The Crab Chronicles

Vacation Memories

We took a lot of vacations when I was growing up, and I don't recall one ever being boring or routine. There was always something unusual happening. Of course, my dad was a bit ADD, soo...

When I was small, vacation meant me and my brother in the back of the station wagon with blankets, toys, and snacks. We would play back there for hours.

When the old station wagon gave out and we were in our family car, the 1968 Impala, we were older and it was territory time. We drew a "line" down the middle of the back seat, and if somebody crossed it, there was a lot of fighting.

My dad had NO problem pulling the car over to the side of the road and taking off his belt. There was no misbehaving tolerated. Period.

Of course, there was sometimes no place to pull over and use the bathroom. I have had to tinkle on the side of the road many times. I was a very happy camper when McDonalds started popping up all over the place because that meant actual bathrooms. Yay. [Stopped me from ruining shoes...]

When I was small, Dad's theory was that traveling was easier if he came home from work, ate dinner, and put us to bed. Once we were asleep [usually by 7:30 or 8] he would pick us up, put us in the back of the station wagon, and head down the road. Many times I went to sleep in my bed and woke up at the beach.

One time, Dad was loading the car and he put his shaving kit on top of the car, and forgot about it. We drove off down the road. He had to go buy a new razor, deoderant, etc. He was not happy.

I remember as a kid thinking that Dads always drive, and Moms always sit in the passenger seat. I was shocked once to see a mom driving. It was like they didn't know the rules.

We always stopped at Stuckeys. I always loved looking at the tacky stuff on the shelves, and no matter how much I pleaded we were not allowed to have it. Once in a while we might get some peanut brittle or taffy, but it was rare. Dad liked Stuckeys hot dogs.

We also would eat at Howard Johnsons. What a treat. They had a lot of different flavors of ice cream. To a kid, it was nirvana. I would plow thru my cheeseburger or grilled cheese, just wanting to hit that ice cream.

For most of my childhood, this was my standard order: plain cheeseburger [no pickle, no ketchup, no NOTHING], fries, and a coke. Of course, if they brought it with pickles or anything I didn't want, Bruce ate the unwanted extras.

Dad liked to go places FAST. I don't recall any vacation where we didn't get pulled over for speeding at least once. It got to be such a routine that Bruce and I were bored by it.Sometimes we got ticketed going and coming.

We always had to pull over and read historic markers. Always. And if there was a civil war battlefield anywhere near our route, we had to go see it. Dad was a big military history guy.

We lived in Augusta until I was 8. I remember one time, Dad decided we'd drive to Savannah for dinner at The Pirate's House. There is no interstate between Augusta and Savannah. It was a 3+ hour drive. I think Dad made it in two. We drove there, had dinner, and drove home. I loved the Pirate's House because you can hear about the legend of the pirates landing on the coast and smuggling their treasure ashore. I think it's haunted, too. I was intrigued with that from an early age.

To me, for most of my life, I have heard the word "vacation" and instantly thought "beach. I don't ever think of taking a vacation and NOT going to the beach.

One exception was a trip to Washington DC when I was 12 years old. Another was a trip to Chicago to see my cousins, and take my grandmother up there.

I was about 11 or 12 in the photo above and I was already taller than Mamaw.

I had never seen a city as big as Chicago. It was thrilling and terrifying. I will never forget the wind being very cold, in JULY.  I felt like I was on another planet. Riding the el, seeing all the big buildings, running around on the campus of McCormick Seminary, where my uncle worked - wow. We visited a natural history museum, too, which I vividly recall. My uncle's house was all vertical, very urban. Bruce observed there was no yard, therefore no lawn mowing.

Oftentimes our vacations were with Dad's brothers and their families. Unfortunately, since I was the youngest, I was viewed mostly as a nuisance. The exception was my cousin Tony, who was always sweet to me, and was more like a big brother. I would usually end up sitting quietly near the grownups, eavesdropping on conversations. I therefore was pretty precocious.

