Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Fall officially arrives tonight around 9:00. In the Lowcountry – summer has added one more ” heat” victory today…making fall wait another 24 hours – Fall Equinox or not. But by Friday night we will be in the 50’s and enjoy a very fall like feeling for our semi-tropical area this weekend ! Can’t wait! That will be the best present of all!

Do you happen to know the story behind the choice selection of calling the season ( between summer and winter) fall or autumn… well… now you will! Today we use the two terms pretty interchangeably… but the major difference deviates between American and British English. Autumn is considered the more formal name while fall occurs more in American English.

How did these two completely unalike words come to refer to the same season? We have to time travel back to the 1300’s -when the original word used before (” autumn”)was ” harvest.” However … using harvest to name a season was confusing since the term had been used for centuries to define the actual process of gathering crops- known as the ” harvesting” of them.

So by the time the seasonal term ” Autumn” appeared …farmers were relieved and Autumn was a big hit! BUT… the famous poets of the time loved the beauty and colorful changes so much- they started writing prose like ” the fall of the leaves.” Over time the phrase was shortened to just fall in the 1600’s.

Both words emigrated to America from England but by the middle of the 1800’s America’s Fall Season and England’s Autumn Season had diverged permanently…. though this time it has also been American poets preferring the more formal term Autumn.

Mary Oliver’s tribute to Autumn

I decided today’s post should be artistically visual -just for the beauty and happiness of the season.

So until tomorrow… Autumn or Fall? It’s a personal call. Breathe in the air… cool breezes with flair. Colors galore… we cry out for more… Leaves fall away… we watch them in play… Memories made…gratitude repaid. Fall has it all. ( Jingle Dingle ☺️)

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh

In the latest Magnolia Fall 2022 Journal… the title read The Fortitude We Gain Along the Way. In one of many diverse articles centering around the word ” fortitude” the author admitted that she found the word, itself, intimidating. I agree.

This is one of those words in the dictionary that ” weigh ” a lot… it is a heavy word and most of us don’t easily associate this word with our own lives. Surely words like this are set aside for heroes who risked their lives for others, or someone who survived conditions that would have destroyed others.

What we don’t grasp is the fact that the courage and strength exemplified in fortitude ” isn’t earned in a day but in the steady resolve to grow from every challenge that wants to uproot us by staying grounded while quietly building deep roots for the big storms ahead.”

It all starts with a brick. Michelle Sassa wrote: Some Call it Grit. Life can often feel like a series of brick walls we have to climb. What if the challenges we’ve met , big and small, weren’t’ there to block us… but to strengthen us? Brick by brick, we’re adding layers of perseverance that builds us up for what’s just down the road?

All these thoughts on bricks got my neurons lighting up… what was the name of that movie where Woody Harrelson’s character talks about a brick… powerful scene! Got it! Indecent Proposal starring Woody, Demi Moore and Robert ( my ” Bobby”) Redford.

In the scene Woody Harrelson plays a professor teaching future architects and he ends his lesson with this ” scene.”

Script:

” What is this?” ( he asks the class)

” A brick” replies a student

” What else?” asks Woody

” A weapon” replies another student ( as the class laughs)

Woody smiles and then quietly continues” Think about it. Even a brick wants to be something. It aspires. Even a common, ordinary brick wants to be something more than it is. Wants to be better than what it is… and that ladies and gentlemen is what we must be.”

Woody then starts clicking images of the possibilities that an ordinary brick can aspire to under the expertise of talented architects -(Here are a few of the slides he showed)…

It was a powerful scene and one that hit home -especially yesterday… because Ben’s make-up heart specialist appointment set for yesterday had to be canceled again… because of several interstate incidents that brought traffic to basically a standstill… traffic app alerted me it would be a two hour time frame to go to Daniel Island from Summerville… and that was just picking him up… about another 1/2 hour to get him to the appointment location. Three “no go’s” in five days.????!

Now an October appointment… I needed to go to prayer badly yesterday to stay grounded and remain calm … I think I need to keep growing my roots a LOT deeper since the interstate ” storms” just keep pounding me. Over a year doing this and getting everywhere on time and suddenly the interstates have become impenetrable brick walls.

So until tomorrow… Father… I know in the big scheme of things… these medical appointment frustrations take a back seat to so many other obstacles that confront us along our path… and I know deep down that it is the lack of control over these situations that frustrates me the worst… we humans are like that you know… so here’s the deal… if YOU want to take the driver’s seat next time… I will happily climb in the back!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

… and you know what? It turned out to truly be my favorite day because Jo Dufford came to visit and she always lights up a room! She was having car problems too so we could commiserate and laugh together. When she left she was sweating whether ” Big Blue” would start. Something was wrong with the key ignition. She had to remember to park the car perfectly with the tires straight ahead-but one front tire was turned slightly sideways-we said a quick prayer and ” Big Blue” was off and running!!!”

