...a word from Kathy

I love words. I love to write them, speak them and hear them. I know my “love language” is words. Many of my memories are wrapped around words. Some of the greatest gifts have been the gift of words from my daddy, my mama, from Ray and from my children. I remember when our kids were babies and we marveled at how the babies recognized our voices so early in their lives. Then, we eagerly awaited their first word…how precious that connection. (Then the twos, the threes and the teen years convinced me that words could be overrated!) We’ve just survived Winter Formal at our house. It is so fun to have a teen-age girl and to play dress-up. We shopped and shopped for the “right” dress. We shopped for the right shoes, the right earrings, bracelets, and hairstyle. We tanned, we plucked, we had alterations, TWICE alterations, and we talked boutonnieres, curfew, money, and picture taking. We survived intact with a beautiful girl (outside too) and lots of pictures and an on-time cur...

W hen our children were small they would often spend a few days of the summer with Nannie. Nannie lives about 5 miles outside a small, rural Mississippi town. For years she lived on a gravel road and that road is so dark at night that you literally canNOT see your hand in front of your face….I doubted this fact once but now I believe (but that’s a whole other story!) One day when Nick and Sarah were staying with Nannie she rounded them up and into her Cadillac and said, “Come on, we’ve got to run to town. I’ve got to go get my hair fixed.” After about a quarter of mile she heard a small voice from the back seat say, “Nannie, what does that mean…get your hair fixed? Is it broken? How do they fix it?” Later, telling us the story, Nannie could hardly tell us without laughing and giggling. We still hold that story special in our family. My momma is 86 years old and even if she is ill for the entire week, I promise you her supreme effort will emerge to go the Beauty Shop on Frid...

O h my gosh, do you realize how many pine needles fall from a 10 foot Christmas tree? Last week when I was restoring our house to it’s pre-Christmas look I felt like we were growing an indoor putting green. Ridiculous. I packed boxes, sealed boxes, and carried boxes to storage. And then the lights-Ughhh! Is it a sin to just throw-out the tree with the lights sill on it? Wasteful for sure, but my sanity is important too, isn’t it! I’ve made comments and I’ve heard comments like, “I’m so glad Christmas is over. Now we can get back to normal”. And I agree as I really like a routine in my daily life and the month of December is anything but routine. The Christmas celebration is so full of expectation, excitement, parties, family gatherings, going and more going. Can we try to fit in one more activity? We all know that the real meaning of Christmas gets lost somehow….or for me it does. It’s hard to fight the December mania. And now, we’re on the other side and so ...