Dance with me

Monday, July 31, 2006

Flight Attendant

I was struck yesterday at church by how similar it is to be flight attendant and the person who starts our worship off with announcements. The announcement giver welcomes everyone and then points out the cards in the racks to be filled out by visitors. She points in the direction of the nursery and the atrium if there is anything interesting going on there. Well, there is always something interesting going on in the nursery but not always in the atrium. I was waiting for Sarah, who did the announcements yesterday, to tell us that in the event of an emergency that the oxygen masks would drop from the ceiling and if you were with a small child to put your oxygen mask on first and then put it on the child. Sorry, just a funny observation.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Daring

My friend, Ann, jumped out of an airplane today. She asked if I would willing to try it. I don't know if I could jump. I don't know if I have the nerve.
Ann and I went to Mexico several years ago and spent a day on Cozumel. We rented a scooter to drive around the island. I was very nervous. It was terrifying to drive in the city. By the time we got back to the scooter rental place, I was exhausted. The last part of the drive was on a highway with lots of wind and then back into the city traffic. There were moments that I was scared...can you imagine me jumping out of a plane? We had a couple with us from Pennsylvania. He was an ex-cop and he and his wife were on vacation. We had met them at the resort that we were staying. They were friendly and we thought we would spend the day together on Cozumel. We rented two scooters. The men running the scooter rental were perfectly fine with the ex-cop driving but they weren't very sure about me or Ann driving. They asked if one of us had driven a motorcycle before. I had, so I was told that I would drive the scooter. One of the men gave me a long lecture in broken English about how to drive a scooter....curve..no gas...big hill....no gas....he kept saying that over and over. I did fine driving...just very nervous...which makes you tense up your muscles...which makes you tire more quickly. We stopped for lunch (this is another story in and of itself). As we were pulling away from the restaurant the other couple skidded off the road and landed in the sand. The husband was so mad at this wife and blaming it on her...he was driving but he kept telling her that she leaned too far. They damaged the scooter which is also another story.
We made it back safe and I was able to relax my muscles again. For me, that was daring...it was hard and I had to reach back to a old skill. Yikes.
Do you think I have the nerve to jump out of a plane? Have you ever jumped out of a plane or possibly driven a scooter around the island of Cozumel?

Friday, July 28, 2006

Nick Hornby

I am reading Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down. It was a little hard to get started but I am really liking it now. It is about four people who meet while on a rooftop. They are on the rooftop because they want to commit suicide. They all have different reasons but talk each other out of it and continue to have contact with each other over several months time. Nick Hornby is such a great writer and everything he has written has made me think....and think long and hard. Relevant to our culture and very deep. Yes, there is a ton of swearing in this book but it is fitting for the people who are swearing...so, I am okay with that. If you haven't read his other stuff...find it and read it...would love to have some book discussion here.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Busyness Causes Crankiness

Today at work was so busy. We normally keep each others' spirits up by joking around and just plain being silly. Today was busy and seemed very long. My coworker, not in my unit, yelled at me...really, she chewed me up. It was something that really wasn't my fault but I just listened and tried to correct it but with no success. I vented to our nurse manager when I got back over to our unit and did feel better but it still frustrated me. At the end of our shift, the angry coworker came over and apologized. It takes a great deal of guts to go to another unit and ask forgiveness. I appreciate that so much. I can move on and work with her smoothly from here. But it also got me to thinking about how we treat the people we work with...if we handle each other gently from the beginning then we don't have to apologize. I think we take our treatment of others too lightly. It has made me think about my own behavior and the times that I have had to apologize...apologize for things said that should never have been said in the first place. I know that we are all going to make mistakes but I think that we too often give ourselves an excuse for our behavior.
Sorry, I just had to vent after my long day.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Getting Things Done

The past couple of days have been days to get things done. Yesterday we went to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Mary Kate got her driver's instruction permit and a identification card. The ID card will come in handy until she gets her driver's license.
Are all the departments across the country where you receive your driver's license the same? The first time we went we were missing a document because we had secondary identification that needed support but the website said it only needed one piece of support but they told us in person that we needed two. Okay, so we drove home and grabbed our second piece of support for our secondary documentation. Where do they come up with this? There were four women behind the counter helping people receive the freedom that driving brings and all the responsibility that goes with it. They are so close to each other that they could reach over and touch each other. They are helping people and carrying on conversation the whole time...about their lives, families, other employees' time off, vacations...and one of them, no kidding, while she is waiting on a woman pulled out her little compact mirror and was plucking her eyebrows. There is a long line and many other people in plain sight but she is grooming herself. It was a crazy experience.

