   He was a person who had interests and if you were not interested, he did not care.  He knew what programs he intended to watch on television and who he intended to play with and what he intended to play.   He was the same with food and yuck was a favorite word about any vegetable that crept upon his plate or meatloaf with the audacity to have green peppers and onions stuck inside it.

He loved sodas, ice cream, cookies and that was how he wanted to balance his diet.   Sometimes, I just let him do it and thought to myself....well, at least that is milk content.  He loved the park and he loved to run and play there.   He hated to go to Charleston, or to church or to Vacation Bible School or to strange houses where he had no familiarity.  And he was not one to suffer in silence!

He was a hoot!   Funny, sarcastic, off the wall, daring, made me earn some new parental stripes, and sometimes made me want to go to the top of the roof and jump off!  But, what an experience this James Franklin Stacy has been and is!  I wouldn't take nothing for the experience!!!   Happy Birthday, Jimbo Jickapoo Jay!

Waiting for life to happen today!

Saturday morning.  Heather is coming into work and I have the schedule all arranged including tasks, sites and aims.   Now I am waiting.  And rethinking about adding things and taking things off.  Heather can go thru a list big time.   Have had two busy days with party in St. louis and two parties here and I am tired but do not want to sit and watch the world go by...without me.

Okay, Shad Burner, you had your fun yesterday but I will come down strong on you today.  Sure, I called you "Stupid" in front of your employees and you counteracted with "Old Lady" but you will pay.  I am already thinking and in devious, wily ways!   So be prepared!   Heather is here with my coke so I will sign off today!

Chaffee Red Devils

Could not ever forget the teams we played in Charlleston including Chaffee Red Devils and their star, Don Heeb!  Then I went to college and Heeb became a friendly and familiar face of Semo Indians, Coach Knox, and my boyfriend, Bill Stacy!

Last night I went to St. Louis for a meeting and Don Heeb was there!   We had our picture made together and are sending it to Gary Nichols for his birthday!

Hair tipped at salon today!

Yes, I am at salon today having my hair tipped and it is easier to do at the shop!  I like the dialogue at the salon !  The demolition derby was sold out at the Fair last night and Ben Afleck is coming in to do a film!  I will keep listening and learning!

I will look good for my trip to St Louis today!

September 11 --Let us never forget!

At Cape County Park today.....remembering that day in 2001, crashing into the Twin Towers of New York and the Pentagon. A fourth plan was retaken by passengers and crash was avoided.

A tribute to Dr. Karen Crites Hendrickson

Last Sunday I went to meet the new dean of health and human services, Dr Morris Jenkins!  In walked Karen Hendrickson who greeted him warmly because she had served on interview board!

Karen has served her university in countless ways even receiving the Merit Award.  She had come back as a non-traditional student and carved out her own niche!  She continues to do just that with her own style of excellence!

Thanks for caring enough to make a difference at your university!

Churches, they spell out something!

On Saturday I went to the Catholic Church in Perryville for a funeral mass!  I avoid them like the plague because I never know what to do and I am usually in a huge minority! I never go forward to take the elements and I don't know the rituals or the music!

But this time I did do the standing but not the kneeling and my knees felt it!  What do Catholics who have bad knees do?  I sat in the church and took it all in!  They have a theology of faithfulness which I liked!   I also felt a contentment in being there! The ritual was all different but the presence of the holy was uniting!

Where does Compassion end? Or does it?

This statue is found in the Epcot Center --called Spirit of Compassion.    We, as a nation and as a nation of individuals are dealing with it big-time this week while Congress debates it.   We are seeing videos showing children dying of gasses and comparing it with the thousands killed in "ordinary" ways and we are examining our role.  Where does our responsibility stop? "  Does it stop at our borders?

I have no answers to people who are tired of footing the bills for civil wars which will never be peacefully settled.  I read Nouwen and he tells a story of the response of Hubert Humphrey in the Senate.  'Senator Humphrey walked back to his desk, picked up a long pencil and said in his famous, high-pitched voice; "Gentlemen, look at this pencil.  Just as the eraser is just a very small part of this pencil and is used only when you make a mistake, so compassion is only called upon when things get out of hand.  The main part of life is competition; only the eraser is compassion.  It is sad to say, gentlemen, but in politics, compassion is just part of the competition."

Lord, show somebody who has some sense the way we should go!

Barnabas and Betty Prost

I am headed to Perryville this morning for the funeral mass of Betty Prost.   It will be a small funeral, I am certain, she was ninety years old but I want to be there.  Not for her, not for her family who I don't know, but for me.   She was a constant encourager to me when I was at SEMo or working at Perryville.   I knew that she would tell me how valuable I was to the University, how important I was to all the alums and friends, and how I, alone, made a difference.   I did not ponder her veracity;  I knew she meant every word and that made a difference to me.  If she felt that way, maybe others did too.  Maybe I was worth something in the building of something.

Betty Prost was my Barnabas along the way.   Barnabas came out the Biblical shadows and stood up for Saul, later Paul, when all the other "solids" were leery of embracing him thinking he was setting them up for a fall or a beheading.   Later, when Paul and Mark fell out, Barnabas put the pieces of Mark back together and Mark wrote his beloved Gospel.   When he had served for seasons, Barnabas went back into his shadows with a new name:  Barnabas the Encourager.

