Twenty Five Years Ago

The 25th anniversary of the Challenger explosion took place 3 days ago. It's very common for all of us to share what we were doing and where we were when certain incidents happened, either close to home, or affecting the world. I would have to think this one affected the world.

I was teaching 3rd grade in San Diego, California at the time and everyone was talking about the crew of the Challenger and how one special teacher would be chosen to be a part of the NASA Teacher in Space Project . A call for teacher/applicants went out across the nation. I chose not to pursue the trip into space, but my sister-in-law, Connie did. She was even called back for a second interview.

A teacher named Christa McAuliffe was chosen from more than 11,000 applicants to participate and she was scheduled to become the first teacher in space. She was going to teach two classes while out there, and my class and the rest of the school waited in anticipation. The morning of the take-off, there was a dry wind blowing across the playground as the students lined up to come into the room. One of them reached down to pull a Weekly Reader from her leg and brought it over for me to see, as this story had made the front page. I asked her to bring it into the class and we would read it together.

Our habit was for the children to put their things away, then come and sit at my feet on a rug in front of the room and we would talk about our plans for the day after taking roll, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and singing a patriotic song. This day was no different up to that point. I showed them the picture of Mrs. McAuliffe in her space suit and one of the children asked me why I hadn't applied. I looked at them and laughed and said, "Because I knew I'd win!" They didn't understand what I was talking about, but I did get a smile out of them nonetheless.

We started the day with our reading groups and we were about halfway through when the reading specialist walked through the door with a handful of papers with a single sentence typed on it: "We regret to announce that the Space Shuttle Challenger has exploded and there are no survivors." Everything went into slow motion from there. The children were watching me and I was doing everything I could to keep from crying. I knew I had to say something, so I read the note I had just been handed. I heard a snicker in the back of the room, and it upset me. I then told them all, "Before you say anything...just remember that someone has just lost their mother, father, sister, or brother." It probably wasn't the best thing to say to a group of 3rd graders, but it was all I could think of. My heart was breaking for those families who had to have watched their loved one's last moments.

I don't know how I got through the rest of the reading groups. I rushed to the teacher's lounge once the children went out to recess, and there I saw the explosion being replayed over and over. It brought tears to my eyes and a sadness to my heart that I had never known before and have not had since. It stayed with me the whole day and I can honestly say that was the worst day of my life up to that point.

I know there were other members on that shuttle and recently learned that one of the astronauts, Ronald McNair, graduated from NC A & T University in Greensboro, NC. My heart goes out to those who have to relive the sadness every anniversary, but even more so because it was so public. I hope that people console those left by letting them know it touched many of us and that our hearts broke with theirs that day.

A Season of HAPPINESS

I have had such a blessed Christmas, and those blessings just keep producing a great big Happy Ball inside of me just like when it snows and you take a little bit of snow and start rolling it in the snow and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I feel so blessed to have the children we have. They made me proud as we headed over to the Moravian Home Church in downtown Winston Salem an hour and a half early and not complaining one drop. Aunt Connie was up....Randy's sister from Florida whom I love dearly, and whose husband was in Africa but was here is spirit. He sent red beautiful roses to remind us that his love was sent from afar and he was thinking of us. We missed him, but were comforted by our early Christmas with him, tree and all, right before Thanksgiving here in Winston Salem.

The Moravian Love Feast service was so beautiful. (Thanks, Bo.) We got the very last seats for 4 and sat 5 at the very back of the church. We sat on wooden school chairs with one cheek on each chair and loved it. They obviously still have the hanging of the greens, an olde English tradition, and fresh greenery was strung in huge clusters from the walls to the center of the ceilings, as was the front of the pulpit area. I felt like a veteran this year at the feast. I didn't look down, feeling guilty because I was eating and drinking in church, and I made it a point to savor every sip of that sweet coffee and sweet roll in the Name of the Lord. I felt loved, LOVED, and wanted to just hug everyone I saw on the way out...until I saw what I thought were carolers outside. Church members were explaining what had just taken place and my first thought was, "I wish they'd quit talking to the carolers so they would sing." It was snowing and the church bells were ringing and I felt like I was in the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life." As I walked by "the carolers" I realized they were Quakers or Amish and for whatever reason, had found their way to this little piece of history in the center of Winston Salem on a cold snowy night. What blessed my heart even more was to look over at the kids and see them singing the traditional hymns of their past. (We are not a musically inclined family, so this was huge to me, as I always tell them, "You'd better learn all the church songs down here as we will probably be singing them in heaven.")

