My Sister

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday!

I won't tell her age but I will tell you a little about her...

Talk about an interesting person...

Here we go!

I was two years old when Bobbie Jo left home to get married. She went to California to marry her husband he was out there in the Army. She was 17. Her first child was born about 9 months after she married, at 18. Her family of three moved back to Arkadelphia. 20 months later she delivered twins a boy and girl, Bobbie was now 19. Three babies within 20 months.

They lived two houses down from us, so my neice and nephews were like siblings for me.

I was 3 years older than her oldest, 5 years older than the twins.

When the twins were 4, Bobbie Jo and Charlie divorced.

Bobbie became the single mother that worked hard to raise her kids. At one time she had three jobs, selling Mary Kay makeup(she got a pink car for high sales!), working at a Timex watch factory, and going to Beauty School. It took her a long time to finish Beauty School with the other jobs and 3 kids, with no financial help from the father. My Mom and Dad were there for her but they were having their own struggles.

Different points in her life they moved to try different venues of work for her. She lived in Texarkana and worked for an ammunition plant during the war. She lived in the Little Rock area selling mink coats in an elite shop downtown. What a variety! No one has EVER called her boring!

When she finished Beauty School and got her license, there was no stopping her then. She put in her own shop in Malvern, AR. Another in Hot Springs, AR for a few years.

Later moved to Taylor, TX, and had her own shop there, and another at Phlugerville, TX.

Later than that she moved to Arlington, TX, and had her own shop in Midlothian,TX.

Yes, she was quiet an entrepreneur!

Throughout these years her children flourished into wonderful responsible caring adults.

Did she make mistakes in her own life, in her mothering life? Heck, yes.

Was she fun? Heck, yes.

Was she perfect? Heck, no.

How many of us can say we are perfect?

Our Mom's last five years were spent in Bobbie's home.

Our Mom's last moments of life were spent in Bobbie's arms.

Mom wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Tomorrow when she blows the candles out on her cake as her grandchildren are gathered around her chanting "Go Nanny Jo"(which name I chose for her with the first grandbaby due and she was feaking out not wanting to be called "Grandma"at the tender age of 44!)

She can look back on her "resume of life past" and really be amazed at all the crooks and turns and where the roads have all come out so far. She has the three grown children and 11 grandchildren and one great grandchild, and another on the way. Whew...

Happy Birthday, sweet, crazy, nuttie, vivacious, loonie, adorable, hilarious,.... sis.

Shopping...

Anyone that knows me...knows I HATE to shop.
Last Monday I went on the most dreaded shopping trip EVER.

I had to find me a new pair of jeans...dum,dum,dum...

Now, for a "200+" beauty, this is a day-of-reckoning.
The dressing rooms have harsh lighting to show all the purple veins in HiDefinition.
And there are FULL-LENGTH mirrors!
Sometimes there are more than one.
So, I go to the big-girl's store.
Lane Bryant
I start to look around, as I find the jeans, I see tags that are different colors, and definitely different numbers on those tags. Instead of seeing 16, 18, 20 etc.
I see 0, 2, 4, 6, etc.
You've GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
So, forget indescreetly shopping and silently, without eye contact paying for the purchase.

I have to ask how the size charts go...

The sales clerk looks me over (as I cringe) and says "you will be a yellow 6".
Shur-nuf, she was correct.
"6" I was.
Now, you and I both know in the real world it's not a true "6", just a fat woman's "fantasy-land 6".
Looking at those jeans in that dressing room, on my short fat bod, was no scene for a "fantasy".
Oh well, it is what it is...

The day after the dreaded shopping trip...my sweet husband comes over to kiss me goodbye for the day, and says what he says most days of our marriage,
"My woman is so pretty. I got me a good looking woman."

Bless his heart.

Just A Days Thought

Today I woke up, slowly walked into the kitchen to get my first cup of java, got my lap top and crawled back into bed. Before settling down I opened every window blind, so as I write this the sun is streaming in. How good is this??!!
Tomorrow is Easter.
Easter.
My faith in Jesus is total , and it fills my heart and soul plum-up to the top!!

I had a conversation with a good friend this week, we talked about JOY.
People say that I make them feel good about themselves, people do seek out my company, either to hear my humor or my bantor, or just to make jabs at my good nature. How irritating I can be most days, trying to be "up and happy by-choice".
One person that I work with told me this week to
"hush-up, not everyone could fart rainbows" like me.
When she said this I CRACKED UP!!
I've never heard it put like that to me...oh believe me, I've had lots of things said to me about my cheer'full'ness, over the years.

I have a lot of sadness deep down in my soul, like we all do.
If you've ever loved people and lost them to death, it makes you really recount every minute here with them.
Holes are left in those spots of the heart.
If you've ever been disappointed in someone that you loved the most, there's another hole. If you've ever had financial hardship that will create so much anxiety,
holes happen....
Now, the good news...total faith in Jesus can fill those holes.
I try to see every sunrise as another chance to get it right.
I want to "love" it all-right.
I want to understand what God wants of me this day.
So, every day I try to see "why" God has given me this time.
I'm really sure He doesn't want all my holes to show.
I'm sure He's happy with me "farting rainbows!"