Today all the girls in our family went for our regular dental cleanings and exams. We had to be there at 8am and didn't leave until 10:30. The office was set at the temperature of Anarctica. They even gave the girls a blanket to stay warm in the waiting room while they made me go first. So much fun....bitewing xrays, scraping on your teeth, water sprayed in your mouth, suction in your mouth, the dentist holding your tongue with gauze...I am just kidding about the fun part.

Next we went to McDonald's to eat. We ate outside because we had been freezing.

We spent the afternoon at the doctor's office for physicals for the girls. We got there at 1:00 and left at 3:30.

I feel like I have so much to do and so little time to do it in.

Just holding on for the ride.

Monday, July 24, 2006

More Fortress

Our girls encountered so many faces and so many stories at Fortress. They will remember Zsa Zsa and Greg. They both work in the night shelter that we visited and helped during dinner. Zsa Zsa loved our girls and they loved her. She is full of life and energy. She made the girls laugh and encouraged to stay on the right path. She kept telling all the adults that these were good girls. We know that but it was great to hear it from someone outside our family. She got the girls excited about their jobs there that night and organized them and put them to work. A little later she pulled them all into the corner to talk to them. The sponsors followed. Zsa Zsa quickly shooed us away...you, you and you...and brushed her hand away from her. Erin walked away with the rest of us but Zsa Zsa thought she was one of the girls. Julie F., Sarah and myself quickly sent her back in to spy because we desperately wanted to hear what she had to say. She told the girls about "the rules". Rules to live by...no drugs, no sex until you are married, no alcohol, no lying, no cheating, and stay in school and make good grades. She told them to hold each other to those rules. Zsa Zsa hugged all of us at least once. The girls want her to come visit Abilene. They invited her to come to the rodeo with us on Friday night. They were smitten. What a light Zsa Zsa is in that dark shelter. The girls will never forget her.
Greg also helped organize the girls but his biggest impact was in the parking lot. He told the girls part of his story. He told how circumstances and bad choices had landed him where he is right now. He talked about substance abuse and a debilitating injury. He told the girls that he lives in this shelter that he works in. But then Greg prayed...and man, can Greg pray! As soon as words started coming out of his mouth, goosebumps spread all up and down my body starting with my toes and straight up to my head. He prayed over our girls and the shelter. God was listening and moving in that circle in the parking lot.
I thanked God for the Presbyterian Night Shelter.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Much to Say

First, the whole afternoon was spent looking at houses. We went to a open house...nice house, just can't picture living there. Looked at houses on the computer with our realtor and then drove to see one of those houses...it had just been sold. I am feeling very apprehensive about the whole process.

Today Rachel and Sheila Ritchie told the congregation about our trip to Fortress. The pictures were powerful and spoke so loudly that they were distracting Sheila while she was talking. Those girls were awesome! Someone behind me, an adult I think, whispered to someone beside them about one of the girls whose picture had just flashed up on the screen, "Isn't she a pretty girl?" I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The point of the pictures was to tell the story of our mission trip. What the girls did was beautiful. I am not saying that they aren't beautiful girls, they are but that wasn't the reason we were viewing those pictures. Would they have commented the same way if they were middle school boys' pictures up there?
I may be reacting too strongly to that comment but I have spent so much time talking to those girls about what is important....please church, back me up. Jesus in those girls is what is beautiful. My favorite times with them have been times of service.

Feedback please, friends.

