Dear Reader:

Maybe it is the “Libra” (scales) in me that is more comfortable when my personal life is balanced and in sync with a rhythm that suits my personality and energy level… because I do intuitively sense when I am physically, mentally, or spiritually off-kilter.

Since the torrential rains and the changes it has brought all of us, especially my close friend Jackson…there has been a longing to get back some equilibrium from the carefree days of the pre-flooding/storm.

Yet, yesterday, as I inspected my puddle-filled yard I noticed that the same torrential rains that drowned some flowers… turned others into their most beautiful state… to date.

The impatiens, cover photo, are at their loveliest…the more rain they got, the happier they bloomed….with more blooms and colors than at any other time this summer/fall.

I can hear them talking to the rain “Bring it on…I can, not only take it, I thrive in it!”

This pretty lavender plant  struggled this summer with the heat and sun, yet flourished under the wind and rain surges…producing more blooms than I could count.

I planted two poinsettias (left over from Christmas) around the bottle tree and they “hung” in there  this summer but that was about all….now they are  luscious shades of green…vibrant with their bright red veins running throughout…(as if they were given blood transfusions during the storm.)

As an act of desperation I took this dying summer plant arrangement (which wilted immediately after purchase) and stuck it in the “jungle” under the trees by the driveway….here is what I discovered upon my return last Wednesday.

I thought about the old adage: “One man’s candy is another man’s poison.”

Some of the plants couldn’t handle the excessive amount of rain  and drowned….but then another group of plants flourished and bloomed beyond recognition under the same duress.

It goes to show that God created an even playing field on Earth and didn’t play favorites….because these same (now flourishing) plants were destined to die if they went much longer without a good amount of rain …while the (now deceased) plants were flourishing during the drought. Each had their moment of time to grow and bloom…on both sides…only the strongest did survive.

Isn’t that true of humans? It is the people with the deepest amounts of character and faith who survive insurmountable odds…with God’s Hand extended.

Like Mandy’s neighbor told Jakie and me on our stroll….“Give life half a chance and it will make it. Everything and everyone wants to live.”

So until tomorrow…if you haven’t gotten outside, taken a walk or a stroll around your garden, yard, block, neighborhood, or town…do so. As John Burroughs once said: “I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in order.”  (In other words to find our individual “balance” in life.)

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

*With Libby and Jackson becoming roommates again (since college) the balance has returned  to this dynamic duo….Libby was worried about her cast and not being able to help Jackson like she wanted and even needing help, herself, with showers to keep her cast from getting wet….(a pain as we all remember who have broken a limb.)

But guess what….the doctor took off Libby’s hard cast last Friday and put on a “portable” fracture cast that she can take off to take a shower …all by herself. The balance is restored.

* This photo was taken our senior year in the elevator leading up to our floor….top (l to r) Libby and Jackson (roomies) and bottom (l to r) me and Brooke. Now two of the roomies are living together again! The storm has brought many memories “flooding” back of by-gone days.

*Jackson…this card is heading your way and I debated whether to show it on the blog before you get it….but it is too funny not to….and besides you have  a special surcie in yours.

*I have had several emails from readers asking if there is anything they can do to help Jackson (one-on-one) since her home (once her parents’ home) was grandfathered in and she didn’t have to have flood insurance…

I will give you this temporary address where she is and will be staying….suggestion: mini-gift cards for grocery stores, clothing stores (Belk), Walmart, gas cards, and visa cards always come in handy….  Jackson really doesn’t know what she will need for the house until Fema lets her know if her house is salvageable to renovate. Say a prayer that it is!

Linda “Jackson” Lynn

1245 Naples Avenue

Cayce, SC 29011

The best gift of all I have received… opened last evening…a moon flower bloom on the magic moon gate….I went to sleep dreaming of white puffy moon flowers floating in the sky like clouds….magical!