Sometime in the late 70's we headed down to Destin, Florida, where there were beautiful beaches, and not much else. Nobody had discovered it. We liked to just chill out there. Dad liked to stay at a place where there was a Dunkin Donuts nearby and we had donuts for breakfast most mornings. THAT was vacation, to me. Of course, now Destin is a known destination for vacationers, and much more developed...

I love taking vacations with my kids, and seeing them enjoy the scenery, the water, just relax. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to afford to go anywhere since 2010 [except one long weekend last year at a friend's house].

How to Talk Right

In what classic song does the songwriter ryhme the words "hard" and "tired"? And it's an exact ryhme? Give up? I'll give you a hint. The songwriter was from Kentucky.

Pronounce the word "tired" like "hard" but starting with a "t" [in other words, "tard"]. Got it? Now you are speaking hillbilly.**

We had a very quiet father's day, since there are no fathers around here to celebrate. Errands, a trip to the grocery store, and then I came home and collapsed in a ball of sweat.

Have I mentioned that I love living in Atlanta 9 months of the year? We are in the 3 months I don't like, right now. I try to get all errands done before noon, but it doesn't always happen.

Michael finally got his prosthetic back, this morning. The hand had to be sent to Germany to be fixed. We went to CHOA for our 11:00 appointment and there was momentary panic because the prosthetist had forgotten to inform the front office staff that he had told me to come in this morning for a fitting. Yikes.

There were several babies in the waiting area and we had fun making faces at them, and waving Hi. This counts as great fun to Michael and I. I know, we're weird..

Came home and checked my side garden because we got a lot of rain last night. Found FIVE yellow squash, the perfect eating size!! I should've taken a photo. I was ridiculously excited. We have radishes almost ready and tons of green tomatoes. I just hope the rainy days this week don't do too much damage..

Some summers we are desperate for rain, but then this one we seem to have the opposite problem.

**We watched one of my favorite movies last night, Coal Minter's Daughter. I remember seeing Loretta Lynn in concert when I was a little girl, and my dad was a big country music fan, so that film has always been special to me. It reminds me of living in East Tennessee - my home for most of my growing up years and my 20's.

This is a video with Loretta singing the song, plus Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crowe. There are lots of photos and it's a fun video to watch, if you're a fan of Loretta.

 

Happy Father's Day

I started off my life with this guy, Tony Thompson, watching out for me. He told me stories, sang songs, fed me, played on the floor - he was as good a father as he knew how to be. I was ignorant of my good fortune for a long time.

Another important dad in my life was my grandaddy, Bob Hasty. When Tony wasn't around, Papaw took up the slack. He read to me, made me cakes, fed me bites of toast with butter and honey. I was always happy to be with him, even if we were just quietly in front of the TV watching baseball.

I feel bad that my kids lack a father, but I was too busy trying to cope with being a mother to go out looking for candidates, and I couldn't stretch myself any further.

As Mama Gump says "I did the best I could."

I figured one loving mama, and a loving grandmother and uncle were better than life in an orphanage.

I lost my dad in 1996, far too soon.

To all of you out there fortunate enough to still have your dads, I hope you have a happy and relaxed Father's Day.

Quick Little Post

I love my son to distraction but he doesn't do anything.quickly. In the time it takes him to get up, take out his retainer, and make his way downstairs, I can write an entire blog post.

So here he comes into the room, to remove the retainer. He likes the double sink in my bathroom so he washes his face and does his teeth brushing in there.

Retainer is out. Just heard the case snap shut.

"Did you sleep?"

"No, I was flying actually, the whole night."

"Where did you go?"

"Everywhere." [He gets his sarcasm from me. LOL]

"I need to go to the grocery store in a few minutes, if you want to go with me."

He makes a noise.

"Read." This is his indication that he wants to finish the book we are reading together, which is at the most exciting part. It's the final book in a terrific series by Michael Scott. The final book is called The Enchantress. He wanted to finish reading last night but I was too sleepy.

