Not your typical day

It starts as a typical day off work.

Crawl out of bed.  Perform usual morning tasks which include looking out the window to find a dreary, rainy and chilly day greeting you.

Gather up laundry.  Eat breakfast enjoying that first hot, soothing cup of tea.

Tell husband about the crazy dreams you had.  Laugh out loud at his reaction.

Throw first load of laundry in the washing machine.  Think about what household chores need to be accomplished.  Decide they can wait and power up the laptop.  Log into Facebook.   Read updates on your friends and relatives near and far.

Decide to check blog and perhaps write a short post for today.   Click on WordPress.  Stare at WordPress home page.   Blink.  Stare again at home page.  Blink… blink… blink.

Gasp out loud.  Mind begins rapid-fire monologue.  What?!?!  Is that real?  Do you honestly see what you think you see?  Could it be?

On the Freshly Pressed home page for www.wordpress.com there sits a picture that looks exactly like the one you used in yesterday’s post.  Blink again.

The upper-right corner of the page boasts the freshly pressed post entitled,  “When nature shows no mercy” by Mama’s Empty Nest.  That’s you!!  Sit back in your chair and let the shock sink in.

Blink again and again.  Stare intently at your computer screen to make sure your eyes are not playing tricks on you.   Nope, still there.  You’ve just been freshly pressed for all WordPress bloggers to see!

Yell at husband to come look as you incredulously explain, “I think I’ve been freshly pressed.”  He grins at you and says, “Wow!  That’s great!”   You grin back and stare again at the screen with him.  Shock.  Total shock.

Hubby grabs your cell phone and texts your three adult children: “Your Mom has made the big time on WordPress!  Her blog from yesterday was posted on freshly pressed on the front page.  This made her day.  You should take a look and congratulate her.  Love, Dad.”

You finally come out of your shock stupor to actually log into your blog.  And there you see proof that it’s true.  Your site stats have soared to heights never seen before.   Fellow bloggers are leaving comments for you.  In the blogging world, it’s an exciting day.

Friends write congratulations on your Facebook wall.  Your children respond with messages and phone calls.  They’re proud of their mama.  They tell you again what an awesome writer you are.  (Of course they believe that, they’re your offspring!)

Oldest daughter tells you “Mom, you’re going to be a famous blogger!”

And your reply is “Ha! Only for one day!”

And that’s the truth.  When the fervor dies down,  the site stats will return to the normal range.  Your 15 minutes of fame will be over.

For what it’s worth, you’re relishing the ride on these last few pages in Chapter 4 of your book called Opportunity.   But more than that, you hope and pray lives were touched by what you write, which always comes from God placing thoughts in both your heart and mind.

Thank you WordPress and all you fellow bloggers and readers out there.   Thanks to you, it’s been a thrilling roller coaster of a ride!

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

When nature shows no mercy

Hubby and I used to live in “Tornado Alley” first in Oklahoma for a few years and then several more residing in the Midwest.

In both areas, tornado watches and warnings are common occurrences in the spring.  Middle daughter is still a little fearful of violent storms because of it.

So the recent rash of relentless twisters that ripped their way through the south brought those memories back to me today.  Our oldest daughter lives in one of the states hardest hit by a tornado resulting in much destruction and the loss of human life.

A twister touched down in her city a few miles from her.  Hubby and I were relieved to get her text message last evening announcing she and her roommate were safe and sound in their apartment, without power and for a while no cell phone service, but safe!

What a relief!  But yet this morning, I still felt the edge of anxiety and concern over her well-being and again was reassured when I spoke with her by phone at her place of work.

She had witnessed some debris raining from the sky into her apartment complex parking lot and she and roomie headed to the inside bathroom (the safest place in your home during a tornado if you have no basement or storm cellar) wearing their bike helmets. They are smart young women.

So many others were not as fortunate.  As hubby and I perused photos online of the devastation and read about the death toll, tears welled up in my eyes.   My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones and also to those who lost their homes and everything in it.

I can imagine their grief because I’ve witnessed first-hand the damage ferocious tornadoes wreak and those sights I saw are permanently etched into my mind – sights I will never forget as long as I live.

