Dear Family and Friends,
I just got off the phone with Diane Pelzer. She and I ran over to Beaumont yesterday so that I could return a skirt at SteinMart, and over lunch, we got to talking about places we'd like to go. China came up. I was hoping I could go on Father Keith Pellerin's planned trip to Italy next summer, but people are saying that they think it's going to be the beginning of June. I can't be gone at the beginning of any month because of rents coming in, so I don't think that trip is going to be a possibility for me. So now I'm looking at a river cruise through China as an alternative for next summer. The 2008 booklet from Viking tours hasn't arrived in Diane's mailbox, but we discussed the 2007 brochure just now on the phone. If there's a 15-day tour that falls in the middle of a summer month, we're going to consider it. I have always wanted to go to China, and maybe the time for such a trip is coming soon. I talked to my brother Lee last night, and he, for sure, will be going to China next May to present a paper at a meeting. He's excited about that. He leaves this coming Friday for Bolivia on another medical mission trip to save the lives of children in that country. Twenty-one medical personnel from Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, including surgeons, are going. Lee will be gone from August 31 until September 9. He's the organizer, and I'm so proud of him for arranging important medical treatment for children in another country. While he's away, Eva will be holding down the fort at home in Tomball, Texas, and will be getting acclimated to her new half-time teaching position at their youngest daughter Hannah's school. Eva and another teacher are sharing a first grade position this year. Eva will be teaching every Thursday and Friday and every other Wednesday. Their family is growing and adapting to many new things, and they continue to spend part of nearly every weekend going up to their property near Huntsville, Texas, where the siding is almost completely up on their holiday home. Lee plans to do a lot of the interior work himself. Ray's many tools will be put to good use in that effort.
My brother Scott's family came back from a trip to Big Bend on an Amtrac train a week ago. They had a wonderful time, but coming home ended up being a little strenuous. Their train engine stopped running in San Antonio, and they ended up renting a vehicle to drive home that had to be returned to Shreveport, Louisiana. The logistics of getting everything accomplished must have been trying. I'm so glad they made it safely. School in Texas didn't start until today. The legislature determined that schools across the state would not begin until this late date. I don't know what the reasoning is, but it'll mean that school will be in session next summer into June, I guess. Summertime holidays will have to adjust to the new time frame.
My classes are coming along very nicely. After last Tuesday's class where each girl presented herself through symbol, after evaluating the first set of essays on their summer reading, and after sharing our reading histories as a class, I feel like the dynamics of the class have been set in motion in a positive way, and I'm very pleased with these special students God has sent me this year. We will go far together. Already I can tell that things that are discussed in my classroom are going to affect the book that I started writing on Wednesday. I don't have a title for it yet, but I have now written a Preface, explaining why I'm writing this book. After Friday's class discussing the Prologue and Epilogue of Ralph Ellison's INVISIBLE MAN, though, I think I will model my book after this structure. INVISIBLE MAN starts with a Prologue in which the black narrator is hibernating in a hole away from society because he feels invisible. His attitude about his life is jaded with the episodes he tells the reader he plans to recount. The body of the book is the retelling of all of the things that happened to this narrator to make him retreat down into this hole, where he steals electricity (or enlightenment) from the power company. The book is a satire, and the episodes can be taken humorously on one level, but on another the episodes are stereotyped and exaggerated and even surrealistic. The telling of his story, however, does something positive for this man. When he gets to the Epilogue, changes in his attitude toward life and what he needs to be doing have occurred. He determines that what his grandfather meant on his deathbed was not to try to pull the wool over white people but rather his grandfather meant that he should stand on principle, the principles on which America is built. He decides to come out of hibernation, to shed his snakeskin, and to get involved in trying to set things right. I don't know what I'll be like when I finish my particular book, which will be different than INVISIBLE MAN because it's going to be my memories of real events, but I'm expecting some changes to occur in me as well from the retelling. I'll be interested to find out how my Prologue differs from my Epilogue when I'm finished. I will work on the Prologue this coming Wednesday.
