Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

As we were sadly packing up yesterday I glanced at the flower arrangement I brought and realized the flowers had been opening up one by one until the whole arrangement was at its most beautiful!

While Brooke and I were running here and there and sharing long talks on the porch the buds had opened unnoticed… until today-our last-it was in its full glory-what a lovely send-off!

I suppose the old saying ” Ignorance is Bliss” does have its increments of truth since at our last full gathering over 15 months ago none of us realized what was ahead of us and how long it would be before we saw each other again.

Even without the pandemic… grave health issues, unexpected moves, and serious family issues ran rampart though our lives collectively.

As I walked back out to the shore line to once again ponder the magnificent beauty of the ocean and the horizon beyond it…I realized how the challenging problems in life make us fully appreciate the good times even more!

So until tomorrow… Farewell ” Rest In Peace ” … like the blooms on the flowers… sometimes it just takes a little more time for all the blooms to get back in sync…but oh what a lovely picture we hold in our hearts until we gather again-the FOUR of us!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Another perfect day with more God Winks than we could count at Edisto.

My first one started out as I drove to the King’s Market to pick up some of their delicious homemade casseroles to take home. Suddenly this row of gladioli popped into view-just beautiful! I had purposely mixed gladioli in my flower arrangement since they represented courage and bravery… now they were lining the road.

On the way home I stopped at the Cypress Trees entrance to the location where John and Mandy married. It brought back so many amazing memories.

When I got back we took our last trip to the beach-Brooke suggested I do a re-make of the earlier Carolina Girl photo! Again Covid disappeared from my memory as past retreats replaced the year in one nostalgic moment.

The tide was going out and the sun, surf, and sand turned our chronological years back in time and childhood delight!

Since Thursday was our last night we went to Ella and Ollies for our ‘ last supper.’

So until the tomorrow…isn’t it miraculous when dreams become reality and exceed expectations. This defines the 2021 spring retreat! We were aligned with the universe.

If Brooke and I could have written a script for this retreat it could not have played out any better… with the exception of missing our two beloved Ya’s Libby and Jackson!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Will take you out of the post with the beauty of Edisto!

Dear Reader:

Tuesday afternoon while talking with Brooke on the front porch of Rest In Peace… we were startled by a commotion and looked up just in time to see the most beautiful white heron flying right past us and landing on the roof of the porch!

I knew it had to be a good omen and looked it up -it was the perfect sign to start the retreat!

The heron symbolizes stillness and tranquility… and how these two qualities must be present to recognize new opportunities.

The heron also signifies determination because in life there will always be marshes and ponds that all of us wade through in stages. Yes… a heron symbolizes one’s awakened sense of openness and independence in meeting life’s challenges.

What a terrific way to start our Edisto stay-we got to face-time with Jackson as she gave us a tour of her abode in New Jersey! It was such a wonderful surprise!

Little by little life is returning to normalcy with heart to heart talks with our oldest and closest friends! We appreciate each precious moment even more now and take nothing for granted!

And none of us are giving up on a future agenda that includes the four of us reunited again. The truth is the older we get the more we need our friends who knew us when-it is a powerful and sacred connection.

So until tomorrow …Make new friends but keep the old… one is silver and the other’s gold.

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

The Beach!

Dear Reader:

I am so excited early on this Tuesday morning-I couldn’t even sleep last night! My mind kept thinking about all the items on my check-off list to do before leaving for Edisto Beach-one of which was this blog post!

I kept thanking God last night for the medical researchers and doctors who devised vaccines that ultimately allowed this opportunity to return to one of my favorite places in the world-to be able to talk and reminisce with Brooke without masks … to embrace just not each other’s company but a return to a sense of normalcy and security peppered in serenity.

Rest In Peace-even though the Ya’s have always laughed at the beach home name-it applies perfectly… the feelings of security and restful repose envelop its surroundings.

The Ya’s all admitted that we slept better at Rest In Peace than anywhere else! We could finally be ourselves and amid the laughter and contagious humor-we have also been able to throw away our masks and share the sorrows, fears, and insecurities that are a part of life!

Even my oncologists could tell a huge difference in all my vital signs while undergoing chemo, radiation or recuperating from surgery. They would wink at me and say ” I can tell you have been at the beach with your Ya friends ” – the best medicine in the world!

So until tomorrow I will be sharing with you scenes from Edisto with hopefully a few chuckles and “aha” moments -solving some of the world’s problems from Brooke’s front porch!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

One thing before I leave… prayers please for Libby’s brother Boppy who is undergoing cancer surgery and for Ashley, Honey’s youngest daughter, whose latest flare-up with her Crohn’s disease has her hospitalized in Spartanburg with differing medical opinions on how to treat it! Very nerve-racking!

