Random Acts of "Kindness"

CHAPLAINS

September 5, 2015

It will come as no surprise when I admit that I talk to strangers on a regular basis. I just realized that within the past two months, three chaplains have crossed my path. Since June 22 when the tornado descended on Woodhaven Lakes, various teams from the Southern Baptist Disaster Ministry have been on property helping to clear the fallen trees. I have recently learned two interesting facts or theories. The first is that there were two tornadoes interacting over Woodhaven. The first stayed air born and sheared the tops off of trees. The second interacted with the first and jumped across the landscape uprooting trees and causing major destruction. They think anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 trees were affected. I don’t know where these facts are coming from but it does explain the number of trees that are uprooted. It didn’t help that June was a very wet month and the ground was saturated. The help from many people and organizations was desperately needed.

I don’t pay too much attention when something happens one time. The second time the same idea might cause me to pay a little bit more attention but when I notice the third, I wonder. I met the first chaplain soon after we gained admittance to property. A team from Southern Illinois were across from our lot cutting the trees in the little park. I wandered across to talk and learned of their mission. That was my first interaction with a Chaplain, who resides in Springfield, IL. I went to their command post on property, and signed up, requesting their help. The double trunk tree over our motor home required more equipment than the Southern Baptist had with them so we hired a professional team. Once the trees were cut, I went back to control central and asked them to take our request off their stack.

So many people asked for their help that they returned, with different teams a second and third time. I was really surprised when I saw their yellow shirts and equipment when we returned to Woodhaven after our trip to Florida. We still had trees that needed to be cut down, so I returned to Command Central to fill out another form. We have two trees down on our property that have fallen on the lot behind us. I asked the association to phone the owner requesting their permission to cut the fallen trees. Leaving Command Central, I met my second Chaplain. She lives in Sugar Grove, IL. She was part of the team that first assessed our needs, then returned to clear the trees. As she left the campground for the week, I was up at the main gate to say goodbye and thank them for their help.

The last Chaplain I met was from Houston, TX. He said that he was not ordained, and he doesn’t speak at their services. I’m regretting that I didn’t delve into this idea further. I’m sure that he is so glad that he met me since I gave him a new idea — there is life immediately after death, not only for humans, but for animals too. I had already admitted that I argue with God, but never win and walk to a different drummer. He explained that there was nothing in the bible that mentioned animals having a soul, or crossing over . To which I replied that the Bible was written by man inspired by God, but it didn’t contain everything. I mentioned that I had personal experience seeing the spirit of our deceased dog running through our house. With that he asked if he could pray for me.

THREE CHAPLAINS — I wonder, is there more to this than just meeting three Chaplains?

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RUFFUS

August 29, 2015

The Mind, Body, Spirit Exp. comes to our area three times a year. I try to attend at least two of the events. I’ll admit that this summer I wasn’t looking forward to attending. I had low energy, just plain TIRED. My husband knows how much I enjoy going — it is one place where I’m comfortable — the participants are more talented than I am — he convinced me to go.

This weekend, I felt like I was walking under a dark cloud that I couldn’t escape. Tired, no energy, no workshops that called my name — “Why am I here?” — that describes the situation. Since I go to the event so often, I know many of the vendors. When I stopped to talk to one, she suggested that I spend some time with crystals. I had already spent time looking for a new crystal pendulum without success. Each one I tried didn’t want to come home with me. I wandered to the booths that sell crystals. On the way, I stopped to chat and shared my quest. Doing so, I received help. A brother of one of the vendors suggested I follow him and he would help me find a pendulum. We wandered to the first booth I had stopped at that morning, but instead of pendulums, he stopped at pendants. “Choose one.” he said. There were more than a hundred pendants on the table — many emblems, many different colors — too many to choose from. I put my hand out and touched three — one for healing, a mermaid and a dragon. I almost chose the pendant for healing but both the creator of the pendant and the brother thought I should get the dragon — I’m fiery and have good energy. (Not Saturday but they’ve known me for many years.) I knew I needed a name for the dragon, but the brother told me that the dragon would tell me his name. I almost laughed, I have a hard time with names, titles. I stopped in the bathroom and thankfully the name Ruffus popped into my mind. The dragon had shared his name! And that is not all he shared.

