Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Mandy came over yesterday to pick up a packet of lesson plans to teach a special Halloween lesson …at a request from her former school.

After getting them packed up we headed out to run some errands and grab lunch at Five Loaves. Mandy and I both ordered the half sandwich and soup. It was still a little chilly but the soup Mandy chose-a new soup-mushroom and Parmesan creamy soup was unbelievably good!

On the way there Mandy suddenly slowed down and pulled over-there was a Blessing Box adjacent to the Summerville Baptist Church -Mandy grabbed some cans and toiletries to put in it.

I live in Summerville and had never seen it before-I dropped books off in the street ” library” cabinets but was now interested in the story behind it.

No one seems to know how it started but geographically it appeared first in western states and moved eastward.

Especially during Covid with more unemployment blessing boxes took off with community charity organizations building ” cupboards to place free non perishable foods and personal hygiene products in.”

During Covid it seems like people had ideas about helping others…but stopped short actually following through. Blessing Boxes kept giving and receiving simple -and became an immediate success!!!

I am so glad I know where one is -I already am starting to fill a small cardboard box as I type.

Then we were off to Doodle’s to drop a dress up costume for Carrie to wear at her school before Halloween weekend.

Both Harvey and Doodle were busy in the backyard-their garden is magical-I feel like I am in a secret garden whenever I see it!

So until tomorrow… Thank you God for cool evenings and mornings… and fall azaleas that attract all the brightly colored winged insects enjoying brunch!

Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

I had a little lizard play a trick on me-I sat down to start the blog and turned to look out the window at the thriving side garden. One lizard had climbed the window screen-I jumped and screamed seeing my unexpected visitor just inches away from my face! Halloween is obviously drawing closer!!!

Dear Reader:

How many times have we looked back on situations that initially disappointed us-perhaps a job interview that went wrong or a missed opportunity that passed us by-only later to discover there was a better job waiting for us in the near future and/ or an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity just lying around the next bend.

These are the memories that make us call out ” WHEW! That was a narrow escape -almost took the wrong career path or went looking for love in all the wrong places. It was not meant to be.

My initial accusatory prayers asking God why He didn’t give me what I most wanted-always have turned to a humbled prayer for forgiveness and gratitude-promise not to second-guess God again.

The best life lessons that I have received along the theme of trusting God’s intuitions over our own, have come from my flower gardens.

Take the picture of the two huge beautiful blooms I discovered on my Confederate Rose. Last year it didn’t bloom-and the branches appeared to be dying. I was so distraught-it was over 20 feet tall!

One day last year I took a leap of faith and cut all the branches back to three feet of bare limbs. Nothing happened… until spring when large green leaves started sprouting but still no buds.

When I left for the beach-the branches had grown taller but no buds-yesterday something caught my eye-a pink and white bloom! A miracle! Upon closer inspection the buds were appearing like popcorn popping.

Once again the legend of the Confederate Rose was coming true-from initially just a white blossom tree-the story of a Confederate soldier bleeding to death on a fallen white bloom that changed color in a two day interval …including pink and then a dark Rose color as he took his last breath. Tomorrow I will take the picture of the Rose-colored bloom before it too falls off and dies at the foot of the Confederate Rose!

So until tomorrow…

Today is my favorite day. Winnie the Pooh

Walsh and Mollie were returning home yesterday and Marcia-with help from Eloise, began decorating the front lawn to surprise Mollie with her benchmark birthday.

And now TODAY is my pretty niece Bekah’s birthday-October is a popular family birthday month!

This past year has been a catalyst for change and I hope more good changes continue to come your way Bekah! Love you!

Dear Reader:

It might seem a stretch going from Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny to John Travolta in Phenomenon but both teach us lessons about the source of our problems and why we have trouble solving them.

In both cases Fudd and Travolta are looking in the wrong direction when it comes to solving rabbit problems. This is very obvious in the Disney cartoons with Fudd aiming at everything everywhere with no luck capturing the wiley escape artist-Bugs Bunny.

Travolta’s character is also looking in all the wrong places-as the scene unfolds…

Travolta’s character has done everything he can think of to keep a pesky rabbit out of his garden. His fencing goes three feet underground and still each morning all the plants are nibbled through.

One night Travolta awakens and realizes his mistake-he has been going about this problem all wrong. In the moonlight he opens the gate and waits. To his shock and surprise the rabbit scurries out. The rabbit had been trapped IN the garden and he had been inadvertently keeping it locked in!

So until tomorrow-how many times do we fence in and lock up our troubled feelings and personal problems -letting them eat at our roots-when we need to open the gate and let them out-turn them over to God.

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Today we have two wonderful birthdays in the family-Kaitlyn’s beautiful mother, Susan, and gorgeous Mollie-my daughter in law and love! ❤️

Happy Birthday Susan… and many more!!!

Welcome Home Mollie-Hope your birthday weekend was everything you imagined… and more! A ” benchmark weekend!”