Dear Reader:

One of my favorite memories after Brooke and I moved to Charleston – following Erskine graduation … was touring Charles Towne Landing… that was completed in 1970 for the Tricentennial of this famous historic site.

Since I taught SC History, as well as, American history-we took the students to this site ( field trips) several times over the years. ***And now… 337 years after King Charles II’s death ended his reign… King Charles III will soon be officially crowned King of England.

I researched all the kings and queens who reigned during the rather long lapse of time between the two Charles and there was a James, William III and Mary II, Anne, a bunch of George’s (I, III, IV) William IV, Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII ( abdicated) George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.

But one other royal name managed to out separate even the two Charles’ reigns. Who you ask! Elizabeth! There was 419 years separating the reigns of the two Elizabeth’s-the I and II!!!

*** This last photo of Queen Elizabeth II was her official 96th birthday picture! ( Pretty in pink) As one bystander was overheard saying yesterday… ” What a dame! What a reign!”

So until tomorrow… I had supper with Susan, Bekah, and Ady Sunday evening…and what a blessing it is to have time to just talk and gather. Staying updated in this fast-paced world is important.

They gave me my birthday presents early and they were great ones-especially the witches ” brew.” Great vino! 😉

And yesterday was officially Lassie’s birthday! Don’t we love our fall birthdays Lassie!

Mollie had texted both boys’ teachers to ask how they were doing over the weekend … and then Lachlan and Rutledge each wrote their teachers a note … Mollie showed me this response back from Rutledge’s teacher.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

When I saw this title passage… it made me pause and contemplate all the trodden and down trodden paths I have been on this past week!

Twice I have tried to get to Mt Pleasant and Daniel Island… one time with ” tardy” semi-success and later a doctor appointment with no success. On both occasions my intended ” path” was blocked by fellow pathfinders … just as frustrated.

On both occasions my heart was in the right place ( showing up for my grandsons grandparent tea) and two days later trying to pick up my brother for an important heart specialist appointment to no avail. So why ( I thought to myself) is the universe throwing curve balls at me?)

And then Saturday… I learned of an incident that scared me so badly… I forgot about the earlier path problems… seemingly trivial compared to a frightening’ What Could Have Happened’ incident involving Walsh and Mollie’s family.

Because of my sheer exhaustion Friday afternoon (finally returning home from another gridlock interstate incident) I rested until the birthday party for my friend at the club pavilion Friday evening.

Saturday I texted Mollie to ask about Rutledge’s football game and how he was playing… she caught me up to date and then asked if I had heard about the Phillip Simmons High School incident-that ended up involving and terrifying the middle and elementary school?

I was clueless ( in retrospect… thank goodness) … Mollie quickly updated me. Apparently two teenagers that attended Phillip Simmons High School brought three guns to school with the intention of shooting at the crowd gathered for the football rally at the end of the school day.

A student overheard and told someone in charge… as the two boys were approached by school security they took off running in the wooded areas in the vicinity.

The elementary and middle school were both notified and told to go into immediate lockdown. The elementary school was just letting out-dismissal time at 2:40… As luck would have it Walsh was in the front of the parent pickup line and both boys jumped in… But before Walsh knew what was happening police cars were swarming in and at 2:46 … all the other children waiting for parents and buses had to return inside for lockdown.

Of course the parents were frantic and wanting to get to their children… chaotic and upsetting… mainly because of lack of communication… rumors gone astray and visions of earlier national terrorist school attacks.

But as lucky as Walsh and the boys were earlier… one of the fleeing teenagers was seen hiding out near the street behind their house and wooded area so SWAT teams were running through their yard and finally captured the youth right in their proximity.

Later frightening stories came to light of Rutledge and Lachlan’s teachers’ ( and all the other staff members’) scenarios… trying to find ways to protect the disturbed and confused children wanting their parents.

We never think it can happen to us-to our children, and grandchildren… until it does. Here I was… last Wednesday worried about being late for Grandparents Day-how trivial that seems in comparison to the reality of what could have been Friday! I am tearing up just typing this… instead of better late than never… in this case better early than never…Thank you Walsh for picking those children up early!!! It spared them a lot of trauma.

