The world has not ended, but...

No, the world has not ended, but....

a new family will be beginning.

My little nephew, (who is not so little anymore)

has asked his long-time girlfriend to marry him 

and Amanda Guidry, smart girl, said YES!!!!!

There is such a great story behind this whole engagement.

A few years ago, as Arthur, Kris and their women,

Amanda and Kaylee hung out one evening,

Amanda began talking about a wedding.

Arthur jokingly asked her who she would marry.

The conversation, as told to me by Kris,

Arthur messed with Amanda

that if the world did not end on December 21, 2012

as many suspected, then and only then, would he marry her.

Amanda, being the smart psychologist she is,

had him sign a written contract stating this.

I think this was at least three years ago.

Life went on, and all this week, I began

sending him texts and messages that

I thought a wedding was immenent.

I was joking, he never gave me any clue

that he would ask her to marry him.

He sent me back a message during this time

that he has been reminded of this many times in the last few weeks.

Then yesterday, the news comes...

Arthur asked her to marry him and she agreed!

I think it is just so special that he did not wait until the 21st to

ask her, showing true love right there, by asking 

the day before, making an unsaid statement

that whether the world ended or not, he wants to be her husband.

A hard working boy, the sweetest young man you will ever meet,

that is what this wonderful girl is getting as a husband.

I haven't been this happy since the shootings...

Our family needs a good wedding..

Congrats, Arthur and Amanda

Celena and Ted

Carolyn and Tab

It's a beautiful day, enjoy it!

Love you guys....

St. Jude Christmas Pledge

After a night of bad weather, really bad weather,

I awaken this morning to the Christmas edition

of St. Jude Hospital pledge.

HOBL and I give monthly to St. Jude,

it's not much but it's giving back to children such as I was.

This special is one of those things that you want to shut off

so you don't think about it but at the same time, you '

are compelled to watch.

For me, I look at these children, their parents stories and

think, that was me circa 1968, my families lives.

Most days it is not something I think about, how lucky I am.

There was no St. Jude then and there was no cure for the

type of cancer I had called Wilms Tumor.

Listening to the families, I think these are the things my family

thought and felt. Radiation has changed lots since

my days, they can pinpoint the site, not damaging healthy tissue

but that old, Chemotherapy, it's worse to the body than the cancer is.

I am these children, I still live with the aftermath of having been 

a survivor, but there is no room for bitterness as I have said

so many times, the alternative was death.

I look at these little children and I think some are the age of Bean.

How in the world will we ever, ever, watch our precious Bean

go through what these children face daily. 

Yes, one of those things that you don't want to watch 

but you are compelled to do.

My money and my prayers will continue to 

go to the wonderful works of St. Jude hospital.

and then there is gypsy baby

... and my dear, dear, gypsy baby...

Yes, there has been a few scary moments when raising gypsy baby.

I had lunch with her yesterday and

remembered how much I love that child, how

she is still so much just my baby.

Two memories come to mind when thinking of the old

days of gypsy baby, I will share one today.

The first was when she was in elementary school.

It was a rare event, tornado in lower Lafourche parish.

HOBL and I had both been there at her school for 

an end of school play. The weather began to get bad

as we were leaving, dark clouds much wind.

I had to go back to work so I sent HOBL back in to

check out gypsy baby so I would not have to worry 

about her on the bus.

As I got back to work, a tornado was spotted in our neighborhood

and I was so worried. I had spoken to BB so I knew

he was home and I knew HOBL had gypsy so

I had some relief that they were okay.

Just as soon as the weather passed I rushed home

to check on my family, my neighborhood.

HOBL was animated in telling me how when he got 

home he saw a tornado heading into our back yard.

Baby boy, his typical old self was crying and saying

he had to throw up as HOBL put him in the car

as well as grabbing the neighbor Jessica off the bus

and putting her whole family in the car and driving away.

Okay, I know after the fact, it was probably dumb to put

them all in the car with a tornado coming but it's what he did.

As the stories were told, the neighbors all out assessing the damage

of our neighborhood, I realized my gypsy was no where around

all the other kiddies. I asked HOBL where she was

and then it hit  him....

He was not able to check her out of school because he did not

have the check out card that was necessary at the time

so they she had to stay at school.

What????? I freaked, where was my gypsy baby?

I was frantic, but thankfully it was just moment after I realized

that she was missing that Ms. Lucy came down the street

with down power lines to drop my precious cargo off.

