Beautiful Bride: Katie "007" Bond from Thomas Nelson

Welcome my friend an publicist at Thomas Nelson, Katie Bond. She's sharing her love story with us today! 

Bryce and I may not have experienced love at first sight, but I’d call it something pretty darn close.  

We are your online meeting success story: two busy twenty-somethings who’d both dated sitcom-worthy casts of characters and had no more excuses.  

Why not trust relationship compatibility to a computer system claiming to have it all figured out?  We surely hadn’t had any better luck trusting our own judgment.

He recalls that I batted my eyes incessantly for two straight hours on that first date, September 2007.

I recall that he pretended to appreciate the latte I ordered him, though he’d never had a sip of coffee before and thought it particularly foul then. 

We are as alike as siblings at times, finishing each other’s goofy sentences, and as different as could be—the easy-going fourth generation cattle rancher from Colorado and the buttoned-down, bookish Georgia city chick who thinks cowboy boots are a fashion statement.

 

Just a month after our meeting, I moved from Colorado Springs to Nashville to accept a new job and our relationship became long-distance. 

February 14, 2008 was my first Valentine's Day with Bryce. It's never been my favorite holiday, and I've always downplayed it. Knowing that I'd be away from my sweetheart for the evening though, Lisa, one of my girlfriends from Thomas Nelson, asked me back in January if I'd be her date for a songwriters night. 

I was delighted and we made plans to dress up and make an evening of it, just us girls. I went home on time that night to fluff my taffeta skirt and freshen my makeup. My doorbell rang just before 7:30, and when I opened the door, Lisa—wearing jeans—snapped a picture of me.

"She's surprised," Bryce said. "And speechless, too. That's definitely a first."

Bryce, who was supposed to be 1200 miles away in Colorado Springs, sat there on my front porch, wearing a gaudy heart-shaped tinsel wreath on the front of his shirt. Surprised doesn't begin to describe it. "Hi," he said, as though he'd just come around the corner from Kroger, not from Denver.

Turns out they'd been working together on this Valentine's surprise for weeks.   Lisa snapped a few more pictures and left.

 Before we left for our dinner, Bryce asked if I wanted to open my gift. The card on the outside read: "I'm so proud of you and you deserve the bling that goes with the position!"

I knew immediately what it was. I'd mentioned months before, when I took the new position at Thomas Nelson, that I'd always wanted a pretty silver business card case to carry. 

Sure enough, inside the tissue paper was just such a case, engraved with my monogram. I thanked him for the beautiful gift and he passed me a handwritten letter. The end read:

 "This case is only going to be good for a short time now. Never again will you use the initials your wonderful parents gave you... Open your case, girl! It's driving me crazy!"

When I flipped open the top, inside rested an exquisite vintage diamond ring—the exact one I'd fallen for online. 

I gasped and held it in my fist, and looked up at him. In his sweet, even-tempered way, he whispered, "Will you marry me?"  

We held hands and he prayed for our marriage and for each of us as we entered this covenant. Such a precious time! 

We called our parents, but got off the phone quickly to try to make our dinner reservations. As Bryce watched me pacing and fluttering about my house though, it was clear I was in no shape to make the trip or sit through a nice meal. 

I threw on some jeans and we drove around the corner to Sonic. Our wedding album contains the receipt for our first meal as an engaged couple, $8.71: a grilled chicken wrap and Diet Coke for me and a cheeseburger for him (hold all the veggies, add ketchup).

Our wedding day was a dream. I’d always wanted an autumn morning wedding, loving the symbolism of starting a crisp new day and new life together. 

For the venue, we chose a restored Tennessee walking horse farm about an hour south of the city.  It had the Southern charm I loved and a nod to the family ranch Bryce left behind in Colorado. 

My parents surprised me by renting a vintage pickup truck from a local collector to use for our photos.  My charming inlaws wore their Stetsons and ostrich boots—swoon!

After a ceremony in front of the fireplace and our brunch reception in the barn—complete with a grits and biscuit bar—Bryce presented me with my wedding gift: a silver monogrammed business card case, identical to the one he’d used to propose, but with my brand new monogram.

