Elgin McMikle...a professional in every way

I am going to Charleston today to pay tribute to Elgin McMikle--our undertaker/friend.   For all these years he has been there when I have been called home to say goodbye to one of my family members.  I knew I would see his comforting face and deal with his professionalism in the details about the funeral and burial.  He would go the second mile in every funeral to try to meet the family needs--no matter how big the family was.  I knew that my requests carried the same weight with him as any other sibling.

.  And that is important when you are one of six girls and two boys and when some of them knew Elgin better and longer than I did.  He was there for me....and I knew it and felt it.   "Does this suit you?" he would say each time and I would have to say yes...and mean it.

In a small town, the funeral director is a part of living.  Whether he chooses to slop up a service or slap something together to get by is important to a family who is grieving.  Elgin  knew when to speak up and when to keep silent.  He gave you options and choices.  But he gave you at best --a sense that the trappings of a death would be better and more bearable because he was there!   Thanks, Elgin, for that.  I am coming down today so that I can walk into the church and whisper silently, "Thank you, again, Elgin, for being there when I needed you so badly".

Burners and Boilers

For two weeks, in this bitter cold, my downstairs furnace is spewing and turning on and off every three seconds.  Gloria, who cleans for me, told me Tuesday to get something done about it.  She said that she counted the times it turned on and it was 18 times in 23 minutes.  I called Gary Peters who services my furnace and he asked me if I had heat and I said yes.  I could tell he did not think this was a serious matter when people were living in cold but he came.  I explained what was happening and he gave me the "old lady" look -- like, "you shouldn't be living alone" deal!

Then he checked it...didn't even take his coat off--and said, "This is real strange".  And then he got into it with both hands and thermostat.  And I waited quietly...although that frigging furnace turning on had me on wit's end.  Later, much later, he muttered something about the fact that it was fixed, he didnt understand why my heat continued to stay at level, and that there was a dissonance between the burners and the boilers and one was refusing to play its assigned role.

All I know, at this point, is that all sides have taken up their assigned roles and I can rest without constantly hearing the furnace turn on.  Thanks, Gary, for helping this happen!  I had to liken it to other situations in my life where people did not take the role I assigned them and it kept coming back to me just so the furnace could keep generating some kind of life.

A fund-raising soirée

I went with Vicki Boren to the Krcu Fundraiser at Rays last night and had a good time!  The food and the camaraderie were outstanding!  I sat with Virginia Goodwin, the Sharps and the Sessoms!  Finally the Pendergrasses came over!  It was a lovely night!

Why do I go and why do I give?  Because I can and because I should!  The funny thing is I never listen to the radio but Tom Harte has shows on it And Dan Woods is the head!

Me and Juan Armbruster Crites

I went up on campus today to get coffee with my long time friend, Juan Crites, and we spent the time talking about how much we missed each other after working together over 20 years!  We still laughed at the same old stories and were fiercely loyal about one another!  

How lucky we are!  In my building Susan Burton, Juan, Greg Brune, Ron Hines and I were a real team!  Occasionally we disagreed but we did it upfront and personal and then it was over!   I continue to love all of them and never doubt their love for me!  And include in that list Diane Sides, Angie Grissom, and Barb Kinsey!  We had a good thing going!

Honoring Mama Cooper

I can't even tell you how much it thrilled me to see the words "Mama Cooper's Wall" on the pediatric wall of Missouri Delta Hospital!  I had chill bumps.  It had been a while since I had heard those words or seen them written --this one who gave us her all!

Now children can come in and draw and color and read while they recuperate and Mama would like that.  I think she would even like knowing she had her own wall.   I'm proud of it all!  I'm proud that I have been a part of it!

Happy Sunday Morning to all...

It has been a long week for me filled with all kinds of fun and memories!  My son, Jim, said he needed to get a booking agent for me to handle all my events.  Jim, I'm doing well enough on my own.   Managed to sleep a big part of yesterday so I am better.  I ended up yesterday with three events on my calendar:   Ed Smith brought me a dozen brown eggs from his chicken farm,  Mark and Gayla Spinks brought me the bid for my downstairs bathroom project which will begin in February and Tina Stacy called and she was telling me all about the kids and Mark.  The rest of the time I napped and watched television.  And it was good!