So we will read and then I will try to go to the grocery store and get back before my book club meeting this afternoon.

He is getting out the Pop Tarts now. [Don't judge - I'm just glad he eats ANYTHING in the morning because he hates breakfast!]

Life is exciting...

Boob News

Wow, last night was a dark and stormy night, truly, and the debris all over the roads this morning proves it. I was trying to get supper on the table last night and flipped on the TV, and the announcer interrupted the program to say there were tornadoes in Cherokee and Cobb counties.

I immediately texted my friends and relatives up there.

We didn't get the tornadoes around here, but the power flickered several times.We were all sitting there at the table with LED miner's lights and flashlights. Mom calmly asked Michael to put a candle on the table. It's times like that that I am glad we have a gas stove...

And now for something completely different...

I was perusing the AJC looking for actual news, and I ran across an item so inane, so ridiculous, that I laughed. Is it REALLY important to know that Hooters is cutting late night appetizer prices?? If you like to hang out at Hooters late at night, the prices on their menu items are not your biggest issue...

Next I stumbled on a story about Sandra Bullock Bares Bra in Backless Dress. Yes, Hollyweird celebs do not mind showing off their underwear. What a revelation. I mean - that ANY of them WEAR underwear...

Even Reuters, my go-to site for real news, has a breast-related story about Venezuela...

Maybe the fact that I wasn't breast-fed is why I am absolutely astonished at the level of coverage of BOOBS in the news media...

Everywhere you turn.... BOOBS. Bazookas. Ta Tas. Racks. Bosoms.

It's bizarre.

One of my favorite scenes in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is the one below. It's less than two minutes. Watch it and you will understand why it fits in this post:

 

We need to STOP this obsession and think about little things like the economy, and gas prices, and war in Syria, NSA spying but WHAT are we obsessed with?

Boobs.

I think it's breast best to close that topic...

A Face from the Past, and Wendys Frosty Weekend

I am usually delighted when someone sends me photos of someone in my family that I had never seen before, but sometimes they make me a little sad, too.

In the above photo, Michael is at the far left, wearing the pointed hat. This was New Year's 2006. A friend of mine traveled to Petropavlovsk with two of her children who were adopted from the same orphanage as Michael, and she was given this photo. Her kids are nearly grown now and they wanted to see the orphanage again.

Once communism was going strong, religion was driven underground in Russia and their satellite countries like Kazakhstan. So New Year's became the big celebration, and it includes costumes and plays at Mike's former orphanage. His orphanage was not a bad place, compared to most orphanages. The kids had/have enough to eat, and they are educated, and they live in family groups. It's not like a real family of course, but it's far better than a place like Alesia's former orphanage.

The first year Michael was here at Christmas, he asked me "What costume am I going to wear?" and was disappointed when I said we only do that at Halloween.

It makes me a bit sad to see this photo, though, because when I look at that little face I don't see a happy boy celebrating. He looks somehow lost, to me. I remember how, when he first came home, Michael would just cling to me in desperation sometimes, fearful, I'm sure, that he would lose me, too, as he had already lost his birthmom. He had "anxious attachment" for a long time.

I now thank God every day for Michael, because I am privileged to be his mom. He is a joy to parent. I wish that everyone could know this joy. It has nothing to do with biology. It has everything to do with love.

What's really sad is that there are lots of boys in orphanages or in foster care here, who would thrive in a loving family. Michael is not unique. I read something on Facebook that said if only 1 out of 7 Christians adopted a child from an orphanage or foster care, there would be no more children in orphanages or foster care. If you opened that up further, say to non-churchgoers or loving Jewish families, I'm sure it would be something like 1 in 10 families.

If I was working full-time and had a steady income I would consider adopting again, in a heartbeat.The adoption tax credit makes it even more affordable.

Below is the type of photo that speaks volumes about the love of a family, and how it can transform a little boy:

We don't have a lot of money, or new cars, and we don't go on big vacations, but this little guy knows he is LOVED.