RH: I've heard parts of this story before but I LOVED reading it here! Thanks for sharing with us, Mrs. Bond! 

Beautiful Brides: Author Beth K. Vogt

My good friend and debut novelist Beth K. Vogt married her hunky military husband after she promised she'd never marry a military man, or have children!


We can talk later about her four kids, especially the late-in-life birth of her youngest when Beth was 41!


Beth write's of meeting her husband: 

I met my husband, Rob, several weeks after I'd broken off an engagement. (Believe me, I had good reason to do so.) The last thing I wanted was to get involved with someone else.

At the time, I was a brown belt in karate and I was preparing for an exam to advance to the next level. I also worked at the karate studio, manning the office.

I arrived at work one day and found a ve-ery cute guy exiting the office. I didn't recognize him, so I asked if I could help him with anything. He said, "No, thanks" and left.

He came back awhile later and watched from the side of the room while I worked out with another instructor. When I went to the office to do something, the instructor set me up. He asked the guy (my future husband, Rob) to sneak attack me when I started working out again.

Soooo ... when I came back out from the office, I faced off with my instructor. (Rob was across the studio, off to my side.) The next thing I knew, this guy took a running flying leap and tackled me.

Yeah, we like to tell people he swept me off my feet.

I'll cut to the chase: We were married less than a year later -- and including my husband, there were four Black Belts in our wedding party and one very in love Brown Belt.

Beautiful Brides: Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

Meet another Belle over on Southernbelleview, Shelling Rushing Tomlinson, humorous non-fiction author and radio host over at All Things Southern. She's sincere, truth and a lover of Jesus!

Shellie writes: One of my favorites memories of our wedding ceremony came as my dad was walking me down the aisle to meet the love of my life.

After all the preparation, all the money, all the time, all the planning and with a church full of folks there to celebrate our union and Phil waiting at the altar, my dad turned to me and whispered, "You can still back out, you know."

 Granted, when I told Phil about that moment later, during our honeymoon, I had to do some fast talking before he could see it with quite the same affection.

I assured him that my dad hadn't changed his mind, that he still thought Phil was a wonderful young man and the "right" one for me. It was more about letting me know that life wasn't on auto-pilot and I still had the power of choice.

Phil understood then, but as time wore on, he and I both came to get the love behind that moment even more. The tenderness of it makes my heart well up even as I type these words tonight.

 What a gift to give your child, or anyone else for that matter. To know that yesterday's decisions do not always have to be today's.

Or as I twittered sometime this afternoon when this post was simmering in my heart, "This isn't just another day. It's your current opportunity."

Beautiful Brides: Beth Webb Hart

I love Beth Webb. I met her when we started blogging at Southernbelleview together. 

She is the classic and timeless southern woman. I love reading her books and blog posts. She's so rich in tradition, history and literature. 

Her wedding veil is no exception.

Beth Webb writes: 

According to Mama she was meandering along the winding corridors of Venice when she stumbled into a lace shop that sold old world veils at a terrific price.

She and one of her best friends both purchased a veil. It was stored in a box at the very top of my mother’s closet for much of my childhood.

I often longed to pull it down and open it up and see the beautiful, delicate lace pattern that I dreamed I would someday wear. And I often gazed at her wedding portrait in the living room of my childhood home – on rainy days when I was in a day-dreamy mood- and imagined what it must feel like to be a grown up, to be engaged to a handsome and devoted chap, to be just about to step into your future.

Well, the day came when I was twenty-six, and I did wear the veil (pictured here - look at my husband's fist- he's nervous!) I felt like a princess. My two younger sisters both wore the veil and it’s stored again in a safe place in the top of a closet in hopes that my daughter, the only girl out of six grandchildren, will also wear it someday.

(RH: Love this story, BW!)

Beautiful Brides: Lisa Wingate

Besides being a fab author, Lisa Wingate is one of my fellow Belles over on SouthernBelleView. Love blogging and associating with this woman.


About her wedding dress, Lisa writes:


One of the neatest things about our wedding was that my dress was remade from my mother's dress.  She is an incredible seamstress, and may hours of tender loving care went into creating that dress.


