I’ve mentioned before that most of my cousins are older than me ...
I have beautiful, stylish, smart cousins. They had (and have) interesting conversation, they had (and have) cool friends, and wore (and still wear) great clothes. Best of all, they didn’t totally ignore me. Well, most of the time, anyway. Once I got my fingers slammed in a door. Once I caused a 3-wheeler wreck into a railroad ditch. But more often I got to sit in the shadow of really great women. I couldn't wait to be them.
For several summers, English got stuck carting us from Grandma’s house to the pool when we were visiting. She probably didn’t choose that duty, but she shouldered it like a champ — letting us sing along in the car, not pretending she didn’t know us, introducing us to her friends. In fact, she acted like we were her friends And Angie had a job at some store or company that made bags. Cool bags, too. Once she spent the whole day at Grandma’s teaching us how to put on make-up. And then a few days later, we got a package in the mail. We were the first girls we knew who had great hippie bags — probably the first and only time in my life I was on top of a trend.
Some of my earliest memories of being at my Grandma’s house are of watching the older girls wash dishes together. They’d talk about school, boys they were dating or might date or would never date, shopping trips …. unimportant stuff, really. I dreamed of being part of that. I couldn’t wait for the day when I’d be old enough to be included in washing the dishes that our family generated when we were together. And one day, there I was. Towel in hand, ready to dry the forks, knives, spoons, glasses, plates. Being asked about school, boys … my opinion. I had arrived.
And just for Mike, because he loves this story …
My first trip to Clemson University happened when I was in second grade (thanks, Mrs. Banks). We checked out the Agriculture stuff, sciences building, Frank Howard Field at Memorial Stadium (a.k.a. Death Valley) … and then, the cafeteria. We were rolling along, the second graders in awe of the college students, the orange Tiger Paws on the streets and Danny Ford. And then I became the coolest of all second-graders because there, in an inside-out sweatshirt, was Krista, one of my cousins. Yes, you read that right. INSIDE OUT SWEATSHIRT. Did she run and hide? Pretend not to notice me? Nod and smile and go on about her business? No. She hugged us (me and my Mom - the best chaperone ever) and ditched her college friends to have lunch with us.
So … thanks to Tara, Angie, Krista, English, Shane and Ashley …for not being too annoyed with me, for driving me around, teaching me to draw lightning (Go Flashes!), letting me watch Top Gun with you, for lunch in Clemson, sharing your clothes (I will return them!!), for reading my blog … for being great women, great cousins, great friends. Love y’all.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wisdom
As you may (or not) know, The West Wing is my favorite show (right up there with Buffy: the Vampire Slayer). Here's a little tale on wisdom & prayer & hearing the answers we think we should hear ...
Bartlet: I know it's hard to believe, but I prayed for wisdom.
Father Cavanaugh: And none came?
Bartlet: It never has. And I'm a little pissed off about that.
Father Cavanaugh:You know, you remind me of the man that lived by the river. He heard a radio report that the river was going to rush up and flood the town. And that all the residents should evacuate their homes. But the man said, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.” The waters rose up. A guy in a row boat came along and he shouted, “Hey, hey you! You in there. The town is flooding. Let me take you to safety.” But the man shouted back, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.” A helicopter was hovering overhead. And a guy with a megaphone shouted, “Hey you, you down there. The town is flooding. Let me drop this ladder and I’ll take you to safety.” But the man shouted back that he was religious, that he prayed, that God loved him and that God will take him to safety. Well... the man drowned. And standing at the gates of St. Peter, he demanded an audience with God. “Lord,” he said, “I’m a religious man, I pray. I thought you loved me. Why did this happen?” God said, “I sent you a radio report, a helicopter, and a guy in a rowboat. What the hell are you doing here?” [pause] He sent you a priest, a rabbi, and a Quaker, Mr. President. Not to mention his son, Jesus Christ. What do you want from him?
Bartlet: I know it's hard to believe, but I prayed for wisdom.
Father Cavanaugh: And none came?
Bartlet: It never has. And I'm a little pissed off about that.