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This weekend, please go to Wendy's and buy a Frosty. See below for why.

Throughout Father’s Day Frosty Weekend – Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16 –  participating Wendy’s will donate 50 cents from the sale of every Frosty product to support a national effort to match America’s foster children with prospective adoptive parents.  All Frosty products are included — including the newest treat, the Frosty Waffle Cone.

 2013 marks the seventh consecutive year of Wendy’s Father’s Day Frosty Weekend. Last year, Wendy’s raised $1.5 million during the celebration, and hopes for $1.7 million this year.

 “Nothing was more important to my dad than family, and that’s why he started the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption,” said Wendy Thomas, daughter of Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas who was adopted himself. “I can think of no better way of honoring fathers everywhere, and my dad’s legacy, than to raise a Frosty cone or cup and help another child find their forever father.”

 #FirstFrosty

This year, Wendy’s digital fans can raise even more money for children in foster care by reminiscing about their “First Frosty.” Every time someone submits a story, image or video about a first-time Frosty experience via Twitter or Facebook, using the hashtag #FirstFrosty, Wendy’s will donate $1.00 up to $50,000. 

 All entries – including those showing or describing someone getting their First Frosty during Father’s Day weekend – are eligible to be randomly selected to receive free Wendy’s gift cards. 

 Since its beginnings in 2007, Father’s Day Frosty Weekend has raised more than $8.6 million for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in support of Wendy’s Wonderful Kids™, a program that finds permanent adoptive homes for children in foster care. To date, 3,560 children have been adopted through Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, and 548 more are waiting for their final adoption hearing.

 For more information, visit www.facebook.com/frosty or www.wendys.com.

  The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a national nonprofit public charity dedicated exclusively to finding permanent homes for the more than 130,000 children waiting in North America’s foster care systems. Created by Wendy’s® founder Dave Thomas who was adopted, the Foundation implements evidence-based, results-driven national service programs, foster care adoption awareness campaigns and advocacy initiatives. To learn more, visit davethomasfoundation.org or call 1-800-ASK-DTFA.

Teachable Moment

I was raised by a father who always drummed this into my head: "You must ALWAYS do the RIGHT thing." He usually also added, "The right thing is almost never the EASY thing."

Sometimes it's really tough to understand "the right thing" though.

Michael has a friend who is "girl crazy," and this is disturbing to him. Michael is a very tender-hearted young man, and wise beyond his years in many ways. It bothers him that this friend views girls as only sex objects, and spends most of his waking hours trying to get them to fool around with him.

I know this young man. I think he is boasting a lot to Michael, and some of this attitude about girls may not be accurate. OTOH, if he is showing his true self to Michael and Michael is repelled by it, that's scary.

Most young men are walking hormone machines. I know that. The ones who can keep a lid on it are the ones who have strong and loving women in their lives, I think. Michael has two strong, loving women who adore him, and he has a basic amount of respect for women, despite his sister's antics.

The young man who is so Girl Crazy has not had the same stability in his life.

Maybe I'm trying to play amatuer psychologist too much. I'm open to hearing other ideas, certainly.

When there is an opportune moment, though, I need to talk to Michael about this again. I need to explain to him a lesson I learned the hard way, many years ago.

When I was in middle school I had a very good friend, a friend of the heart, that was much like a sister to me. When we got into high school, suddenly she went "boy crazy." She turned into this little Lolita-like person who wore skimpy clothes and talked obsessively about boys.

I was totally repelled by that behavior.

I ended the friendship in a screaming phonecall one night where I essentially told this girl she was a complete idiot. I felt very morally justified in doing that. I pictured the girl winding up pregnant, which I felt was a real danger.

She didn't get pregnant. She finished school, went to college, and later became a doctor.

The really awkward thing was that we had carefully managed to get into all the same classes at school. Suddenly, she hated my guts. And I had to see her every hour of the school day, for months after our big fight.