I went searching through bins in the garage Wednesday morning in search of my Baby Book that my mother put together for me. I want to refer to things that Mom put in there as I start my opening chapters of my book. It's looking like I'm going to have to recall those things from memory because I never found it. However, I ran across many other things that really pleased me and set other thoughts in motion. I had thought, for example, that my 101 therapy books from long ago had gone to Cameron Parish Libraries. I thought they were among my books that I had Ted clear out of the Cleveland house. But I found them. I am so glad. I also discovered, when I looked in my mother's cedar chest, that I have her copy of A LANTERN IN HER HAND by Bess Streeter Aldrich. It's very old, and I'm so happy to have it. That book was my mother's favorite, and it became mine, too. When I shared my reading history with my students on Friday, I told them that I identify with the pioneer woman in that book, Abbie Deal, who was so strong and resourceful and a writer like me. My mom was made of true grit, and I am, too. That characteristic was and has been essential to both of us. No wonder we loved this particular book.
Tonight is my third belly dancing lesson. I'm enjoying it, especially the aspect of doing it with my friends, but I have to say that I actually enjoy exercising to praise music at Curves and visiting with people as I go around the circuit of machines more than I do belly dancing. I did both last week, and I just feel like I get a better workout with Curves. I doubt I have much belly dancing in my future. I guess we'll see...
I ordered a custom-made stained glass for my upcoming bathroom project, and it was finished on Monday. (See Photo #1) Ted Baker is planning to do the work I want on the bathroom as a birthday present to me. I told him I'd let him know when I was ready for the project to begin. Hopefully it won't take very long.
Tuesday I rode with three other Theresians over to Lafayette for an early supper and the call-to-serve ceremony for the district board. Robin Hebert led us through a process of discernment of our gifts and our calling toward participating in this district-level organization over the coming year. I had prayed about it before arriving, and I knew that I wasn't being called to do anything that might involve a lot of driving back and forth to Lafayette. It's just too far to drive the 75 miles more than once a month for our monthly meeting. I didn't know whether there would be any place for me in this call-to-serve process. None of us from Lake Charles were too certain about the possibilities, but God, in His infinite wisdom, found some slots for two of us. Martha Deshotel is going to be the Lake Charles liaison for membership. She and others will begin the process of reaching out to more women in Lake Charles with Theresians. I am going to be responsible for finding or writing articles about the Theresian happenings in Lake Charles for the district newsletter. I'll be happily working with Stephanie Hebert, who brought my name up. She will continue to see about production and printing and getting articles from the groups surrounding Lafayette, and I will be her assistant and can communicate through email. My first assignment is to write an article and provide photos from the summer retreat at Antique Rose Ville in July. I'll be working on it soon. I also made sure I took photos from this call-to-serve meeting. There's a group shot, a shot of the new board, and a shot of my Lake Charles sisters. (See Photos #2, #3, and #4)
Wednesday, Diane Pelzer had her follow-up appointment at The Eye Clinic, and we were able to meet for lunch. (See Photo #5) We went in search of tops to go with a skirt that she plans to take on her upcoming Panama cruise, and we hit pay dirt in Marshall's. She now has several possible ways to wear that skirt for the many dinners aboard the ship. She found a few other things when we went to Beaumont yesterday after church. (See Photo #6) John is going with her on this particular trip, and we also considered scouting out clothes for him. We celebrated his upcoming birthday on Saturday night at Archie's Place. As always, we enjoyed breaking bread together.
I found out early Friday morning that Read Williams, my friend Lynn Rhodes' dad had passed away in the middle of the night. When I had seen him the previous Sunday, he had smiled into my eyes and made a signal that seemed to me to indicate that he knew he would be going upward soon. I've been thinking about this process when you die a bit in recent days. I envision a Judgment Hallway, where you go when you've passed away. When it's your turn to be judged, I imagine God's ability to run the story of your life very quickly and very much in detail, and I assume through this process, He can figure out whether Everlasting Life is a possibility or not. When Read got through this process, I imagine him being free of the handicaps of his old body. I imagine him doing that gardening that he so wanted to do, just as I imagined my Ray flying in his little Lancair the morning I was called to St. Patrick Hospital. I think wherever they've gone, they're having a wonderful time, and I pray that I get to see them once more one day.
