Happy 87th Birthday, Mom

            I’m just taking this opportunity to say “Happy Birthday” to Mom. 

She turned 87 yesterday. 

            Mom is Elsie Elizabeth Porth Shealy, and, please, don’t ever call her “Elise” instead of “Elsie.”  Her name is just the same as that of the Borden cow; she even has a deck of cards with Elsie the Cow on them, thanks to nephew Ted and his wife, Cheryl.

            I think Mom has more energy than I do.  She teaches Sunday School, is active in the Lake Murray Community Club, hosts groups at her home, and just generally stays busy.  She and her two older sisters, Jenny and Mavis, continue to play Scrabble.  Mom also likes to play cards, especially a game called Fan Tan. 

            She fought the introduction of a computer into her life for a long time, but now she is an e-mail junkie of sorts.  She is totally exasperated when her machine is on the blink.

            At the age of 80, she performed a rap number at the rehearsal dinner when my daughter Mandy got married. 

              A former South Carolina “Mother of the Year” and high-achieving sales executive, she has been the source of many hours of laughter over the years.  She’s the one who took a flight from Columbia to Chicago for a few days of meetings, wearing one kind of shoe on one foot and a totally different kind on the other foot.  She’s also the one who took an early morning flight to Baltimore, leaving her car running in the airport parking lot.

            Above all, she’s a great mom.

            Happy Birthday, Mom.

Mom with her 5 children.  Left to right: Seated - Rod (deceased), Shawn.  Standing - Lorri, Mom, Sherry, Christy.



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Aftermath & The BOTTOM Line

Stop! Do NOT read this if you, like my sister Christy, think some things shouldn’t be written about publicly.


Especially embarrassing and/or personal things. Like medical procedures.

Okay; you’ve been warned.

The second warning is this: never, ever, ever have a hemorrhoidectomy if you don’t absolutely need one!

I mean it.

Right now, I’m supposed to be going through recovery following a hemorrhoidectomy. “Recovery” is a misnomer. This time period may be the aftermath, but, so far, I haven’t been able to tell that it’s recovery.

My surgery was five days before the election, which I thought was rather ironic. Both deal with pains-in-the-you-know-what.

A week after surgery, I experienced some of the worst pain ever. To put it bluntly, without being too specific, I couldn’t “do” what I needed to do. Know what I mean?

I believe it was hubby a/k/a The Duppster who advised me not to think about it. Well, that’s easier said than done. There were reminders everywhere.

For example, he was watching a show on the History Channel about feeding submariners. The commentator said the food is loaded into the “bowels of the submarine.” Oh, great!

I think the movie that was showing on one channel was “REAR Window.”

Later, there were commercials about laxatives and other related products. I even heard the phrase “bottoms up.”

During this medical aftermath, there was also coverage of the World Series, with frequent referrals to the “bottom” of such-and-such inning. The aftermath also included the weekend we were to set our clocks BACK an hour.

Then a friend told me that she was a “little BEHIND” in keeping up with medical news.

So, now you’ve been warned.

And that’s the BOTTOM line!

I Am SO Thankful: For These and So Much More!

    

I am thankful. Not just today but every day.

For three fantastic children who are wonderful adults - Tiffany, Tree and Mandy shown here just after Mandy's marriage to Adam.

For a fabulous mom and for memories of a fabulous dad.

For two sisters (Christy & Lorri) and two brothers (Rod & Shawn) I wouldn’t trade for anything (most days.)

For a great son-in-law, Adam Brantley.

For an adorable grandson, Harrison Cothran Brantley.

For remarkable friends, both old and new.

For a warm and caring church family.






For 60 good years of life.

For God-given talents and abilities.

For health.

For a wonderful extended family.

For a sense of humor.

For our military who serve us.

For law enforcement and firefighters who protect us.

For educators who touch and help shape the future.

For the power of prayer and faith.

For the freedoms we enjoy in our country and for the hope those freedoms will be around for a long time.

For volunteers who give so much of themselves in so many ways.

For the beauty of nature - colorful rainbows, glorious sunshine, majestic mountains, rolling oceans, chirping birds, laughing children, refreshing rain, seasonal changes and so much more.

And, this year in particular, I am thankful for the time I had with Carroll a/k/a “The Dawg.”

As odd as it may sound and as much as I would like for him to still be here with me, I am thankful for the way in which he left us – a peaceful death; opportunities to say good-bye to family and friends; no lingering, on-going suffering. I am thankful I was with him and in his arms as he took his last breath. What a blessing!