She changed and matured, but she never forgave me.

I felt very bad about my behavior in later years, but I could never bring myself to apologize to her. I was as immature as she was, in my own way. In a way it was good, though, because it taught me a valuable lesson about friendship.

I plan to tell Michael to "hang in there" with his friend. Don't tell him off. Wait for him to grow up a bit. Try to keep the friendship alive, despite the immature behavior.

At heart, this boy is kind and loving. He has not had an easy life, for many reasons. While I am disgusted by his attitudes towards women, I am not surprised.

Maybe the "big picture" view is that Michael needed to see someone behaving badly towards girls, so he could consciously think about the issue. Michael has a lot of girls who are his friends, but none are romantic interests, even in the "puppy love" category. For that, I am grateful.

Michael surrounded by females...

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

-Henry David Thoreau

Dinner Theater Diva

This is me when I was 18 years old, and I was in a dinner theater production of Hello Dolly! I had brought my costume home to launder it, I think. It's the only time I was ever allowed to bring a costume home. Dad was in his pajamas, wanting a dance. I am not much of a dancer.

In so many ways, that spring of 1980 was a pivotal time in my life.

I was finishing up high school and I only had 3 classes every day. I was in 3 plays that year, my senior year. In had done How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, at the Oak Ridge Playhouse.

I had done The Man Who Came to Dinner, a school production.

Then in the spring, the tryout for the Hello Dolly! director, Hall Parrish. I was at the peak of my singing powers but I had such a big voice, it was tough to control. I could hit a lot of high notes, though, and I had been in shows before.I auditioned and forgot about it.

A week or so later, I will never forget driving home one foggy night - I think from one of the other plays I was in - to my parents' house out on Melton Hill Lake. It was a small, twisty, hilly mountain road. When I got there and pulled in the driveway, Mother had written on a garage window, in lipstick, YOU MADE IT.

I thought to myself jeez, Mom, I am not a great driver, but it's just a little FOG, for heaven's sake...

A minute later, Mother came flying out the door and was clearly out of her mind, hollering and jumping up and down and yelling "You MADE IT!" over and over. When she finally calmed down, she said I had been cast in the chorus of Hello Dolly!

I was 17 years old. I was the youngest in the cast. The guy who ran the theater used that as an excuse to pay me HALF as much as the other performers in the chorus. I didn't care. We did shows 6 nights a week, and matinees on Sunday and Wednesday. Those two matinee days were exhausting.

I did that schedule for 6 weeks. I had to work the night of my senior prom and miss a lot of other stuff. I didn't care.

The Westside Dinner Theater was in a converted barn. Literally, a BARN. The tiny stage was in the middle. There were seats on 4 sides, and steps leading down from the 4 corners. The stage lifted up and down hydraulically.

People would come in at 5:30 or 6 and the stage area would have steam tables with food. Everyone got their food buffet style, and waiters brought drinks. I don't remember the entire menu, but there was a broiled fish, salad, and green beans, and that's what I usually ate. Dinner was part of the deal.

Then, the food would be cleared off, and the stage would be lowered.

The waiter's areas were the only "backstage" area. We had to change clothes with the waiters running in and out, pretending not to ogle us chorus girls. We learned to change without revealing anything indecent. I had a crush on one of the waiters.

One of my fellow cast members was a young actress just a year older than me, Dale Dickey. As far as I know, Dale is the only one of us to go on to a real bona fide theater/movie career, as a character actress. She's worked with Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson - just about every big star out there. She won an Independent Spirit Award for her rule in Winter's Bone, the first starring role for Jennifer Lawrence. Every now and then Dale pops up in a movie and I am startled. She has a scene in Iron Man 3, for instance. Dale is a very genuine person, and deserves her success. She still has roots in Knoxville, as you can read in this interview.

My clearest memory of Dale is sitting backstage putting her hair in hot rollers, and styling it. I was so jealous of her beautiful hair. My hair has enough natural curl that hot rollers are useless and make me look like an escaped mental patient. I tried to use them, Lord knows...