(RH: That's Lisa on the right in her mother's altered dress.)

Another special event at our wedding day didn't happen during the wedding, but during the reception afterwards.

Being in Texas, where old-fashioned street dances still take place, and family-friendly dance halls still exist in many small towns, we knew we wanted not just a punch and cake reception; we wanted a dance.

We were in college at the time, and so were all our friends, so we imagined that the young crowd would have a great time while the old folks lounged around in chairs and told stories from "back in the day."

We never imagined that the couple who would light up the dance floor all night long would be my grandparents, Vi and Norman Mannion.

I'd always known that my grandparents met at a dance, where my grandfather was playing in the band. During a break, he took my grandmother for a turn on the floor and fell in love at first sight (or first dance).

(RH: Lisa's mom Sharon in the original dress. I love the wide skirt!)

He went home that night and told his mother he'd found the girl he was going to marry... and he did! Fifty years later they were cutting a rug at our wedding while the young folks stood around the edges of the dance floor, clapping and looking on in awe. 

Gram and Gramps knew all the old dances, and when they danced, their bodies may have been older and slower, but they were still perfectly in step, still a young couple at heart, just as in love as that boy and girl who danced that first dance so many years ago.

(RH: Lisa, I love that story!!)

Beautiful Brides: Cara Putman

Cara Putman is a romantic suspense author, a lawyer and one of the most energetic women I know! She's great fun.


Of her wedding, Cara writes:


We’ve all heard about the groom being late to the wedding. In an effort to avoid that with mine, my mom told my groom to arrive at the church at a certain time for pictures.


The morning of my wedding, I was having a great time with my bridesmaids getting ready. I glanced at a clock and realized that if I didn’t rush, I was going to be late for photos. 


My friend Joy maneuvered my hair into position as I swiped on make-up.


After slipping into the dress, I hurry to the church...only to find Eric pacing.


Unbeknownst to me, he decided to arrive even earlier than he’d been told. By the time I arrived, he’d paced the sanctuary for thirty minutes...wondering if I’d changed my mind.


Sixteen years later, I’m glad he waited!


(RH: Me, too!)

Beautiful Brides: Susan Meissner

Susan Meissner is a talented, award winning author and a good friend. Love hanging with Sooz whenever I can.


She writes:


I married my best friend one month shy of my twentieth birthday, which seems incredibly young to me now, but the thing is, Bob’s still the guy I would chose to spend my life with.


My dress was frothing with Chantilly lace and a sizeable train and hefty bow at the back.


The long sleeves were studded with pearls at the cuffs and the skirt swished like waves on the ocean when I walked.


It was a lot of dress, even for a December wedding. But I loved that dress and I loved my simple mantilla veil.


My mom shopped with me the day we found it and it was one of those times when the dress seemed like it could belong to anyone on the hanger, but only me when I put it on. (RH: I love that!)


Bob and I have been married going on 32 years and couldn’t be happier . . .

Beautiful Brides: Denise Hunter

Denise Hunter is a friend, a popular romance author and a girl drummer!!


She writes of her wedding:


You can tell it was the 80s by the peach color scheme and big hair. 


But that’s love shining in our eyes, and true love never goes out of style. :) 


I was on a tight budget, so I bought my gown for $120.00 at a bridal outlet and sewed on the lace, pearls, and sequins myself. 

Beautiful Brides: Mary Connealy

Many of you love Mary Connealy's sweet, funny, historicals! Here's how charming her own romance turned out!

Mary writes:

Ivan and I met in eighth grade at a country school track meet.

We both attended one-room country schools (different ones) through eighth grade, then went to high school together.

We were friends in high school and ran around in a group, then we finally started dating near the end of our junior year.

We dated for four years while I rushed through college, a few ups and downs in those years but we managed to get through it because I believed he was truly the man God had chosen for me to marry...and still do.

We were engaged two months and still managed to have a full, formal wedding. He proposed on Thanksgiving weekend and we were married at the end of January.

(RH: Wow! That's awesome!)

