One more spring in South Alabama

I'm here - again - 

One more spring in Minnesota, South Alabama,
To come upon Lake Wobegon. Evergreen.
Old town I smell your coffee. 
If I could see you one more time -- 
I can't stay, you know, I left so long ago, 
I'm just a stranger with memories of people I knew here. 
We stand around, looking at the ground. 
You're the stories I've told for years and years. 

That yard, the tree -- you climbed it once with me, 
And we talked of cities that we'd live in someday. 
I left, old friend, and now I'm back again, 
Please say you missed me since I went away. 

One more time that dance together, 
Just you and I now, don't be shy. 
This time I know I'd hear the music 
If I could hold you one more time. 

--Garrison Keillor 

 Kate and I drove down yesterday, Sunday afternoon.

So glad to be here.  It's been a while.

It's no secret I love my roots - those sights and sounds and smells and places and people who shaped me.

Family, Friends, Failures and Successes.

Laughing, Talking, Crying, Gasping, Exclaiming.

Loving, Hating, Learning, Knowing.

As Kate and I got into the heart of South Alabama, which I say is just above Montgomery - I felt my breathing change.  My heart lifted a bit.  My soul relaxed.  

Just so the reader will know, I shift back to another kind of homecoming when I get on Sand Mtn., around Rainsville - I'm going to what I know in Scottsboro, AL - what is present and real and what has shaped my adult life - married to my dear, loved and loving, and faithful Charlie - Always there to catch me in my breakdowns, always there to hear about my visits home to Evergreen - to know my lackings and my strengths - I get into North Alabama where I have been blessed with a life of loving my four girls from birth to now - where I receive my grandchildren and hug and kiss them and nurture them and my family and friends, my weeds grass, my flowers, my trees, my yard, my daily living - I love home, wherever it is.

But Evergreen is where I am/was a child and I am vulnerable and known.  

I can hear Mother and Daddy's laughter and rhythms and steady paces,  and there are ghosts here of my childhood  -  I think it's the longing we all have for our true home - eternal. 

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

and

Now we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For now we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we should be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.  2 Corinthians 5: 1 - 5

(knowing this scripture is about being clothed in His Life and His Righteousness and His redemption, but He did say, "I go to prepare a place for you"  and it is my true home)

Evergreen Images, What I've Always Seen

Mixed with Images of my Present Life - my children and grandchildren.

Grandmother's - excuse me - Mary Ann's Marble Table

Always the Music

The Clock from Troy(daddy's home).

It chimed every hour and half hour.

Grandmother's Music Stand.

Grandmother's Portrait, she was sixteen.

Where Mother used to sit, in her room.

Her Spot.

Portraits of my children, framed in old frames.

Mary Ann's house which once was home to another Evergreen Family.

More musical images, always.

This Picasso - from his "Blue Period".

Mother and Daddy were young, newly married and wanted to "collect art".

Grandmother's pastel from her Judson College days.

Mother always said these houses reminded her of her grandmother's house.

They called her Mama Sally.

My Daddy as a very young man.  He looks 14 or 15 to me.

Mother's silhouette.

And then we went to visit my aunt, Mary.

and her daughter, Melissa - my cousin.

We sat around their kitchen table.

They were asking Kate all about what she's doing now.

While they asked all about that, I meandered around Mary and John Law's house, getting some photos.

This oil portrait done for Mary and John Law of their son, Jim, who lived only 4 sweet, precious, adorable years.  1955 - 1959.

Portraits of Melissa and Mary Claire.  

My youngest female cousins, Mary's 2 daughters.

Melissa is a Caterer and below......

.......is the kitchen where she prepares her meals and dishes and treats.

Her homemade rolls.

Mary's  baby grand piano.

again, the music.

Perhaps more pictures tomorrow of Evergreen outside the family homes.

We did eat lunch today at a local restaurant.

Saw old faces, old friends, old acquaintances.

I always identify myself  this way, 

"Do you recognize me?  I'm Elizabeth Wilkerson"

Because I don't always recognize everyone.  I have to gaze through the years to know who they are.

The Train

Ellie went with me today to take Sarah to the Train Station in Birmingham.

It's on Morris Avenue - right smack kadab in the middle of downtown Birmingham.
Birmingham is no Atlanta, but it has its own unique downtown.
I like it a lot.
I used to work on the corner of 6th Avenue and 20th Street.  So, on the way to the train station, I crane my neck, looking to see images from my past - those days of single life and those days of meeting Charlie and then that one year we were married and living in Birmingham.