While re-reading some passages from Kent Nerburn’s Small Graces a couple of lines calmed me down. He was questioning how much any of us ever truly need-and why we stay fixated on this unquenchable human urge for ” more” -always more!

He concludes: Do we really need much more than than this? To honor the dawn, visit a garden, talk to a friend, contemplate a cloud, cherish a meal, bow our heads before the mystery of the day. Are these not enough?

So until tomorrow…. Father… Thank you for protecting my grandchildren in these incomprehensible times of troubled minds that want to destroy life itself. The world we shape is the world we touch-with our words, our actions, our dreams. Remind us to cherish the young and set ourselves up as role models to teach the sanctity of the precious life You gifted us!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

The Iron Horses got another win and Rutledge, as their quarterback, has a place on the field named for him … if he runs a play in for a touchdown … the speakers blare out” There he goes down Rutledge ” Avenue” -TD!!!😅

Dear Reader:

How many times have we heard a parent sigh and admit that her son and/ daughter just graduated from college… and now they are traveling around to ” find themselves.”

Of course there is nothing wrong with that unless we put the ” cart before the horse.”

In national bestselling author-Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations … he talks about how God meets us where we are. We don’t have to physically go anywhere to find Him… we just have to realize that if we want to feel fulfilled in our personal lives… it starts with spiritual power first. It started with our birth.

” For the Christian, spiritual power is always hidden inside of powerlessness-just as God was hidden and yet revealed in a defenseless baby. If God is ever to be loved and shared, God had to risk both human embodiment and human vulnerability. This is the only thing that enchants and evokes the human heart. We do not properly fall in love with concepts or theological ideas-persons fall in love with other persons. In a weak little child, God is perfectly hidden and perfectly revealed-and fully loveable!

So until tomorrow… take a second and think about it. Who can not be filled with awe upon laying our eyes on a newborn-familiar or even a stranger? Newborns restore our hope in the world and we feel the sense of the Divine at work within the vulnerability of new life. The search is over… trying to ” find yourself “? Turn inward … and release the divinity within you! Only then is your path revealed.

Today is my favorite day. Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was a repeat of Wednesday with traffic once again at a standstill on the interstate … ended up calling Ben’s heart specialist office from my car to let them know today was a ” No Go.” Two hours of bumper to bumper traffic… only to return home completely frustrated! Mission NOT accomplished.

What used to be an occasional slow down has become almost a normal interstate parking lot occurrence … my poor car is wasting gas and mucho miles for ” nada.” I know only two letters separate ” usual ” and “un” usual but those two extra letters can play havoc with your day… as in an unusual amount of traffic!!!

So by the time I got home ( tired and starving) I was in a frustrated state of mind. After lunch I felt a little better and decided this was a good day to go back in time and see what September 17th looked like in 2015 on this date! Quite interesting!!!

I had apparently seen an article by an author who was talking to a group of future young doctors about the importance of guarding their expressions, gestures, and words while communicating with patients.

After the talk… one of the students placed a piece of paper in the speaker’s coat pocket-it read: I had a dream -that honeybees were making honey in my heart-out of my old failures. There is no right or wrong-Beyond the right and the wrong … There is a field. I’ll meet you there.

So until tomorrow… Isn’t that a lovely thought… one we all hope and pray exists… a place where we accept what has happened without judgment. Where we allow ourselves to learn from the experience without beating ourselves up about it?

This was definitely a God Wink idea to go back seven years and find this particular old post on this exact time and date! Party time at the Club Pavilion last night for my friend KC-Happy Birthday! Will rest up and then I can just walk over-I live one street down from the club!!!🙌💗

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh ( Let’s all seek and find our personal place of refuge… where ” honeybees make honey in our heart” …a place of self-forgiveness! )

I cleaned out my barrel yesterday… replacing the yellowing sweet potato plant with beautiful sun loving plants to add color to the porch!

Happy Birthday my friend! Go KC!!! The birthday glasses just complete your ” look!”

Dear Reader:

One of my favorite aspects of reading is coming across passages that stop me in my tracks and force me to reread them again… more slowly the second time around… while my mind plays games with it.

For example: Here is a passage from one of my favorite author’s ( Sarah Addison Allen) latest book-Other Birds.

” How odd that pretending to be someone else has made me happier than I was when I was just being myself. It’s almost as if, once I got over the guilt of living my future more than I lived my past, my old life dropped away and became make-believe, and my present life became my second birth.”

I was blown away by that passage… because I have lived it… As I grew up and had accumulated enough years to reflect back upon my childhood I understood just how tragically sad it was and how leaving it behind in exchange for new experiences that offered acceptance and happiness ( Erskine College and the Ya Ya’s) … was giving me a second chance in life. ” And second chances are not to be wasted!”