I cannot believe that I got to make so many wonderful gifts this year. I made boxwood wreathes from Brookberry Farm English boxwood....really from England, but not exactly from the farm...it worked; homemade gift enclosures and cards; food and I even painted a Brookberry Farm ornament for the ornament exchange at the clubhouse right before Christmas. It only took me a year to paint, and I had to take a picture of it and the person who "WON" it. She was a new resident and she was so happy to commemorate her first Christmas here with a hand-painted ornament. It was just another thing that made me HAPPY! There's so much more. I really am once again reminded that "the simplest things remind us of all that we have to be thankful for."

Happy New Year! May you be blessed with Happiness the year through!

Catch Up Time

Goodness it has been a whirlwind few months with a Red Hot & Blue restaurant finally joining the ranks of the corporate offices here in Winston Salem. It's a slow process, this opening up a restaurant business, and it is not for the faint-hearted. I never knew how involved the whole process was until now. "Out of sight, out of mind," has been my response to those who have asked about the business and I was content in saying that up to this point.

The process from start to finish took about 70 days to reconvert an existing restaurant. It was so much fun watching the changes from day to day, and now it's neat watching the new relationships gel. Randy is loving getting to know their staff and returning customers. He is truly in his element. It is hard for me to stand on the sidelines because I really am a change agent and teacher. I want to jump in and say, "Let's try this! How about that?" Don't think I don't do that, and they have all been very gracious, but I really want to get in there and be in charge of the "classroom," because I really do see all of our lives as one big interaction with each other. I see my life as a change agent for GOOD.

It's very interesting how my life has taken such an interesting turn. I told you about the women's retreat I did back in September. Well, a new invitation came out of that for me to speak at another Lutheran church over near Greensboro as "The Mystery Guest Speaker" at their yearly stewardship campaign. Their Evite invitation was so beautiful and they had so many wonderful things planned. I couldn't wait to hear "The Mystery Guest Speaker" by the time I got there. I left on cloud 9. They laughed in the right places and nodded and "Amened" just like I'm used to with the Baptists. And of course, the food was plentiful and delicious. The pastor said that everything revolves around food with the Lutherans. So help me, I thought that was just a Baptist saying. I'll bet the Catholics and Methodists say the same thing, along with all the other denominations.

THE BOOK is always looming on the horizon. Leah made the comment as Randy and I were en route home from the dinner that I needed to see the book as a history lesson in the making for the neighborhood, because teaching is what I do best. She's right. I'm starting to get excited as my time is "freed up" for a while. I interviewed Lilian the cook yesterday and cannot wait to try some of her recipes.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my sister Linda's house in Jonesboro, GA. Some of our cousins were there from our childhood. It's always fun to be reunited with my sisters and their families...add our first and second cousins in and you have a true THANKSGIVING, because that is what it is all about. We pictured our mothers smiling from above.

My sister Scarlette, and our second cousin, Lena, are into family history, and have both joined DAR and the Manakin Huguenot Society. Here's what I pulled up as an explanation:

The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin In the Colony of Virginia

History: Huguenots began coming to Virginia as early as 1620. In 1700-1701, five ships arrived at the mouth of the James River, then the York and the Rappahannock rivers, east of present-day Richmond, Virginia. French Huguenots, having fled religious persecution, had lived in England and Ireland and done military services for King William. They were granted lands in the New World for a permanent home where they had the freedom to worship as they pleased. West of Richmond, many founded a colony on the site of a village deserted by the Monacan Indians.This is a society of the descendants of that colony and French Protestants who came to Virginia before 1786 [see history of the society]. The society headquarters and library are located beside the Manakin Episcopal Church on the original King William Parish glebe land in Manakintown.