May you enjoy counting your blessings today - and every day!
~                ~               ~                   ~                  ~                 ~                    ~                       ~

"Camping" and Happy 84th

Most of our family went camping last weekend.

Now, I’m using the word “camping” very lightly and extremely loosely.

So, sorry, all you outdoors-people, but using the word “camping” extremely loosely is the only way I want to use it.

We spent a weekend at Hickory Knob State Park near McCormick to celebrate Mom’s 84th birthday. Since we were all relatively close to our respective homes, it’s what is similar to a stay-cation ‘cause we stayed in South Carolina – all 25 of us, ranging in age from 84 to 16 months.

There was a campground at Hickory Knob, or at least that’s according to the brochures and signs, but our idea of “camping” was to stay in cabins. Electricity, refrigerators, stoves, beds, chairs, air conditioning, showers, indoor plumbing.

And did I mention air conditioning? Yes, I know I did. That was a priority for me.

You get the picture. That’s as close to roughing it as I want to do. The cabins even had televisions with remotes but they were used very little. Better yet, there was free internet access. Now that’s my kind of camping!

Brother Shawn brought his boat and lots of family members skied. Others were content riding in the boat or lounging at the pool. The park has horseshoes, pool tables, checkerboards, a grand piano, skeet shooting, golfing and more.

We had other necessities of life with us: Rod and Dan brought their guitars and we sat around singing while eating Glenn’s cooking. You just can’t beat food and music!

It was a nice weekend, and, on top of all that, what snoring Mom did was hardly noticeable!
Who could ask for anything more?

Photo Hunt: Thankful -- for "F" Words?

The word for this week's Photo Hunt in blogland is "thankful."

I am thankful for much, but especially for the "F" words: Family, Friends and Faith.

Most of the family, Christmas 2008.

Mandy, Adam, Tree & Tiffany - on vacation.

(two daughters, one son, one son-in-law.)

More pictures of family and friends at the bottom of the blog page in a slideshow.

Click here to find more participants in Photo Hunt.

Shop 'Til You Drop????

One of my sisters, Christy, has always been a Black Friday (day-after-Thanksgiving) shopper. Big time.
I never have.

It’s not that I don’t like to shop and I certainly love great deals. But I don’t like the traffic and the crowds. Sometimes I figure the deals might get better and better as it gets closer to Christmas. Of course, the selection may dwindle and dwindle.
The dwindling selection is a risk I’ve always been able to take, so as not to have to put up with the tremendous crowds.

The news from the 2008 Black Friday, though, had me wondering about our culture, our shopping habits, society in general.
A man working at a Wal-Mart in New York was trampled to death by shopping throngs pushing through the doors. And a woman who was pregnant lost her baby through miscarriage in those crowds.
How can this be? What kinds of deals are worth this? Is this a new kind of shop-til-you-drop mindset?
We are in tough economic times. Many of us like deals whether times are difficult or not, so our tough economy makes the deals even more enticing.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with liking a bargain. I thrive on bargains – the two-for-one deals, the old blue light specials at K-Mart, moonlight madness, the coupon specials. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with being part of the Black Friday crowds looking for deals.
Yet this goes beyond just liking a bargain; this is not shopping for the necessities of life. People aren’t being trampled for milk or bread or water for survival.
Is this greed? Is this keeping up with the Joneses, or even getting one up on the neighbor?
Whatever it is, it’s ugly.

What an Excuse! It Almost Hurts!

I have two brothers and two sisters. The five of us are sorta spread out age-wise. I’m 59; Rod is 54; Christy, 52; Shawn, 42; and Lorri, 40. Yep, that’s a stretch of almost 20 years – all from the same two parents.
Mom and Dad moved from South Carolina to Tennessee when Shawn and Lorri were entering the third and first grades, respectively. The older three of us were pretty much on our own by then, so we were not part of the move.

One time, when Mom and Dad had to go out of town for a convention, Rod went up to Knoxville to take care of Shawn and Lorri. That was a mistake - a BIG mistake.
All three overslept on a school morning. When they woke up and rushed around getting ready for school, Shawn was insistent that he needed a note for his teacher. He simply had to have an explanation so that he wouldn’t get in trouble.

So, big brother, Rod, wrote a note, folded it, and gave it to Shawn. Shawn was satisfied, happy to get this written excuse for his teacher; he didn’t read the note – obviously.
When he got to school and handed the note to his teacher, she started laughing.
Rod had written: “Please excuse Shawn for being late to school. He got a banana stuck in his nose and couldn’t get it out.”













Rod, Lorri, Mom, Sherry, Christy, Shawn