I first read Sarah Addison Allen’s debut novel Garden Spells in 2007 and fell in love with her style of writing-what she calls ” Southern-fried magic realism” -this novel was followed up by First Frost… a continuum story about a magical apple tree…that guides the Waverly family out of darkness into the light.

Since then I have read other novels she has written with the same blend of magic realism. Then it suddenly stopped. Within a short period of time Allen lost her beloved mother and sister… it has taken her years of soul-searching to write this latest novel.

It is obvious that her personal tragedies have affected her writing style in the sense that her characters are a little deeper and darker but she portrays all her characters-living ( and not) as deserving of love… as the layers of their own life tragedies are revealed. Everyone needs love.

So until tomorrow… We all can write a new ending to our own story. We all deserve love.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Remember Tuesday when I mentioned that I hoped I-26 and 526 would not be backed up causing delays in getting to Mt Pleasant in time for the Grandparents early morning recognition and ” tea party? ” I think you can infer from the title… that didn’t happen.

It took me over half an hour just to get out of Summerville on to the interstate. And when I did… I-26 was a snail-paced parking lot until I could finally get on I-526 that was an improvement but still basically just a ” slow steady eddy” trickle.

I kept telling myself that I was doing everything possible while my white knuckles betrayed my anxiousness. I kept picturing Rutledge and Lachlan searching the crowd for their grandmother… to no avail! I really had the ” Woe is Me” pity party going quite well.

I called Walsh to deliver the bad news but he just calmly reiterated that it was out of my control so just keep on keeping on and we would get there when we got there… didn’t seem ruffled at all.

What should have been a 45 minute to an hour drive took almost two hours. I pulled into Walsh and Mollie’s driveway…practically on one wheel

I ran inside announcing I had finally gotten there and then Walsh looked at me and said… ” Honestly… I just got off a five 12 hour day run and if I had not had that extra hour to shower and rest a minute I don’t think I would have made it. ( Mollie was working)

” Are we too late to go?” ” Never… not after that trip” Walsh replied… and we jumped in his truck.

As I checked in as a ” special guest” I was apologizing for being so late… explaining that I had come from Summerville and one receptionist told me to stop apologizing… they had already heard and some personnel had also experienced the grid-lock on the interstate. They congratulated me on persevering.

Most of the grandparents had come and gone but the expressions on Rutledge’s and Lachlan’s faces when Walsh and I entered the emptied outside courtyard completely made my day! Running late made the boys appreciate my presence more, in this particular case, than if I had been early.

We were all directed to the library where the annual book fair was going on … smart salesmanship-Who else will buy their grandchildren a book… but grandparents. Three books later( had to get one for Eloise) we got our cookies and hot chocolate and/or tea or juice.

We were the only ones enjoying our tea party-had the courtyard to ourselves-no crowds or seating problems.

Both Rutledge and Lachlan were thrilled I was late… Rutledge ( happily) confessed that he got to miss art class and Lachlan loved that they got to play out in the courtyard and then leisurely look at all the library books for sale so he could select just the right one. A win-win for both boys!

Walsh got the gift of time he badly needed-the boys got a free extended and unexpected fun time… along with favorite book selections and I was just a ” grandmother running late” …who managed to keep her impatience in check and not end up as the ” late grandmother Boo.” Thank you God!

So until tomorrow… Did you know that the expression ” Better late than never” dates back to the 1300’s and is found in Canterbury Tales” by Chaucer. It was not meant to be sarcastic ( as is some times the case today) but as an affirmation of good faith that you made it safe and sound.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

When Walsh and I returned back to the house, I got to see the patio brick formation for Walsh and Mollie’s new addition to the house/ yard. The project has been slow-going due to the daily thunderstorms but we are now in a beautiful cool dry spell…. and YES! Fall did appear yesterday morning!!!! I am in love!!!

Dear Reader:

Hopefully, as many of you are reading today’s post… I am experiencing ( or have already experienced) the fresh feel of fall!) Yesterday the local weatherman was excited about experiencing fall-like weather himself-low ( early morning) sixties, low humidity and the exhilaration of actually feeling fall through the anticipation of all the senses! ( Less than two weeks away from official Fall)

Today is Grandparents Day and Mollie called to ask if I would be able to to attend Lachlan’s and Rutledge’s school’s breakfast gathering to sit with the students. I replied ” I would be honored.”