Welcome "Gator," my newest follower and cousin from where else but Florida.

I've "Birded" You ALL to Death!

Oh my word. I just found out my widget is missing. I hope I didn't hit the wrong button and upgrade, because I am perfectly satisfied with my widget as it is. (You know, that's the little moving thing on my blog to the right that states how many hits I have and the country they are coming from.) I love that thing. It just makes me happy...especially when I see the number has gone from 1 to 2 for any given country. I wonder if it's a new person who stumbled upon Brookberry Girl, or if it's a return reader. Either way, I'm grateful for the audience.

My sister Scarlette from Atlanta obviously is taking my advice and freeing herself up a bit. I sent out a notice to my sisters that I was up and writing again after a long summer hiatus. She requested my blogger information earlier, which I don't recall her ever doing, and commented when I asked, that it was all about birds. She's right. I have shown quite a preoccupation with the birds around here. I think it's because I never really noticed anything but the Bob Whites and eagles down in Florida. I was just too busy. I have often repeated myself in regard to the birds, because every time I noticed something new about them, I just added that to what I already knew...just in case there was a new reader who would not take the time to go back to previous blogs. (It's the teacher in me...and yes, this is a repeat...EVERY SITUATION IS A TEACHING/LEARNING situation. I just can't help it.) So, I am going to try to become more DIVERSE in my future blogs. Our children have said more than once that they are worried about me and the birds. So please excuse me for this short entry today. I must go and feed the empty bird feeders. Hope you are having the most wonderful day!

I am so BLESSED!

I have had the most wonderful Spirit-filled weekend. It started off with a book-signing of Bowman Gray, IV's newly released book, "As a Man Thinketh," by James Allen, but with Bo's photographs.

Click on this link and you can learn more and even order an autographed copy! As A Man Thinketh, By James Allen (With my photogrpahs) It is very inspirational visually, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. Randy and I are very proud of him. I really admire a person who is willing to take a risk on trying something NEW, rather than succumbing to failure before they are even out of the gate. I hope I will persevere and be the same example.

I started Saturday off with getting up quite early for me, 6 AM, to get ready to go and facilitate a women's retreat for a local Lutheran church. We left shortly after 7 and started promptly at 9. I can honestly say, I have never had the time or took the time to prepare as well as I did for this particular retreat. I am certified by Dr. Mels Carbonell, to conduct seminars on Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts and Behavioral Blends. I've facilitated MANY of these, but this one was different. I've never spoken outside my Baptist denomination. I learned so much in helping me understand how alike and somewhat different we are in our beliefs. I hope I can do more like this so that my knowledge will help me in meeting others where they are in their particular faith walks. The women were so open to what I had to say, but more importantly, they were so excited about discovering just a bit of how their SHAPE helps point them to service within the context of their church. (SHAPE is from Rick Warren's acrostic in "The Purpose Driven Church," and stands for spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experiences.) One never knows until after a seminar if there is fruit from their labor or not, but it was very apparent after I'd given them a homework assignment to take specific Scripture, and then use given tools to portray to the rest of the group how these things could be used to convey their understanding of what they had read. Their work was thorough; creative; beautiful and spoke truth...all I needed to know to see that they were open to the Holy Spirit's work within them. I have great excitement for their church and cannot wait to see the fruit that will be borne individually and as a group working together in ministry.

I got home and proceeded to set off the alarm next door because I thought I was supposed to take in their mail and papers since they were gone for the weekend. You can imagine my wonderful peace from the retreat being shattered by a woman's voice echoing throughout the house that there was an intruder "at the front door," then in the hallway. She had far-seeing eyes, because she followed me from room to room and back out the door as I ran next door to scream to Randy, "Call _____! I've set off their alarm and they're going to call the police!" I returned to hear a small voice asking for a dispatch to the house. I picked up the phone and started yelling over the Alarm Lady's VOICE, "Stop...don't call the police! I'm a neighbor who made a mistake!" I got her attention and finally composed myself and told her the whole story. I have learned that it is best to let them see your wacky personality, because they are a lot more open to chalking it up to stupidity, rather than your calm rationalization, because that can sometimes be a sign of calculated craziness.