Goodbye to my garden as my beautiful long-leaf hydrangea makes its first appearance!

Dear Reader:

I was listening to a podcast on the radio and it was telling the story of the most bombed island in World War II -the Mediterranean island of Malta. Italian and German air bombers conducted over 3000 air raids, dropped 15,000 tons of explosives and destroyed 30,000 buildings over a 154 day period-total 6,700 bombs dropped.

There was one building that was spared by miracles-the Mosta Dome. On April 9,1942, two German bombs fell on the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in Mosta … in central Malta. Mass was going on at the time and more than 250 parishioners were in the church.

Alarms rang out-some people left the church while others stayed and prayed. The first bomb pierced the dome and fell to the floor. The second cleared the left side of the church’s facade.

Those bombs had every reason to explode-but neither did. It was hailed as a miracle. Somehow Divine Intervention prevented the church and town from turning to rubble. The bombs were later defused and dropped in the sea-today visitors can see a replica of one of the bombs.

Overall during WWII Malta was heavily bombed being a strategic outpost for the Allies. The bombing was so extensive that by the end of the war, Malta had become the most bombed nation on the planet.

Today Malta boasts they have 365 churches-one for each day of the year!

It’s citizens also have something else to brag about-while still a British colony during World War II-every citizen was awarded Great Britain’s highest honor-the George Cross-Britain’s highest civilian honor for bravery!

So until tomorrow… we never know how brave we are until we get pushed in a corner… and then come out fighting for life, for love, for freedom!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Today the capital of Malta, Valletta, is known as the smallest national capital in the European Union by area-it is also the oldest-the first planned city in Europe-built in 15 years and completed in 1565.

Dear Reader:

Tuesday Brooke and I will meet at Edisto Beach for a few days to celebrate another Ya gathering-but it won’t be the same without Jackson and Libby… in absentia.

Jackson is still acclimating to her new daily life post cancer surgery and Libby’s brother is also undergoing cancer surgery.

But I thought about it and decided Brooke and I will have to be the gladiators for our friends who are fighting their own personal battles or helping others in their families fight theirs.

As I was working on a flower arrangement to take to Edisto… I decided to add gladioli-after all their shape is in the form of small swords used in deadly battles as entertainment for the Romans in the Coliseum by courageous gladiators !

It is said that gladiators wore gladiolus corms around their necks to help them survive and be victorious!

I was thinking Brooke and I should make some gladioli around our necks for our two Ya’s in commemoration of their courage and perseverance. Besides gladioli symbolizing strength and courage it also represents friendship-the perfect plant for this unique Ya retreat!

One legend tells the story of

a cruel Roman commander who captured two Thracian boys and turned them into gladiators. The two boys, Sevt and Tere were close friends but the cruel commander forced the friends to fight each other…promising the winner freedom and a homecoming.

When the trumpets sounded the two friends stuck their swords in the ground and rushed to each other with open arms, ready to receive death. They were immediately put to death but legend has it…once their bodies hit the ground-their swords took root and blossomed into tall beautiful flowers! In their honor the flower was called gladioli.

So until tomorrow… these flowers are still a symbol of friendship, loyalty, and memory! The way we were and soon will be again-no longer former shadows of ourselves!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

How many of us remember being so disappointed at something we counted on that failed to materialize?

It’s all part of life isn’t it? But now at the age I am, upon reflection, most things worked out, in retrospect, the way they were supposed to all the time. It might have been a college application rejection, a failed job interview, or a doomed relationship. At the time… it seemed tantamount to the end of eternal happiness for us… yet later the initial failure lead us down a different path… the one we were destined to take all along!

Take a few minutes today and reminisce on some earlier disappointments… do you see God’s Plan playing out now where earlier we wondered why God wasn’t helping us achieve our personal, much sought after goals?

Letting go of our stubborn persistence in doing things our way … opens up God’s revelation-the true path to happiness and fulfillment!

So until tomorrow… watching Eva Cate’s friends playing and swimming together at her party took me back to my own children at 11 and all the twists and turns it took for them to land careers and spouses right at the right place and time. God is very good at nudging us as necessary in just the right moment.

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh “

Eva Cate was selected Queen of the Fourth Grade Class for leadership!

And my garden parties on too! The lantana is coming!

Dear Reader:

I realized, with a start, the other day that I never remember either of my grandmothers… not completely dressed and ready to start the day.

