Grandma's blue bowl

"He knoweth the way that I take and when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10)

I thought it had belonged to my Grandma Nesmith.

Well, actually it did belong to my Grandma Nesmith.

What I didn't remember was that she got it from her mother, Marianna Michau Mercer and she got it from her mother, Mary Elizabeth Cook  Michau.

Until recently, I just thought it was Grandma's blue bowl.  I knew it had survived a fire at my parents' home in 1977 and then I was reminded it also survived a fire in South Carolina many years ago.

It was on a shelf in my parents home until my mother moved away -- and she thought I should have it so it now resides with me.  That means I am the fifth generation owner.

It has a lot of character, don't you think?

It's blue, but do you see the gold trim.  Look carefully.

And do you see that the pedestal is broken?

Fortunately, it still stands.

Somehow that bowl is a picture of life...my life to be exact.

There have been times when I felt wobbly - like part of me was broken.

There are times when I feel blue.

And yet. . .

It is a reminder to me of these words:

Words that were given to me on my 70th birthday by my lifelong friend and cousin, Bonnie Smith Allen (we share Great Grandma Mercer and thus Great, Great Grandma Michau).  We know that our grandmothers (hers - Florence and mine,  Pauline) were great women....and we appreciate that part of our heritage. And let me be quick to acknowledge - lots of women - great women - join us - my aunts, their aunts and cousins.  The list could go on an on! And somewhere in that family history is that one of our ancestors swam the English channel ( I think that's right - it's a part of the LORE that we have all heard).

So what happens to the bowl next?  It stays on my shelf until I am gone and then the two great women who call me mom (Becca and Renee) can determine whose shelf on which it gets to stand.  And then one of their daughters will inherit it.  Unlike a family recipe that many can share, there is sadly but one bowl.

In the meantime, it is a constant reminder to me of our heritage...of the hard times and good, the laughter and tears, and the fact that all of us know -- when He hath tried me, we shall come forth as gold!

May your life be filled with enough sunshine

to make you appreciate the shadows

A Cornucopia of Emotions

This is my little cornucopia.  It is far different from the beautiful one of my childhood.  My Grandma Nesmith had been a florist and she had a real knack for arranging flowers - and at Thanksgiving - fruits and vegetables.

I have always loved November.

I love the change of colors in our surroundings.  I know I live in Florida and there are not that many changes, but I love driving toward San Marco and enjoying the vibrant color of the golden rain trees.

I like the food that we enjoy - especially the combination of cranberries and turkey,

I enjoy the celebration of Veteran's Day.  If my daddy instilled anything in us more than his love for the Florida Gators it was his love for our country.  He didn't think he needed to install a love for God or our mother.  He just expected that to be a part of who we are!

And I absolutely love the fact that I became a mother in November.  First on November 26, 1971, when Rebecca Lynn was born.  I knew from the first time I held her that she would be Becca.  I brought her home from the hospital and she became my sounding board.  Poor baby - the things she heard from her mother's lips.

Three years after that I heard the words "what's your first child?" And when I answered a little girl, the doctor said: "And now you have two".  And what a  joy that second little girl, Paula Renee, (11/17/74) has always been.  Her ears have also heard much from me.

Those girls (Becca and Renee) come from a long line of great women - some we remember especially in November.  As it would happen, Becca was born on my Grandma Nesmith's birthday.  She would have been 70 that day, had she not gone to Heaven just a few months prior.  Another great woman was born in November. Amanda Gentry (11/11/01), was the mother of Margeret Parker who was my first mother in law - She was a great woman - who raised a good son.

Four of my dearest friends, Linda Peppers Gurganious, Laurie Lemminn, Kathy McAlpin and Virginia Jeffries Pillsbury celebrate their birthdays in November. Each of these women have been a blessing in my life.

So those are happy emotions.

There is also a very scary one.  Tray was 2 and a half when he was impatient to get the hot chocolate that I foolishly put in a paper cup and told him to wait...The burns on his little leg were horrible.  And as we drove to the hospital he and I were both so scared.  I remember him saying "sing, momma" and he would try to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and the theme song to McDonald's  "Nobody can do it..".
That was 38 Thanksgivings ago.  Today he has a very small scar (or that's what he's told me).  But it's certainly included in my cornucopia of emotions.

And then there' s sad one.

It was a lovely November day.  A mid-afternoon phone call from my husband, Rich, indicated that he didn't feel well.  Two hours later I heard an emergency room physician tell me that my husband "did not survive".  We had been married 8 months and 4 days.  I was devastated.  We were planning a great life of joy and happiness together and he was dead just 10 days shy of his 49th birthday.

That was 19 years ago.

Happy Thanksgivings and painful ones.  Even the one that includes the passing of Margaret Parker when my children and I went to tell her goodbye.  That day included my parents and some other family members enjoying a turkey breast in a park in Georgia as we traveled to North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day.

The important thing remains - that love for God that my parents assumed we would inherit is still a part of who I am.

I hope that never changes.

May your life be filled with enough sunshine

to make you appreciate the shadows