When hubby and I were a young married couple, we lived in Oklahoma where he served in the military.  There I actually experienced a twister’s fury.  Since then, I often can feel the air’s ripeness for a tornado.  There’s something about the air density, pressure and  stillness I sense just before a fierce funnel cloud twirls through.

I don’t know all the scientific data about that, but I can tell when a tornado watch is looming.   I often amazed friends in the Midwest when I would suddenly announce, “We’re going to have a tornado watch/warning today” and sure enough, the TV weatherman would verify what I felt.

But back to my Oklahoma story – I had no clue what a tornado’s fury was like back then.  That strange day in April, I drove home from work through a wild thunder/hail storm and my car radio warned me there were funnel clouds sighted and evidently touching down in the Texas town across the border.  And they were headed in our direction.

I scurried into our apartment, scared and worried because hubby was scheduled for all night duty at the military post and would not be home that night.   Turning on the TV, I  learned the funnel cloud definitely was heading towards our end of town.  Our apartment faced south – from where the tornado was coming!

I opened the windows a little because I had heard that windows implode inward on you from the force of the twister.   And when the TV person shouted to take cover immediately, I found sanctuary in my walk-in closet.  Our cat refused to stay with me,  instead she perched on the window sill facing south.

In a flash, she jumped off the sill and darted into the closet with me.  And that’s when I heard it – a deafening roar like I have never heard before.  The windows shook and I buried my head in a pile of laundry believing my life was coming to an end.  I prayed that God might spare me or if I died my body would be found quickly in the rubble and my husband and parents would be comforted.

And then there was silence.  I was afraid to move, so I just sat in the closet, clinging to my cat and waited.  How long I do not remember.  But I was safe and others were not.  TV news reported that three people lost their lives in our area, but the real devastation was in the Texas town where three funnel clouds joined together to form a monster tornado which cut a mile wide path many miles long.

I worked at a daily newspaper, not as a ‘hard news’ reporter but one of the ‘fluff’ people –reporting human interest type stories.   The next day at work, I was shocked when a tenant at my complex, who had been brave enough (or stupid) to take a picture of the twister, brought it to the paper in hopes of getting it printed.

The funnel cloud had sped across the wheat field adjacent to our apartment dropping debris as it went.  My home was in its direct path and that photo showed the tornado lifting up into the air over our apartment building (and over me).

Later, I traveled with my fellow news reporters and photographers to the Texas town demolished by the furious twister.  It looked like a war zone.  I cried the entire time in that car full of reporters who were shocked into silence as we drove through areas where emergency workers allowed us.

Where once tree-lined housing subdivisions had been, there was nothing left.  Nothing.  In some areas, a lonely toilet stood but absolutely nothing else.  In other areas, mangled, twisted hunks of unidentifiable materials – pieces of cars, trucks, buildings – were strewn everywhere.

I read hand written signs, fashioned out of a piece of wall or whatever was left and propped up where once a home stood, declaring, “We’re ok!”  “Lost everything, but alive!”  “Please call [number] if you’ve seen [person’s name].”

I have never, ever forgotten neither those sights nor the grief I felt that day for all those people who lost everything.

We take so much for granted and in one moment, it can all be blown away with the wind.  Today is Page 28, Chapter 4, in my book of Opportunity and I pray fervently for those who suffered such loss because of this violent weather system.  And I am full of gratitude that my loved one was kept safe from its fierce wrath.

P.S.  For those of you who would like to help tornado victims in need, I highly recommend donating to Samaritan’s Purse – http://www.samaritanspurse.org

© 2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

Excuses and sticker shock

Mama’s Empty Nest has been absent the last few days.

How many days can you miss posting on your blog before you are considered a truant?

Does WordPress or your readers send a truant officer out after you to see what’s going on and haul your sorry self back to cyberland?

I don’t have a doctor’s excuse because I haven’t been sick.  I can’t get my mom to write an excuse for me either because she and my dad are up in heaven where you don’t need excuses for anything.  I can’t even claim my cat ate my homework.

I’m sincerely hoping I haven’t lost my readers due to my absence.  From my site stats, it looks like few (emphasis on few) people are even checking my blog to see if I’ve written a new post.  So I am a little concerned that some readers have drifted away while I was otherwise preoccupied.

