Journey Out of Pink

  This morning, I had the wild idea to check and see how long I've been on Facebook. I found out I've been on there for 15 years! That's insane! How did that time past so quickly and how valuable has all those days been to me, really??? The more I thought about it, the more I realized I've thrown away that precious time looking at and reading things that didn't matter.  How in the world have so many of us become addicted to social media? The only thing I can figure is that we need to feel like we belong. For those of us who don't live close to family, it's a great way to stay connected but many times, I find myself wondering why I allow Facebook to steal time away from me as I peruse meaningless dribble.  So much of what I see on FB I've seen thousands of times before. People repost the same things over and over again and it makes me crazy!  I've tried to use my social media site for a ministry tool sharing daily devotionals and other things I hope w...

I was looking at the calendar today and realized we're halfway through the year already. Where has the time gone? It seems I blinked and 6 months passed. A friend of mine told me yesterday that I'd better start my Christmas shopping. I shuddered. This year, the pickings will be slim unless I make some of my gifts.  Since my husband retired and we're subsisting on Social Security, we've had to adjust our budget. Unnecessary items are out. Many of my friends have mentioned doing the same thing as our government continues to allow inflation to soar.  Prices on just about everything have skyrocketed and shrinkflation is real. When we go buy our groceries, I'm careful to watch for products that have "shrunk."  The other day, I bought a box of protein bars. The size of the box was the same so I didn't think anything about it until I got home and opened one. The bar was 2/3 the size it used to be and the price of the box had gone up by a couple of dollars. It...

It's hard to believe that on July 9th of this year, I'll celebrate a decade of being cancer free! Wow!  I still don't understand why God has allowed me to survive this long without a recurrence, but I'm thankful.  As I read back through my old blog posts, I'm thrust back into the thick of things when cancer was new to me and I was more scared than I care to admit. But that's a good thing too, I think. It's important to remember.  I'm so glad I write things down. Now that I'm older, my memory isn't as sharp as it once was. Oh, I can remember things that happened 50 or 60 years ago with no problem, but remembering what I had for lunch yesterday - I have to really try hard to think and remember that.  For the past 10 years, cancer consumed my life. Now, I feel like I can put it behind me. Believe me, I'm not naive. I have a friend, also named Bonnie, who was diagnosed with cancer about 25 years ago. She was cancer free for about 22 years and the...

I don't know when I developed an intolerance to heat but for some reason, this year seems hotter than all others. Perhaps it's because I'm older now and I pay more attention to it or to the electric bills for air conditioning or perhaps it really is hotter than it was when I was a child.  I grew up with no air conditioning. So it shouldn't be a big deal now, but it is. Back then, our little cinder block home only had an attic fan and casement windows for ventilation. During summer months, we'd wear as little as possible to stay cool. Thank God for shorts and for Mama letting us run around barefooted.  I used to hate our old tile floor in the living room and in the kitchen because when it was dirty and I wasn't wearing shoes, it felt gritty beneath my feet. But in the summers, that tile was so cool beneath my skin and I was thankful for it.  We spent most of our summer days back then playing outside beneath huge Oak and Pine trees. Their shade helped keep us cool...

  Daddy was a Sergeant 1st Class I miss my Daddy every Father's Day. He was one of the most unique people I ever knew. Though quiet and pensive most of the time, the wheels of his mind were constantly turning. How do I know? I watched him like a hawk.  I learned so much from watching my Daddy. As I grew up, I found one of the best ways to gain his time and attention was to be where he was. If he was under a car, working on something like changing the oil, I crawled under with him asking him a million questions - "What are you doing, Daddy?" "Why are you doing that?" Usually, he'd let me ask away without answering.  Occasionally, he'd ask me to hand him a tool. If I knew what it was, he'd smile and not say a word, but if I messed up, he'd let me know. Needless to say, I wanted to please him so I learned very quickly the names of tools and how to use them.  Daddy loved to tinker. He'd take things apart and put them back together again just to s...

  Trying to smile through the pain I've been AWOL for a while now, so this post will more than likely be longer than most. I don't even know where to begin so I guess I'll just start and possibly backtrack at some point.  On May 6th, I was scheduled for a hiatal hernia repair surgery. I went in for surgery, stayed one night and thought all was well when they sent me home. I had 8 laparoscopic incisions and was definitely sore, but figured that was par for the course.  I was sent home with detailed instructions on diet - 2 days of completely clear liquids, 2 weeks of soft liquids (think protein shakes, yogurt and non chunky soups) and then a full liquid diet for a month before progressing to normal food 2 months later. Long story short, that never happened.  On Friday of the same week, something weird started happening. My belly swelled up like I was carrying triplets and it really hurt. I knew something was definitely wrong and told hubby I'd better go to the emergen...