Shooting in Cape Girardeau at the Arena during a concert last night.   This is simply way out of control!More news to come when it is released.  Apparently one is dead and a few injured!

So my thoughts for the day and the events of yesterday!  My mother used to tell me, "This is the day that the Lord has made;  let us rejoice and be glad in it!"  It is so easy to write the world off and see the havoc around us.  Let us see good on this Sunday morn!

Athletic Hall of Fame

I don't have to think about what I'm writing about this morning.  I am still jubilant over going to the Athletic Hall of Fame, selling the book I wrote about all the previous recipients and seeing old coaches and players come back.  They even recognized me from the podium twice for my efforts in this Hall of Fame.    I am grateful for the body of work I was able to do at Southeast and which I continue to do.  I resented the way it was handled when my consultancy was over but no one pipsqueak doing someone else's bidding is going to deter me from loving the University and being a part of it.  Get over it....and I have!

I greeted pro football players who came back, coaches who came back, and I was flooded with memories that came back.  What a wonderful night it was!

Wisdom of the Irish

I am getting ready to go meet with Trudy Lee to plan a party for the retired SEMO faculty and I have Irish on the brain.  They know how to drink green beer, eat a mound of food and tell limericks and laugh. I loved Ireland when I went there on tour.   No country knows better, in my mind, how to have a good time.

Then I got a FB from Judy St. John.  

I can't think of any truer statement.   I don't even like green beer...or need it!   But I need the laughs and the sleep to make my own cure happen!

And you visited me....

Two weeks ago I was in My Daddy's Cheesecake and I ran into Doug Dirks from Malden.   He said that Steve Hoehn, who played football in Malden for Bill Stacy when we lived there had had a stroke and was not doing well and I should go see him.   I called Karen, his sister-in-law, and said I would be down on Thursday.   But the best laid plans go awry.  Last night they took Steve to Barnes Hospital but it was good for me to go and visit with Karen, Virginia (his mother) and then later with his brother, Jeff.  They are the ones who only stand and wait!

And we had laughter and joy.  I told them to tell Steve that some people would do anything to get out of visiting with me!  He will laugh at that!    As I came home, I thought of so many memories ---and how fast the years go by.   I thought of Virginia and Russell and the kids
 and how they have remained a part of my life.   I am glad that I made this happen!   I am often guilty of saying I need to do something...but it never happens and time gets away from me.   This time,  I am happy that I did not procrastinate.   I felt the ties of love and friendship engird me.  It just takes the effort and the commitment of "being there".   I'm giving myself a good mark today and hoping that it will impel me to make such things happen more often!

It's a start!

No pity party for me ...

Mike Parry sent a quote on Face Book that I liked:  It came from C. S. Lewis.  "Pity was meant to be a spur that drives joy to help misery.  But it can be used the other way around.  It can be used as a kind of blackmailing.  Those who choose misery can hold joy up to ransom, by pity."   C. S. Lewis knew whereof he spoke.  He chose to rise above the pain and grab on to the bits of joy that were still out there for him.

I choose to do the same.   January 22 is the anniversary of the day my brother, Jim, died.  I can dwell on its sadness or its joy.  It's a choice we face on our least significant day.  I watch people in my life struggle with finding a place, as they grow into the unfamiliar, and they choose to become bitter, isolated, alone and encased in self-pity.  They want life as it used to be when they were wealthy, married, successful and people doted on them.  And their health was perfect! And who wouldn't!  But life moves on and transitions and so do we or we get left behind to mope and pine for what used to be.   I don't want to be in that category.   I have visited that world at times but I choose not to take up residence there.  Oliver Wilson said, "What poison is to food, self-pity is to life!"