So what’s my reason for so much inactivity on my blog?

Well….I could just say I’ve been busy.  (But that’s a little evasive.)

I could say Easter preparations occupied my time.  (But that’s untrue.)  Only one bird came back to the nest for the holiday;  we had a very simple meal and I didn’t even unpack the Easter decorations, let alone put them out for display.

I could say I don’t have any interesting ideas to write about.  (Not true either, since there are lots of unwritten blog posts swirling around in my head.)

I could say I’ve been unmotivated to write.  (There might be a smidgen of truth to that one.)

Or I could say my laptop has been acting up. (Again untrue.)  It’s been fired up and surfing jauntily all over the net while it rests on my lap and attracts my attention more than ever before.

So I might as well just ‘fess up.  There’s actually a good reason for my blog inactivity.  Another past time has garnered my full attention in my non-working hours.  Middle daughter was home for the entire Easter weekend and we were doing a full press….on wedding planning!

And at this point, let me just declare that I am still not over the sticker shock of the cost of weddings.

So on this 26^th page of Chapter 4 in my book of Opportunity, I’m looking fervently for opportunities for Mama and Papa to give dear daughter a beautiful but cost-efficient wedding of her dreams.  I’ll keep you posted on that seemingly impossible task.

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

Wishing you Easter joy

Christ the Lord is risen today!

Hallelujah!

Happy Easter to all my readers!  I hope you’re enjoying this day with loved ones and family and that you experience the joy of knowing Jesus is Lord and He has risen from the grave.

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

What’s so good about Good Friday?

It is Good Friday.

The day that I, along with other Christians, remember what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us that day as He was tried unfairly, sentenced to death by crucifixion, and endured six tortured and grueling hours hanging and dying on a cross between two criminals.

What’s so good about someone dying on a cross?  Why did He do it?  For you.  For me.  For all of us.  Because He loves us.  It’s as simple as that.

The book of John in the New Testament tells us that in Chapter 3, Verse 16:  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

So on this 22nd page of Chapter 4 in my book called Opportunity, I want to share my Savior with you because what He did today is not the end of the story.  His death brought life to you and me and He revealed this on that miraculous Sunday morning that we call Easter.

If you don’t know Jesus Christ, find or borrow a Bible, turn to the book of John and read about the One who came to earth to save the lost.  It’s the best place to start.

As you contemplate that wondrous cross where Jesus gave His life, know that He died just for you.

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

Saving a wretch like me

Busy week.  Long day.  Too tired to string a series of words together to make any sense. No motivation to write.

But as we head into this Easter weekend, my thoughts turn to my Savior.  How He communed with his beloved disciples during the Last Supper knowing He was heading for the cross.  And as I contemplate that, this song keeps running through my mind.

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

Will Spring ever spring?

No time for deep thinking today or even putting my thoughts (such as they are) into words.   It’s just another dreary, bleary, depressing day of constant rain, fog and general dullness.   Spring is slow in arriving in our area this year.  So I’m trying to think happy thoughts of the season by viewing  some of my old photos from springs gone by.

Hope they brighten your day as well!

 

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

Just what the doctor ordered

“Middle age is when you’re sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn’t for you.”  ~Ogden Nash

This middle aged empty nest Mama has endured a busy week and next week will be just as hectic. 

So I’ve been looking forward to a restful and relaxing weekend and a short visit from my dear ones.

Come Sunday evening, the empty nest will be 4/5 full as son is stopping by on his way back to his abode in the state next door (on the east side of us) from his college friend’s wedding in the state next door (on the west side of us). 

If you managed to follow that, you’ll understand he needs a stopover with tasty food and a warm bed and what better place than his Mama’s (and Papa’s) empty nest?  Middle daughter is driving up from the city also to visit with her brother.

But before they arrive, this weary worker who wrought a week of wandering here and there, wrangling bins of promotional materials and goodies for giveaway, and warbling words of wisdom to wards of young whippersnappers is planning on some R and R (rest and relaxation).  That’s why I found this email I received from one of my friends entertaining and cute.