***Tommy and Kaitlyn’s new entertainment/ sports 🏈 center in the backyard! Looking good!

Dear Reader:

As difficult as it was to leave Edisto Island and the Ya’s… I never fail to breathe a sigh of relief when I pull in my driveway and see ” Big Red” my thirteen year old geranium smiling at me with new buds blossoming -showing off with pride. I am home!

Mollie is celebrating a benchmark birthday with Walsh and close friends at Nantucket over a long weekend. When I texted Walsh to see if they had arrived safely he said it had been a long day of cars, boats, trains and planes… ferries with no tarries, etc. No direct way to get there but well worth it …once you did !

Mollie’s parents Bruce and Marcia…are babysitting and yesterday we brought in reinforcements for all the sports activities! Thanks Uncle Tommy!

From the Dingles I went to the Turners to see JohnMandy, Eva Cate and Jake-like the Dingles, the Turners have been busy decorating for Halloween! Jake prefers fishing!

Trying to find either house these days is hard-construction at Walsh and Mollie’s community entry and new neighborhood signs and sidewalks at John and Mandy’s….

Like my house it is always a relief to arrive amid constant changes of life.

I had an “aha” moment when I re-read a quote from Mark Nepo that is more timely now than ever! It deals with a realization that must be re- introduced again. As Nepo says-” We must get this right.”

What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our time.

So until tomorrow…From God’s eye, there are no countries, no policies, no visas. There is only one earth softened by one sweet water.

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

The hardest thing yesterday was leaving Rest in Peace’s front porch. I do believe that if warring politicians would just rock for awhile on Brooke’s porch… peace and unity would prevail.

We Ya’s have solved so many world problems on that front porch and even helped each other out with our own personal ones. We all leave saddened but also lighter than we arrived.

Libby made the astute observation that the older we get, the more intertwined our needs and wants become. Materially we need less and less with each passing year and our wants are no longer excessive either-we simply want to maintain a status quo that we recognize can dissipate quickly with one stroke or serious diagnosis. Such is life.

When I came across this story it helped open my eyes to another layer of life we must include in our carry-on bag!

Once a Japanese emperor had an absolutely magnificent vase that was ancient and intricately beautiful. One day it fell, while being polished and broke into thousands of fragments… which were all gathered up to await the best potter’s hands in the land. When he couldn’t reassemble it-he was executed and the next potter was called. But no one could fix it.

Finally an old Zen monk was called. He brought his young apprentice to help him gather all the fragments snd take them back to their cave in the mountains.

For weeks he worked on it until it was complete-then the old monk and his apprentice returned it to the palace. The emperor was so overjoyed he gave the monk a handsome reward.

Then one day the apprentice unexpectedly came upon the fragments of the vase. He ran to his master crying out ” Look Master! You never assembled all the fragments from the vase!… How did you make it so beautiful?”

The old monk replied ” If you live the life you do with a loving heart using your unique talents-then you will always be able to restore and even make something more beautiful than before.”

How true! So until tomorrow life is never stagnant-we must change with the times-BUT if we look for beauty in every new situation we will find it!

May your day never burden, May evening find you gracious and fulfilled-May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected-May your soul calm, console, and renew you. ( Anam Cara)

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I am writing this blog Thursday evening as the sun sets on our last day together. Already we had to drop Jackson off to start her first step towards her return home to New Jersey.

It was almost beyond painful to tell her good-bye … but we all prayed for our health to continue until we meet again-Brooke and I sang Happy Trails to her as we used to do when she would leave the dorm on a date-out the window to tease her.

Our discussions centered around leaving our spirits behind ( not the drinking kind🤣) in the form of our words, actions, and dreams.

Sometimes, it seems, we ask too much. Sometimes we forget that small graces are enough. The miracle of this gathering was just that…a miracle! And though it is never long enough, it is enough to sustain our hearts until we meet again.

So until tomorrow…thank you Father for the gift of time and a special place to gather!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

” If we should be so lucky as to touch the lives of many, so be it. But if our lot is no more than the setting of a table, or the tending of a garden, or showing a child a path in the woods, our lives are no less worthy.” ( Nerburn)

Dear Reader:

Tuesday I rose at 6:30 and decided that I must see the sun rise-it was the same feeling I had in 2008 when I experienced the dolphin sighting at the jetties.

By the time I dressed and arrived the sun had just risen over the dunes and the lowest sun’s ray seemed to land at my feet. A hint of a God Wink to come,

I decided I would try to find an early morning walker to grab a snapshot of me since I now understood the brevity of time and how sacred time spent with the Ya’s was and nothing should be taken for granted. I wanted a memory.

It turned out to be my guardian angel-Christina ( Tina) Moore from Myrtle Beach. A grandmother who gave of herself twice a week to be a grandmother to toddlers who lived far away from their grandmothers and wanted one. She took my picture and told me she was spending time with her granddaughter-a freshman at Clemson-a most giving person!

After thanking her I found myself pointing to the jetties and telling her about the dolphin incident ( 13 years earlier that changed my outlook on life and the right path to follow. )

I had turned then to leave and felt a hand on my shoulder-it was Tina praying for me. The most beautiful prayer I had ever heard. She prayed that I would be held in the hand of God and sent forth out into the world each day to share a ray of the sun’s light to everyone I encountered.