I remembered the direction to spend time with crystals so I revisited the artist and asked what crystals comprised the pendant. Although I could list them, I have tried three times and each time something has occurred to stop my writing. Therefore I will take the direction that the knowledge of the dragon’s properties is for my use only, and just say that the various crystals in my dragon seems to be working for my good.

Sunday morning, I arrived in time to listen to a shaman who uses song for healing. Preparing for meditations, I always close my eyes — I closed my eyes to listen to his song and not be distracted by the outside. I was very surprised. I don’t have control over my talents — they are gifts that come and go at their will, not mine. With closed eyes, I saw a lion, a dog, a wolf, and an eagle. I knew I wouldn’t remember so I opened my eyes and wrote them down. Closed eyes again, I saw a buffalo, a deer, many winged species, then recognizable — a crow and a hawk. When his song was over, I asked the shaman if his song was meant to call in the animals and told what I had experienced.

Many of the crystals in Ruffus are for clarity and channeling. If Ruffus can chase the dark clouds and help with my other issues, he and I will be VERY good friends!

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BATTERED

August 22, 2015

I’ve often thought of myself as a ship, sailing the open seas, at the mercy of the wind and the tides, directed by a Supreme Being. I have to confess that this ship feels battered. Since the beginning of summer, my life has been anything but smooth water. Thankfully nothing extremely serious, my family is well, we have shelter and food on the table BUT many, many strong waves have tried to drown me.

I thought I was coping well when the tornado struck. Thankfully we were at home, not in the path of destruction. I don’t try to remember stuff that surfaces that unsettles me. I have NOT taken photos of the damage caused by the storm, except on our own property. It is too sad to see the sunny roads that were once sheltered by trees. I don’t need to remember the effects of the strong winds. If I were to try to list all of the challenges and problems I would have to think, and write them down. I don’t need to remember them, you don’t need to read about them. I will admit that I was happy when June ended. I mistakenly thought that waters would be calmer, smooth sailing. I WAS WRONG. More rough seas ahead. More challenges, more obstacles — even our trip to Florida for our granddaughter’s wedding had huge waves.

Then thankfully came August — but NOT smooth seas. A favorite restaurant announced it was closing, as did the garage that works on our car. Health concerns for members of my husband’s family surfaced. Now I’m sure that “my friend’s in high places” have been busy — “helping.” I’m also sure that I didn’t write down the many times I received their help and said “thank you!”

I looked at the thought rambles that I’ve written and realized that nothing was scheduled to publish. I’ve been so busy trying to keep my head above water that I haven’t taken the time to write, to share. When I had so many ideas for thought rambles, I wondered if that meant my life would be busy. That I wouldn’t have time to write. I guess that is true. Day by day, week by week, month by month — time passes. I’ll leave the passing of time in the hands of the Supreme Being and keep trying to do the best I can!

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SPEED BUMPS

August 15, 2015

I’ll admit that I’m not bored when my life doesn’t have a bunch of problems surfacing. Sadly ever since the end of June, I feel like I’m going over speed bumps — if not every day, a couple of times a week. Thankfully they are not mountains, just high enough to make me pause, reflect, reconsider, and PRAY.

It all started when I fell and hurt my shoulder — although it is getting better, I still have not regained normal movement. Therefore, I don’t exercise every day, or every week. Little things like writing or peeling potatoes aggravate my arm. I suppose I could stick to a food plan but I’m not doing that either. Of course, the tornado didn’t help!

I’ve already written about the tornado, work is still in progress to reclaim our space. It is VERY sunny, we miss the trees, the shade. A friend of ours planted an apple tree many years ago. We talked to a person to remove the tree stumps when I noticed the apple tree is sending up shoots. Since Muscles planted it, we are going to see if it becomes a tree again. We lost 11 trees but are only having 9 stumps removed at this time.

If there is a silver lining to our loss of trees, we now have better television reception. Before the tornado, we had 4 channels plus the religious stations. Now we have more than twelve. The trees aren’t blocking the signal anymore.