My sister made the wedding dress for her wedding in August on one of the hottest days in the history of the planet, then I wore it in January on a day so bitter cold our honeymoon goal was to drive south until we got warm. We gave up in Texas and just turned around and came home.

(RH: LOL)

Another sister wore the same wedding dress two years later. I made that veil, which is just a circle of cloth that I hand stitched lace onto.

(RH: What a special thing to share with your sisters!)

We went shopping together for my engagement and wedding ring, so there was no SURPRISE proposal. I did tell him I wanted to be 'proposed to' though. So, sitting in his car in my parents' driveway, he asked me to marry him.

I said yes.

Then I asked him if he wanted to ask my father for my hand. (my older sister's boyfriend had done that)

And Ivan said, "Nah, Jack'll let me marry you."

Which, let's face it, was absolutely true.

(RH: What a great story!)

Beautiful Brides: Tamera Alexander

Tamera Alexander is one of the sweetest women I know. But she also possesses a sharp, funny wit. Here's some great pictures from her wedding day. Isn't she gorgeous?

Tammy writes:

Hey friends, 

Let me start off by saying: Arranged marriages still work!

I met my sweet mother-in-law, Claudette Harris Alexander, before I ever met my husband, Joe. 


Here's where that went... 

Claudette was my girl's club sponsor at Harding University, and over my four years there, she was a real encouragement to me. So when it came time to graduate, I asked Claudette and her husband if they'd like to get together for breakfast and meet my parents.


The five of us got together and oh, what a time my mom, June, and Claudette had! To say they "hit it off" is an understatement. As we were finishing breakfast, mom leaned over, patted Claudette's arm and said, "I wish you had a son!" Claudette perked up immediately and said, "I do! I do have a son!" And that was it... 

Claudette called Joe, who was living in Fort Worth at the time, and left my name and number on his machine. Well, Joe says that he "remembered having seen me in church a couple of years earlier." (Bless that man's heart!) And that he'd asked his sister (who I sang in choir with) about me. But I was dating someone else at the time, and Joe and I never ended up meeting… Until God's timing was right! 

I'm so grateful our mothers––who are both with the Lord now, together, waiting for us on the other side––and for the hand they had in helping their son and daughter "find" each other. 

Speed ahead about a year... 

The wedding went off without a hitch. Everything as planned. 


Then as Joe and I were leaving, we were getting into the car when we heard a "rustle" in the back seat. 


Out popped Laura Hall, a dear woman who had been like a surrogate grandmother to me for years. She'd been hiding back there for who knows how long, determined to go on the honeymoon with us. LOL! 

(RH: Now that's funny!)


Laura went Home years ago, but I think of her so often, and remember how we used to go to a little Greek restaurant called Athens (in Atlanta) before heading to the Silver Screen to watch old movies. 


I look forward to seeing her again…someday. Laura, a widow herself for many years, really mentored me for marriage, even before I met my husband. 

Just goes to show how God is always working… Gotta love it!

Beautiful Brides: Robin Lee Hatcher

Continuing the tour of beautiful brides... Here's Robin Lee Hatcher in '89! Doesn't she look great?

Robin writes:

First a note about my wedding dress. It was purchased for and worn first by my 5' 10" eldest daughter.

Two years later, I wore it (as I am under 5' 6" it had to be shortened plus I used a belled slip). The year after me, my youngest daughter wore it; she's 5' 8" and very thin, so the dress had to be taken in and she didn't wear a slip so that the length would work.

One is of us cutting the cake. It is pretty standard fair.

The second is my favorite photo from the wedding. Here's the story about that one: Jerry was a complete basket case before the wedding. He was so nervous during the ceremony.

But the instant the minister declared us man and wife, he relaxed and started having fun. We had finished taking all of the photographs in the sanctuary and I was headed outside to toss the bouquet.

I passed my beautiful big bouquet to Jerry and picked up the "throw away" bouquet to take outside.

The photographer and videographer were about to follow me. Then people started to laugh and the photographer went back. I turned around and there was Jerry, lying on the dais with my wedding bouquet looking like one for a funeral.

So I did a Perils of Pauline, woe-is-me pose and they shot some photos of us. Behind that hand, I was laughing like crazy.