Friday, July 21, 2006

New House/Old House/Monster House

We just got home from watching Monster House at the theater. Very scary. I wouldn't take little children to see it. I know that it is rated PG but most little children would think that it is too scary. It is a great movie for 10 and 11 year old boys. The humor is right on for that age and gender. We laughed out loud and we were tense from being scared. Not a great movie but fun.
We are still in the process of looking for a house. Don't you wish that you knew if it was the perfect house? I hate making these kind of big decisions. If it is the wrong choice, then you have to live with the consequences...yikes!!! I will continue to look and if any of you out there know of a great house for sale in Abilene....give us a call.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

A Little Update

I have been busy today. Appointments. To the eye doctor early so that Lucy could be cleared for pink eye and in hopes that she could wear her contacts again but...pink eye is cleared but she can't wear her contacts til Friday. Disappointment. I picked up my new glasses. They are kind of funky but I love them. I have been having a hard time adjusting to them today. I am nearsighted in one and farsighted in the other and they have always compensated for each other but...I am older and my eyesight is less clear. My glasses are tortoise shell with lime green accents...funky but cute. They are progressive bifocals so that I can read with them also. It will take some time to adjust.
Lucy and I also went to to the hair salon today. She bobbed her hair. Adorable. I had new highlights...different but good. And a very little trim.
So, today has been a day to update. Fun.

We also went to Target today and bought more college stuff for Mary Kate....toaster oven, chairpad, ironing board, hand towels and an iron.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Faces

I am haunted by the faces of Fortress...the children who spend every afternoon at the building, Jerica, Andrew, the sad, homeless men, children who look like they have the life knocked out of them and their mothers who could possibly be down for the count, the neighborhood men at the "party house", the middle-aged woman hanging her rugs over her porch railing, the quiet family who appeared scared and lost in the women and children's shelter, and Mary. Faces tell so much and those faces are still talking to me. I need to let them haunt me a little longer and then I will write about them.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

More Hands

One line from one middle school girl has kept my mind going for 2 days. We were getting ready to pray over the intern, Andrew, who had guided us around our time with Fortress and Rachel gave some advice to all of us. Rachel told all of us to lay our hands on him gently because when people are praying over you and they lay their hands on you too hard, it feels like you are being pushed down. It made me think about how Rachel knew what it felt like to be prayed over...to have hands on you and to be prayed for specifically. I talked with the girls about this. I tried to let them know that they are so blessed. They are surrounded by families that love them...and a huge church that loves them also. They have been given so much of Jesus and it is their responsibility to share those blessings....love, prayer, compassion...
I am confident they will pass it on.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Hands On

I am home from Fort Worth/Fortress. Girls, I am proud of you and all that you did over the last 3 days. At the homeless shelter you dished up food on plastic trays, you handed trays to the homeless, you gave them cups of water, you smiled and laughed with them, you took their dirty trays to be cleaned, you played Don't Break The Ice and Clue with those beautiful children, you helped them make necklaces, you played soccer with a little boy who didn't know how to play soccer, you held babies and kissed babies, you smiled at their moms, you made their children giggle. In the neighborhood you picked up tons of trash, you encouraged the neighbors, you prayed over the playground, you prayed over the school, you prayed over the beginnings of revitalization in their neighborhood. You weeded a garden. You sorted clothes, paired shoes (millions of shoes), unpacked boxes of books, organized kitchen stuff and baby stuff. You painted a nursery and a reading lab. You made hundreds of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You donated your money. You washed cars. You were busy in the heat and you did it with grace and you treated everyone with dignity...the dignity that God intended.
I am so proud to say that you belong to me. You are strong and courageous and you have spread the fragance of Christ in the neighborhood around Fortress.

I know that I will tell you more about these last few days but tonight I am tired.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

I'm Off

Okay, you could take the title of this blog several different ways but I am using it to say that I am off to Fort Worth for a few days. We'll talk when I get back.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Again

Tomorrow I am leaving again to go to Fortress with the Middle School girls from Highland. I am so excited about going with them. We will be working with the Fortress church. I don't know exactly what we are doing but I know that we will be serving their community in some way. I am looking forward to being with my 6th grade girls from this last year. They are an incredible bunch of girls and they have taught me so much.
We leave tomorrow morning and will come back on Saturday.

We are in the process of looking for a house. We have been living in our friend's house for about a year and half and we are so grateful to them for renting to us. We just need something smaller and easier to maintain. We love our neighborhood and our neighbors but we really want to simplify. We have some possibilities but I know that we will have a hard time deciding. We have seen some newer houses that we love and we have seen some older houses that need some work but we have loved so many things about them also. Pray that we will know which house is best for us when we see it. We have been several times today to the same house and it there is so much about it that feels like home but we aren't sure it is the right choice. This is too hard. We want to move into a house and stay there for as long as we can. I am tired of moving. Any advice out there from your own experiences? Have you moved into a brand new house in a neighborhood that is just beginning? Have you moved into an older established neighborhood into an adorable house that needs some work? Have you downsized? We will take any advice that we can get.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Too Many Things To Talk About