Hello Dolly! was a musical my parents saw on Broadway in the 1960's when Carol Channing was the star. They loved the show and bought the soundtrack. I used to listen to it over and over as a little girl. I knew 80% of the songs before I was ever cast in the show.

The lady who played our Dolly had a tiny role [blink and you'd miss her] in Coal Miner's Daughter, and was kind of a diva. She made the musical director transpose all her songs, which was not all that difficult for Rosemary, fortunately.She flounced around making demands. After our show I never heard of her doing anything else.

There was literally no backstage area, as I mentioned, aside from the waiters' stations. Before or after the show you had to go upstairs, where there was a sort of living area, with a dorm-like feel for actors only in town for the show - cheap living accommodations. There was also the area where the stage was brought up and "dressed" with props and the minimal set pieces we had.

A friend of mine from school, Danny, was the Stage Manager.

There are lots of funny stories from the show. Here are my faves.

One night, just before the big finale, I had to run outside to get to another entrance. [It was an old barn, remember?!] and when I ducked back inside the the tiny cramped backstage area, a bug flew up my nose. I was half hysterical trying to get it out. One of the actors, who smoked like a fiend, told me to take a drag off his cigarette to get the bug out. I tried. I didn't smoke then. I had a coughing fit. 

Then I had to run onstage and act like nothing was wrong.

By then, everyone in the cast had somehow heard "Dee had a bug fly up her nose and SHE CAN'T GET IT OUT!" and so we were all smiling and everyone was sneaking looks at me and trying not to laugh at me. I stumbled through the finale and my high note at the end. The director said after the show "WOW! Great energy tonight in the finale!" and we all laughed. Well, I didn't laugh too hard but everyone else did. Someone finally told Hall that I had a bug up my nose.

One night, two of my fellow chorus members were onstage but not in the scene. The principals were talking and singing. Wayne and Katie were joking around, talking silently to each other, as they were just background folks. Katie got so tickled, she stood right onstage and peed her costume. At the end of the scene, she walked off, and the entire audience could see the little yellow puddle she had left. I ran upstairs to hear Danny hollering "I'm NOT cleaning that up! Don, you don't pay me enough to clean that up!"

There was always a lot of joking and horseplay backstage. We were a young cast, mostly early 20's or younger, except for Dolly and Horace.

After a couple of weeks, everyone complained bitterly about being tired of the show. Not me. I loved it. I never tired of it.

My parents saw the show every weekend.

My teenaged crush on the handsome waiter, Tom, was unrequited. He never paid much attention to me and I was too shy to talk to him. He was in his 20's. I think he was in college.

Sometime towards the end of the show there was a party at the half-finished house of the theater owner, out at the lake. I recall it as a really hot, joyless occasion. Everyone was on their best behavior. Nobody drank, or swam, or had much fun.

I worked hard on that show, and I loved it all, despite the crappy pay and the time it took out of my life. I was bereft when it was over and I suddenly had a lot of free time.

The show ended and about 2 weeks later I started summer school, my freshman year of college. I was a far more confident young woman because of my Dolly experience, and I had dreams of becoming an actress.

It was a fun time in my life, 33 years ago...

Paperchasing

Papers accumulate in my room faster than I can keep them sorted into piles. Every so often I get irritated with all the papers and just throw them into one big pile, and then I sort them out, and some get put into my filing cabinet.

Right now there are 10 different piles of papers on my bed. I still have a huge stack to go through. Then I have to go through the stuff in my purse.

All of this is to find two pieces of paper that I need. My guess is that after I finish this post and turn back to the task, I will not find what I need. There will be some stomping around and cussing. I will have to lie down for a while. I may drink a second cup of tea. I will say the Finding Prayer - "God please help me find this stuff!"

Eventually I will find the pieces of paper. I hope.