(RH: That is hilarious! I love this picture!)

Last but not least, this photo was when the ladies from my romance writers chapter asked for a romantic pose, so Jerry gave them one.


(RH: Robin, I love your and Jerry's humor! I can see why you to love each other!) 

Beautiful Brides: Deborah Raney

Being as I wrote a book about four brides and a wedding dress, I asked some author friends to share their wedding pictures and stories with me. Now I'm sharing them with you!

First up, the beautiful Deborah Raney!

"When I met Ken Raney and it was almost love at first sight. We dated all summer, but in the fall, we went off to different colleges 60 miles apart (Ken is 2 years older than I am and was starting his junior year).

But we'd already fallen hard for each other and had even started using the "M" word. In October Ken planned to come visit me at my college and wrote to tell me he was bringing me something exciting.

He gave me clues: round, shiny, hole in the middle, and it would always make me think of him.

Well, woohoo, I polished my fingernails and prepared to receive my engagement ring! WRONG.

You know what that man brought me? A Monkee's record album. (Hey, hey, we're the Monkees!) He thought this was SOOOO funny.

(RH: LOL!!)

Well, it was round, shiny, had a hole in the middle and had a stupid song on it that was supposed to make me think of him. I was NOT amused.

But we DID get engaged that Thanksgiving and I got my diamond for Christmas. We married the following August, 1974. Almost 38 years now!

On the right is a picture of Deb's parents. :)

Things We Don't See Anymore

Something happened... I don't remember what, but it occurred to me, "Man, you don't see that anymore."

I came up with a quick list of things I used to see but rarely if ever do now.

Sweat stains

Girdle lines

Dandruff (at least I don't)

Overheating cars on the side of the road.

Teased hair

Beehive hairdo

Frosted hair

Wrinkled cotton clothes

Bare light bulbs dangling from a wire

Secretaries

Five & Dime Stores

Kids collecting glass soda bottles for money

I asked a few writer friends for their thoughts on things they don't see anymore.

Lenora Worth said, "How about the mullet?" To which Kristin Billerbeck responded, "How about the bullet? With the bald part in the back."

Lissa Halls Johnson said she never sees:

Waxed paper bags for sandwichesMailing things wrapped in brown grocery bags and tied with string
TV remotes that "click" (and take some effort to push the buttons)
The bakery guy who comes to your house, opens the back of his specialized wagon and pulls out a drawers filled with yummy breads.
A cardboard cap for the glass milk jar.
A machine that slices the bread for you when you buy it at the corner grocery
Over the counter medicinal products without any kind of extra wrapping and seals (You could buy a bottle of aspirin, pop off the top and there were aspirin! Sometimes a cotton ball, but never anything else."
Kids playing outside after dark in a neighborhood. Young kids playing outside by themselves
Kids riding in cars without seatbelts
Anyone riding in cars without seatbelts
Kids riding in the back of open pickup trucks
Kids sleeping in that hollow space of the back window in the car

Author and friend Carolyne Aarsen sent a great list!
Rolls of film by the checkout counter in a grocery store or drugstore.
Mascara that came in little blocks with a brush. You'd have to make the block wet with the brush and then put it on.
Pay phones.
Sanitary napkin belts.
Cassette tapes
Floppy disks
People smoking in restaurants
Paying for groceries with a cheque. (She's from Canada, but we love her!)
Milk being delivered by a milk truck

Historical author who wanted to be anonymous wrote:
Crooked teeth
Public telephones
Women pulling up their sagging panty hose
Service Station attendants pumping gas and washing car windows

Friend and author Debora Raney offered these great ideas:
Garters
Pantyhose
Black-and-white TVs
Typewriters
Outhouses
Smallpox vaccination scars on children's arms.
Women in public with spongy pink curlers in their hair.
Telephone party lines
Phone cords (at least not very many)
Butter churns (except in museums)

What about you? What items do you think are of "days gone by?"

Thanksgiving memory

The fall of '76, we lived in Homestead, Florida. My parents had a large home group and we all gathered for Thanksgiving, outside, in the side yard of our house. There had to be thirty of us with kids and all.