So, keep your pity-party away from me! Shove it some other way!  Pitch it to someone who can find nothing better to do.  People who fight self-pity accept the invitations that come their way.  I may whine and moan at times but let that phone ring with an invitation to go out and eat, and I am putting on lipstick and grabbing my credit card!  It's my choice and I'm making it!

C. S. Lewis

My mama is ON the wall!

Big news!  Mama's name is on the wall at Missouri Delta Hospital!  Marcy called yesterday and said that we could come down on Monday of next week at 11:00 to see it!  I called Julia and Betty and they will join me!

It all started so simply!  I was touring the pediatric unit and a little boy wanted a pad of paper so he could draw!  I walked into the development Office and handed them a check and said to get art supplies and put them in a closet, if they would or could,  in memory of my mother, May Lawrence Cooper, of Charleston, who was an artist!  They have done this and so much more!

(It didn't stir me that I also have two grandsons who are artists  --Colin and Bryan--and they have drawn on every piece of paper that they could find in my house.)    I love the thought that children will be able to draw on Mama Cooper's Wall!  Even Mama would love that!

A ministry in our midst...

Last night we had a meal at the Baptist student Center for international students. We had a new group of six and Sherwin from India and Assad came from Bangladesh and the room was crammed!  I cooked old family favorites:  Taglarani, zuchini dressing, garlic cheese grits and a green salad and every bite was eaten!

Each person has a story!  Assad needed a bed--he had been sleeping on floor for three weeks!  I bought him one and he wanted to send my picture to his father in Bangladesh so he could see me and thank me.  Another person needed help with glasses so I sent her to Annie at Lenscrafter!   Need is everywhere!

Martin Luther King, Jr. on ForgivenessI

I am reading, today, lofty words about Martin Luther King, Jr. and how people were spending this week doing special acts of kindness in his memory.  I bet he would have liked to be around to see this minority report ...and it still is, so far as his skin color is concerned, a minority report.  If I had ever had doubts about where we are in this country, and we have made huge steps of progress, all I have to do is to look at Barack Obama and his conservative enemies waiting out there for the kill.  Prejudices invade our beings.  I must recognize such in myself, first, and then in others.

Martin Luther King, Jr. stands out to me, more and more, as years go by because of his attitude of forgiveness.  He said, "Forgiveness is not an occasional act;  it is a permanent attitude."   This is my commitment to Dr. King.  I will seek to make it so in my life.

As the Scriptures teach us, "This do in remembrance of me."

Malcolm Gladwell

Tyler Tankersly sent me a quote from Malcolm Gladwell on Facebook this week:  "Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start.  Courage is what you earn when you've been through the tough times and you discover they aren't so tough after all."   Malcolm, baby, you penned that one right in a new setting for me!  I am headed to Hastings to check out his five books including "David and Goliath".

Gladwell writes for the New Yorker and uses the areas of sociology and psychology to explain why some people make it and some people roll over and die when faced with upheaval.  He talks about the true meaning of advantages and disadvantages citing the fact that 12 of 44 US presidents lost their fathers when they were young.  Gladwell has the insight to latch on to connections that other authors pass over.

But to get back to his quote,  I think he's right.  I think of the courage of my mother as she dealt with problems that come with living and raising children.  Few pictured her as a suffragette or a pioneer in standing before crowds and swaying their opinions.  Nor would that have been a goal for her!  But in her way, she gave her quiet strength to everyone who sought her opinion or help.  She had been through the mill herself and she knew that one could emerge intact.  She was my living proof!  She taught me, by example, that one could overcome the world if that one would just stay the course! 

  

Malcolm Gladwell

Missions in our midst!

All of my life I hav sat in the pew and listened to visiting missionaries talk about sending money overseas and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering!  I believe in missions- here and abroad!  I was the first summer missionary sent out by the BSU!

Now I am working with others in a mission program on campus--feeding international students on campus at the Baptist Student Center on campus each Sunday night!  The program is named for my dad, Rev A B Cooper, who helped raise the money for the building years ago!

We need help --money, food supplies, hostesses, cooks, dishwashers, counselors!  This week we need a singl bed and kitchen supplies for a person moving in!  Contact me if you can help!  This is missions in our midst!