Thanks, Betty, for being my Barnabas.  I will be there for you, out of the shadows, this morning.

What it was...was football!

I called Greg Brune last night to see if he wanted to have lunch today and he told me that four couples were leaving this morning for Ole Miss to see SEMO play.   I actually forgot about the game.   I have forgotten about the games for five years.  But I lived for the games all the other years since Bill Stacy started playing in 1956 and I was always there and watched intently...and then coached and was....

Circumstances change.   I want us to win but I won't lose any sleep over it, unless I like the coach.  (I do like Tony Samuel but after he won the conference, they say he got a five year contract).   So I will listen tomorrow night to sports, perhaps, but that is as far as I am willing to go these days.

Strange how things change in one's life!   Almost overnight.   I used to spend practically all day Saturday at Houck and all day Sunday at lst Baptist.  This weekend I am going to Perryville on Saturday for the mass of a long-time friend, Betty Prost, and then on Sunday I am going to old deans H and HS, Loretta Prater's, to meet the new dean.   Still busy but  making different choices now.   Bev Hickam told me this week that I don't need to worry about all this;   I do ministry every day.   I hope and pray she is right!

So Redhawks, go get 'em.  I will try to keep up better!

Opportunities all around us

Yesterday I went to the funeral of Debbie Bickings' mother.   I sat in on a conversation between Bev Hickam and Debbie as they talked about cleaning out the apartment her mother had at the Lutheran Home.   Bev told Debbie she could leave all the clothes there;  she said that there were many people there who only received enough money to pay for their care and that St.  Andrew's Lutheran had three people who went over and sewed sweaters, etc. to keep them from being threadbare.   

I have been upset all night and this morning I laid out all kinds of clothes for Debbie to pick up to distribute where it is needed.   I included the dress I wore for Colin's wedding;  I never really liked it and someone may need a holiday dress at the Lutheran Home.   I will do a better job in cleaning closets and I won't forget those people who are wearing re-sewn clothing for want of something new.

Opportunities are everywhere around us.

Just take the rug off your head and open your eyes!  And that means me, too!  Above all!

Nerve gas and news

The debate is ongoing and I sit and listen to every shred of evidence that I can.   I cannot conceive of anyone using nerve gas on anyone and I think that they should have it used on them.   I am happy I do not serve in judgement anyplace where my decision really counts.   Today will be more debate but I will watch the news broadcasts late because of Debbie Bickings' mother's visitation and funeral.

Maybe it will be good to be out of touch and thinking about how the death of one person affects so many people.  No, no, that just makes me remember the lives of 1400 who have been killed by nerve gas in Syria.
They can't win anything ever!

Reviewing my views

I am never far from the television news.   But in the doing, I am reminded steadily that my views, as well as the country, are in a state of flux.   Take for instance, this scene:

C'mon, who would ever have thought that up twenty years ago, much less said it or thought it, or put it up on a sign of a church!   Life is strange.  And now, a Supreme Court judge is presiding at the wedding of two same -sex people and I am pleased with the progress.   Loving someone is a a gift -- loving anyone, in any way, is a gift!

Fifty years --and I remember the night -- Walter Cronkite of CBS News did the first 30 minute show and I was mesmerized.  Still am!   Our views change when we consider that change is occurring all over.   We can see the President trying to win over a legislature about going into Syria.   Life is strange!  And wonderfully revealing!

Debbie Bickings

Debbie Bickings' mother died last night at 9:45.   She was Joan Siemers, the widow of Harry Siemers, of Cape Girardeau.   Debbie started coming to my house, twice a week, and doing my hair when she was in beauty school.  She and my secretary, Bev Hickam, were the best of friends.   We have gone through all kinds of things together and discussed it before my bedroom window.   When my brother, Jim, died and someone presented with a flag, it was her son, Justin.  They are all family to me and I am to them.

I am sad for them all.  It doesn't matter that Joan was 88 or that she was a pain to them and to everyone around often.  It is a terrible loss to Debbie.  She can stand proudly behind the casket;   she did what she needed to do.

And we will talk before the mirror.  It is what we do best!

With me, Debbie, and Bev.   Doing what we do best.  Laughing.

M. Scott Peck

I like to read the words of Scott Peck and it is Sunday so time for theology.   Peck, a psychiatrist, wrote "The Road Less Traveled."   There are three of his quotes that I think about often:

"It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually."   I agree.  The sadnesses and bad times in our lives cause us to reflect, and ponder and think out which road we want to travel on or whether we want to travel, at all.  It causes some to decide that are through with traveling and they will sit in their chairs and wait to die.  

"The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece.  The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning.  The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one."   We are living in a turbulent time, where all values are being studied.   I try to keep up on the issues.  There is never a day, anymore, when values don't come under question and I have to decide whether they are still values to me.

"Until you value yourself, you won't value your time.  Until you value your time, you won't do anything with it."   Believe me, when you are 75, you better value your time.   Did I waste a lot of it along the way?  Like working in an office, raising kids,   helping in the church, etc, no I did not waste it.  I built relationships.  I raised a family.  I helped raise a church family.  I did what I thought I ought to do.   I still value every hour of every day, even when I am sleeping or worrying about going to war in Syria.   Thank you, Dr. Peck.