Lynn wasn't sure whether she would feel up to our Mensa plans for me to come to DeRidder Friday evening for the Mayor's Concert, but later in the day, she suggested that I go ahead and join her and Barry. I think it was the perfect way to memorialize her dad--listening to the Big Band era music and enjoying a show that I know he would have loved to be part of. The original plan was for me to spend the night that night, but I opted out of that idea. The drive to and from DeRidder has become so easy and enjoyable, now that they've finished the four-lane highway. I had no problem getting myself back home that night.
I really needed to come home, but then I ended up staying up really late. I almost had to cancel my plans to join Rev. Myron Jones for her birthday party at Prejean's in Lafayette. I awoke at 8:30 and felt like a truck had run over me. I called her at that time and told her I wouldn't be making it, but then about 10:30, a tenant called me and woke me up again, and this time, I felt pretty good. I had just enough time to jump in the shower and make it in time for this lunch. I'm truly glad I went. (See Photo #7) I met some very soulful and interesting women, and I got to see how cute Myron's grand baby is. The food was delicious, all around. I again took the opportunity to try another kind of duck dish. It was salty, but it was good. Afterwards, I took the opportunity to swing by Coldwater Creek, Chico's, and SteinMart, three stores that we don't have in Lake Charles. I just hate the way the clerks in Coldwater Creek accost you when you walk around that store. They get my hackles up when they start commenting on how much they like my jewelry and other come-ons that they have, and I really don't feel like trying anything on. The Chico's in Lafayette isn't as friendly as the one in Beaumont. Sunday, when I took a skirt back to SteinMart, we stopped by the Beaumont Chico's, too. How I'm treated in a store definitely affects whether I'm interested. By the way, the skirt I had to take back to SteinMart was to that olive green suit I talked about a couple of weeks ago. I had originally bought a Size 10 skirt because they didn't have the 12 and I was still able to fit into it, but it wasn't the best fit. Saturday, though, in Lafayette, I found the Size 12, my regular size and the size of the jacket, and I bought it right up, not sure whether I was beyond the time limit of taking the other one back. No problem, though. I found the receipt and took it back in Beaumont, which is closer than Lafayette. I also got the idea from my brother Lee to wear an eggplant top with that suit. They had black matched up with it in Lafayette, but we'll see. I need to be invited to a wedding or something so I can wear it.
Clothes and jewelry have become more of an outlet for my time and energy since Ray died. I've talked to other widows, and they, too, have found themselves absorbed in pastimes that maybe before weren't so important to them. My whole adult life, I think I've been making up for having only three outfits to rotate when I was in elementary school. God has given me a real gift to allow me to have the ability to both wear and afford nice clothes and jewelry. I once bought the book, I SHOP, THEREFORE I AM, because I was concerned about this urge in me to have many nice clothes. But after analyzing my motivations and the probable psychological reasons behind them, I've stopped condemning myself for these things. Carpe diem seems to apply, and I know my husband Ray, who loved to dress me up, too, would approve. I can get a charge out of finding just the right colored top to coordinate with a pair of pants. Maybe you know the feeling. Anyway, I think I'm probably among friends. Maybe you can relate.
The sermon yesterday was based on Jeremiah 1:4-10, where Jeremiah is called to become a prophet. Rev. Fred asked each of us to consider what God is calling us to do in our lives. We sang "Here I Am, Lord," and this time, for once, I wasn't in tears like I have been so many times in the past two years with Ray's death, but I was acknowledging that God is asking me to pass my wisdom and knowledge onto this new class of girls, God is asking me to write about my relationship to Him in my life, and God is asking me to continue singing in the choir at First Presbyterian Church, among other groups that He's assigned me. This time of year is a launching point into newness and hope for tomorrow. I will stay attuned to the directions God sends me in where He wants me to go.
May you heed your own calling...
With love and blessings, Linda
"Whatever you do may seem insignificant,
but it is most important that you do it."
--Gandhi
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