GOOD BYE 2012

I seem to always get very nostalgic on the last day of every year.  I really don't know why because each year has always contained good times, just OK times and some pretty bad times.  2012 has been such a year.  January brought the normal amount of events -  Corinne and Mark celebrated 30 years of marriage, I started a new Bible Study on the Book of James that lasted 10 weeks and was very good.  Jackson Smith and Nicholas Maddux celebrated birthdays.  February was a very cold month and The Committee Group enjoyed a Soup Lunch.  It is always so good to get together with this group of East High Friends and visit.  In this month John Ed Maddux turned 5; Anni Routh turned 9; Sarah James turned 7, we celebrated Merli Routh and realized that our babies were growing up. Kim had her birthday on the 18th.  March  "came in like a lamb" so I suppose the weather will get cooler as the month progresses.  Mary Hollis turned 3; Cord turned 4 and Tracey had her 48th birthday.  On March 17th Tracey, Danny, Carter and I left Nashville for Panama  City, Florida to the wonderful vacation-baseball tournament that I have covered in a prior Blog.  We don't have any family birthdays in April, but the month was a busy month for me with Grandparent's Day at Goodpasture, lots of East Scholarship meetings to determine the recipients of our scholarship and baseball games several times a week to watch Carter play. May began as a lovely Spring month as the crocus and daffodils began to bloom and the wild flowers beside the walking track burst into lovely bright yellow and pale violet.  Maddux Routh turned 7; Jeffrey Benton turned 15 and Kim and Brad celebrated their anniversary on the 31st.  Emily and Jackson started out the month of June by having an anniversary on the 2nd and Jacque and Wayne celebrated their anniversary on the 15th.  Connor turned 8 on the 22nd and his mom and dad, Leslie and Russell celebrated an anniversary on the 27th.  Brad and Cassie celebrated an anniversary on the 29th.  Cici Routh turned 4 this month. July was "firecracker hot" as usual.  I enjoyed the apartment's swimming pool as my friend, Terrie, and I went there each morning and did our version of water aerobics.  Nita and Ray celebrated their anniversary - their 40th.  Courtney turned 21 and celebrated her "adulthood" with a trip to Chicago for shopping and theater and a birthday dinner at a great restaurant. August meant back to school and back to college and lots of activities surrounding both events.  Wayne and Jacque treated Sara and I to a trip to Pigeon Forge.  We saw The Blackwoods Show featuring Brad Smith, visited in  Brad and Cassie's home, saw another show, did some shopping, ate lots of good food and had a wonderful time.  Patrick Maddux turned 5. The month ended with Corinne's birthday on the 31st.  September was a "biggie" as John Patrick had his very first birthday party and Kim made it a spectacular event.  Tracey and Danny and Drew and Tara celebrated anniversaries on the 12th of the month.  Christopher Maddux turned 7 and entered first grade. October is my favorite month - maybe because it is my birthday month and maybe because the leaves are turning beautiful colors, the air in the morning is cool and crisp, the days are warm and reminiscent of the Spring days we enjoyed earlier in the year. Jacque celebrated her birthday on the 4th and the next day  Emma turned 12 and my first great-grandchild is growing up.  We had the East Alumni Golf Tournament and, even though it was a lot of work, it was a great event - profiting over $8,000 for the scholarship fund.  I celebrated my 79th birthday surrounded by my girls and sons-in-law.  Age means nothing when you celebrate with your children.  Ava had her 9th birthday.  I enjoyed a luncheon on Halloween with the friends from my Bible Class and it was a lovely way to end a month.  Joesea started out the birthdays in November by turning 7.  Cannon turned 6 with a great party at their new home in Florence, Alabama.  Chris and Ashley celebrated an anniversary in their new home in Jackson, MS.  Thanksgiving Day found us celebrating the event at Brad and Kim's home.  What a feast we enjoyed and also all of the laughing, teasing and fun that was enjoyed.  Will Carter turned 4.  December brought the Holiday Season to us in full swing.  My only problem is that I have to use the oxygen and it is a hassle to haul around with me but I am so thankful for the relief it gives me so I will not complain.  Lots of lovely parties were held in this month, including our Cline Girl's Cookie Swap that was held at Emily's new home. The Committee Group had a Christmas Lunch this year rather than Dinner.  I guess we are getting too old to drive at night but age did not deter anyone from having a lively, laughing, fun time as we played "Dirty Santa" and ate turkey and dressing and all the other dishes.  I was treated to a lovely luncheon at Pat Johnson's home in Franklin and her home is beautiful.  It was decorated to the max, including 14 Christmas trees fully decorated and beautiful.  Joesea had two performances this month that entertained me - one a voice recital where she sang the theme song from Beauty and Beast and did a great job.  The other was a vignette from Girl's Gone Wild where they sang and danced.  You should have seen her doing the Locomotion.  That girl has some moves on her body at this early age.  Kim and I had our annual Mother/Daughter Day where we start with breakfast at I-Hop and shopping at Macy's and Dillards.  We do most all of our shopping on this day and even though we are both pretty "broke down" we manage to buy what we needed and have enjoyment with it and with each other during the day.  We were saddened to lose J. B. Cline.  He died on the 21st and my girls and their husbands and I attended the funeral on Sunday, the 23rd. 