We're supposed to have showers this morning, but there are no showers. It's a cool and breezy 72 degrees. It reminds me of the last time I was at the beach. I wish I could go walk on the beach right now.

I am reading a book that I think will be discussed in Book Club this Saturday, The School of Night. Excellent book. Some of it takes place on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a lovely place. I wish I were there in fact instead of in my mind.

It was kind of a weird and frustrating weekend. I felt restless and discombobulated. When I feel that way, I often go and bake something like brownies or pumpkin bread. I dare not bake anything right now. I am still fighting my sugar addiction. Still trying to eat better. I am doing 90% well, I think. Still eating yogurt and granola bars.

I started to go swimming yesterday afternoon but it was too cool.

Michael was invited to a friend's house last night to "hang out." I dropped him off at 6:30. When he was brought home later, I asked what he had for dinner. "Nothing. Well, a bagel," he replied. They ate dinner before he got there. We eat around 7:30. He had worked all afternoon. So he wasn't even asked if he'd had dinner, or offered a sandwich. Needless to say he was starving when he got home. I am rather ticked off. They know we don't eat until later.

I guess next time I will have to be more vigilant, and make him eat a sandwich before he goes over there.

That's about all I know. Back to the paperchase...

Who's In Charge?

The hardest thing for me to do is to accept the situations in my life that are really tough. There have been a lot of times in the past 4 years, since I was laid off from Home Depot, when I literally had to just try to breathe in and out, and remain calm, and remember my faith.

From a dicey job situation, to my daughter's choosing to live away from us, to my mother's health issues - it's been tough sledding, no question.

A few days ago, I was worrying about some issues, and I read this in my daily devotional book, Jesus Calling:

"Who is in charge of your life? If it is you, then you have good reason to worry. But if it is I, then worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive. When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to Me. Back off a bit, redirecting your focus to Me. I will either take care of the problem myself, or show you how to handle it." [Luke 12:22-31; John 16:33]

I have a situation in my life that I can't blog about that is a source of concern, but everytime I feel myself start to get truly anxious, and my imagination spirals off on fearful paths, I remember to say this tiny prayer, "God, please take care of us."

It's not a specific prayer, but it covers everything. I don't believe in trying to tell God HOW to do things, because that just leads to frustration. If you're trying to control the outcome, you haven't really relinquished control, I feel.

I will say this: the other night we were getting horribly heavy rains here, and I knew the backyard was a lake, with the water only about 10 feet from the back door, and I just prayed and prayed "Lord, please don't let those waters flood the house!" I felt rather guilty for being that specific. Finally, I just switched back to "Just please take care of us!" and the rain slacked off, and the waters receded.

I also don't believe God ever directs bad things to happen to people. It really ticks me off when I hear a preacher [or anyone really] say "God sent ______ to punish/test faith/teach a lesson" etc. etc.  I simply don't believe that God ever does anything like that.

The God I believe in is a God of love. Pure and simple. He loves us like a loving parent loves a child. You can't stop bad things from happening to your child, but you can let them know you feel bad for them and you love them. You can do whatever you can do to ease their situation.Evil does exist, though, and sometimes it seems to triumph, for a while.

The other day I was not feeling well but I needed to water my flowers out in the front yard.

I bent over to do some weeding, which I try to do pretty often in the front yard. When I stood up, I just started pouring sweat. It wasn't that hot. The sweat was going into my eyes and burning. I gulped in big lungfuls of air and just stood for a minute.

Then I got mad. I wanted to finish watering. I didn't want to stop and go sit down. I wanted to finish what I started. I walked over to my other flower bed and stuck the hose on it, still trying to breathe deeply and center myself so I wouldn't have to go inside.

I thought to myself, "Lord, please let me be able to do this now."

Immediately, a cool breeze, fairly strong, came out of nowhere and cooled me off. It blew long enough to really make a difference, and to help me feel refreshed. I knew that was God answering my prayer.

so whatever issues you are facing, try to remember to breathe deeply and just ask God to help