Returning from the camper, we learned that my husband’s company is canceling our health insurance. They feel we can do better on the open market. They have provided a company to help us choose new plans. Since my husband is diabetic along with a few other health problems — a new plan will be more expensive.

June ended, I hoped the bumps would even out. NOPE Our favorite restaurant is closing on Labor Day. Since my husband is particular — finding places to eat that fit his tastes and that we can afford is not easy.
We headed to Florida for our granddaughter’s wedding. My seat companion needed someone to talk too — I fit the bill. She shared her life story and current romantic interest. Our plane was diverted to Orlando because of thunder storms — thankfully the storms ended and we were able to safely return to Jacksonville — two hours late. Our granddaughter planned to wed on the beach. Thankfully they had a beautiful blue sky, dry wedding.

Just to keep life interesting — the alarm system at our daughter’s house sounded an alert at 2:00 AM — a French door shook in the wind. Returning home, — we had a good flight, calm skies, gentle landing. We learned our broken motor home had been removed from our property. Most of the debris was gone. Before we left the campground, I spent some time in the pool. Spotting a friend, I took advantage of the opportunity to talk or listen. She told me that the time we spent together really helped her, she felt better. I also learned that an old friend had passed, we had just been talking about him. Many years ago, he taught my youngest daughter how to dive.

July had finally ended. First of August, we learned that the garage we have taken our cars to for over thirty years was closing, they were retiring. They sold the building but not the business. More challenges — more new opportunities.

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HOMER LAKE

August 8, 2015

Rain finally ended, sun came out, temperature warmed enough to be pleasant — no reason to stay indoors. Our daughter suggested we take the family and go to Homer Lake. The men of the family had other things they wanted to do — just the girls were up for the adventure. We also took the two female DOGS.
Maggie, a golden retriever who is heavier, walked up the ramp to get into the SUV. Robin DID NOT want to walk up the ramp — neither did she want me to pick her up. I wanted to pick her up from her hind quarters, she kept turning her face to me. I thought we would have to leave her home. She is my husband’s dog. If he went there would be no problem. Finally she put her paws on the deck and I lifted her in for the short ride.

We went to a part of the park we hadn’t visited before. Robin was happy to jump out. She was happy to LEAD all of us on the walk — she had to be first. Birds were singing, some flowers were already blooming. I had my camera ready. Some of the path was still muddy from the rain so we had to be careful.

My granddaughter wanted to go to the play place. I didn’t want to try to get Robin into the car for the short ride so we walked EXCEPT Robin DIDN’T WANT to walk with me. Part of her family was going in a different direction and she wanted to lead them. Robin and I finally made it to a path that I thought would take us to the play place. It branched into two paths. I took the one to the right but after walking a bit decide to turn around and take the path to the left. Robin was VERY HAPPY to turn around, she thought we were going to join our family — she wasn’t happy when I took the path to the left.

I saw a small bird sitting on a branch. My camera has a good zoom so I zoomed in and took a photo. After I did the bird flew away. I wasn’t wearing my glasses, no binoculars so I hoped my photo would let me know whose picture I took. (It was a blue bird.) In the distance I heard a bird call peter, peter. I remembered hearing that call years ago but didn’t remember the name of the bird. (Back home GOOGLE helped — tufted tit mouse.)

We finally reached our group. Robin was HAPPY. In fact, when the back was let down of the car, she jumped right onto the bed, she didn’t want to be left behind again.

This ramble was written in May, scheduled to publish in June but the Tornado caused it to be rescheduled.

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DID IT AGAIN

August 1, 2015

DID IT AGAIN

It would be VERY nice if I would learn from my mistakes and NOT REPEAT THEM! Maybe that is why I get so much help from the other side. I NEED IT!

I have written that I was trying to lose weight and was exercising. I have admitted that I STOPPED exercising and wasn’t careful about the amount of sodium in my diet. I haven’t only taken a break for a week, if I’m honest, it has been at least SIX.

