~words for a friend~

I have always loved the writings of Max Lucado, an author and pastor from San Antonio, Texas.  Over the years I have collected many of his books, reading them more than once in fact some of them three or four times.  My latest Lucado acquisition was called "Traveling Light~The Journal", a 30-day devotional study with a spot after each section to write down my own thoughts about life and some of the trials we all have to go through during our time here on planet Earth.  My month's long time of reading it is almost done and with that, I will find myself wrapping it up in brown paper bag material and sending it on to a very special friend of mine back home in Kansas.  It's time to continue on in my journey of completion of 60 things to do before I turn 60 next year and do what item #5 says~

"Buy a good book, read it and then pass it on to another person each month."

     Have you ever wondered why it was that certain people cross in and out of your life on a daily basis?  How it comes to be that you meet someone in a particular place and time as you either become their casual acquaintance or perhaps even a lifelong friend of theirs?  Back in my home state of Kansas there are many people just like that for me.  Even though I left them behind when I moved across the big mountain and came down into the valley on the other side of the Great Continental Divide, I still remember them so very well and over 611 miles of distance cannot erase them from my heart and memory.  It's one of the reasons that I am so thankful for Facebook these days as I check in on them every evening to see if all is well back in their part of this great big, yet ever shrinking universe.  
     October has been "Breast Cancer Awareness" month and you cannot help but to notice it as you look around you.  The color "pink" is worn proudly by the survivors of that dreaded disease as well as by their family and friends.  Over 40 years ago, my father's sister, my aunt Violet, passed from breast cancer.  It was long before the days of the use of advanced treatment and medications that today are quite commonplace.  The older I have become, the more women I have come across who have done the battle with breast cancer, beat it, and survived.  My good friend back in the little Kansas town of Ellsworth is one of those strong women.  Her name is Joyce and it is to her that Max Lucado's "Traveling Light-The Journal" will be sent next week.  I have been following her story on Facebook and my heart has been full after reading about what it has taken to endure the battle against the "C" word.  Joyce, to you my sweet and dear friend from "the land of long ago and far, far away",  I send you much love and fellowship.  I hope you enjoy reading the book and when you are done, please send it on to someone of your own choosing.  You will know exactly who that person shall be.  
     In one of her recent posts, Joyce admonished every woman out there reading it to get to the doctor and have a mammogram.  As for me, I am overdue in getting mine so as I read her words it was like a thump upside the head for me.  Come November when I go in  for the grownup equivalent of a "well child checkup", I promise dear Joyce to schedule mine.  They are not the funnest of procedures to go through, those mammograms.  But the sacrifice of a few minutes of time while you are still healthy is more than worth it in the end.  Early detection, early detection, early detection.  Plain and simple.  I love life.  I love living.  For as long as I can, I am choosing to stick around and see how this all goes :)
     Longevity seems to run in my family, well at least for the women on my mother's side.  Grandmother Brown lived into the winter of her 106th year of life.  She was strong as an ox, never entering a long term care setting until she was 101.  We still carried on great conversations and got outdoors together even after she moved to the nursing home.  My mother, her daughter Lois, lived to the age of 87 while one of Mom's other sisters, Aunt Dorothy, lived until 82.  This good day, October 17th of 2014, marks the 101st birthday of the only aunt that still remains for me, my Mom's other sister.  Aunt Beck took a tumble a few weeks back and is now in a care center until she gets strong enough to return home.  I have no doubt in my mind that she will do just that.  She's stubborn that way.  Just like her own mother and sisters.  Just like her niece is too.  
     And so now the day begins here along the Western Slopes of the Rockies, here in my new home of Montrose, Colorado.  "The 22" are more than likely still sound asleep in their beds in the very early hours of this Friday morning.  In a couple of hours more they will arise and ready themselves for another Friday together of learning and having fun. I have a desire to remain strong and healthy, not only for myself but for all of them as well.  I have found that not only do they need me, I need them as well. It's a mutual kind of arrangement, you know? 
    Yesterday one of them, a sweet little guy, came up to my desk to ask a question of me.  He stood there for a moment, going back and forth on what he wanted to say and finally decided to tell me~

"Oh, I guess I just wanted to say that I love you teacher."

And we both smiled.

From earlier this past summer, June of 2014~my Aunt Rebecca and I.
May I be just like her when I finally grow up :)