I remember it was a breezy day with thick blue clouds hovering over us. And it was the day our family friend, Bill Hamilton, who's son Joe I crushed on for awhile, decided to teach me to drive stick shift in an old Chevy truck.

In those days, most stores were closed for the holiday but Bill was sent off to find cans of cranberry or something. I'd love to reminisce this story with him, but he's with Jesus now.

He invited me along. It's great to remember I had older male roll models besides my dad who cared for me in a fatherly way. We drove around a very quiet Homestead, streets deserted, looking for an open store. I think we finally found a Jiffy or 7-11 type.

On the way home, he said, "Want to drive?"

I didn't have my license, but I think Bill figured the population was tucked away with their own Thanksgiving celebrations and safe from any possible terror I might inflict.

I'd never driven before, let alone an old truck with a stick shift - three on the tree mind you, not four on the floor. We sat at one stop light for twenty minutes until I figured out the difference between reverse and second gear.

We finally ambled on home and I was all the wiser for having taking my first driving lesson on Thanksgiving day.

I have many wonderful Thanksgiving memories. This one happens to stand out to me.

Hubby and I spent most of the '90s celebrating with his family, and seems this past decade is a mix of his side and my side, and a few at home with friends.

I'm thankful for Jesus. The One who was, who Is and is to Come.

What are you thankful for this season?

A man named Brett Bush

I was eighteen, out of high school having graduated six months early, and doing nothing much but working and hanging out. Riding horse.

(That confession rendered another hilarious Hubby-Rachel moment. A few weeks ago I said, "Yeah, I graduated, hung out, worked a lot, rode horses." "You rode horses." He arched one brow because he has that talent. "Yeah, couple of days a week." "Really? Cause I've ridden horses with you and--" "Oh stop." But I laughed!)

During those months, I worked at Publix and hung around with some fun north Florida rednecks. I met a guy named Brett Bush. He drove one of those itty-bitty Chevy Love trucks. Remember those? He'd been out of town for awhile, doing who-knows-what and where, but came home to find his girlfriend had moved on.

So, in effort to do the same, he asked me out. Okay. Not my type, but he was fun. He wanted to take me to his grandparents farm in Quincy or some place, so we're tooling along in his truck and he rants about his last encounter with his ex.

"So, I walk in and she say's nothing. Not so much as a by-your-leave or kiss my a$$."

His expression, inflection, hillbilly accent, phrasing had me laughing all the way to the farm. Then he decided to four-wheel it through a pond (no, Chevy Love trucks were not four wheel) and we sank, but that's another story.

Here's the thing about Brett Bush. Nearly 30 years after this afternoon together, and it was only an afternoon sans romantic feelings, his expressions show up in my writing.

I write, "without so much as" in each book. When I do, I think of Brett Bush.

A moment in my life, forever impressed on my soul.

How many people do we have like this touching us? Why do I remember a man's name I spent less than a few months socializing with, but can't remember a chum from college?

It's those impressions. Who have you and I impressed unaware? Is someone quoting me right now. Or reminiscing about Ohio State with, "Then Rachel Hayes said..."

We're paint brushes on the hearts and minds of everyone we come in contact with. Are we painting beauty or pain?

I want to be a Brett Bush to others. Lingering with them long after I've pass through their lives, leaving behind the fragrance of Jesus and the hope of His calling. If I reach some moderate success, I've honored Him who my soul loves.

08.08.08

On 7.7.'77, I was sixteen, working at Publix in Cutler Ridge, FL.

One of the bag boys, Ronny Paul, said today is 7.7.'77 and noted how many years it would be before we had 8.8.'88, and 9.9.'99 and now it's 8.8.08.

What's in a number anyway?

Here's what I wrote in my diary on July 7, '77.

"Today is 7,7,'77 - cute uh? When I woke up I kind of felt the twangs of leaving but soon under control. Spent the day packing and etc. LR's car broke down at the house and Steve Emmens and friend came to tow it away. Work was OK. Blocked down most of the night. Not much else. Love, Rachel -n- Pete."

