Sea Breezes
This week I had an experience with fame.They say fame is fleeting, and that is a good thing. Last evening I experienced a fleeting moment of fame. I enjoyed the moment very much because I represented the awesome team I work with at Brunswick High School. My principal and I accepted an award at our local school board meeting from United Way on behalf of the employees at our school. We beat out the other local high school in donations, and I was the fund raising chair type person at our school. Thus, I had the honor of being recognized. My fleeting moment of fame felt really good, in my heart good. Representing others is a special honor which makes you want to hold up pictures of all the folks you represent and then make a speech about each one of them. We got a beautiful trophy to display at our school, I got a thank you from my awsome principal, and I even got my picture put on the school homepage. All in all, it was a great experience. But back to this fame thing. Fame is fleeting. Does it mean the same as remembered for? What do I want to be remembered for? Someone said only three things are important in life: who you love, who loves you, and your relationship with the Lord. Nothing else matters. My moment of fame came and went, but what it represented will last a long time. Being famous is fun for a moment, but being ordinary can be extraordinary.
Sea Breezes
I love gifts that keep on giving. Last Thanksgiving we really gave thanks as all nine of our kids were under our roof. We had a wonderful time. We laughed, ate, changed diapers, ate, read books, laughed, ate, bathed babies, ate, picked up toys, loved, enjoyed, shared. That precious time for this Grandma didn't stop when the group went out the front door to their own homes. I still have that gift. It is still giving because it has turned into a sweet memory that I can pull out each day and enjoy. Christmas showed up right after turkey day and daughter Katie and family got to come for a few days. My Tennessee kids were safely tucked away in their own home enjoying Christmas, but I had that Thanksgiving memory to pull out for my Christmas day. Then we found out Christmas Day that a fifth grandbaby was sleeping and growing sweetly inside Katie. I suddenly realized that the next gathering under our roof would be our ten kids! This blessing/ gift giving thing is getting out of hand. It is out of my hand, but it is safely in God's hands! Our Lord indeed delights in blessing us! This is where the picture of the swing comes in this story. Katie and Greg gave us a swing for Christmas, after they shocked us with the new baby news; their "old baby" just turned one. Well, the swing is hung. It is a great gift. It will be a cherished place to sit and hold and rock and love all of the other gifts we have gotten over the years. That porch swing is a great gift, but what it represents is the best gift of all. My children and my grandchildren are the best gifts for these two grandparents. You think all these kids know how much we love and cherish them?
sea breezes
At the end of the week. I needed a moment of magic. I needed the sea. As I strolled out onto the St. Simons Island Pier, magic found me. The sea air carried the haunting strains of a nearby bagpiper celebrating the day's end as the sun began to slowly drop into the ocean. I am so blessed to live near such magic. The orange glow over the ocean, the winter sea air tickling my hair, the staggered chords of the bagpipes forming the familiar melody of "Amazing Grace." Does life get any better than this? I was mesmerized by the magic. Together, that bagpiper and I, celebrated the ending of the day. "Day is done, gone the sun, from the lake, from the sea, from the sky. All is well, safefully rest, God is nigh."
Sea Breezes
Today we celebrated love, and I thought of St.Valentine's days of my youth. Passing out Valentines in class was a rite and a right of elementary school passage. The more you got, the higher your popularity status went. When my own children came along, each child in the class got a Valentine from you or you passed out none. I got a Valentine today from my sweetie. He took a moment to tell me he loves me with a sweet card. I am so blessed in this thing called love. I gave Valentine candy to my kids at school and told them each I was glad to have them in my class. Each one said "Thank you." I went to Mrs. Robb's party on the island. We laughed and loved as friends. Love is a special gift. I know love from all directions, from my hubbie, my family, my church family,my friends and co-workers. I am a rich woman because I have the best gift, the gift of love. I am reminded on this day of love... faith hope and love. Three gifts, but the greatest of these is love. Have a lovely Valentine' Day. Remember how much He loves us. He came down from Heaven to be our love.
Sea Breezes
When you live near this much water, you gotta have a boat. At least that was my understanding of life. Well, therein lies a problem. Boats are pricey. I grew up in a boating family, and the day came when I finally decided this family needed a proper boat. School had just started last year and it was right around Harold's birthday. One of the teachers at my school was selling, and I use that term loosely, more like begging, someone to buy her husband's boat at a very low price. I mean very low price. That is where I came along. I needed to buy my husband a birthday present, and I had boats on the brain...such was launched the buying and delivery of the biggest and most whacko present I have ever bought for my husband. The day I bought the boat from my school friend Mrs. McCann was the day I found out the unspoken wisdom of all boat owners. The two best days of a boat owner's life are the day he buys the boat and the day he sells the boat. Well, I bought the boat. My school buddy Mr. Yonkers, his wife Karen and I picked the boat up at the storage facility where it had been stored for over two years, and hauled it behind Mr. Yonker's pickup to my house. (Mr. Yonkers lives on a sailboat at the Brunswick Marina, but that story is for another day.) We had to stop on the way to air up a trailer tire. At that point in the story, if you have figured the boat has not been in the water in a while, you are right. We got the boat home and Harold was very surprised by his birthday present. The fact that the boat still does not start and we do not know the cost of getting it out on the water does not deter from the fact that the Sartin family now owns a boat. Harold did make me promise, that the next time I buy something with a motor, I make sure it runs first. Plans are to have us and the old dogs out on that boat the first good fishing day this spring. I'll be sure and take a picture when that happens. You know, if you live near water, you gotta have a boat!
What is better than beaches and barefeet? When my day tried to take a downward spiral and I needed to make a "save", I remembered that in minutes I could be barefooted and on the beach. Just thinking about kicking off my shoes and digging my toes into the sandy beach made me smile. The very fact that we live near the beach is still part of my "I can't believe I live here" syndrome. I never tire of the smell of salt air, the sound of the tide coming in or the sharp call of a circling sea gull. My grandbabies love going to the beach when they visit. The beach is a child's fantasy playground, and we always kick off our shoes, wiggle toes in the sand, and sneak a toe into the water, no matter what the termperature! Beach treasures are golden because they are varied and free! This week if I need to get away, even if only in my imagination, I will think of barefeet and beaches! Those are two of my favorite things, in addition to my four very favorite grandbabies.
Sunday morning here in Darien is always delightful. This Sunday morning dawned blue and bright and breezy. I stepped out on my front porch to be greeted by the morning calls of neighborhood birds and dancing Spanish moss. My old live oaks seemed to take on new life as the morning sun filtered through their craggy old branches. Harold and I shared breakfast by the fire as the air was still cool from the prvious hours of darkness.
Soon, we were off to church at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, established in 1879 in the heart of Darien. We love our little church that God has brought us to. We love the people most of all.I sing in the choir and Harold serves as an usher. This morning I took my camera to catch a shot of me and fellow choir members sharing a smile after services. We sang "On Eagle's Wings" for our offertory. This is one of my favorites and the words always bring strength to my soul when I sing "He will lift you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, and make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand." Wow, we serve a mighty God. I love remembering that God lifts me over the dawn on a beautiful Sunday morningl
This is first post of Sea Breezes. I live by the sea in a lovely little shrimping village called Darien in coastal Georgia. I am a Christian, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a mother-in-law, a sister, a friend, a teacher, a writer, a lover of all life. I am excited to share my life because I am blessed and blessings are best shared.