The Stacy - Bickings Connection

I live in Cape Girardeau --it is the most small-town, big-town in Southeast Missouri!   Everyone knows someone and it is all intertwined.  For instance, I have a Stacy-Bickings connection which has lasted over 30 years and we are a major part of each other's life.   When I started work at the University, Bev Hickam was my secretary in the Alumni Office and Debbie Siemers Bickings was her best friend.   Debbie wanted to go to beauty school and I said that I would pay her to come to my house twice a week and do my hair!  That helped her and it helped me!    That was over 30 years ago.   It still happens.

We sit before the mirror and we pour out our hearts to each other.   We are a part of each other's lives in good times and bad times.   Justin, her son, used to come with her in the summers and he would sit in front of the television while his mother did my hair.   Last year, at the cemetery in Charleston, when my brother, Jim was buried, Justin presented the flag to me.  And I dissolved in tears at the sight of this little boy, all grown up in uniform, who said, "Mrs. Stacy, I begged them to let me give you the flag today!"

Today, Debbie came with her grandson, Mason, who watched television like his uncle.  The Stacy-Bickings connection lives on!

26 Days to what!

I  was watching television last week and I saw a program (an Oprah re-run, I think) and a woman named Lyanla Vanzant, who was a guest.  She has a new book out titled, "It takes 21 days to Forgive Someone".  Wait a minute, I'm a slow learner!  It has taken me closer to 26 years to forgive some people in my life and some, I am still working on!  I can guarantee you that if I start right now, this minute, I will not complete the forgiveness cycle in 26 days!   But I listened!  Then I learned that she was the child of an alcoholic and was born in the back seat of a cab and that Lyanla means "Great Mother" in the Yoruban tradition (whatever that is) and that Ebony Magazine named her one of its "Hundred Most Influential Black Americans".  Now that is commendable!  It is a list of 100!

So I ordered the book and I'm waiting on it.  If I can learn anything that can help me, I am for it.   I liked two of her quotes:   "Forgiveness does not erase the memory of an experience; it neutralizes its impact".  Love and believe that quote and have seen its truth happen in my life.   It's when I am  past talking or thinking about the whole sordid memory:  it's letting it go into the wind, knowing that I will be the better for it.

And the other is something crazy that she said on the show, but it is so wise:  "When you see crazy coming down the street, cross the street"?   How true, true, true.  We often allow things to happen and we can't plead innocent!  We allowed it to occur!

Keeping them balls in the air......

So I am juggling -- I should be slowing down but I am not.   I am just playing with new balls!   The end game is the same!   Yesterday I ran all day --my bath tub kept filling up with junk and I called my friend, Mark, to come and look at it.   We ran water and sure enough, junk came out into the water.  He was not concerned --pulled off the silver faucet or whatever it is called, said it was old and gunky and we headed for Menard's to replace it....and prayed that they would have a replacement of the same ilk.  (Which they did!)

Then I went to dinner with Matt from the Baptist Student Center and we talked about fund-raising and what one had to do in order to accomplish goals since that is his major interest.  Since he wants to go into the seminarian business, it better be his major goal, since that is mandatory in any seminarian field or non-profit field I have ever seen.   But goals have to be considered and set, before, they can be reached!  That is the part that no one wants to do.

And then, there is all the work getting stuff ready for my tax person and the book of data information that he wants prepared for my personal representative.  And the files, and the documentation, etc.  Even funeral plans, trust documents and what I want said in the article that goes to the newspaper at my death.  C'mon, I won't be there to read it.  What do I care what the article says!  But I do.

Juggling!   Who said retirement is retirement!   I continue to juggle all day with projects, calls from family and friends  --and running!    I was just interrupted in this writing by someone calling to tell me that someone wanted to give a scholarship and would I notify the University.   Okay, so I am retired but those people are my "peeps".  Another ball in the air this morning!   Another thought from a book on juggling, "To learn how to juggle, you have to be willing to drop balls!"

Working with International Students on campus!

