Words from the Heart

  Photo Credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Curveball_topspin.svg Sometimes, Life throws you one of those curve balls that comes out of no where, or at least appears to come out of no where.  We have a few choices.  We can run like heck to catch the ball.  Curl up and hope it doesn't hit us.  Or, we can simply stand still and wait, hoping someone else will catch it. Recently, a curve ball was sent spiraling into my family.  Since I can neither curl up, nor stand still, I am running like crazy.  I hope and pray that this ball will be caught and all will be well.  I know this all seems cryptic, and it is.  Let me tell you a story... My brother, Barry and I are what my mother called "Irish Twins." I was born in September and he was born in November the next year.  When we were growing up people thought we were twins.  I never minded.  I love Barry.     Barry and I on the first day ...

One of my blogging buddies, Melissa Ann Goodwin, author of The Christmas Village , wrote about packing up her Mom's China teacups.  I immediately resonated with her post.  (Click on her name to go visit her blog.) I, too, had a Mom who had teacups and felt they were special. My Mom died two years ago, but I still long for her.  Often, when I see the teacups, I remember times we shared together, with family and later with my girls. When I bought my home, several years ago, Roger surprised me with a built in display for my teacups.  Many of them are Momma's, a few are my grandmother's, the rest have been given to me over the years by people who knew I loved teacups. One of my fondest memories is getting tea when I was sick.  Momma would serve it in one of her precious China teacups with the saucer.  We didn't have much growing up and as a child I was quite ill with various childhood diseases.  Perhaps, it was because of this, or because I wa...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. With two sisters, four daughters, one step-daughter and two granddaughters (a third due in January), not to mention my Mom and Mother-in-Love, I am surrounded by wonderful women without leaving home! Needless to say, the topic of mammaries comes up often. All kidding aside, I have always talked frankly with my girls about caring for their bodies. This included self breast exams and, once they got to the age, yearly mammograms. We have all been blessed. Too many of our loved ones and acquaintances have not been as lucky. Sunday at church we were asked to pray for a young mother of four who just found out she has aggressive breast cancer. It breaks my heart every time I hear about another woman struggling to survive this disease. Martha Weinman Lear wrote in Heartsounds , "Women agonize...over cancer; we take as a personal threat the lump in every friend's breast." http://www.amazon.com/Heartsounds-Martha-weinman-lear/dp/067...