Knowing I’m in the middle of my busy season at my non-profit employer, my dear friend  created the perfect “prescription” for me and my weekend.  Please read “Dr. K’s” orders below:

“Dr. (not) K prescribes a:

Weekend of total rest and recoup.  Tomorrow sleep in until 9:30.  Have hot tea with sweeteners,  sweeteners being 4 cookies.

Then one long long shower or soaking bath, donning a pair of sweats afterwards.

Mosey over to the TV and watch nice happy movies for the whole day, stopping for grilled cheese for lunch and more tea and cookies for supper, to be followed by another hot bath/shower and a nice happy book for bedtime.

Repeat on Sunday, except for going to church.

Note here:  If you stay home on Sunday also,  the world won’t end, and you and God could have a wonderful long talk with a little communion on the side.”

I’m happy to report that in Chapter 4, Page 16 of my book of Opportunity, I am following my friend’s orders explicitly.  When I awoke at 6ish this morning, I promptly rolled over and went back to sleep.  And did I sleep in?  Did I ever!

For breakfast I drank my prescribed hot tea and included the sweeteners.  After a long hot shower, my body is relaxing in comfy clothes – sweatshirt and my crazy pajama pants with moons and stars.  (Praying for no unexpected visitors!)

I’ve already viewed one sappy, happy TV movie and plan to watch a few more from my spot on the couch, probably with calico kitty curled up in my lap.  It’s another dreary, rainy day here in the country so the allure of a good book to read is already enticing me.  And tomorrow, after church, I will follow the good “doctor’s” orders once again, at least until my grown up children arrive.

‘Dr. K’ sure knows how to write prescriptions, doesn’t she?  She definitely knows the prescription for being a wonderful friend.

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

Never fully dressed without a smile

There’s nothing as contagious as a smile.  “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing,”  Mother Teresa once said.

Today I made a little boy smile and that brought joy to not just me but to other children also.  And that made my heart happy.

My work for a non-profit takes me into schools, both public and private.  Usually, however, I perform my job in high schools, seldom do I visit with children younger than sixth grade.

So today was unusual.  My colleague and I were talking to teenagers at a health fair about making good choices for a healthy future.  In between chats with teens, elementary students also started making rounds at the fair.

My co-worker, a young man with no children, looked panicked for a brief moment at the thought of having to interact with little people instead of cool teenagers.   But the Mom in this empty nest Mama came out at the sight of those little ones.

A troupe of kindergartners came by our table en route to a more child-friendly table and were thrilled to pluck silly bands out of the plastic bag of animal shapes we offered them.  After spending so much time with 7-12^th grade students, I thought these little ones were so darn cute.

Another class marched single file past us and stood in line for the game next door.  So  after offering them their silly bands, I asked the children what grade they were in.  “Second grade!” came the jubilant reply from two or three of them.  But the little boy directly in front of me did not answer, just looked at me and frowned.

“Second grade?!”  I exclaimed.  “You’re getting so old!”  I made an exaggerated face.  And they all laughed.  Except frowny boy.  He scowled at me.

Aha, a challenge.  So I eyed him up and said, “You don’t look happy to be here like your friends do.”  He scowled a little deeper.  The sweet little girl next to him said, “Oh, he’s always like that, he NEVER smiles!”

“Never?”  I peered at him as his frown grew worse.  “Ever?”  I asked as I got down on his level and looked right into his cute little face.  He knitted his brow, pursed his lips and his frown turned into a really grumpy one.

So I, of course, made a grumpy face back at him.  He answered my grimace with an even sterner look which I then matched and used my hands to pull my frown down even more.  His classmates giggled and giggled.  And I saw a fleeting glimpse of a smile start at the edge of his mouth which he promptly turned into an even greater frowny face.

“Oh no!!!” I said pulling my own frowny face down more,  “I think we’ll have to start crying now!”  And all of a sudden, he couldn’t maintain the grouchy grumps any longer.  His lips started to move, he tried so hard not to, but he burst into not just a smile, but a little laugh out loud.

“You made him smile!!” his classmates yelled.  “No one ever makes him smile!”  And they laughed, and he laughed and I laughed.  And then he put his grumpy Gus face right back on his cute little face.