So - the train station - and saying goodbye to Sarah.

Andrew on the Movie, "Mirror, Mirror"

Ann and Steve took Ellie, 7, Luke, 5, and Andrew, 3, to see Mirror, Mirror - starring Julia Roberts and other people.

It's basically a new twist on Snow White.

Yesterday Andrew had mine and Sarah's undivided attention and was thinking of things off the top of his head to tell us.  They were very random.

I wrote this down, what he told us -

"I saw that movie about a purty girl and a bird camed in her house and it didn't poop on her."


He told that a second time, later, so I think he must have been amazed about the bird coming in her house and not defecating at all - well - at least not on Snow White.

Walking

It's Monday.  We celebrated Christ's resurrection yesterday.

What do you do when you find out that you've been redeemed from a pit so dark, so hopeless - and you've been redeemed by the God of all creation?

What do you do?

Do you pay him back?  Do you thank Him?  Do you wonder where to go from here?
Yes, thank Him.  Every hour.  All the time.  Be really really thankful.
You can't repay Him, but you give Him yourself.  That's what you do.

Do you think, "What if I go back in the pit?"  Are you scared you might go back in the pit?  Back to despair and hopelessness?  Back to death?

If you heard the truth you know that you've been redeemed forever and that He carries you.  No need to fear those things.  He has you.  Even in the moments when He carries you through things that feel "pit-like" or feel hopeless, there is the truth of the Gospel.  You are alive in Christ.

You just walk.  You live in Him.  He carries.  He changes you and me.  He shapes and makes and molds you and me.  We are alive now because He is alive.  If we said yes to Him.  I did say yes.  I said for Him to have all of me.  I still say it.  It's the only way to live, day after day.  Walking.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Again, Happy, Happy Easter.

Good Morning.

The dark page has turned.  There's hope.

Jesus was dead, but now he's alive. 

He overcame death.  

God became man and He has saved us.

Grace. 

What shall we say then?

Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death?

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that,

just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,

we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with Him in a death like His,

we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

For we know that our old self was crucified with Him

so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, 

that we should no longer be slaves to sin -

because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we died with Christ we believe that 

we will also live with Him.

Romans Six: One through Eight.

Here we are,  April 8, 2012, and all of that happened those many years ago 

and it was planned before time,

our redemption.

May the lamb who was slain 

receive in my life today the reward of His sufferings!

Revelations 5:12

If anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Matthew 16:24

I Know I Never Post

Last Post Was March 19th.
At least it hasn't been a whole month.

Not that a lot hasn't been happening - but - well - I can't seem to put anything into words anymore.

1.  We have a mouse.
I mean a real mouse..... not a computer mouse.  We've already been trying to deal with it - but I actually saw it this morning.  Ugh!!

2.  Charlie and his siblings (1 sister, 2 brothers - Charlie's the youngest) have been coming to the rescue of their very smart and very capable and very reasonable and very sound in mind 89 year old mother, Lib.   Her usually good health took a downswing in late February, then she rallied, but on March 11 it got worse. She fell, due to collapsing, and was in the hospital and was very weak and in need of rehabilitation.  That was a week of all four of them working together, 2 getting her into a rehab/nursing home in Atlanta, and the other 2 (Charlie and Mike) physically moving her furniture - as in U Haul - and lifting and  sorting.  Lib is getting stronger after 3 weeks of rehab and will soon be in a Senior Living Center, giving her the opportunity to return to more independence.

Lib and Guy on their Wedding Day

Lib and Guy with their four children.

Charlie with Lib, Amanda with Guy,

Guy Neil front left, and Mike front right.

Charlie on a swing set, and Amanda behind him.

Lib watching National Championship Game with Charlie and all of us in 2010.

Lib with Andrew in 2010

3.  I heard from one of my dearest college friends on March 23.  She and her husband and a friend were traveling from Memphis to North Carolina.  I haven't actually seen her in 25 years - when she visited me in Scottsboro.  Her visit was cut short, then, back in 1987, because her husband called her to say that the adoption agency had called and they had a girl for them - their Kate.  The following year I gave birth to my little girl, Kate.  On Friday night of March 23 I had a message from Deb saying that she and Tim had passed through and would love to stop by on the following Monday, when they were returning to Memphis.  I was giddy all weekend with anticipation.  It was the best feeling knowing I would get to see her again.  They came to my house on Monday.  Deb was crying.  She's a crier.  They came in for a break and then we all traveled to Huntsville, Deb and I in my car, visiting and catching up, and Tim and the friend in his car, being spared all of our reminiscing.  We ate lunch together at P.F. Chang's at Bridgestreet - it was as if the 4 of us hung out together quite often.  So much fun!  

