Life is Very Good I Think

I have just returned from my morning walk with Houston. We went on the walking track this morning rather than just walking around the apartment complex. There is much "people watching" to be done when people are walking, jogging, running or bicycle riding on the track. First let me tell you about the track. It starts at the Hendersonville Library and continues under Indian Lake Blvd. right past my bedroom window, over the bridge and creek into Drakes Creek Park. If you did the entire route it would be about 5 miles, so I have been told. Well, Houston and I only walk on this trail in the morning because the afternoon is so filled with "health freaks" that you can't leisurely stroll (Houston's desire) and you will get run over if you don't watch and get out of the way. We, also, have picked up a lot of skateboarders and skaters that zoom past us like a rocket. This morning the walkers were all ages, sizes and gender. There were no dogs this morning, but a few cyclers. Houston hates the bicycles and tries to leap at them and bark. I have to hold him very carefully and even sometimes pick him up when I see a bicycle or skateboard coming behind us or toward us. One day he broke loose (haven't figured out how) of his collar and away he went like the wind after some poor puzzled soul on a skateboard. Finally the guy stopped, I ran up breathless apologizing to high heaven for my dog's ill manners and accepted his stoney stare of hatred for me and my dog. From that day on I have been extra careful. Anyway, the point of this blog (after all of that nonsense) is to tell you that you can judge a person's personality by their conduct on the walking trail. The young women in beautiful jogging outfits and bright colored tennis shoes have a cell phone in their hand and are very serious about the exercise and also desperate to get that call from somebody on the phone because they keep looking at it. The young men have tank top shirts and pretty shorts with very expensive shoes and they all have headphones on which could be phones or music or maybe they are listening to a sermon or something. These two groups do not acknowledge an old lady and dog. They neither look at you nor speak, and, in fact give you a look as if to say "why don't you walk your animal on another track because you are definitely too slow for this one". Now, we come to the older men who have on walking shorts a t-shirt and white Adidas shoes with socks. They are walking briskly and will always nod to me and say "good morning". Finally, we come to the old women who have on jogging suits that they have bought especially for this activity and they have on New Balance or Adidas shoes and they are carrying a bottle of water. They are usually with a friend, talking loud and breathing hard and very glad to stop and tell me how pretty my dog is and what a lovely morning it is and they hope that I am having a good day. In other words, they are taking a much needed break. I haven't mentioned the women or men who are walking their dogs and don't want Houston to come near their animals. Houston doesn't understand this so he begins to wag his tail and try his best to make friends. Sometimes I stop and insist that they cooperate and it works out fine. Sometimes I just give them a haughty look and keep moving - dragging poor Houston by the neck until he is choking and coughing. As I say, there is much to be learned while taking a walk on a track that caters to every kind of personality in the world. As my husband, Billy, used to tell me "it takes all kinds and that is why we have chocolate and vanilla". He would love this assortment of people that I encounter every day. My walking a mile every morning has not decreased my weight but it sure is a lot of fun to start your day "people watching". I try to make up stories in my mind about these individuals and picture them in another environment doing other things. Just doesn't take much to entertain me does it?

We are getting closer and closer to our new baby. As I have told you, Patrick and Mikka will have John Patrick Evans, Jr. really soon. The date is September 9th but he could decide to come on sooner. His grandmother, Kim, is so excited over the coming event that she has made a beautiful room for him, complete with bed and all the bedding, plus a sofa, pictures on the wall, drawers for his clothes and all of his accessories. His sister, Joesea, will share this room so her things have been placed in some of the drawers and her dolls adorn the shelves of the book case. She loves going to "their room" and watching her cartoons on her TV and having her breakfast before Kim takes her to school each morning. Kim will miss her morning routine with Joesea when the baby comes and Mikka is no longer working. Of course, when Mikka does go back to work Kim will be busy with, not one but two grandchildren. John Patrick Evans, Jr. will give me my 15th great grandchild. When Emily and Jackson get their girls from Haiti, I will have 17 great grandchildren. Maybe I will get a prize for having the most great-grandchildren at the next reunion. I will tell you this - these great-grandchildren are so beautiful and so intelligent and so active that they never cease to amaze me. I will never live to see what mark they make in the world but I am confident that they will all accomplish something spectacular. I know this because they are all being brought up in Christian homes and taught the love of God and the power of His Grace and they, like I, know that God is good - all the time.