Inspirational writer Mary H. Waldrip said, “A laugh is a smile that bursts.”  And for one brief moment, when that little guy’s smile burst into a laugh, I made his heart glad and he did wonders for mine on Page 15, Chapter 4 in my book called Opportunity.

“It takes a lot of work from the face to let out a smile, but just think what good smiling can bring to the most important muscle of the body… the heart.”  ~ Author Unknown

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

No flight plan, part 2

This wasn’t the flight plan we filed.

We arrived at the airport very early that morning and the departure screen screamed out our first problem of the day – our flight had been cancelled.

We scurried to the check-in counter to be told that there were no other flights on that airline to our destination, but we could be scheduled for a flight the next day!

That was not an option because daughter had just recently returned from a three-week trip to Africa and, with no vacation days left, had to report for work Monday morning. When asked why our flight was cancelled, we were told that our pilot didn’t show up.  What???

The solution was to book us on another airline because we had to get home.  Satisfied with two new tickets in hand and happy to get away from the long line of angry customers, we left the counter and started walking away.

Daughter said, “OK, now we’re flying to Charlotte and from there to our final destination.”  I looked at my ticket and said, “Huh?  No, we’re flying to Houston and then to our home airport!”

Yep, the two of us, who were traveling together, were booked on separate airlines, going in opposite directions and arriving at our final destination many hours apart.    Back to the counter we trotted, which by now was surrounded by throngs of angry would-be passengers.

After a long wait, I realized my flight was calling for final check-ins, so I ran over to encounter another long line there.   What to do?  Check in and fly to Houston?  Wait and see if we can get on another flight together?  Go…wait…go…wait??

Finally, daughter, who had been standing in line at the original airline counter, gets waited on and explains that we need to be on the same stinkin’ plane, for crying out loud! Suddenly, daughter yells above the din, “Wait, Mom!!!  Don’t go!!  They’re getting us on another flight together!”

Relieved, I rushed back to airline counter one and my daughter.   Again we walked away with fresh new tickets, comparing them to find success – we’re both flying to Atlanta on the same plane and then to our destination together.  Finally!  And that’s when we notice our departure time.  Twelve hours from now!

What do you do to entertain yourself when you’re stuck in a small city airport for 12 hours and you’ve already turned in your rental car?  And you’ve only brought small carry-on bags, so you don’t have a lot of entertainment fodder with you?  Let’s just say we learned every nook and cranny of that airport and then some.

The nightmare continued when we checked in for our flight all those hours later.  Standing in the long queue for security screening, we were shocked to get pulled out of the line.  Daughter was escorted one way, I was escorted another.

Apparently, the haggard, exhausted looks on our faces made us appear to be would-be terrorists!   I realize now that our names were probably red-flagged because we had been jostled around from flight to flight that day, but hey, that wasn’t our doing! Blame that on the airline!

Our carry-on bags and purses were taken from us, opened and searched thoroughly while we were instructed to sit facing each other.   And as I sat there, shoeless, without my ID, my purse or my carry-on, the screeners took their sweet time examining our belongings first and then us.

Yes, I was frisked and so was my daughter and this was years before the latest TSA security measures.   And still we sat and sat….and by this time, I fumed because I was certain the delay was going to make us miss our flight…which we waited 12 hours to board!

And that’s when it hit me.  We could have driven by car and been almost home by then.  Instead, we literally sprinted to our boarding gate, endured two flights, a layover, and finally arrived at our city airport after midnight.

There we waited another 45 minutes for a shuttle to transport us to the outer parking lot where daughter’s car sat.  We slumped into her car, totally exhausted, and braced for the hour’s drive home.

The trip that should have taken us just a few hours by plane took almost 19 hours!  By the time we actually arrived at our house, we realized that if we had traveled by car we would have been home by dinner time and soundly sleeping in our beds for several hours.

Hassle?  Absolutely.  Stressful?  Without a doubt!  Totally exhausting? Unbelievably.  And that’s why I fear flying.  I would much rather be master of my own trip than place myself at the mercy of airlines and security screeners.   So on this 13^th page, Chapter 4, in my book of Opportunity and on any day, I’d much rather say, “Road trip!”

©2011 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com