I have been out of town and Max, my little white helper has been afraid to leave my side since I returned. It is amazing how our dogs can look at us in the eye and communicate so much. I cannot imagine losing Max. Priscilla was a great companion to two little boys and will be missed by all.
I absolutely love meeting friends when it was totally unexpected. Over 40 years ago my husband and I were living in Lexington, Kentucky while he was attending seminary. I met a wonderful woman named Lena. I was young, away from home and working at the University of Kentucky. Lena was over all the student records for the Engineering School and I was the secretary for the Civil Engineering Department. She became my second mother. There were many Friday night meals, fires in the fireplace when it snowed and wisdom shared as I learned how to work in a professional setting. While I was there my first child was born and Lena came to my aid. She gave my son his first bath and assured me I would not break his arms when I bathed him. We teased that she was my mother in law as her last name was also Hodges. Three years later after we had moved back to Alabama and I had another baby, she came to stay with me and this time helped me with two small children and come to grips with the loss of a baby all at the same time. The fact that this friendship was part of my journey has been a gift I will always cherish. I leaned on her so much! As I write this Lena is asleep on my couch. Her daughter brought her for a visit and we have talked, laughed and shared a lot to fill in the blanks of 40 years. Today while meeting my daughter for lunch she told me that getting older is hard and she does not feel as steady as she used to be. I never felt I could repay her for what she did for me. Today I felt privileged to have her lean on my arm as we walked into the restaurant.
Today was so much fun! I painted with my friend who said she was frustrated with her painting so we painted together and I gave her an assignment. I had a complete set up in my garage with lights, easels and flowers. I can get real bossy teaching, for instance, I would tell her to "stop" quite often and to place her colors down and leave them. I would not let her go back over her painting or "muddy" it. It turned out sooooo good! I was so impressed - I wish I had taken a picture of her painting also but I did not. I have several people asking me to teach a class and I am looking for a venue for that. I love to see someone feel good about their painting! There is creativity in all of us.
Maybe because this happened when I was younger it embarrassed me so much. I was grocery shopping with my three small children. My oldest son Matt was around 8 years old, my daughter, Allie was 5 and my youngest, Adam was 6 months or so. Adam was sitting in the grocery cart seat and Matt and Allie were running around the cart. If you have ever been a young mother just trying to keep your sanity with your kids running around you crazy then you might understand how I was feeling. I was trying to grab groceries off the shelves, keep Adam occupied and keep the other two in sight. I hurriedly pushed my cart up to a salesman in the store and asked, "Excuse me but where are your nuts?." As soon as the words came out of my mouth I knew I had messed up but it was too late. NO!!! NO!! NO!!! I thought, I did not just say that! I could feel all the blood in my body rush to my face and I told myself to just keep eye contact. And definitely I should not look down. Even my children were aware that those words could have a different connotation. The man smiled slightly at my discomfort and pointed two rolls away and said, "The PECANS are on aisle 5". I could not get away fast enough. The next week when I went in to work, the charge nurse asked me to go to room 121 and take out the patient's IV, change his dressing and provide discharge teaching. She explained the patient had a hernia repair three days ago. I went to meet the patient, I explained what I was going to do and proceeded to remove his IV. He was looking at me very intently and then he said, "You look so familiar to me but I cannot place you." I replied that I was not from the area but moved there two years previously. Then I asked him, "Where do you work?" He said, "Kroger". Realization hit me and him at the same time. I slapped the bandaid on his hand and almost tripped trying to get out of the room. I ran to the medicine room and closed the door behind me. My friend came into the room right after me and asked, "What is wrong with you? I just saw you running down the hall." I said. "Beverly, please go and discharge my patient for me. I cannot remove his dressing! Trust me. He might think that I really want to look under his sheet." I had many more embarrassing moments during my nursing career but this one still makes me uncomfortable. I cannot believe I am even writing this. But I did learn from this. I learned that in every grocery store, the pecans are usually in the baking aisle near the cake mixes. I never ask now.
It is a challenge to take an old black and white and try and infuse color - using my imagination to think what this beautiful woman might look like and what her personality might have been.