The Cline Christmas was held at Nita and Ray's house and I was proud and happy to present to each daughter and son-in-law a gift bag containing my chocolate covered cherries, fudge candy, spiced tea mix and the cook book that each one had contributed recipes for and had been an on-going project for me and for Kim for many months.  I also gave a bag of  candy and the cook book to each granddaughter.  The cook book was received with exclamations of delight which pleased me very much.  Christmas Eve Paul and I went to Candlelight Service at First Baptist and then to dinner at Mimi's restaurant.  He gave me a beautiful pearl ring for Christmas. 

 I went to Kim's and spent the night.  Christmas morning at Kim's is full of traditions - mimosa drinks with sausage pin wheels, open presents with Patrick, Mikka, Joesea and John Patrick, Brad and Kim.  Lots of surprises and lots of fun.  After all of the paper and ribbon are picked up Kim serves a lovely breakfast.  I came home tired, full of food, happy with my wonderful gifts and most of all being with my children celebrating the season for the whole month. 

 The month has ended as it always does - Nita's birthday.  We had a lovely luncheon at Tracey's home for Nita, her sisters, her daughter-in-laws, her niece and one of her grandchildren (Anni) and of course me.  What a lovely day and what a lovely person to celebrate.

So you see, 2012 has been a good year for me.  I have had a few "bumps in the road" concerning health issues.  My macular degeneration has caused me to feel as though I don't need to drive a car and that makes me very unhappy.  I have always prided myself on my independence since Billy died.   Now I have to depend on others for my transportation.  However, my girls are so kind and so supportive with this issue.  I have so much to be thankful for that I must remember to not complain.  I live in this lovely apartment.  I have my wonderful dog, Houston, to love and to love me back.  I have many friends that I love and enjoy visiting with either by phone or in person.  I am such a blessed woman that I know without a doubt that God is good all the time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

A GOOD LIFE

Good Monday Morning - It is cloudy, raining, cool and I would say that this is a typical winter day.  We have been experiencing the most unusual weather that I can remember.  Whoever heard of 75 degrees on a December day?  One day it's short sleeves and sandals and the next it is sweater weather.  I am finally getting over a sinus infection that lasted forever and I do believe that the weather was a factor in my getting well.  I have decided that Al Gore was a very smart man when he began talking about Global Warming.  We are definitely living in a different environment from what I have lived in during my lifetime. 