I love working with International Students on campus. They have taken a daunting step to come to our country and it is lonely for them.  We provide a meal on Sunday nights at the Baptist Student Center and it is named after my dad, A. B. Cooper Hospitality meals.    Last night, I went up for the dinner which was comprised of food cooked by Julie and Steve Southard and then my scholarship recipient, Raphael Pellenard, taught us how to make crepes with Nutella or lemon juice filling.   We had our biggest group so far as the place was filled with laughter and the happy sounds of a group mingling together to find their own place.   Daddy would have been eating it up.  He loved getting groups around a table and he loved helping people find their own niche.  What a remarkable influence he still has!

I liked being a small part in the circle of the evening--washing dishes, scraping food, talking around a table.  Everyone in the circle wants to know a name for each face and they don't want to miss being introduced to anyone.  Matt Porter has done a great job in making this happen;  I try to give him encouragement and advice because he is worth so much in building a kingdom.   So thanks Matt, and Julie and all the rest.  You have done well!

Rabindranath Tagore personified

I love Face book and I love computers.   And today, I received a FB quote from my long-time Charleston friend, Martha Harper Dillon  (we spent a lot of time together at New Bethel Baptist Church when Daddy was pastoring there).  Here is the quote:   "Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark."   Good, good thought to me.  Written by Rabindranath Tagore.  What!

Never heard of such a person in my limited brain so I rushed to computer.  He received the Nobel Prize in Literature.  From India.   And it was noted he changed life in his country in literature.  That gave him instant credibility in my mind as well as the fact that the quote, itself, is provocative and mind-blowing.   Thanks to computers, Mr. Tagore and Martha for a new, insightful focus today.   We can learn about faith from the simplest pewsitter to the Nobel Prize winners.   It's a matter of seeking!  I am still listening for the bird that sings!
 

A New Kind of "Religious" World

I am interested in the world of "Religion".   I am a preacher's daughter, am 75 years old and have seen many changes.  I have a seminary degree from Midwestern Baptist Seminary and now, my daughter, Sara Dyer, is finishing her seminary degree.   I repeat, I have seen many changes and I don't always know how to cope with the changes mentally.   So I constantly search for answers and explanations.  It always starts with the question:  "Why do we have to have change?   This was good enough for me when I was growing up!   Now, the church has to have some kind of music program or some kind of secular program to entice people into its doors!"   And, if a scintilla of those questions are true, why is it true and is it a good thing?

Harvey Cox has a  book out called  "The Future of Faith".  He is a giant among theologians, having served on the faculty of Harvard Divinity School.  He says that religious life can be focused on three eras:  The Age of Faith when we drew ourselves and our churches around the teachings of Jesus Christ;  The Age of Belief when church leaders began to state, unequivocably, what we believed and why we believed it, and The Age of Spirit, when Christians began to ignore dogma and began looking to find common threads with other religions in a world which was getting smaller and more complex, at the same time.

The times they are a-changing!  Maybe in this new world, each person who is seeking to find a faith to call his/her own will find the courage to examine what is worth the keeping and what can be traded in on a different kind of role-model.   I wish you well if you are a seeker and pray that you will find YOUR way!  I wish the same for myself!

Hold on, just one minute more!

Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's cabin, knew the value of faith.   She was born into a family which reeked of faith  (sometimes that is not a good thing!) and President Lincoln reportedly said that her book set off a fire of inequality which culminated in the Civil War.  So she also knew the value of doing something to ignite your faith.  Now, that is a winning combination.

But I like her quote:  "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."   Faith is having the strength to take another step even when you think that it might be futile!  What have you got to lose....that you are not already losing?

Just take it!  And let go of all your reservations about making it happen!  You have screwed it up so badly, already, that the Lord may prefer to give it to someone who had no idea that he/she was being used of Him!

Thanks, Harriet, for your insight and your diligence in staying with the book and the faith!

Judy Blume and her words for children and adults

Judy Blume, noted children's author, has always been way ahead of her time.  My daughter, Sara, loved her books and she and the Erlbacher girls all read them until they were in shreds.  But recently, I read one of her quotes which hit me in the gut:  "Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them.  How we handle our fears will determine where we will go with the rest of our lives, to experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it."

