Cathy’s Corner

 

By the time you read this I will have spent part of my weekend celebrating my grandmother’s 100^th birthday. We’ve been planning it since January and there are about sixty people that have said they are coming and she is very excited about it. She can recall what happened yesterday and what happened a hundred years ago. When I talk to her she sounds weak but she knows the names of all our kids and their spouses and always asks about them. She gets up every day and puts on a dress, usually panty hose but no make up unless she’s going somewhere. She’s in relatively good health except for she has a hundred year old body. Can you imagine all of the things she has lived to see?

Leatrill Catherine Loard was born May 25, 1909. She was the oldest of three daughters and married Herb Lockhart in 1926 at the age of sixteen years and nine months. They had four children in eighteen years. My Aunt Evelyn was 18 years old when my grandmother has my Uncle Ted and the first place she took him was my aunt’s High School graduation. My aunt was mortified. My granddad died at the age of 95 in 1999.  My grandmother has outlived her sister, husband and two of her children, one of those being my mother. My Grandmother and aunt who is terminally ill live together with my uncle Ted and he takes care of them.

Theodore Roosevelt was president when my Grandmother was born and has seen eighteen presidents follow and outlived fourteen of those. She worked hard raising her children and they lived in Oklahoma, California, North Carolina and Texas. My grandparents owned their own grocery store from the time I can remember. The best times were going to stay with them in the summer and walking out of the front door of their house about twenty feet to the back door of the store and getting to pick out whatever we wanted for breakfast. That was when my brother, sister and I developed the love for eating Campbells Chicken noodle and vegetable beef soup for breakfast. My parents were appalled! We loved it. In the 70’s they bought a farm and my granddad raised cattle and peanuts until he was forced to semi-retire in the 90’s. He still had a couple of cows until he and my grandmother moved to Amarillo to live with my uncle in 1998. My grandmother has seen the discovery of penicillin the “miracle drug” and also seen the development of the aids epidemic. She’s lived through World War I, World War II, The Korean War, Vietnam, Gulf War and Iraqi Freedom. She saw the invention of radio and  television and that explode into VCR’s, Cassettes, DVDs, Blu Rays and HD. She can work a remote better than I can. She’s seen the invention of computers, the internet. Six years before she was born was when the Wright brothers invented the airplane but I don’t think she has ever flown on one. She has seen the best of mankind and the worst of mankind. She survived the Great Depression when everyone helped their neighbors and watched as people gained more and more “things” that they can live without.

She also was the spiritual backbone of our family. I remember going to church with them when I was very little. She raised her girls in a Christian home. This weekend my brother, his son, Caitlin our youngest daughter and myself will form a quartet and sing several of the old gospel songs my grandmother and my parents used to sing when I was growing up. My grandmother will love it. Thanks grandmother for laying a spiritual foundation for my mother and for me and my children.

Have a great day in the Lord.

 