I was reasonably good food wise in Hawaii. Except for sodium, my weight had only gone up a pound or two. But life continued and I seemed to be chasing my tail without time to exercise. Before vacation, I exercised three to four times a week. I tried to do strength training two or three times a week to build up the strength in my arms. I did tai chi to help the pain in my knee and hip. I GOT LAZY — I STOPPED EXERCISING and I’m now paying the price. My weight isn’t up that much — but my knees and hip are yelling. Did I do something to my sciatica — I don’t know. I continued to walk in shoes that were hurting for a couple of blocks. The shoes hadn’t given any indication that there was something wrong. Looking at them at home, they seemed hardly worn. Friday my right leg hurt from my toe to my hip. My husband was leaving on Sunday, I would have two dogs to keep me company. Then my son had to fly for business on Monday — I would have two dogs to keep me company. (I offered to watch our daughter’s dog while they were gone.)

We have survived. Because of the pain in my right leg, I haven’t accomplished as much work as I wanted. Maybe I wasn’t supposed too. The girls missed the men — but we survived. Robin still will not do her business in the back yard, she gets her three to four walks a day. Maggie is happy doing her business in the back yard, she is a heavy weight Golden and too strong for me. I have gone back to my exercise — strength training, stretches and tai chi. My leg is slowly improving. I haven’t been stressing it. I’m walking around the house in socks, over my sexy socks — no shoes.

If I thought I would eat healthy while I was by myself — I was WRONG — no energy. After our damp, snowy winter, we are having a rainy spring which is supposed to continue for three to four more weeks.
Hopefully this time I won’t get lazy — or forgetful. Hopefully I will put exercise back on the to do list — DAILY. Hopefully I have learned a lesson this time that I won’t forget.

This was scheduled to publish in July, but because I wrote an update on the tornado damage, I’ve rescheduled it until August.

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LESSONS LEARNED

July 25, 2015

LESSONS LEARNED

I don’t know what keys I pressed this time that changed the size of my print font and put the type into bold. It will be extremely interesting to see how this thought ramble appears on my blog. I started this thought ramble yesterday but ran into so many problems that I abandoned the ship and exercised instead. I thought that was the reason for the problems, reminding me to exercise, but today they are still here and I have already exercised.

Sadly my right leg is still causing pain. Sadly my weight is still the same. Whenever the pain in my leg gets better, I move the wrong way and undo the healing. I can truthfully say that the pain decreases my energy.

Recently I had cause to remember one of the lessons I learned years ago. I was leaving the grocery store when I saw a mother trying to free the leg of her young son which was stuck between the bars of the grocery cart. Somehow he got his leg out of the space that is reserved for legs and got it into the narrow space between the bars. I had just bought 2 boxes of Imperial margarine. I reached into my bag and extracted a box, removing a stick. I handed it to the mother and suggested she butter her son’s leg. His leg slid right out of the narrow space. Years before, Mabel, our chocolate lab puppy, got her leg stuck in the fins of our radiator. I poured olive oil on her leg in order to free it.

When we were in Hawaii, the curator of an art gallery suggested I take a photo of a painting that is a family favorite. I could transfer the photo to canvas and add a few touches to personalize it. It sounded like a great idea. The original painting of a ship coming out of a storm was done in shades of blue, about 25 years ago. The ship on the canvas is in shades of purple. After searching through my house, I finally found my oil paints. I tried a few colors to match the colors of the original ship and it worked EXCEPT the ship on the canvas is purple. I had decided that the first copy would go to my oldest daughter and her favorite color is purple. Purple was not a color that I used when I was painting regularly.

We stopped at a craft store today. I asked if there was anyone on duty familiar with paint colors and explained my project. I was referred to a person at the frame counter. Luck (?) was with me, the person manning the counter normally works more than 50 miles away but is there to help out since the person who normally works the area has a broken arm. The woman had embellished photos on canvas and recommended acrylic paint and helped me find complimentary colors. I haven’t tried them yet. I must admit it has been twenty five years since I have painted and am afraid I will damage the canvas. Normal for my life : Today at Mass, the homily concerned the storm, and the offertory song was “Be No Afraid.”