Father Cavanaugh:You know, you remind me of the man that lived by the river. He heard a radio report that the river was going to rush up and flood the town. And that all the residents should evacuate their homes. But the man said, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.” The waters rose up. A guy in a row boat came along and he shouted, “Hey, hey you! You in there. The town is flooding. Let me take you to safety.” But the man shouted back, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.” A helicopter was hovering overhead. And a guy with a megaphone shouted, “Hey you, you down there. The town is flooding. Let me drop this ladder and I’ll take you to safety.” But the man shouted back that he was religious, that he prayed, that God loved him and that God will take him to safety. Well... the man drowned. And standing at the gates of St. Peter, he demanded an audience with God. “Lord,” he said, “I’m a religious man, I pray. I thought you loved me. Why did this happen?” God said, “I sent you a radio report, a helicopter, and a guy in a rowboat. What the hell are you doing here?” [pause] He sent you a priest, a rabbi, and a Quaker, Mr. President. Not to mention his son, Jesus Christ. What do you want from him?
Dream No. One
Dream No. 1: 62.9 Million Dollars
Caught your attention, didn’t I? Well, it sure caught mine. And in the spirit of Bob Dylan, I’ve decided to write down my dreams …
I had a dream that I won the lottery. No, I don’t “play” the lottery, so there’s virtually no chance that I will ever win the lottery. But still, the dream was so real, I woke up thinking how much people would love me now that I’d won the lottery. I woke up thinking about the new house we were about to build, about the trusts we’d set up for our children, the scholarships we could endow. About the good we could do with 62.9 million dollars.
And then I really woke up. I reached over and woke Mike up to tell him about my dream. He said, “62.9 million dollars. That’s kind of a weird amount. Pretty specific. Maybe you should go buy a lottery ticket.” That’s the kind of guy he is — one who doesn’t laugh at your dreams, even if they are of the laughable variety.
But we started talking and for some reason, we started “spending” the 62.9 million dollars.
Mike: You know, there are fees with winning the lottery. You’ll have to decide if you want it all at once or if you want to get it little bits at a time.
Me: I’ll take it all at once, that way it’s done (like a cookie, done).
Mike: OK, well, that means you’ll end up with about half.
Me: OK, so now I’ve got about 31 million dollars. What should I do first?
And so we came up with a spending plan. (No, we really don’t have this much free-time, but we’re both home during the day, so we talk about insane things like winning a 62.9 million dollars that I won in a dream).
Here’s what we came up with:
3.1 million to Young Life (yeah, our high school friends would really love us!)
1.5 million to the BS Church of God—my cousin’s husband Pastor’s this tiny church and they’d love to buy property to one day have room to grow.
1.5 million to BSFBC—our church. We would love to provide a new bus for our Children’s Ministry, we’d love to help the English as a Second Language program that our church historian, Evelyn Henderson has so tirelessly worked with for many, many years. And other programs that we love there.
1.5 million to Rice Bowls. Really, do I need to explain this further?
1.5 million to Inc (Involvement Through Newspapers and Civics)
At this point it’s important to note that we’d “spent” roughly 9.1 million dollars, leaving us with an imaginary 21.9 million dollars. And we had a pretty lengthy discussion about how really, disgustingly rich people go through life with insane amounts of money and find enough worthwhile ways to spend it. And I should mention that when we told my father-in-law about my dream, he suggested we invest wisely and live off the interest of our investments. So that was a factor. We went on to plan …
1.5 million — To buy property and build a new home (I won’t go in to the plans, but know that there was extensive talk of what our new home should have).
2 million — For both sets of parents to use as they saw fit (Even in my dreams I’m trying to trick my in-laws in to thinking I’m wonderful)
1.5 million — (each) Trusts for our children (Again, know that there were stipulations, but I can’t even begin to go there!)
We’re down to 15.4 million imaginary dollars — important to say since it’s possible we were getting a little carried away with our imaginary winnings.
So we thought that we’d provide for our nieces and nephews. So, a large chunk (about 3 million) would go in trust for them.
Now, we wanted to have a gardener who would bail our hay; my friend, Summer, suggested that I hire her to wash my hair everyday; I insisted that I’d need someone to clean my house so I’d have time to do good in the community, be a room-mother, and ride my horses (not necessarily in the order). Mike still wanted to work, but liked the idea of not having to work (therefore negating the fear that comes every time someone whispers layoffs). But outside of that, we were stumped. I mean, I’m sure we’d spend a lot on trips (the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Australia — for the zoo, of course — Greece … ), and we hoped to make some wise investments, but that was it. We were finished spending (although we would probably still end up giving $25 a year to the State Troopers).
