Lots of Love

I hope you all have a great Valentines Day!

Spoiled

Sometimes we need little things in our life to remind us how fortunate we are to live in this country with all of our luxuries, and even when money is tight we, as Americans, are all rich and spoiled.

It started on Thursday. Class ended early so I was home a couple of hours early thinking I would get some studying done before we went to the Conway Twitty show. Well, I had done some homework and walked outside, I don't even remember why and there was water all over the front walk. I immediately knew that a pipe in the wall had burst. It took until Friday afternoon to get it fixed, so we lived without water for a day and a half. It drove me crazy not to be able to take a bath, and of course theres the potty thing, and even something as simple as brushing your teeth is impossible without running water.

Then yesterday I got home from school, early again, (maybe that should tell me something) and the power had just went out. A transformer down the street had blown. I had planned to come home and cook for the boys and I needed to check some stuff for school on the internet. I called Duke Power and they said we would have our power back on by 9. So instead of doing what I planned, we went to McDonalds, I did take my schoolwork and read it while Braxton played on the playground and then we went to the mall. We got home about 8:45 and the power was on!!!

We don't think about how much we have and how much we take forgranted! There are places around the world that do not have running water or electricity and I cannot function for even 1 day without these things! I admit it, I am spoiled.

I am blessed and I thank God that I was born in this country to my parents! I pray that I remember this lesson for a long time!!

A wonderful evening

As I posted in my blog last night, Robert had bought me tickets to "Conway Twitty, The man, the music, the musical". After the concert we met my sister, her boyfriend and my 2 aunts at Krispy Kreme for donuts and conversation. We had finished our donuts and were talking and a lady walked in with a backstage pass on, Robert kept looking at her and telling me that he thought it was one of Conway's daughters, and I blew him off and thought he was crazy. He kept insisting that it was one of the daughters and wanted me to talk to her, but I hesitated thinking that it was probably a stage hand. Well, Robert spoke to her and asked her what her name was and she replied, Kathy Twitty. She got her donuts and sat down in the booth beside us. At this point I did go over and talk to her and let her know how much her dad's music had meant in my mom's life. She told us that her sister, Joni was in the car and would be inside in a minute when she got off the phone. Joni did join us minutes later and we sat and talked for about an hour! It was amazing, they were so down to earth and I loved watching them talk about their dad! It was the best Christmas gift ever. I so felt my mom with me last night!!!

The autograph I got from them so that I could prove to my sister that I had met Conway's daughters who had written and produced the show we had just watched.

Hello Darlin

I am so excited about tonight! My mom was a huge fan of Conway Twitty, if he came in the area she would be there. In fact, when she was sick Conway was coming to Greenville for a concert an I had contacted the radio station that was sponsoring his concert to see if he would come by our home to see her. The day after she died, the radio station contacted me and Conway had agreed to come visit her! She would have met him if she could have hung on just a few more days!

My husband knows how much she loved him and bought me tickets to "Conway Twitty, The Musical" for Christmas. He said that he knew I missed her so bad, especially at Christmas so he wanted to give me a part of her and that was his way of doing it. So the musical is tonight. My sister and her boyfriend and two of my moms sisters are all going tonight, our tickets are not near each other, but we will meet up afterwards at Krispy Kreme. I am so excited for this little break since I have been so stressed out from school! It almost as if mom is with me today!!!

Thanks again to my sweet hubby, Robert for the thoughtful gift!!!

My latest test grade

I got a 88 B on this latest test. I am beginning to feel more comfortable with taking her tests and kmowing how to study for them! Please keep praying for me, I am loving nursing school even though it may be the biggest challenge I have ever faced in my life!

Update on my 1st test

Well, I got my test back today, I scored 81.5 on it. I am not thrilled, but am happy that I made a C because in order to pass nursing school, you have to pass with at least a C, whic is an 80. I have another test in this class on Thursday and pray that I do better now that I know how to study and what to expect on the test. It is particularly hard for me to accept a C, but maybe God is humbling me!!! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Rene'

A good afternoon

Today I spent the majority of the day with my favorite aunt, my mom's oldest sister. I have an assignment in my nursing class to interview someone that is at least 70 years old about their life. The assignment had interview questions to ask the person you are interviewing and use that information to write a paper about their life. I chose my aunt who is 78 years old. I enjoyed my afternoon learning about her memories of her childhood. I was amazed at the things she remembered. Her first memory was when she was 4 years old, the night their barn burned down. That was a big deal because grandpa, her father, made his living as a farmer. All of their animals were in the barn. She could remember seeing her daddy going into the barn on the end that she was on and not seeing him come out the other side with animals that he was rescuing. She remembered a neighbor holding her as she screamed for her daddy, thinking that he was lost to the fire. She shared stories of her memories of her younger brother's death and funeral and the fact that she met her dad's mom and dad for the first time at the funeral because her mom and grandpa's parents did not get along. The funeral was the first memory that she has of going to church, even though she was in church her entire life, she clearly remembered the organ and exactly where she sat at the funeral and who was holding her and she remembered watching her mom and dad at the funeral.

She talked about her memories of her dad's stroke and death and the 25 days that he was in the hospital between the two events. She spoke about my mother, her baby sister, and her illness and death. She also spoke about how close she was with my mom. When my mom was born it was my aunts responsibility to take care of her and my uncle who was three years older than my mom. My mom always looked up to her like a mom, they were very close. In fact most of my childhood memories revolve around my aunt, uncle, their 2 daughters their boat and Lake Bowen in Spartanburg, SC.

I loved hearing her talking about her daughters and how much they meant to her and how much the time she spent with them, especially one summer that she took off just to spend with them. She has so much pride in her 3 grandchildren and her newly born great grandson.

She repeatedly spoke about how real death was now, and how she wasn't scared to die. She also talked about how satisfied she was with her life and how now is the best time of her life because she understands a lot and she doesn't feel like she needs as much as she thought she did when she was younger.

I think she enjoyed talking about the memories, but I really believe she enjoyed spending time with me, I know that I surely enjoyed spending time with her and plan to make more time to spend with her and other people in my family that I have neglected lately.

What a wonderful day!! Thanks to my teacher for the assignment.