New Orleans

Mary Kate is back from New Orleans and they had an amazing time...hard work and a sense of helping... Also a sense of devastation that was in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It is good to have her back and good to know that it was time spent in service that was also a bonding experience for those kids and adults. Good times all around and some good funny stories to go with it.
---------------------------
Romeo and Juliet

We went Saturday night to see Romeo and Juliet at ACU. They do a Shakespeare Festival every summer that is free. I went to pick up our tickets and asked the girl at the box office how much I owed her and she said that it was free. I know my mouth dropped open and I said thank you to her in amazement.
The show was fabulous and thoughtful. This was the most kinetic version of Romeo and Juliet that I have ever seen. Very fresh and sometimes jolting. The two young actors playing Romeo and Juliet seemed so real in their roles. I love the set and how it was designed....applause to Gary Varner who designed it and also played Montague. You are more talented than most of us. Lauren Allred...you are a natural actress....you brought emotion to this tragedy but you also brought the emotion of laughter....you are good, girl!
--------------------------
Another book to recommend

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd...I read this book in one day...today.
I went to work this morning and we only had three patients on the board and so I volunteered to go home....woohoo! But I haven't been feeling well. So, I went to the doctor. I told him my symptoms and also told him about the tick bites. I ended with a steroid injection, an antibiotic injection and antibiotics to take for the next 14 days. The also did a CBC and a Lyme test. I felt kind of weird the rest of the day. So, I read a whole book. Now on to the book.
This book is about finding ourselves and about being in relationship without losing yourself. It is about betrayal and forgiveness. This book has some great things to say about marriage and the benefits of staying married and how love feels when it lasts. This book is about how sometimes it is important to dig up the past in order to live in the present.

From The Mermaid Chair:
"I closed my eyes, and it was Hugh I saw. His hands, the hair on his fingers, the Band-Aids on his thumbs. How real all of that was. How ordinary. How achingly beautiful. I wanted him back. Not like before but new, all new. I wanted what came after the passion had blown through: flawed, married love."
just an explanation-Hugh is her husband.
on forgiveness:
"There would no grand absolution, only forgiveness meted out in these precious sips. It would well up from Hugh's heart in spoonfuls, and he would feed it to me. And it would be enough."
Isn't that just how forgiveness works...slowly, little by little...we are able to let go of our anger and give a little back to the person who has hurt.

We were leaving the Fuqua's last night and Summer asked if I would like to read this book and of course, I would. Summer, I finished it one day. You think I liked it? I loved it. I have loved every thing I have read by Sue Monk Kidd.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Lipscomb

The end of last week Mary Kate and I were in Nashville at Lipscomb for Advance...Lipscomb's parent/student orientation. Four years ago I took Drew to Advance. Okay, Drew is still a junior but it really was four years ago. The Lipscomb campus has been transformed recently. It is beautiful and appears that special care has been taken to make it so beautiful. It looks like a Southern Ivy League school. When I was there with Drew, the school looked tired and now a new wind has been blowing and I think I like it.
I believe the one blowing that new wind is the new president of Lipscomb, Randy Lowry. Randy and his wife, Rhonda, are working hard. They were so accessible at Advance and were willing to chat with all of us. Randy spoke to the parents on Thursday night. I could feel the Spirit moving as he spoke. I love that he wants to know the students. I love that he is willing to put money back into the school. I love that he cares that there are trees on the campus. I love that he looks you in the eye as he talks with you. I love that he and his wife are real people. I love that his wife asked for prayers for this transition time. I love that he cares about the quality of the faculty. But most of all, I love that he wants the students to be mission minded adults who live out Jesus in their communities. I love that that is the most important thing to him.
I believe that we are going to see some amazing things come out of Lipscomb...students, ideas, theology, service, art, music...and I am excited that my son and daughter will be a part of that.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Reunion

I told you that we attended the Stony Point Church of Christ on Sunday morning. Very traditional service and they were so happy to have the Danley family as guests. There were at least 40 of us and I think we greatly brought their median age down by at least a decade. The sermon was titled Reunion in honor of all of us being there. I don't remember much from the sermon except that he talked about in order to have a reunion you have to have a connection before...a relationship...so true.