Cathy’s Corner

A Red bird built her nest in our tree last yea r (actually it was a holly bush) and she returned this year and built one in another bush. I’m sure she was busy gathering the small twigs, dry weeds, vine bark and necessary items she needed to build her nest to make it sturdy enough to house her little brood. She tucked it away in the bush which is probably five or six feet high so they would be protected from predators. Of course Gary discovered the nest because as he says I never go outside. But he heard the chirping and looked in and there they were again. He told me about them and I was actually outside one day and I asked to see them. Of course Gary told me that was weeks ago and they had already flown away. But he showed me in our trees where they could be found at times. You can see the red bird fly through the yard every now and then and Gary has seen the babies as well. It happened so fast that I pretty much missed out on watching the little brood grow up and leave the nest. Can I tell you that is how I feel about being a Mother? I’ve been a Mother for thirty-one years now, given birth to four kids and have become “Mom” to many more at one time or another. It seems like yesterday we were bringing Cassandra home from the hospital, our first born, our first daughter our pride and joy and we knew nothing about being parents. She came with no instructions and so we were on our own learning as we went with wanted and unwanted advice from grandparents and friends. Then J was born, the second, the first boy, our pride and joy again with no instructions. But we had six years of practice with Cassandra and were a tad more confident in our parenting skills. Then within five years of having J we added Kiersten and Caitlin. Parenting skills went out the window, while they were our pride and joy as well we were totally outnumbered and it was survival of the fittest for the next twenty years. But I ask myself where the last twenty years went and how did they fly by so fast. Much like the red bird I busied myself gathering all the things I would need to take care of my children and I did everything I could to protect them and provide a secure and loving environment. We raised them in a Christian home, prayed for them, loved them, comforted them and hopefully prepared them to fly out of the nest and go out into the world on their own. It just went by so fast. While they have grown up so have Gary and I and we have all had to learn together and learn to be patient with one another, especially at the dinner table. We’ve learned to accept each other’s little oddities because God made each one of us unique. We’ve learned forgiveness for each other through God sending His Son to forgive us. We’ve learned that God is our provider and protector when one of us is in trouble whether it is of our own doing or because of illness or wrecks. We’ve learned that every day of life is precious and not to take each other for granted when one was on the other side of the world fighting a war and through the loss of a Mema. While I certainly didn’t deserve any of them, I am truly amazed that God chose me to be their Mother. I can only hope and pray as they begin their families that all the things that we instilled in them and all the things they have learned that they will pass on to their children. Kiersten is expecting and we will welcome a new grandbaby into the family in November or December. Our nest is almost empty and I know we didn’t do everything right and there are so many things they have yet to learn. I can only pray that as they grow as adults that they will learn those things God still wants to teach them and they will seek Him every day. Happy Mother’s Day to all of our wonderful Mothers.
Have a great day in the Lord.

Cathy’s Corner

One morning last week I was riding my bike out of the driveway when I heard high heel footsteps on the other side of the fence. When I got to the end of the fence my neighbor stuck her head around the corner and asked if my husband was home. I told her no that he was already gone but asked if there was something I could do. She said her Montero wouldn’t start and she was going to see if he could look at it. So I got off my bike and said let me look at it, like I know anything about cars. Heck I don’t even have a car. But she had the hood up and it was parked blocking the garage where a Lexus sat. There was another white car parked at the edge of the driveway. I asked if she thought it was the battery and she said yes but she didn’t know how to charge it. I told her that I did and if we could move the white car closer I could hook up the battery cables and try to charge it. She said she just wanted to push the Montero out of the way but if she moved the white car then maybe we could push the Montero over there. So she went and got the keys and moved the little white car. Then she was trying to steer and push the Montero while I was pushing from the front. We moved it back and then I told her to turn the wheel so we could push it forward. She was trying to steer and push and I told her just to get in and steer and I would push. So she did and I did and we pushed it out of the way. She thanked me and I told her I was a horrible neighbor because I had not gotten over to see her, in fact we have never officially met. Gary has talked to her a couple of times and she’s come and asked him for help. Now this is why I’m such a terrible neighbor. Her husband passed away last year during one of our children’s weddings, I can’t remember which one but either July or August. I have had good intentions to get over there and check on her and invite her to church. There is no excuse I’ve just let the hectic pace of my life keep me from being a good neighbor. After we got the Montero moved she thanked me and with tears in her eyes said, “He always took care of things like this. You get used to depending on someone and it’s just so hard.” I hugged her and said I was sorry and that we were there for her anytime she needed anything. I told her I had meant to come over and invite her to church with us many times and I was terrible because I had not done it. She said, “I knew you were active at a church. (ACTIVE – I hated to admit I was a Christian let alone a Minister.) What kind of Christian am I when I didn’t even check on someone that I knew was going through a terrible time? I was going to but I never did. She did tell me where she went to church and I told her once again that if she ever needed anything to please let us know.
So now we have officially met and I intend to be a better neighbor. God’s been showing me so much in the Bible study I’m doing right now but He could have been standing right there in my driveway that morning and hit me with a 2x4 and it wouldn’t have hurt any more than it did as I was standing there hugging her and telling her how sorry I was for her loss. So yes, I’m a horrible person, a loser, and anything else you can come up with. But thankfully God still loves me and is always showing me where I need to improve and what I need to change. He’s showing me to stop having tunnel vision. It’s like praying that God will give me opportunities to be His hands and His feet and I’m so busy looking that I don’t even notice when He lays something right at my feet. Yes I know I’m rather dense but I will try to do better. What an amazing God we have and fortunately forgiving as well and a God of second chances. So I am grateful for the second chance I have to be a better neighbor.
Have a great day in the Lord.