I remembered telling this story about the Dakota children -how they learned to walk in silence to a lake or stream , splash water on their faces, then offer up a prayer toward the sun.

Tina had not wanted to walk Tuesday but something told her she should… my guardian angel-no doubt!

So until tomorrow… there is nothing more beautiful than a sunrise at dawn on a special beach with special friends. God Winks just waiting behind the dunes and by the jetties!

Today is my favorite day! Winnie the Pooh

Brooke and I went to the fire department to get a special beach gchair for Jackson to get her on the beach! So many helpful people came running to assist us and take Ya Ya photos-it restored our faith in humanity!

Dear Reader:

So many moments of joy intermingled with tears of gratitude for simply being alive and being back together, have already culminated in these first two days of our Ya Reunion!

Libby decorated the front door in sunflowers and brought Jackson a Bundt cake with a big sunflower on top in memory of one of the funniest stories concerning our much beloved YaYa!

God Winks are flowing in abundance along with memories- especially Jackson’s.

We must go back in time to the year 2010. Libby, Brooke, and I were recently retired and living the good life while Jackson was trying to survive her last couple of years till retirement teaching history at one of the high schools in Columbia.

Jackson’s mother ( affectionately nicknamed by us -Mama Mia) desperately wanted Jackson to retire and be like the rest of us-so she could have the freedom to travel and do more of what made her happy!

And then it happened-just like Mama Mia had prayed for-the teaching day that broke the camel’s back. One of those days when everything went wrong. Jackson got to school early to run off her test for that day and the copier was broken. Sighing heavily she headed for her room

It was May and she noticed her room felt unusually warm-she was told the air conditioner was broken( in just her room) and they couldn’t get the parts in that day to fix it-sorry-Hope you have a fan. Oh and by the way the principal said to remind her she had lunch duty-translation -no lunch.

By last period Jackson was soaking wet, hungry and exhausted! This class consisted of 38 ninth graders who were all loudly complaining about the heat! Then the ” straw” broke.

Something went whizzing past Jackson’s head-two boys were having a sunflower seed fight spitting out the shells-inadvertently hitting the teacher, a.k.a. Jackson.

Jackson’s expression said it all! Dead silence prevailed. Jackson grabbed her phone and with 38 pairs of eyes staring at her intently she called the SC Retirement System-conveniently located in Columbia. That same afternoon she officially signed her name and to the delight of all of us and Mama Mia -it was Jackson’s last year of teaching.

Celebration Day upon hearing the impending news!

Libby and Jackson have been roommates and close friends for a lost time-and the story of the sunflower( seeds) that ended Jackson’s teaching career has become a part of the Ya history!

So until tomorrow…the story will go from sunflowers to sun rises and a remarkable guardian angel I met on the beach-a great God Wink!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Off to the beach today!

Dear Reader:

Yesterday every step brought us closer together and steps are no longer taken for granted. Accidents and mishaps have taken their toll over the years but it just makes the Ya’s even more grateful for time together.

Like in the title picture, many obstacles had to be overcome and problems solved to make this gathering a reality but everyone just get chiseling away until the seemingly impossible became doable! And here we are-finally -after almost three years-back together again.

I asked Anne if she would decorate some pails for each Ya and the talented Anne did that and more-fall surprises in a pail!

I added this hostess plant gift for Brooke!

As we have spent time discussing physical challenges, and happy stories about our families and grandchildren -it reminds me of one of Confucius’ directives for living a productive life.

” Bring peace to the old, have trust in your friends, and cherish the young.”

While running around doing errands to get ready for our reunion-I came home to find a beautiful pink Breast Cancer pumpkin on my porch! Harriet Edwards! How I miss meeting up with her annually at the Race for the Cure! Decided to take my pumpkin to the retreat to remind me just how far I have come and how appreciative I am to God for life!

So until tomorrow… a tag on the pumpkin with a big word spelling HOPE has a verse of scripture-so true! ” ” For I know the plans I have for you-declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ( Jeremiah: 29:11)

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

(Memories from the Past)

Dear Reader:

The shadows of a person represent one’s weaknesses but without this recognition …we would not grow stronger and turn forward focusing on new opportunities and adventures.

The Ya’s have all lost and re-discovered our shadows-after two and a half years… today we will reunite at Edisto ! This reunion has not come easy. Life-threatening disease, long-distance moves, family crises and unexpected emergencies have all tried to dissolve our gathering this week-but we are Ya YaStrong!

In coming back together for much needed rest and peace we also acknowledge that our individual paths leading us here do not take us to task to judge the worthiness of our paths, but instead demands we walk our paths with worthiness .

This week will be filled with laughter and no doubt-some tears but at this stage in our lives we are coming to realize that we all are seeking the spirit in the small moments of our everyday life.

So until tomorrow… this week will be a celebration of the ordinary, a reminder that when all else is stripped away, a life lived with love is enough!

( Small Graces) Nerburn

” Today is my FAVORITE day” Winnie the Pooh

Vickie reminded me of this empty lot in Summerville where wild morning glories bloom in reckless abandon and startling profusion!