There was one reunion that took place this weekend that was overwhelmingly sweet and long overdue. One of the Danley boys had been married before and had four children from that marriage. They divorced in the 70s and his exwife never had contact again with the family. She came to the reunion and boy, it was a reunion. To see the looks on all of their faces as they greeted her was priceless. They loved her and they had missed her but divorce had put this huge space between them that they had been unable to cross until now. She cried and they cried as they hugged her tightly. Such sweet tears. Her children were delighted to see her joy at being reunited with this family. She loved this family and had never stopped loving them but it had felt inappropriate to stay in touch.

How many times have not reconnected with those we love because there are barriers? I am glad that for at least this one weekend that this family could embrace each other and let each other know how much they have been missed and how they wish that it hadn't been so long. Anybody out there up for a reunion?

Friday, July 07, 2006

Cemetery Stories

Candy mentioned how cemeteries tell stories of love and loss and that is so true. We walked through so many cemeteries and they each tell their own stories. You can tell who had money and who was very poor. The rich have beautiful tombstones engraved professionally. The poor have thin tombstones engraved by a friend or family member. An effort has been made to make the tombstone look nice and to make sure that all the information is written there. The destitute have a tiny slab. Sometimes just a head and footstone with no markings. If there are markings they look as if they have been done with a stick or some other sharp object in wet concrete. Sad but at least someone marked their grave.
I was struck by how many babies are buried in these old cemeteries. Some families have lost multiple children...infants, toddlers, 5-yr-olds...heartbreaking. During the Civil War and right after, so many babies died. That particular part of Alabama and Tennessee are still considered Appalachia...poor, mountain people who farm for their living. It is hot in that part of the country...humid and miserably hot. We felt like we were swimming through the Whitten Chapel Cemetery...the air was so thick. I know that they must've worked very hard in order for their children to survive that first year. Poor hygiene, poor diet, no medical care, and the humidity to help the germs multiply.
I have worked in labor and delivery for several years now and I have seen too many babies die. One baby is too many. Yes, I mostly work on the happy floor but when things go wrong on our floor, it is also the saddest floor. I have wrapped many babies for the morgue. I have held many crying parents. I have sat in the silence with them. I have climbed up on their beds and wept with them. I have handed them their dead babies to hold and look at. I have unwrapped them so that they can see their tiny hands and feet and ears. I have footprinted them and saved locks of hair for the parents. I have dressed them in their going-home clothes. They are going home, just not to the home that their parents intended for them.
Those Civil War families went through this often. They prepared those babies for burial. They wept over them. They bathed them and dressed them in their best. Someone built a tiny coffin and they all gathered around as that baby was buried. They softly sang a hymn to bring back their hope and they held on to each other. I am sure that mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and grandparents came back and visited those graves and cried over those babies and put flowers on their graves. I wish that I could hear their stories.
We saw one newer grave in a huge cemetery for a son who had died at 22 years old. The back of the tombstone said something like this.
Steve,
Your sweet smile
Your gentle ways
Your loving presence
My memories
Love, Dad
I would love to hear that story.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Civil War

I told you that I would tell more stories this week. If tonight's story seems tired....I am sorry because I am very tired from work today....rough, rough day.

I told you that my great-great-great grandfather fought in the Civil War. He rode with the First Alabama Cavalry, Company A. He fought for the Union. I would love to know more about him. What I do know is...
His name was Mordecai McKinney Cox.
He was born in Habersham County, Georgia.
He married a woman named Nancy Lemaline.
When he was old he had a fluffy, snow white beard.
He spent almost a year and a half fighting in the Civil War.
My mother says that he was wounded.
He hid out in a hollow log so that he could see his family.
He lived in Marion County and Winston County, Alabama at some time during his life.
He was born on January 12, 1837.
He died on May 22, 1923.

I had it wrong the other day when I said that he was 4 greats...he is only 3 greats for me. I am going to continue digging for family information. It is fun.