Here is Deb back in 1975.  Deb is in the middle with the yellow shirt.

I am on the right in the white shirt with a brand new Dorothy Hamil haircut.  

On the left, had a hard time remembering her name.  Marilyn.  

We were in Oxford, Mississippi for Deb and Tim's wedding.

another - with Jan Tilghman and Deb and Marilyn

We all had graduated from Auburn in Graphic Design in the summer of 1974.

We had spent many long and sleepless nights working on project assignments.

I have no current pictures of Deb.

I forgot to take my camera that Monday when we were all together.  

Add 37 years to us and be kind.

4.  And then other biggie, to me, is I've been on the phone a lot with 2 of my cousins who live in Tallahassee, FL.  

In the picture below is Rusty, standing, and I am in the stroller.

I talked with Rusty for a good while on Monday.

Giving him my best love and best opinion on decisions they have to make regarding his mother, and my aunt, Florence.  My sister, Mary Ann, had already been on the phone with him on Sunday.

We both had also talked quite a bit with Rusty's younger sister, Rachel.  Florence now lives with Rachel - but it's all becoming quite taxing, physically.  

The lineup, Top to Bottom, 1. Suzanne, older sister to Rusty and Rachel

2. Scott, our cousin who lives in Chattanooga, now.  

3. Rusty, again.  He and Scott were high energy, together - and always so funny.

4. Mary Ann, my sister.

5. Neighborhood friend

On the left is myself, Elizabeth.  On the right is Rachel, with whom Florence now lives.

In my memory bank, life seemed like a party most of the time, growing up.  I loved it.

This is a Christmas Morning at my grandmother's house.

I am kneeling with the new slip pulled over my dress.  I am guessing my grandmother had given it to me and I just couldn't wait to put it on.

The adult is my aunt, Mary, who lives in Evergreen now.  She will be 80 in August.

She is mother's youngest sister.  The little boy is her son, John.  The little girl, looking at Mary, is Rachel.

More of us in the picture below.

Rachel standing in the back.  John with the cowboy hat on.

Scott playing dead.  Mary Ann checking on him.

And below is Florence, getting a bottle ready for Rachel, I have to assume.

The cake is for my 2nd birthday.  So Rachel would be 2 months.

In this set of pics there is a baby buggy and Rachel had been born on May 14.  

This day was July 14, 1953.

That's Mary Ann standing.  I guess I am on the other side of the cake.

We were infused with so much safety and love and respect.

So the blessing to me, after being on the phone with Rachel and Rusty, is that it's all still there.

I hear what our parents demonstrated and lived out before us.  Love and kindness.

There's frustration and handwringing and some despair. 

Bottom line, Rusty said,

"Look, we love each other and we love the Lord.  We'll get through this."

He said in his bass, very husky, 64 year old voice.

Our parents loved us and we love them back.

Florence is 89.

5. I picked up Sarah at the Train Station in Birmingham yesterday.  She's home for Easter

6. I have a friend who isn't well.  We eat lunch together each Wednesday.  God has blessed her family with a lady who comes each day from 9:00 to 4:00, Monday through Friday, to be a helper in the situation.  We are all so very very grateful for that.  

Does a common denominator seem to be in this post?  Giving Care to adults who once were caregivers themselves.  Even my friend, Deb, who visited me from Memphis - when I asked her about her mother - said that she probably has Alzheimer's disease.  They are in the throws of "figuring things out".  What to do?  She and her brother.  

While this all may be somber and sobbering - one of the blessings of it all,  for me,  is renewing my communication with people I've loved so very much for so long.  Our paths have distanced us - but that connect runs very deep.  I've loved, loved the reconnect.  

And here is Florence saying goodby to Mary, her youngest sister, and Melissa, one of Mary's daughters.  Mary, Melissa, Mary Ann and I had taken a day to drive from Evergreen to Tallahassee to visit with Florence.  This was taken about 2 years ago.