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TORNADO UPDATE

July 18, 2015

TORNADO UPDATE

Entering the gate at Woodhaven Lakes, the world looked normal. Taking the first road to the left, going down the hill, the land looked the same. Turning the curve brought the present. Trees down, trailer’s destroyed or damaged — the destruction that an F2 tornado caused. We found our motor home right away. A double trunk tree fell on top of it, making it the poster child of the tornado. It has been on the front page of two newspapers. Many people stop on their way to take a picture. We got spray paint and wrote bye bye on the door. As I write this, three weeks later, it is still on site. The insurance company has not had it removed even though we have made many phone calls.

We could not see the damage that was done to our park model and room addition until we circled the many fallen trees. We were fortunate, a tree fell on the trailer, landing on the roof over the bathroom but only did minimal damage which my husband was able to patch temporally. Part of our deck was destroyed. A tree hanging by our room addition stopped before doing damage. I’m still not sure how many trees we lost. Our lot used to be shady, that has changed. Thanks to our children and their spouses, most of the downed trees and branches have been cleaned up.

We had to get professional help for the tree on the motor home. If the motor home was pulled out with the tree on it, it would have damaged the electric box. Thankfully the professionals knew what they were doing and although expensive, it was money well spent. I can’t praise Foremost and Farmers Insurance enough. They were on property and quickly appraised the damage. An important item is that they plan to continue to insure property at Woodhaven Lakes. I have heard that is not the same for all the insurance companies. I’m not happy with the company that insured our motor home. Although I’m tempted to name them, I’ll abstain at this time.

The southern half of the park — over 700 acres — was damaged. Three sections were completely closed except to property owners who were guided on site. Just recently I was able to tour those areas — all I can say is that it is heartbreaking. We were extremely lucky. We are able to stay, comfortably on site. My birdbath was undamaged, even though a tree fell on either side. My shepherd statue laid on its side but was undamaged. A little boy angel, holding a puppy, surrounded by green fallen evergreen, peaked his head up from the branches but was undamaged and our statue of Our Lady was in an undisturbed area. The antenna for the TV is still standing.

The employees of Woodhaven Lakes can not be thanked enough. The little park across the street, although damaged, has had the fallen trees removed. Although most of the equipment was damaged, kids can safely play on the remaining swings. As I write this, work is progressing to clear the nature trails of fallen trees. Many volunteers have come to help, as well as volunteers whose property was untouched. It will be a long time before most of the damage from the tornado will be removed. It will be a longer time before new trees are planted and grow.

Thankfully there were no fatalities the night of the tornado and just a few minor injuries.

Sadly, the aftermath of the tornado will cause many people to abandon their property. God and his angels were very busy that night. They still are very busy helping as people work to clear their property of damage. I have heard and experienced too many signs of angels at work to list them. THANK YOU!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER

July 11, 2015

I don’t remember very much about my brother. He was two years old and passed with my mother in a fire when I was four. In my youth, it wasn’t wise to let on that you had extra talents — psychic or ? Listening to many gifted people over the last few years I’ve learned that many hid their talents and that has made me realize that whatever talents I had, I probably hid them. It was safer.

Growing up, I never realized that I had “help” from the other side. Looking back on my life, I can remember places that a little bit of “help” was needed. My mother was very talented, she hid her interaction well. I’ve come to believe that my brother followed her example, and “helped out” occasionally.

Soon after my father passed to the other side, I wrote a thought ramble “VOICES” in which I imagined angels (Raggedy Ann and Andy characters) playing with my body, trying to wake me up. I wrote it for a Creative Writing class, my instructor WAS NOT impressed. Later it dawned on me that one of the characters might have been my brother. Who but a brother would tease his sister or hit her on the head?

I don’t have any living brothers or sisters. I have watched the interaction of my children with each other and have come to the conclusion that my idea might have merit. Delving into the history of my family after my father’s passing, I’ve learned the date of the fire and the birthdays of my mother and brother. My uncle was younger than my mother, therefore doesn’t remember much . It was too painful for my father to talk about it and I didn’t ask.