I grew up in a big family with parents who cautioned us with every fear in the world --don't get into the pool until you know how to swim,  driving is dangerous especially after I had been in a wreck, don't play sports -- you will get hurt, stay in the church house with church people, that is the safe place to be.  And while I could blame them for the fact that I did not learn to drive until I was way past grown and that I did not venture out to some places or pools, I turn the other cheek and realize that they encouraged me to face the fears I wanted to face.  I sang in trios, spoke before all people, had a job since I was a freshman in high school and found the courage to make and keep friends.  They opened our house to all my friends.

As I continue to age, I continue to face fears.   I have been around the world and have had all kinds of adventures campaigning and soliciting gifts and friendships for the university.  So I can't swim a lick and I seldom, if ever drive a car.  The world is better off for it  --believe me!   Living, even a semi-adventurous life, is not for sissies.   Regrets, I have a few!  Memories, I have many!   I am continuing to rack them up!

I think I need to be more of a tailor!

George Bernard Shaw said, "The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurements anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me."   I need to be more of a tailor;  I put people into their pre-measured boxes and don't expect them to be able or willing to make changes as they face life, times and problems.  And that occurs whether it is relatives, children or long-lost friends I seldom see.   I need to give more space to measurement and attitude adjustments in others instead of just expecting them to fit into the box to which I have assigned them.

Hey, the years change a person!  So does controversy and trouble and money and fame and disease and pain and worry and eating too much and drinking too much and ....you get the picture!   Give everyone you know a break before you go on with the weight allowance you have upper-handed them!  They have not stopped living even for a single day.  They have the scars to prove it.

A Word from Bob Marley for the season!

My cousin, Gayle Cooper, sent me a quote from Bob Marley.  I was taken aback because I was not a fan of Bob Marley or his music and I certainly did not think Gayle would be in that category.   Bob Marley would not have fit in in our worlds.  He hardly fit in into his world and what did we have in common besides a love of music.  He died when he was 36 and we are still quoting him--not for his music, his background of beliefs but for our commonality.

His words were:  "The truth is that everybody is going to hurt you.  You gotta find the ones worth suffering for." Wow!  We all have the commonalities of relationships, hurt, and making a decision about which ones are worth forgetting, forgiving and /or moving on.  It's true in Jamaica, Melbourne, Arkansas or Cape Girardeau and its true whether we are a musical idol or a person who constantly sings off-key.

Relationships hurt and harm but we decide whether they are worth the keeping!

Predictions and No-Shows

For three days, weather gurus are predicting ten inch snowfall, blizzard, etc and today I wake up in Cape Girardeau to see people traveling, slowly, down my hilly street and people writing on FB that Cape got about an inch.   I don't know how it is everywhere;  I only know what I read and hear because I am in my   house snowbound.   Yesterday, I cooked sausage soup, chili, chocolate cake, spaghetti and I am by myself.  Freezer stock, anyway!  Not the cake, it was a disaster and I pitched it.

It just proves that not everything that is predicted comes to pass but you better be prepared, anyway!  Am I glad I don't have to get out and risk falling.  You bet!   Will the world go on in normalcy faster this week than I thought!  You bet!  Am I already tired of television!   Getting there!  So what do I do with this short-fall of predicted time at home!  Anything I wish to do including spending the day in my pajamas, eating what I want, doing nothing constructive, sleeping, and, in general, not accomplishing anything worthwhile.   No one predicted that either!

Resolute moments

I got up this morning expecting blizzard and so far, there is rain!  Snow and freezing temps await according to Bob Reeves, the weather guru.  We are all waiting and staying in and thinking about a world which is confined to one's home.  It's like olden times.  I even got the newspaper out of the yard this morning and I read a column about three ways to set yourself up for resolution success.

l.  Find your motivation  -- Pauline Wallin says:  "When a goal is intrinsic--something you want for personally meaningful reasons -- you are more energized to pursue it."