I do have one amazing Civil War story from my family. As I said before, my family fought for the Union and because they fought for the Union they were persecuted. I know that you have heard of the Home Guard. They thought it was their job to keep the towns in line while the rest of the men were out fighting. Mostly they were cruel and dangerous men. They preyed on the women and children who were left at home while their brothers, fathers and husbands went out to fight the war. The women and children most vulnerable were those who had relatives fighting for the Union. If the Home Guard caught these men, they would at the very least scare them but mostly they tortured them...skinning alive, castrating, beating, hanging....you get the picture. So, of course, those particular women and children lived in constant fear. My great-great-great Aunt was alone, living on an isolated farm with her daughter when the Confederate army came through. She grabbed her shotgun and shot all that she could and obviously the rest left her alone. She then collected all their heads...cut them off their bodies and hung them up on the trees surrounding her property with their Confederate caps on their heads. I don't think the Confederates bothered her anymore.
Crazy story, huh?

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Stony Point Church of Christ

The rest of my family is still asleep. I am home from taking Mary Kate to Highland to meet the rest of the group going to New Orleans. I can't wait to hear about this week and the amazing things that will happen.

Family reunions make us think about ourselves and who we are and where we've been and where we're going. I know that this was Tim's family reunion and not mine but it still made me think. My mom's family is from the same area of Alabama and so there are so many similarities. We visited the homesites where they had lived and the churches they had attended and the cemeteries they are buried. The Danley family first lived on a little hill overlooking some beautiful pasture on one side and the The Railroad Pleasant Valley Methodist Church on the other. There are some relatives buried in their huge cemetery and they attended this church while they lived there. They moved into Florence, Alabama later and lived in a prairie style white house. No indoor plumbing and no electricity. They also didn't have an outhouse for many years. But their family flourished there. They built an excellent reputation in the community. They farmed and were good business people. The neighboring farm had little girls the same age as a couple of their daughters and they would often play together. These little girls invited the Danley girls to Sunday School at Stony Point Church of Christ and their parents let them go. They hadn't been attending church since moving because there wasn't a Methodist Church nearby. Eventually they were all going to church there and eventually were all baptized in Stony Point creek at a place where the water pools still. We went to stand by the creek and the only Danley daughter still surviving, Stella Ruth Masterson, told us the stories of their baptisms. Ken, and Tim and Lucy went to stand in the water. Those are family waters and that spot is sacred to the Danley family. It is a serene curve of the creek with leafy branches overhanging the water. Tim's grandparents, and his dad, and all his aunts and uncles on that side of the family made a choice there to follow Jesus. They have all stood by that choice. Different journeys. Some good and some bad choices but still following and still loving. We worshipped Sunday morning at the Stony Point Church of Christ. Still very traditional and yet they use power point. I have never been in a church where the main disruption during worship was whistling hearing aids. I know that sound well because my mom has worn a hearing aid since I was a kid. During class one hearing aid continually whistled and during church one let out one loud squeal. Too funny. As soon as church was over a very elderly woman came straight to Tim. She had to tell him that he looked just like his grandfather. She knew his grandfather, who had been an elder at Stony Point, and could see his grandfather so clearly in him.
So many stories left to tell.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Tired

I am home for a week but tomorrow Mary Kate leaves for New Orleans for one last mission trip with the seniors from Highland. Today will be laundry day.
We missed our flight yesterday but were able to catch the next flights out and were able to get home last night. We missed our flight because we drove to Haleyville where my mom is from. So cool to see the graveyard where my relatives are buried. So many people buried there are related to us but I didn't always know the connection. It would have been great to have my mom with us. We did some tombstone rubbings of my great-great-great-great grandfather's tombstone. He fought in the civil war for the Union army. He was in the Alabama Cavalry. This cemetery is very well-kept...pristine.
We wandered through some cemeteries in Tennessee looking for Tim's relatives graves. One was the Whitten Chapel Cemetery. We pulled over to the side of the road and parked. Cows were on the other side of the road and began to moo loudly at us and every one of them was staring at us. They are beautiful and have the sweetest faces. The path to the cemetery is overgrown and the cemetery itself is even worse. We wander through all the old graves looking for names that we recognize from the research done about family history. We find one very old one that was thought to be a male relative who fought in the civil war but also for the Union. After reading the dates we realize that something doesn't mesh and when back at the hotel later, come to the conclusion that it is probably one of his wives. It was so much fun going on this adventure. As we walked out we were feeling itchy and sweaty and not just a little buggy. I looked over at Paul and saw a tick crawling up his shirt. Ken found one on his neck. So, of course, then all of us began to feel like something was crawling on us.
I will tell more about this trip in the next few days.