Heaven's Resident Angel

Aunt Laurine died last week.  She was 91.  During her life, Aunt Laurine was blessed so many times, but 14 of which I am aware.  First she married Uncle Roy, then the thirteen blessings were born - 8 boys (one set of twins) and 5 girls.  In family pictures, they created stair steps.  Growing up in a small town in Kansas, we would often pack up the old pickup and head to Aunt Laurine's farm a good three hours away in the country in Missouri.  The roads were windy and hilly and I suffered many boughts of carsickness - much to the chagrin of my sister, who inevitably sat next to me and would gain the contents of my stomach on her...but who cares, afterall, the story is about Aunt Laurine.  We would arrive at the old farmhouse way after bedtime.  She immediately greeted us, offered food or drink and then direct us to the very full bedrooms.  That was such a great memory.  Sometimes there would be more than four of us girls in a bed, but we didn't care.  To this day when I hear John Denver's song "Grandma's Feather Bed", I smile and think of Aunt Laurine. (the lyrics go, "It was nine feet high, six feet wide, soft as a downy chick...would hold eight kids, four hounddogs, and the piggy we stole from the shed...didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on Grandma's Feather Bed...")  In the morning, she would be awake before the sun rose, baking the most wonderful smelling bread, churning butter, and frying up bacon, eggs, pancakes, you name it...she made it!!!  I never heard a harsh word out of her mouth, nor see a frown on her beautiful face.  I'm sure she did, but my view of Aunt Laurine was of a niece looking in awe at a woman who put her faith first and then her family.  She was and is one of the most spiritual women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  She began each day with a prayer, each meal with a prayer, and ended the day thanking God for his Grace and her blessings.  Aunt Laurine's smile could light up the room - she emitted goodness to everyone.  It didn't matter if she saw you daily, once a month, every year, etc. she treated everyone like they were her family.  At her funeral the Priest stated that he had often heard in reference to Aunt Laurine that if she didn't get into Heaven, nobody has a chance.  That is so true.  Her granddaughter recited a poem about the twelve jewels created that have come to symbolize goodness and mercy. After the service, I told her granddaughter how that poem touched me.  She simply stated "It sounded like my grandma." I totally agree.  Aunt Laurine was solid as a diamond, tough as a ruby, soft as an amythest, and bright as an emerald.  Perhaps I didn't get to see her as often, or keep in touch like I wish, but each visit was quality time with an Aunt who loved everyone unconditionally. She is now soaring with the eagles under God's roof and I have to SMILE as I look to the Heaven's and feel comfort knowing she is there watching...

Traveling In Unknown Territories

Traveling across Highway 36 East in Missouri to take my mom to a funeral was quite an experience educationally and socially.  I had reserved two rooms (one for me and mom, and one for my cousins from Illinois) at one of the two Hotels in this small town sight unseen...Needless to say when mom and I exited the highway and saw the OLD billboard, minus color and letters on the add, I knew we were destined to a learning experience neither one of us was prepared for.  Pulling into the dilapidated building with the air-conditioners so old, trash littering the premises, peeling paint, and holes in some of the doors, I somehow managed to drag myself to the office (which was the residence of the owner) and request a 'look-see' at the room, as my mom was fragile. (Prior to that, I had told mom to make her physical disability a little more prominent because we were gonna get out of this reservation one way or another!!!) The office stank of old cigarettes, mold, and grease.  The proprietor asked what mom's disability was and I told her she had had two hip replacements and that walking was difficult.  She then stated "you didn't tell me she was disabled" (as if that was any of her business to begin with...just saying) and the rooms are on the second floor.  I looked up at the frail steps with the rotted railing and informed her that mom could not walk up those steps and that she had told me we would be in rooms 3 and 8 not upstairs. I stated we would not be staying and would head on down the road.  The woman actually followed me to the car and said "come and look at room 8, it's available after all and has a bed and a half "(I'm thinking what the heck???), so being considerate I agree to look - after all, we are there and I did give the woman my credit card.  Entering the room, I was engulfed by mold - I swear it was everywhere!!!! When commenting on the smell and discussing my allergies, the woman asked "You can smell that dearie?" Uh...YES!!! The room had two doors to the outside and one of them had no doorknob and you could see light from outside around the entire door and there were holes in the wall (going to who knows where).  She said "come and see how clean the bathroom is".  By this time, I just want to leave, take a shower, and get a penicillin shot for whatever germs had landed on my body, so I peeked in quickly and said "no thanks' we are leaving.  She followed me to the car again and wanted me to see if my cousins still wanted a room. OMG LADY - NO!!! ARE YA NOT LISTENING???? I jump in the car, tell mom we might be sleeping in the car and head east. Amazingly, we found a quaint little motel about a mile away that was CLEAN, had fresh sheets, TV, parking, and no stairs. I paid for the two rooms quickly and we were set!!!! I called the other proprietor back to make sure she didn't use my credit card for the disgusting rooms, and she informed me that she would be charging me for one of the rooms because she might not be able to rent it out for the night. (ya think???)  I just SMILED and considered it a blessing...after all, it's only money - NOT GERMS!!!!!

Reflections of 9/11/01

At about 8:50AM, on 9/11/01, our school counselor came into my office and told me that one of the World Trade Center Twin Towers had been hit by an airplane and terrorism was suspected.  I immediately went to our High School classroom and asked the teacher if we could turn on the TV.  The picture of the tower on fire was so devastatingly sad.  Several minutes later, while watching, the second tower was hit!!!! The students were shell-shocked to the point of disbelief.  Staff was hauntingly quiet.  I remember watching, not sure I was processing, and praying to God this was someones idea of a sick joke and the newsmen would come on any minute and tell us the TV stations had been hacked and the film was photo shopped.  When that didn't happen, and all TV stations were reporting the same news, we all became mesmerized by the images.  Book learning was not going on at this time, but actual history lessons were taking place.  Later in the morning, the entire school assembled outside to Pledge Allegiance and sing God Bless America.  During both, people were solemn, tears in their eyes, and others (myself included) couldn't stop the tears rolling down their devastated faces.  All in all, we came together not only as a nation, but as a school.  Watching the towers implode on TV and seeing the people jump to their deaths from the top of the towers took its toll on everyone impacted.  The images became nightmares for some, and death reports for others.  
     It is now the tenth Anniversary of 9/11/01 and I have been watching the memorials, the minute-by-minute replay of actual footage, listening to the interviews by survivors, and basically, just reliving the horror that all the victims and their families felt ten year ago today.  It is so overwhelming, as I am so empathetic to the pain of other people (it's nothing I do, God gave me this gift) that I actually feel like I know these people personally...  I have watched the movie, Flight 93 at least twice this week, and every single time, I sob with the passengers and their families.  How unselfishly brave all those passengers were to save complete strangers in the USA.  I wonder how many of us would have done the same as Todd, Jeremy, Elizabeth, (just to mention a few), and the flight crew.  I like to believe and hope that most of us would be as selfless and loyal to want to save many more lives enough to sacrifice our own to keep the world a safer place. 
      Watching the memorial events today has definitely cleared my tear ducts and sinus passages, but has also made me realize that God is good.  As I look to the Heaven's today of all days, I SMILE and thank him for my wonderful life in America...God will continue to Bless all the victims of 9/11/01, as well as the people of the United States.