She very sensitively told me that they had to call the police unless I could come up with the code, which I could not. So I screamed for Randy to keep looking for that number. He finally came over with my cell phone, punched their number, and there's our house number showing up as an incoming call. So, in desperation, I did what any humbled person would do in this situation, I asked the sweet lady if she would call the homeowners so the police wouldn't come. I had nothing to lose and it was worth a try. She was seeing the real me under stress and she could obviously relate... AND...she did! I tell you...never under estimate the power of humiliation and human empathy. They sometimes go hand in hand and produce great things.

I fed the cat and fish while I was waiting for the result I wanted, just to prove to myself that I had nothing to worry about except for the possibility of re-enacting it all for the police when and if they arrived. I was just hoping they would be as sensitive as the lady on the other end of the phone, and that I was not going to be led away in hand-cuffs for all the neighbors to see. I really wasn't up to explaining anything, especially to my Bible study ladies. Over all this contemplation, the lady's ALARM voice followed me everywhere screaming to the world that I had just entered another room and was moving into the next area. The lady on the phone finally said with such empathy, "I've talked to the owner and the police weren't called," much to my relief.

When it was all said and done, I heard from my neighbor and she so sweetly apologized for nothing she did, as I profusely apologized for what I did do. I reset the alarm as she told me what to do and then I walked calmly back home and stated, "I'm home!" On a more serious note, you might want to check out this specific alarm company. They are advertised on TV all the time and it works just like they say it does. What self-respecting thief is going to stick around while THE VOICE from above is screaming where you are at any given time? I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed and calm day. I know I am.

It's Catch Up Time!

I should have been an ornithologist. I had no idea birds could be so interesting. You are not going to believe this, but we had another nest of mourning doves just fly the coup yesterday! We thought it was unusual for birds to mate twice in a year, but three different times! (Not sure if it's the same mom or not...I hope not. That's a lot of work taking care of those babies for so long.)

Here are just a few patterns I've observed since it is right outside our front window and we keep the shutters open just where we can see them and they can't see us.

1. Mom and Dad scout for the nest together.

2. Mom flies back and forth until the big day.

3. Dad hangs around for a little while after the big day, then disappears.

4. Mom just sits there until they are hatched, then she sits on top of them some more. (It is so cute to see their little heads sticking our from under her thick down.)

5. They stay in their nest for about 3 weeks, then one day dad will show up again and he and mom will go sit on the roof for awhile and watch them. (There is always one that will venture as close to the edge of the hanging basket as it can get without falling...it's obviously a boy, and the "sister" just sits demurely in the middle.)

6. Usually mom and dad are making cooing sounds from down below telling them what to do, but we didn't hear a peep this time.

7. This group was a little more unusual than the last inhabitants. I saw mom and dad down below on the porch, and walked away for a few minutes. I went back and there was only one baby in the nest...all day! I saw dad up on the roof next door, but rather than watching the baby, he was looking the other way -- worriedly, I might add. I wondered if the boy went a little wayward and flew too early, or if mom was just giving him private flying lessons. We'll never know, but mom and both babies were tucked safely back in the nest by the end of the day, only to have disappeared by the next morning. Mom and dad will come by a time or two...kind of nostalgically to me, and then I will just have to guess if the next group will be one of them or not.

6. I clean up all the dead flowers from the basket, and the mess from below and we start all over again.

On another note, Red, Hot & Blue is open for business, we just haven't had our Grand Opening yet. We're still in the "practicing" stage, but Randy and John are meeting so many wonderful people who are telling others, so it is just snowballing for lunch. Dinner is still slow, but hopefully it will catch on as time and tasting goes on.