It was a source of pride to that generation to have someone mention, posthumously, that they had gotten up, and gotten dressed on the day they passed.

Since Grandmother Wilson was a farmer’s wife her routine never altered ( even after granddaddy died) and the farm no longer grew cotton… she was up at the crack of dawn, reading the Bible, and fixing a big breakfast…even just for herself.

Grandmother Barbour ( who lived with her daughter after her husband’s death) did the same thing. Up at the crack of dawn , read verses from the Bible, and then start fixing breakfast for the entire family.

I don’t think their generation would have had any trouble sticking to their normal routines through a pandemic. No slacking off for them! The difference-they saw each day as a gift God had given them which had nothing to do with work alone or a change in one’s daily routine.

Today psychotherapists warn us that we should stick to a routine-they consider putting on clothes to be an important part of mental and emotional hygiene during the pandemic.

Just like we set a mood for a romantic dinner with music and candles…we should also set a positive uplifting mood to set the tone of every day we live-regardless of external circumstances beyond our control.

There is certainly no harm in giving oneself a ” time out” or ” spa day” occasionally but we need to be careful not to become stuck in pj’s because we can literally become ( too easily) stuck in life and that is not healthy or productive on any level.

So until tomorrow… Wake up, listen to the birds chirping… they are up and dressed ready for a new day and so should the rest of us follow their example-with a song in our heart! Precious Life!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

I went to babysit for Walsh and Mollie yesterday while they went out to eat for their ninth anniversary! They are the last May anniversary for all my three children … starting with May 3, 6, and 13th! My children love May weddings!

… and my garden has loved the recent spring showers!

Dear Reader:

The watercolor in the title painting came out in 2018… it was titled ” Carolina Girl” … based on a photo taken by Brooke at a Ya retreat on Edisto Beach of me…a year or so earlier.

I still remember that moment in detail… I was sitting with my Ya friends when I thought I saw a dolphin-and immediately jumped up to see.

I did not see a dolphin, instead I began staring at the horizon appearing calm, tranquil, and beckoning me to it. I appeared oblivious to the turbulent waters in the form of waves breaking around my feet. My eyes and thoughts remained fixed on the horizon instead.

Anne came across the photo in an earlier blog post and picked up on the same awareness caught in that precise moment.

Today the original framed painting hangs in my happy room-my den – and I love sharing the story behind it.

Don’t we all cry out in exasperation sometimes to the universe asking the waves to stop? In certain moments in our lives we become so battered down by the constant waves or problems of life we forget about the distant horizon calling our eyes to look up and out past the immediate turbulence and focus on the possibilities of peace found within us.

Instead of ” lifting our eyes until the hills from whence comes our help… we can also lift our eyes to any horizon because the help that comes from the Lord , the Creator of Heaven and Earth, is everywhere if we look beyond our daily problems.

So until tomorrow… when life deals us more than we can handle… we can rest in the reality that God can handle it. And remember we must be careful for what we ask… would we really want to go to the beach one day to watch the waves come in-only for them to stop and never re-appear? Think about it.

” Today is my favorite day!”

My neighbor Vickie is back home so my Fuzz, the cat, babysitting duties are over… Vickie came over yesterday bringing me a memento … a cat chime! Adorable! I love it!

Dear Reader:

Even though the summer solstice falls on Sunday June 20 this year… we southerners proclaim that Summer Starts in April…so by now-the middle of May we should be deep in summer!

However Mother Nature decided to play a trick on us after a series of hot days in the 80’s -we are close to breaking a low temperature record with yesterday’s and today’s highs in the mid-sixties! But we are happy because, along with the cold front, lots of much-needed rain has accompanied this strange weather pattern!

And then the best surprise of all arrived…famous Lowcountry author , Mary Alice Monroe, released her latest novel in the Beach House series-this popular series has continued over two decades-quite a remarkable feat! Happiness is!

I just have finished the overview of the book and am delighted that the Rutledge family’s storied legacy is including the coronavirus in this latest addition. This is the first author I have read recently to do so! Even more excited now!

This is my favorite time of the year when the popular Lowcountry authors release their latest novels… much to the delight of their loyal fans!

For me … the start of summer would fall flat without the arrival of the summer beach reads-a Lowcountry tradition .

I have just finished another Lowcountry author, Karen White’s latest historical fiction book set in 1939 in London during the Blitz… in my opinion her best book to date.

So until tomorrow… in the words of F.Scott Fitzgerald… ” I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. ”

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Honey’s latest ceramic plant holder-a basket-which I filled with daisies! And Mike’s wooden cross to add to my key chain! Thank you both from the bottom of my heart!