Who to invite

My daughter is getting married in August and she wants to invite the whole world. I understand how she feels. The day I married her father I thought was the most important day in history. Who wouldn't want to be there?

I walked on to the asile and smiled ear to ear as I felt the love and exitment shared in the room. I remember my mother talking about her wedding and how there wasn't enough room in the church for everyone so they opened the windows so people could look in.

A marriage isn't about two people. It's about a community. People that will be there for you when things get hard. People that want the best for you and are willing to help make that happen.

So I will tell my daughter to invite everyone and I won't stress about it, I'll just be thankful that as she walks down to meet her groom she will feel the love and support of those special people in her life all around her....even if it means we eat spam.

The Bible

Growing up we had a Bible in every room. It was one of the first words I learned how to spell, thanks to the song..The B I B L E. It was quoted and referred to on a daily bases but yet I still find it a mystery.

Other people seem to be able to read the bible and find comfort and I suppose at times I do to, but for the most part it gets my mind racing in many different directions.

Such as...I was reading Joshua 13 and God said "Joshua, you are very old" Now my question is ..How old do you have to be for God to think you are old? And how depressed did this make Joshua? I get depressed when my kids think I'm old, let alone God...And another thing...if I was to hear God speak I think I would want to hear...Well done good and faithful servant, not you are VERY old.

Poor Joshua, guess I will put him on my list of people to talk to when I get to heaven

Bed Bugs

I have a curse that has been given to me, and over the years I have blamed many people for it. I go to sleep just fine, but some time between the hours of 2am and 4am my eyes pop open and my mind starts racing.

For years I have blamed my heritage. I come from a long line of worriers and so I have just seen it as my destiny.

As my children grew, I blamed it on them. They seemed to be the ones I worried about the most so it only stands to reason that they are to blame. Now, after hours of therapy I realize it is all my mother's fault....are you shocked?

Oh, I have a wonderful mother. One that would do anything for me. When I was young she would lovingly say prayers with me and kiss me and tuck me into bed. Then right before she would shut the door she would say in the sweetest voice....

"Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite."

Now if you don't believe I have reason to think my mother must have some deep underlying feelings for me, I ask you...next time your husband makes you mad during the day don't yell, just wait. Then right before he closes his eyes say....."Oh did I tell you about all the spiders I found in the bed this morning when I made it? Never mind, I'll tell you about it in the morning, good night."

Yep, I'm convinced mom was all about revenge.

Row Row Row your Boat

Neither my mother or I have ever been known for our athletic adventures. We are both people that like to encourage others to do it, and are happy watching. For some reason one day my mother and I decided to climb into a row boat and explore the lake that wondered thru the neighborhood.

It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Then my mother in her wisdom said that we should turn around and head home. Well the wind was no longer going along with us and we soon found out that we hadn't really been rowing at all, until now...

We were rowing, and it was hard. We didn't know if we were going to make it.

As I have hit mid life I think about how much harder the second half of our journey was in that boat that day and how we wanted to give up at times but we couldn't. We made it by working together, encouraging each other , and laughing a lot.

The storms of life make it hard to move forward sometimes and yet thanks to my mom and a little boat I know now how to get thru.

Fuzzy Slippers

When I was a kid my grandmother use to come visit us once a year. She would sleep in my room and put her teeth in a glass on the table between the beds. Sharing a room with her was not something I can say I enjoyed but I did love it when she came. Every year she would bring us a new pair of slippers that she had knitted for us. My brother and I would put them on and rush to the basement where we would spend hours "skating" in our slippers.

I never really liked the slippers for their intended use. I thought they looked funny, thinking back they must have looked even funnier on my brother. But mom would tell us to be thankful.

I didn't think about the slippers for many years then one day my aunt mailed me a pair. The smile that came to my face was bigger than I'm sure my grandmother ever saw when she gave me them. See, now I get what mom meant by being thankful...it wasn't about the slippers ..it was about being loved...

I wear the slippers proudly now..even though my children laugh at them. Maybe someday when I'm gone and they are cleaning out my things, one of them will slip on my slippers and they too will understand that love never ends.