I note the birthdays of my mother and brother in my daily calendar as well as others in my family. Recently it was my brother’s birthday. It was a normal(?) day, if there is such a thing. Except one and one made two.

We were out at the camper under a tornado alert. I was waiting for the weather report on television, it would have been on after the commercials when I did something to the TV changer. I was hoping the radar would show where the storms were. We don’t have satellite, just a box that converts the digital signal to a program that can be seen on the TV. I don’t know what I hit, I was placing a control down when something happened. We had SNOW — NOISE — more snow — nothing resembling a TV program for more than a half hour. When we finally recovered the picture ( I don’t know how) we had no sound. It took more time to get sound back. By this time the news was over as well as weather reports. Thankfully our son got us a hot spot that we can connect to that gives us computer access. I learned that the tornado watch for our area had been cancelled. My son suggested that maybe the weather report on our TV was blocked so I wouldn’t worry?????

A few thought rambles ago — I wrote a blog titled ELEVATOR POSSESSED. I had a reason to tell the story when I was having coffee with a group on the morning of my brother’s birthday. I mentioned that the Retina Specialist still stored equipment in the basement. The woman I was speaking to asked if that wasn’t the reason the elevator kept taking us to the basement. Hmmm?

We came back home earlier than my husband and I wanted to. BUT the next day was the only day of the week friends of ours were able to get together. An older friend of mine was visiting on our block that evening and I was able to drop in to visit AND we beat an violent storm home!

Happy Birthday Brother!

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ALOHA

July 4, 2015

At Christmas, my son combined my Christmas and Mother’s day present by inviting me to accompany him to Oahu. We have made the trip before and had a marvelous time. The last time we were there we spent many hours hanging out at the International Market, sipping ice tea in the tree house and watching the world go by. We planned to do the same this time.

A month before we planned to travel, I met a woman in the grocery store whose children went to school with ours. They had just returned from Hawaii — they could not find the International Market. Computers are wonderful things. Returning home from the store, I looked up the International Market and learned it had closed. I have to admit that the knowledge made me sad but it was early enough that we could change the things we planned.

I wasn’t worried. Since I travel with Spirit, I knew that I would find many things that would intrigue me. I WASN’T mistaken. After experiencing Oahu traffic on our last visit, and learning the buses, we decided not to rent a car this time. We did take the bus — to the zoo, aquarium and China Town, but most of the time we used our feet.

The first day, I searched for a store that sold Apple Cider Vinegar. I have found that having a tablespoon in water before meals helps my digestion. We had wandered down the beach after breakfast, heading for the old location of the International Market. I stopped in a store that I thought might carry the product. They didn’t, but the manager told me how to find the Food Pantry. Make a right at Dukes Lane, (the alley) walk down a block, turn left and it was only two blocks away.

Imagine our surprise, we turned down Dukes Lane and discovered an off shoot of the International Market (Hawaiian flea market.) I found a purse that held my camera, cell phone, glasses and wallet that didn’t hurt my back — that I could afford. It didn’t have the tree house for iced tea but you can’t have everything. We learned a new International Market is being built, anchored by Sax’s Fifth Avenue opening in 2016. The new market sounds too pricey for me but it appears that Dukes Lane will remain unless they are forced out.

We found the Food Pantry — they had my vinegar. I would have had a lovely time buying food items but our plan was to eat out — a cooking vacation for me. The Food Pantry was near Wakiki beach., which became our new hangout for watching the world go by.

We wandered to Ala Moana Mall the next day to look for shoes. When I asked about the food store that had been at the mall, I learned it had closed. I was very happy to have found the Food Pantry. The mall now has a lovely food court — food from around the world in one space. Sadly, I wasn’t hungry.

That same week, we found another food court — not as big but with a lovely variety of places. I tried Tai Milk Tea and Vietnamese seafood noodle soup. We discovered that the shrimp truck was close to the time share and ABC store had a variety of fresh salads and sandwiches. I can truthfully say that my diet didn’t resemble the food I ate at home.

I can also truthfully say time spent at Wakiki Beach was worthwhile. Besides watching the surfers and the waves, we found many things to delight us.

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