I have had the most productive week. (I wish my writing time could be this productive.) I have spent the week preparing for a women's retreat I am facilitating for a local Lutheran church. I am speaking on "Discovering Your Giftedness," and will help these ladies identify where they can best serve in the church. We also discuss personality types and how they help us to better understand ourselves and each other. I am quite excited. I don't think I've ever planned anything so exact in my life. It's quite refreshing to have had the time to do it RIGHT for a change. Next week my friend Susan and I paint pigs on the back fence at RH&B, then I have until the holidays to write, with a little trip to FL thrown in. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you're local and reading this, head on over to Red Hot & Blue for a taste of the dry rub ribs...they are not your typical NC barbecue, but they are deliciously different. (They're located over on Deacon Blvd. off of University Blvd.) Everyone raves about the potato salad, so give it a try too. Enjoy!

Labor Day is over...

It was bittersweet going to the pool for the last time this weekend. I made myself get into the frigid water one last time so I could be reminded why the pool was closing. (OK, maybe it wasn't frigid, but it was very cold for a Florida girl who waited until after the 4th of July to get into the pool back in the pre-NC days.) There's something sad about a beautiful pool sitting there unoccupied for 9 months once the doors are locked for the season. During the summer I knew I could go when I wanted...now I have no choice. I wish they would freeze it in the winter so we could all go ice skating, but even our ponds have not frozen here since we have relocated. The one near the pool froze near the shore this past winter, and I pictured myself ice-skating around the edge of the pond, but I stepped onto it with one foot and it dipped, so my next thought was of my dying of hypothermia because no one thought to look for me there in my time of need. I would hope the ice skates still tied to my feet would paint the picture needed to explain how I had met my demise and everyone would say, "She went doing something she wanted to do."

On the otherhand, it is quite enjoyable to watch the geese fly in and go skittering across the top of the ice on their bottoms. Speaking of the geese, we have another loner out in the yard. It must have been very serious, because there is not another goose on the pond. (Remember, they are very respectful of each other during their mourning times.) I even broke my rule and fed this one bread. Randy loves to feed the fish in the evening, so we go out and they all just swim up as close as they can get. The goose came right up to us, so how could we not feed it? I don't cry anymore when I see them. I hope I have not become calloused.

I'm off to write. I have to stay home all day as I await mattresses being delivered. It was a sad mistake for the McCann family that all this bed bug hysteria came out all over the news while Leah was visiting last week. Needless to say, she was UP on all her mattress trivia since she had worked at a hotel at one point in her career, and proceeded to check all the dates on the two oldest mattresses. She reminded us that after a specific period of time, the mattress doubles in size due to human sweat and dust mites. She painted a pretty gruesome picture and it worked. We both began to itch and scratch. Lucky for us, anyplace that sells mattresses has a Labor Day Mattress sale. I guess they think that if we are celebrating working, we may as well make sure we get a good night's sleep so we can get up day after day and head out to labor some more.

We hit every mattress establishment we could find. They all had their spiels ready and we listened to them all. Of course, I tried each one, but Leah wouldn't do anything but sit on the side, which they told us served no purpose. One has to lie down to get the full effect. She finally did try one out prostrate on the bed, and that was because it had the most potential, and that's all it took. We got home, delayed getting into the shower so as not to foster our paranoia, and I finally decided I couldn't go to bed wondering if I had picked up lice or worse. I would never forgive myself if we had to get rid of our Sterns and Foster just because I didn't take a shower. The final straw was seeing the men in their bed bug preventative suits spraying heat of 130 degrees and higher on the mattresses and carpets to kill the bed bugs on TV. I came out with wet hair and that's all Leah needed to be affirmed that it's better to be safe than sorry.

Yes, I did say mattresses. She checked the date on the guest room bed, and sadly it was over the required time to keep a mattress. Oh, well, they were on sale, AND it will be a long time (we hope) before we have to do mattress shopping again, which I acquaint to buying a car. You never know how good the product is until you get it home...and then it's too late to do anything about it if you don't like it. (The mattress people will take them back after a few days, but it's just too much trouble in our opinion.) So, for those of you have been here or are coming, you've got something to look forward to...a better night's sleep. In the meantime, keep laboring so that you will be worn out by bedtime and can wake up the next day to do it all again with a good attitude.