But that does mean hitting the interstate early and then praying there are no fender benders… and back up traffic. It, also, means, however, that I should be a prime candidate to witness the first day of the fall of summer hot humidity in exchange for soft dry cool breezes… certainly worth the early rising.

Isn’t life like the fall of old seasons in exchange for new ones? We go along our life journey immersed in our daily routines and then suddenly something changes… subtly at first but then more persistent with time.

Sometimes the changes are exhilarating… like summer collapsing into fall in the Lowcountry ( after a long hot humid summer) but other times… changes can initially be uncomfortable and stressful.

Life IS change. There is no getting around it. Nothing stays the same … as much as we might wish for it. ( Like me wishing I could freeze-frame my grandchildren.)

It was Eloise who had the best response to my question ( last summer when I kept her one day) when I asked her if I could ” freeze-frame” her… keep her at four years old forever… ?

She gave me the most incredulous look ( like she couldn’t believe I had even thought of something that dumb to ask?) She was playing with her dolls on the floor when she immediately replied ( with finger pointed) ” NO Boo Boo! I must grow up so I can be a REAL mommy some day!”

She was right of course… and I silently thought to myself … she must grow up to also become a grandmother… a lot more fun and less stressful than parenting… you get to be the permanent ” good cop” … a lot more fun than ” bad cop.”

So until tomorrow… I thank God everyday that I have been given the gift of time to watch my grandchildren grow. A gift beyond measure!!!!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Garth Brooks ( on Kelly Clarkson’s ) new season kick-off show yesterday -made this simple but profound statement-“You can’t have a top without a bottom. ”

For every high ” top” in our life… there will be a low “bottom” -because that is how life “fits”-life is defined, not just how we live through the high’s, but more importantly how we handle the low’s. ( For me personally… it starts with a smile.) A smile, not only tugs your face muscles upward but can also tug at your heart and send your ” top” spinning.

Garth actually made this reference in connection with storytelling . Writing music is just not about melodies and tunes… it is about lyrics that tell a story.

Pre/Covid music had become more intent on beats and rhythms with nonsensical or simple repetitive phrases but suddenly when it seemed like the world had pulled the rug out from under us… storytelling and meaningful lyrics and messages began flooding the radios.

It was cool again to read and time became our friend to travel in our imagination. Suddenly celebrities in all walks of life started telling their stories and childrens’ books became a daily mainstay on talk shows. Storytelling had become a ” Top” again.

Survival stories of courage and determination took precedence as Americans lost loved ones to disease and normal life became anything but…

Suddenly the old tried but true stories like ” The Little Engine that Could” found itself back in the classroom once again -children needed to be reminded not to give up when school no longer looked or felt like school anymore or loving parents, aunts and uncle’s, grandparents had just ” disappeared ” from their lives.

The longer I live… one truth shines brighter in my understanding of it-the simpler the story-the closer proximity to the truth about a life lesson is understood and as such… more profound in its impact!.

Every pumpkin in my happy room den is artificial and at last count there were 34 of them-some big, some small, some plastic, some cloth, some straw, some wooden and some electric-shining through the night.

I have only one “live” pumpkin… a pumpkin with an amazing story to tell. It is white with living succulents on top… it has out-lived all last year’s harvest of live pumpkins and it doesn’t look like it has any intention of ” passing on” to make way for this year’s harvest pumpkin crop!

I wanted to show you evidence ( 3 photos above) that from every angle-top, side and bottom..the pumpkin has no ” rot” or even brown spots. Not only is the pumpkin healthy but the majority of the succulents are still alive too.

Sweet, talented, Susan Swicegood made these and sold them and then brought each family one, as a gift, for Autumn! Everyone else’s started out good but within weeks the pumpkin got ” soft” and soon began to rot. I know Mandy transferred the beautiful succulents from the top of her pumpkin to another planter before tossing the rotten pumpkin.

What was my survival secret as the pumpkin will soon celebrate its first birthday? Nothing! I did nothing! Believe me… this little pumpkin has survived all on its own.

Okay… Okay… I did spray the succulents occasionally… when I remembered… but truly… the pumpkin was moved to different rooms throughout the year-survived heat, air conditioning and ceiling fans blowing on it-humid conditions… days and weeks when I was away forgetting about it… that little white pumpkin survived in spite of me!

So next month… I am adding some decorations for its birthday 🥳 and I will definitely share the birthday pictures with you!!! 🏆🍭🌈👊✊👍👏🙌🙌🙌🙌

So until tomorrow…If my pumpkin could talk I think it would remind each reader: “You never know when your moment’s coming… but when it does, TAKE IT!!!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

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