This past week-end was just perfect.  Nita, Ray and I went to Jackson, MS to visit Chris, Ashley and the children.  We arrived there on Thursday night very tired after the long drive.  We visited with Chris, Ashley and Mary Hollis (the boys were asleep) until 11:00pm.  I was taken on a tour of their lovely new home.  It is just wonderful and fits their lifestyle and family perfectly.  Plenty of room, wonderful kitchen, lots of bath rooms, bedrooms, and the back yard is a paradise.  The people that had the house previously had made a "French Garden" out of the back yard.  There were many flower beds, two covered areas for furniture and dining outside, lots of lovely shrubs and it will be interesting to see what flowers will come up in those beds this Spring.  Right now, of course, there is not much growing that is colorful - everything is dormant for the Winter.  I'm sure the flowers are confused because of the warm weather and may start blooming soon.  After a good night's rest Nita and Ray went to See Christopher's Christmas Play at school.  It was a bit early for me to go to that, but I did go to Mary Hollis's play later in the morning at her school.  I have always loved the little children marching in so serious and standing on the stage waving at their parents and singing their songs.  Mary Hollis had to sing "The Shepherd's Shuffle" while moving her feet and jumping up and down five times.  We were treated to a lovely lunch by Ashley's mother and daddy, Larry and Carolyn Hollis.  I had lobster bisque and chicken salad sandwich and it was great.  Friday night Ashley had a wonderful dinner which was served in the Christmas dishes in the dining room.  We all sat at the table, eating, talking and it was quite a delightful time.  Saturday morning we went to one of their favorite places for breakfast.  The day was spent by each person doing their various tasks and then came the spectacular performance at the First Baptist Church - Carols by Candlelight.  That event, as I have told before, defies description.  I loved every minute.  On Sunday morning after the family left for church we gathered up all of our belongings and loaded the car and left for the 7 hour drive home.  Needless to say, I was very glad to walk into my apartment, kiss and hug my dog that had been brought home after staying the week-end with Sara. It was a wonderful, unforgettable week-end but I must say that I was glad to be home.

Tomorrow I am going to a Christmas Luncheon where I will be visiting with my friends from high school days.  I am really excited about seeing them.  Everybody will bring a dish of delicious food and we will play "Dirty Santa".  I don't know which present will be the favorite this year.  There is always one item that gets stolen until it is "frozen" and can't be taken away from the person that has it.  Last year it was a Santa that sang like Elvis - "I'll Have a Blue Christmas" and he had a microphone and walked.  He was cute but I had no use for him.  This year, however, if there is an item like that I will probably be fighting for it for John Patrick.  One year it was a dog that barked and sounded like he was barking Jingle Bells.  I don't know where they buy these unusual things.  Paul and I are taking Christmas tree ornaments that are really cute snow men that light up.  They will be popular items I am sure.

Wednesday I am going to a luncheon at Pat Johnson's house.  She has become a very good friend during this past year.  She will be president of the board of directors of East High next year and I am looking forward to her tenure.  She will be very good because she is very smart and very fair.  I understand that her house is lovely and is very decorated for Christmas - even to having eight decorated Christmas trees. 

I love parties.  I love Christmas when my friends get together and share memories and love for each other.  It will be extremely wonderful this year because I felt so bad for so long and then went to the doctor and had to hear that I had a condition that would not reverse itself or get better and oxygen would be my friend from now on.  I let it get to me for a while and I became pretty depressed.  Now, I am feeling the good effect that the oxygen has on me.  I am stronger, can do so much more than I could a few months ago and really don't mind using the oxygen at all.  In fact there are times that I welcome it and the feeling that it brings to me.  It is good to feel good.  It is good to be able to clean or cook or do things that are fun without feeling out of breath or tired.  What I thought would just ruin my life has, in fact, given me a new life.  If I had just done what my little sign on my refrigerator said I would have "Let go and let God".  He definitely knew that these days would come to me because I truly think He orchestrated the sale of my house, the decision to live in this apartment close to Nita and Tracey and Corinne with Kim not too far away.  These girls of mine just can't do enough for me.  He knew that I would come to a time in my life where, because of my eyesight and the C.O.P.D., I would need help to continue an active life.  He knew and he planned it all because God is good - all the time.