CHANGES IN OUR LIVES COME CONSTANTLY

Today is Tuesday, April 13th. I love these lovely Spring mornings even though the pollen is flying around my porch and settling on the swing, table and chairs and me when I'm brave enough to sit out there. Yesterday, afternoon I went sat in my swing which has been my "safe place" for several years. I sat there and looked out over the back yard and it is so beautiful. The grass is so green, my Bradford Pear tree that my friend, Mildred Massey planted in memory of my brother, was so pretty and white with blooms on Easter Sunday and is now solid green - all blooms gone. As a matter of fact I realized as I sat there that changes are coming fast in my life just like that tree's changes. Last Saturday my children (girls and husbands) came and took all of the furniture that I will be using at the apartment, pictures, and just boxes of items that I am moving. They worked so hard and were so precious to give their day for this project. Corinne was at the apartment lining cabinets and being there to receive whatever the guys were moving. What was I doing? I was shopping with Nita and Jacque for a table and chairs, linens for the bathrooms, etc. By Saturday night everybody in the Cline Clan was exhausted. I was 20 years younger the last time I moved and believe me I am feeling every year of my advanced age as I write this blog. I will be so happy when Saturday, the 17th, comes and the physical move is over. Then I will deal with the emotional move, and it will be an emotional time when I drive out of this driveway for the last time,

When I was a little girl my mother bought the house on Rudolph Street in East Nashville. That house was built by my uncle and sold to her for his cost which was $3,800.00. She just could not contain her excitement - an excitement that I had never seen before in my mother. I had the front bedroom and it was such a "girly" room. She planted a lilac bush right beside my window and even now when I smell a lilac bloom or lilac spray I am transported back to that pretty little house and particularly my room. I left that house to live with Billy in an apartment, in fact we lived in several apartments until we bought our first house. Guess where that house was? On Rudolph Street four houses from my mother and two houses from Aunt Ree. Now what a glorious place to have children. Baby sitters available that gave good care and so much love. That house meant so much to me. Then we bought the house on Valley Park Drive where Nita and Corinne grew up at the neighborhood schools and Kim started school. They loved the neighborhood, the children, the fun that they had there but circumstances ended that home and we moved to Madison. Back to an apartment for many years that was nice but I never felt at home like Billy did. Finally, we ended up here on Freda Villa - Billy, Aunt Ree and me and I knew that I had come home. This was where I intended to live the rest of my life. Well, that has changed and I will be leaving here this week-end. Just like the Bradford Pear tree that changed from white blossoms to green leaves I will change from this place to a beautiful apartment that I am already loving. So you see, even at my advanced age I have learned that change doesn't necessarily mean unhappiness. Change is constant. Change is a teaching experience that teaches us to adapt to whatever circumstances the Lord gives us. I do believe that the way this house sale, finding this perfect place for me and everything surrounding the entire experience has been part of God's plan for me. I will embrace this new phase in my life and continue to say that God is good - all the time.