A picture should be worth a thousand words!

I've made a life decision and wanted to share with everyone..... LOL

After a year of living in my new house with almost completely white walls, I've decided it's time to start hanging pictures. I like the sepia colors in the picture and since I had 10 5x7 and 2 8x10 black picture frames to play with, I finally sat down tonight to select just the right pictures. I scan all pictures, whether professionally done or snapped by a family member, so I have more than 300 pictures in my directory to choose from for only 12 pictures frames. As I was going through all the pictures, it's almost like I had an epiphany - are you ready for me to share it??? Here it is:

A picture is only worth the value of the story it tells...

For this reason, none of the pictures on my wall are "professionally" taken pictures, but are ones taken by family. However, they are meant to share - whether it be a feeling, a place, a time or a lesson, but it should leave the viewer wanting to share right back! I'd like to share two of these with you:

Here's me with my youngest son - yes - it was a long time ago - ha ha. He was not yet one month old. My mom took the picture and when I hung this one on the wall, my youngest said, "Hey - that's me!" I smiled - looked at him and said - "See - even at less than a month old - you were already talking back!" He smile - gave me a great big hug and said - "Yep - us kids are good at that."

Here's my oldest son at about the age of two. He was sitting on his great-grandpa's front porch. His great-grandpa's front porch spanned the length of the house and could seat a good 15-2o people. My brother-in-law took this picture when the front porch was filled - so at first glance - one saw a bunch of family talking to each other on the front porch of an aged Kentucky homestead. Details were hard to make out. However, when my brother-in-law had it developed, he saw that Lucas was doing something in the background, so he took the negative back to the store and had just that one tiny piece enlarged. This is what came out and as far as I'm concerned, is a great reminder to pay attention to the little things. Thanks to my brother-in-law David for his eagle-eye and picture taking skills.

Other pictures include a child *literally* climbing the wall, another one beautifully dressed in wedding clothes, but sporting a fresh black eye with his hair standing straight up, and another of both of them cooling themselves off from the hot Texas weather using buckets and a water hose - and yes - lol - they went in the buckets naked butt first!

So - to all professional photographers who specialize in beautiful staged pictures - the entire family sitting together with just the right coordinated clothes and in just the right setting and with just the right smiles, please feel free to go on with your work. There's certainly nothing wrong with this type of picture and many people find these types of pictures preferable - I'm just not among that number any more.

I want to remember our lives as they happened and for that reason, will keep buying disposable cameras and bringing my digital camera along. I might take 50 pictures to find just that one that really shows our lives, but if it helps us in sharing our own life stories, then it's worth the effort!

Donna - I miss You

I see you hanging off the cliff
Your strength to hold is waning
Too many pounding waves - too many jagged edges
Your struggle is so obvious - yet the distance is so large

I would give all to grab you up
I would give all to give you strength
I would give all to stop despair
I would give all to always be there

You've been shattered way too often
You subsist from day to day
Your accomplishments you disregard
Your security is a complete illusion

I desperately want to make you hang on
I desperately want to repay your support
I desperately want to help build your life
I am desperate to shine your light

Never will you accept pity
Your tongue is a two-edged sword
You acerbic wit dares us to help
But once earned - your loyalty is a given

As I leave from our short visit
The tears roll down my face
My failure shouts jeers at me
My heart screams I'm way too late

I cannot grab you up
I cannot give you strength
I cannot stop despair
It is not enough to just be there

The loss of hope has won
Your body just gave up
The dance is over - the sun has set
I will never be able to repay the debt

If I just could have grabbed you up
if i could just have grabbed you up........................

Alzheimers and when to step in

My grandmother's youngest sister (late 80's) wandered away from home late last week. She has alzheimers and although she lives with her husband, he also has physical issues so taking care of her is hard.

She was finally found outside of a family's garage in the neighborhood. She was missing her glasses and was bloody from head to toe. Nobody knows what happened to her. She's in the hospital and arrangements are being made to move her to an adult living facility.

My mom and I were talking about this and really started wondering when children should step in. Certainly, had anyone known it would have gotten this bad, family would have stepped in earlier, but it's hard to predict the future. I know the older adults in our family do not want to leave their homes and move into any type of care facility. We are independent and sometimes cranky about it - LOL........ However, we do tend to live pretty old - both my grandmothers are still living and they are in their 90's. So the question has to be raised.

So - how do we know when it's time to step in and take over for our parents and grandparents without taking away their dignity? I don't know that there's a truly good answer.

It's Friday night and the phone is ringing

The phone never stops ringing, but I don't even attempt to get up to answer it. The calls are ALWAYS for my kids. They're making plans for this weekend and have to talk to about 100 people to figure anything out.

It's driving me nuts LOL