We were moving in a few weeks to Tallahassee from Homestead. It was a sad yet good thing in my life, the family's life. LR is my friend Lorena Rastrick Sikking. Pete was my boyfriend at the time.

Today my life is very different. I'm not sixteen, I'm not living with my parents or facing a major move. I don't have two years of high school left, nor the years ahead of college and training that comes with growing up and becoming an adult.

But I knew God had a plan for me. If anything in my life has ever been blessed, on the right track or redeemed, it's because God had a plan for me.

My life is charmed in many ways. We're not rich, nor famous (though I did meet a reader last night and she actually was awe-struck for about ten seconds. Even Tony and her granddaughter noticed.)

We have missed out on the blessing of children, but are so cocooned in the heart and will of God I literally have no complaints. I am as Paul admonishes, "content." Well, minus the political landscape of my country, and the cultural war, but that's for another time.

I'm writing on a really fabulous project with a co-author and it's going so great, so far. We had a call yesterday with Thomas Nelson and when I hung up, I just thought, "Thank you, Lord. You are too good to me. This is truly unmerited favor."

Tonight we have a wedding, two former youth marrying. It'll be fun and I'm really happy for them.

Well, off to work some before wedding festivities.

I crack myself up...

For reason I'll keep to myself, I'm reading my old diaries. I gotta tell you, if you're a teenager or have a teenager, please, keep a diary or tell them to keep a diary.

I love pulling out my diaries and reading them. I laugh out loud every other page. I kept them for seventeen years and after I got married, moved more to prayer and spiritual journaling. Although, my tossed up diary prayers like, "Oh, God, please let him ask me out," could be considered spiritual. A-hem.

This from April 13, '77.

"Oh, guess what? Partner (a nickname for a co-worker) told me Mr. Fisher (Publix manager, name changed to protect the innocent) is being transfered, even demoted! I 'bout died. There goes the ole ball game."

ROFLOL. What sixteen year old writes, "there goes the ole ball game." In 1977. Too, too funny. Okay, maybe you had to be there. Maybe you have to be me, but I think it's funny.

Memorial Day

I was probably six or seven years old when I became aware of the Vietnam war. We lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma and my dad attended ORU and worked part-time as a youth pastor.

The teens then - oh, they seemed so old and mature to me - wore aluminum wrist bands with the name of their friends or family fighting a million miles away in unknown jungles. Perhaps they wore the name of a soldier they'd never met.

We moved a year or so later to a small town outside of Tulsa, Haskell. There, one of the young women in our church lost her fiance in Nam.

I'm sad to say I don't remember much about it, but since then, war has always impacted me. Not like some. I'm proud of our men and women who've given their lives for my safety and freedom.

"They stand on the wall..."

A semi-history buff, I stayed awake nights as a young teen reading no-holds-barred WW 2 books. I can remember slamming one of the thick, academic books closed as I read of the Nazi concentration camps, and the experimental labs, the testing they did on live humans.

I felt sick. I felt fear. And since then, I've loved our military and those who fought so men like Adolph Hitler don't succeed.

The world is still full of tyrants, of evil, and it's naive to believe "good dialog" will simply do the trick.

We need our men and women in uniform. I'm proud of America's strength because it is the thing that keeps us free.

That and the grace of God.

Many years ago while working near DC, I visited the Vietnam Memorial War. Standing before those list of names, I wept. But I am oh so grateful.

Ever have one of those days?

The kind where nothing is pressing? No worries. No deadline pressure. The house doesnt' need much tending, the kids are away. The laundry in the dryer can wait.

The sun is shining bright and warm. The dog is bathed and clean, and there are still three hours left in the afternoon.

In the distance is the sound of a mower, and if you close your eyes and breathe deep, you can smell the cuttings. Then conjure up a pleasant memory of your dad laboring behind the old red push mower, sweat dripping from his nose.

A day when there's not enough extra money to buy a new book or get a pedicure, but enough to buy a soda down at McDonalds. And that's all you need to feel like a million bucks.

A day when a simple drive along the beach, or country road would log it as one of the best days ever.

Ever have one of those days?

I am.