EXCITING TIMES

As the song says "The Party's Over - It's time to call it a day". That is what I am saying about the East High Class of 1951's 60th Anniversary Reunion. The event was held at the Sheraton Music City Hotel and there is not one thing I would have changed about the party. We gathered at 4:00 for registration. The photographer, Lea Rutherford, came at 5:00 to make the class picture. Bless her heart, her battery on her camera had gone down and we had to "hold that pose" for 2 minutes while she charged it. She made her pictures, we helped all of the people sitting on the floor to get up and then we made our way to beautifully prepared tables with the white linen cloths, napkins, silver, china, crystal and Elizabeth Hill's centerpieces of red roses. Our meal was to die for - salad, sirloin steak and chicken marsala on a bed of buttermilk mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus spears lying across the entire plate. After those plates were removed the waiters/waitresses brought out warm bread budding with a bourbon sauce and chocolate drizzle. Yum, yum, yum. What a delightful dining experience. The video was then shown on a big screen that could be seen by everyone and it was a presentation of pictures of our class, with a few friends from other classes, from early days at East High until present days. It was accompanied by music that had been carefully chosen from 1950-51 days. Much squealing and laughing and commenting went on while the video was being played. It brought back so many memories and made us all feel like we were going back in time. The only sad part of it was that so many of the people that were pictured in the video are now gone. In planning this reunion these are the facts that I discovered: we had 43 members of the January Class; 156 members of the June Class. The people who left to go to the service or claim to be Class of 1951 bring our number to 211 members. We have 81 deceased members. We have 23 wrong or no address. We have accurate information on 107 members of the class . We had 42 classmates registered for the reunion, and with spouses and friends we had 74 registered. How sorry we were that Peggy Bomar got sick and had to miss. Jane Bradbury Russell could not make it this year, but how excited we were when Betty Patterson Pidcock walked into the hotel after traveling from Colorado. Shirley Charlton came from Chattanooga. We were so happy to see the Seigenthalers - James and Carl and oh, so many of the people that we have not seen in so long. Believe me the lobby of the Sheraton has never heard so much screaming and squealing and seen so much hugging and kissing as went on Saturday afternoon. I wonder how many schools in this day and time can boast of such long-term friendships as East High classes. As we parted company on this lovely evening many spoke of another such event in five years. I just smiled and said nothing because I don't know if my stress factor will be back to zero in five years. We will just have to wait and see.

School has started here in Tennessee. It is hard to believe that the summer has ended and that is just what has happened when school starts. Joesea, Kim's granddaughter, started to kindergarten, Christopher, (Chris's oldest child) started first grade and so did Connor, (Leslie's oldest child). Courtney moved back to U. T. and Carter went back to Goodpasture to start his sophomore year. Football starts Friday night and I intend to attend every one that I can this year because Carter will be playing and I want to savor every minute of his high school career because he is my last tie with that school. In my family two of my daughters and six of my grandchildren have graduated from that school. I have been involved with it since the second year it opened and when Carter graduates my association will be over. That is sad to me because it has been such a big part of my life. Oh well, that is life. Some things come and some things go. It is all part of the big plan that God has for our lives. I feel so safe knowing that He is in control and I don't have to worry about it. My life has always been good - some parts better than others - but still very good because no matter what life has given me I could always know that God is good - all the time.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO TODAY

Today is a dreary, cloudy, rainy Saturday morning. The atmosphere mirrors my attitude and disposition. I really should not feel "yukky" today because it is the anniversary of Billy's death - I should feel happy thinking about him and the life that we lived for 46 years. When I think about that 14 year old "first love" in my life and the very early, actually way too young to be married, life I can't help but smile. We married with no thought whatsoever about our future. We had no money, a furnished apartment, no car, a good job for me but a very mediocre job for him. Do you think we ever gave all of that a thought? No. We bought a car. We moved to a nicer apartment. We had lots of good friends. We had parents who, even though they didn't approve or understand us, nevertheless gave us support. Then, we had Nita. Oh my goodness, two children with a child. It is a thousand wonders we didn't kill her. The nanny that came to me after her birth told me that "the instructions come with babies" and that must have been true because we all thrived and it was wonderful. Twenty months later came Corinne and a larger, nicer apartment, better job for Billy and life was grand for two people who were actually still children, Later came Kim and Tracey and nicer, larger homes, better jobs, friends and family, and all of the blessings that God continued to pour out on us. Billy became quite an expert on the subject of men's shoes - traveling the world studying leathers and styles. He was known for his innovative ideas - ideas that were ahead of his time and proved to be his downfall in the business. However, he spent many years in other fields and, even though he was not as dedicated and happy, he did an admirable job. The main thing that I have to say is that he had a love of God, and a lust for life. He loved his friends. His greatest love was his family. To Billy Cline, Nita, Corinne, Kim and Tracey (and me) were the true loves of his life. As the girls grew and married his sons-in-law became very important to him but then came Chris, Drew, Leslie, Emily, Patrick, Courtney and Carter and his love knew no bounds. That group of individuals were perfect in his sight. There was no activity that escaped his presence when it was possible - ball games, dance recitals, grandparent's days, etc. How sad that he was called away before he was able to know the great-grandchildren. Wouldn't he have the biggest grin on his face when this whole group gathers for Christmas? I can see him now with is white hair, immaculate clothing, his polished to shining shoes, his clipped fingernails, his straight carriage and his twinkling blue eyes as he surveys the room with a proud expression on his face. I could write many stories about Billy - some good and some not as good - but I will stop now and just remember that not everybody in this world has the advantage of marrying their high school sweetheart, living-loving-laughing through many years and then saying "so long and I will see you again and we can start all over". Being able to know that I will see him again makes me really happy to say that God is good - all the time.