I hugged her so tight, felt so guilty that she was not

with us during such a scary time.

She told her side of the story that when Ms. Lucy saw

the bad weather she unloaded the bus into the hall of

the school where they all sat safely and quietly "Like Indians"

as they waited for the weather to pass. She said,

"We sang songs, and my teacher was nice but I wanted you"

...She came home.....

Connecticut children did not...

Another memory from my past

You may be thinking,

"Not another post about the shooting,

Wonder when she will move on?"

Yet, can they move on, can they stop their minds

from wondering, thinking, longing for their children?

So, yesterday my thoughts were on when my own 

babies were in school, many old memories flood back.

Some I had not even thought of since it happened.

There is one day that Baby boy did not come home with

the other neighborhood kids off the bus.

He was in kindergarten, only just turned 5.

All the other kids, I noticed were home and yet, my little one

was not. Gypsy baby was a baby and sleeping as I waited and freaked out.

I tried to call school, no answer. This was pre- cellphone days

so there was no calling a teacher on her cell.

I paced, I cried, I walked inside and out....

finally at 5:00pm, one hour past his usual time home,

I see a bus park in front of the street and the bus driver,

Mr. John holding my dear child's hand.

I ran to them, started crying, he could not apologize enough.
I can evoke those feelings today just by remembering that fear.
I remember what he wore, a button down red and white
striped shirt, untucked with his favorite acid washed blue jeans,
I can remember he was sweating across his nose,
as he always did when he was hot.
I can remember his smell. I think those parents have
the same memories.

Two things had happened to cause the delay in getting home.

One, the driver, before he had baby boy,

would sometimes drop the kids off in the street over and they would walk 

across another yard to get home.

Baby boy refused to get off there, even when

the other kids tried to coax him

"I don't live here" the bus driver

said he just would not break my rule of not getting off

anywhere but at your house.

The bus driver told him if he didn't get off here he

would have to ride the whole route before

he could bring him home.

Baby boy said, "Okay"

and went back to sit down and fell asleep.

My reason for this long post?

For that one hour, that long 60 minutes,

my child was lost to me. For those 60 minutes I can

almost know how those parents felt waiting in that

fire station for their child to come through the door.

My baby came home, safely and the next day,

I made sure that for the rest of his elementary years,

he would be dropped off right in front of our home.

These 20 parents did not get that relief.

So, I continue to blog, for them, for us....

Going back one thousand years...

Saturday night I, and some of my family members

were transported back 1000 years,

back to the Renaissance era

thanks to South Lafourch High Schools'

drama and choir.

A dinner theater put on my some very talented children,

one being our very own Tedi.

(Last one on right)

Pictures were hard to take and

although I have a few videos of the singing,

they are not the best quality but that's okay

because really, it's one of those things,

"You had to be there"

 The play was based around the meal of garnish hens 

and many other staples found in the period.

These kids did a fantastic job as did their choir and drama teacher, Tansy.

As I sat and enjoyed the whole experience, 

I know the majority of the people there, minds were

on the 20 little first graders who will never have the 

chance to join the drama or choir of their high school.

Their parents will never burst with pride watching them 

do whatever it is they might have done.

 Our Tedi was great, she always is.

She is the type of teen that anyone would want,

good through and through, involved in all things,

works for her own spending money, good grades.

She is not perfect but she is such a lovely little girl.

 Sometimes I just don't know how she does all she does.

I am so darn proud that she calls me Nannie.

During a part in the performance, this beautifully voiced

girl got up to sing a solo.

Oh Holy Night.

As she sang, i listened to this beautiful voice 

and really focused on the words and again,

could only think of the shootings that took the young lives

right from our world, their families.

 When she sang, 

"... Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

til He appeared and the soul felt it's worth

a thrill of hope..."

Oh how sad our God is with the things going on in our world.

I thought maybe it's time he return...

I had trouble holding back tears.

Then she sang the verse that we rarely hear and I didn't even 

know existed, fitting for the night,

"...Truly he taught us to love one another

His law is love and his gospel peace

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother

and in His name all oppression shall cease..."

Oh how I hope that is true.

That in His name that town and those families will

find some peace.

The message for the rest of the world...

truly he taught us to love one another...

Thank you to the SL drama and choir club

for all their hard work. This play could not have come at a better

time following the shootings.

Even though it was sad to think of the losses

and everything we seem to do today for enjoyment seems

like we shouldn't because of it,

these children brought us the promise of peace.