So, how would you spend your 30.1 million dollars (after fees, of course)? And if you want to give to any of my favorites, just click on the name of the organization and find out more about them. And also, tell me about other non-profits or worthy causes that you love. Or check them out by following my link to the Charity Navigator to see how much of what you give goes to the cause (although some are still too small to make it to their list).
Caught your attention, didn’t I? Well, it sure caught mine. And in the spirit of Bob Dylan, I’ve decided to write down my dreams …
I had a dream that I won the lottery. No, I don’t “play” the lottery, so there’s virtually no chance that I will ever win the lottery. But still, the dream was so real, I woke up thinking how much people would love me now that I’d won the lottery. I woke up thinking about the new house we were about to build, about the trusts we’d set up for our children, the scholarships we could endow. About the good we could do with 62.9 million dollars.
And then I really woke up. I reached over and woke Mike up to tell him about my dream. He said, “62.9 million dollars. That’s kind of a weird amount. Pretty specific. Maybe you should go buy a lottery ticket.” That’s the kind of guy he is — one who doesn’t laugh at your dreams, even if they are of the laughable variety.
But we started talking and for some reason, we started “spending” the 62.9 million dollars.
Mike: You know, there are fees with winning the lottery. You’ll have to decide if you want it all at once or if you want to get it little bits at a time.
Me: I’ll take it all at once, that way it’s done (like a cookie, done).
Mike: OK, well, that means you’ll end up with about half.
Me: OK, so now I’ve got about 31 million dollars. What should I do first?
And so we came up with a spending plan. (No, we really don’t have this much free-time, but we’re both home during the day, so we talk about insane things like winning a 62.9 million dollars that I won in a dream).
Here’s what we came up with:
3.1 million to Young Life (yeah, our high school friends would really love us!)
1.5 million to the BS Church of God—my cousin’s husband Pastor’s this tiny church and they’d love to buy property to one day have room to grow.
1.5 million to BSFBC—our church. We would love to provide a new bus for our Children’s Ministry, we’d love to help the English as a Second Language program that our church historian, Evelyn Henderson has so tirelessly worked with for many, many years. And other programs that we love there.
1.5 million to Rice Bowls. Really, do I need to explain this further?
1.5 million to Inc (Involvement Through Newspapers and Civics)
At this point it’s important to note that we’d “spent” roughly 9.1 million dollars, leaving us with an imaginary 21.9 million dollars. And we had a pretty lengthy discussion about how really, disgustingly rich people go through life with insane amounts of money and find enough worthwhile ways to spend it. And I should mention that when we told my father-in-law about my dream, he suggested we invest wisely and live off the interest of our investments. So that was a factor. We went on to plan …
1.5 million — To buy property and build a new home (I won’t go in to the plans, but know that there was extensive talk of what our new home should have).
2 million — For both sets of parents to use as they saw fit (Even in my dreams I’m trying to trick my in-laws in to thinking I’m wonderful)
1.5 million — (each) Trusts for our children (Again, know that there were stipulations, but I can’t even begin to go there!)
We’re down to 15.4 million imaginary dollars — important to say since it’s possible we were getting a little carried away with our imaginary winnings.
So we thought that we’d provide for our nieces and nephews. So, a large chunk (about 3 million) would go in trust for them.
Now, we wanted to have a gardener who would bail our hay; my friend, Summer, suggested that I hire her to wash my hair everyday; I insisted that I’d need someone to clean my house so I’d have time to do good in the community, be a room-mother, and ride my horses (not necessarily in the order). Mike still wanted to work, but liked the idea of not having to work (therefore negating the fear that comes every time someone whispers layoffs). But outside of that, we were stumped. I mean, I’m sure we’d spend a lot on trips (the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Australia — for the zoo, of course — Greece … ), and we hoped to make some wise investments, but that was it. We were finished spending (although we would probably still end up giving $25 a year to the State Troopers).
So, how would you spend your 30.1 million dollars (after fees, of course)? And if you want to give to any of my favorites, just click on the name of the organization and find out more about them. And also, tell me about other non-profits or worthy causes that you love. Or check them out by following my link to the Charity Navigator to see how much of what you give goes to the cause (although some are still too small to make it to their list).
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