2.  Remove the obstacles.   Convenience is key to making a new routine last.

3.  Watch your words.  They reflect your intention and mind-set.  So say I WILL.

My resolution is I want to find my daily joy, cut out the negative drama in my life, and not wear out my words and my welcome.  Some conversation of doom and gloom may be necessary but it does not have to dominate every conversation and hour.   I can visit doom and gloom but I must NOT take up residence there.  To do so destroys my joy in living each day.

A lasting legacy

Each morning I start my day thinking of my long-time, rock- solid friend, Charles L. Hutson, known to me as "C".  We were born on the same day in the same year and we celebrated the birthday together!   One year he gave me a jewelry box which he had engraved from "Huts".

It is an enduring legacy to me!  I laugh at his zaniness and remember how he would never let me doubt myself or him!  He remains a part of my getting ready for the day!  And I miss him daily but I feel his crazy friendship spilling out in the room!    So,  see "C" , you are gone but not forgotten!  I'm holding on to this legacy of precious memories!

My son, Jim

Jim Stacy is one of a kind!  He defies description!  He is not a whiner, a manipulative agent or a self-promoter!  He does not say the "right thing" to appease people or to have something to say!  He is an information junkie and his mind whirs in the process!   He adores his wife, Laurie, and learns about her world of art museums from her!

I can learn much from him...and I do!  Last week he told me how to make chocolate coffee-mate!  He got on line and ordered the ingredients and had made some!   He makes me proud!

Believe in the day and in yourself!

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:  "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year."   Sounds simple, doesnt it!   But it boils down to attitude!  After a night of tossing and turning, I got up at 4:15 a.m., looked at at the snow and said to myself, "Myself, can anything good come out of this day!"

I want to think so and I need to think so.  Just got to rally my attitude into believing that even though none of my plans may work out as I planned, I can deal with it!  First off, I need to focus on what I can do to help myself use the day to my advantage.   And, that may be to upload the list of nine books that could change your life.   When all else fails, there is a reading list that lives on the Nook waiting for someone to turn it on.

If I can get out of the house,  and if people can get into work here, that is one thing.  But if not, don't let me be my enemy of today!

Ran Into Cathy Lohr Jansen!

While I was waiting to be served at Cracker Barrel, I ran into Cathy Lohr Jansen and her family! I remember the day she was born to my wonderful friends Bob and Barbara Lohr!

New Year's Day Menu

Had to find black eyed peas and greens...it's New Year's Day food! Found it at Cracker Barrel!

Catching Up with Jayne Schrader and Bryan Young!

Yesterday, I took Jayne Schrader to lunch at Bella Italia to celebrate her 15th anniversary with Thrivent Financial!  Jayne was a member of the Homecoming Steering Committee.  While there, we ran into Byran Young, another Steering Committee member.  Bryan remembered getting a tongue lashing from me for his beverage choice in the Homecoming Parade!  We laughed and laughed and ate and ate-a great way to end 2013!

A New Year Begins

It is time to throw the old calendar out!   It is time to start over anew.  What an opportunity!  My motto for the year is "If you can't fix it, pitch it!"   And I am resolute in my resolution!!!   My dad always made us come up with New Year's resolution (on paper).   I am here to say that Jim Cooper usually copied mine because he was too stubborn to write his own!  Didn't matter-he was not going to turn over any new leaf for anyone!

We always threw grades in and we both made top grades.   Not valedictorian material so long as Lesley Bowers was around whose mother drilled him day and night but good enough, except in PE where I was a total wash-out!   We had to go to church three times a week anyway so there was no improving on that attendance record!  So now, we were down to clean up your room and not eat so much mustard.  But we winged it!  It is great to take stock annually of your dreams and safe havens.

So what do you do if you are 75!   Make each day count and find your own joy!  No one can do that for you even if they want to.  What makes me truly happy is only known to me!   I am the one who is always there and can't escape the experience!   Others can understand, sometimes, but they are living their own experience from which they cannot escape.

So, today, I seek for your own unique joy!