Sweet Souls

Sometimes I have a hard time making sense of things. This week when I heard the sad news that my friend Trish Mooneyham had succumbed to a brain tumor, I really wanted to punch a wall or throw dishes across the room. Who thinks it's fair that a 35 year old woman with 3 school aged children is gone from this earth so early? What makes sense about that? Not understanding it all makes it hurt all the more deeply and if I'm really honest,  knowing it's not my place to ask why makes me even madder. It really makes me want to scream.

I first met Trish when she lived in Wrens and I was the chair of our Relay for Life. Trish was the youth chair. Children naturally gravitated to her and it was a perfect fit for her. Trish devoted a lot of time to the youth ministry at Wrens Baptist. After her health began to be more and more serious, she moved to Waynesboro and I lost touch with her. Luckily she came back into my life when her son Ethan played on Addie's Upward Basketball Team. During this time I really got to know Trish better. We spent many hours on those hard wooden gym bleachers complaining about our numb backsides and talking about things mamas talk about. Never once did Trish mention her cancer, her dim prognosis, or anything of the sort. She knew I knew how grave her condition was, but cancer was not the most important thing in her life. She was so proud of her children but never spoke of them like they were prodigies or geniuses. Rather, she was more proud of their character and their kindness. Addie was the only girl on the basketball team and Ethan was always kind to her and included her. He got that quality from Trish I'm sure. Trish often talked about the love she had for God and how happy she was about her children growing in their own faith. She admired her husband Joel's work ethic.We'd sometimes complain about our husbands leaving dirty socks around the house and just about general things husbands do to irritate their wives. We had a few chuckles over that. However, I remember her telling me once that Joel was the glue that held them all together. I can't think of a better way to describe a good husband. We talked about politics and our insecurities as wives and mothers. Through all of our conversations, Trish never uttered one single word indicating she felt sorry for herself. Although, I'm sure she had private moments where she struggled to understand it all, just like her family and friends are right now, she never showed that to me once. Cancer wasn't nearly as important to her as fully living her life was. I'm glad I knew Trish Mooneyham. I'm a better person for it.  So I know Trish wouldn't want me to be angry, throw dishes or punch walls.  She'd want us to live our lives as she did. With God and our families in the forefront and our troubles and baggage in the secondary. I'm going to do better about that. Farewell, sweet lady. I'll see you on the other side.

Because our family is weird and all...

Evidence of our weirdness... we wake up to an occasional goat on our front porch peering in the window.

I have always loved words. My family loves words. Writing them, speaking them, even inventing them... remind me to tell you all about the first time I heard my daddy use the word "RI- DAMN- DICULOUS"... yes when my daddy uses an expletive that's one thing, but when he inserts a 'cuss word" right in the middle of a perfectly good English word, you better scatter like scalded dogs. While we were at the beach in sunny Florida this week Ali Grace looked at me and said "Mama I know we have better summers than everyone else, because our family is like weird and all."  Well truer words have never been spoken. Especially at such a young age! I was a quiet kid and didn't really participate in all the story telling that went on whenever my family would get together either at large gatherings or just a few of us frying fish in the backyard. I probably couldn't have gotten a word in if I'd wanted to! It wasn't until I went to college and met people from other parts of the country, and from vastly different backgrounds than my own, that I realized not every family sits around telling stories and reliving moments of epic hilarity. Not every family is even blessed with "epic hilarity" on such a regular basis.  I assumed everyone sat around telling stories like "y'all remember when mama hooked the water hose onto the back of the station wagon and pulled the pump out of the pumphouse and dragged it all the way to Otis Skelton's store?"   Well let me tell you- not everyone was blessed with such an upbringing.

So when Ali exclaimed what a fabulous summer it had been- not because of the beach trip or the week at the lake or the summer camps- but because she really enjoyed our family's "weirdness", my heart leaped. Both Ali and Addie have a way with words. I can see it early. They have a wit about them that will carry on our weirdness. I'm happy about that. I'm happy that they both seem true to themselves and that truth comes with a clever wit that's being expertly honed by listening to the rest of the nuts in our family tell tales.

We did have a fabulous week at Clark Hill Lake....

And a great 4th of July...

We loved our few days at Jekyll Island...

And an amazing week in Florida with my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Carlos...

Addie had a great week at Camp Hope with her friend, Lillie. It was hard to let her go since she'd been gone the week before to VBS at Red Hill with Gran.

Ali helped Poppy on the farm. This was her first experience driving the truck in the field. 

These kids are lucky ducks. I just hope they realize it. 

So here you go.... top 5 ways to tell if you're blessed with a family who's "like weird and all"...(other than the occasional goat peering in the window)

5.  Your grandmother has at least 3 stories about her wig that will make you wet your pants. One involves a wig being hung up in a sweetgum tree while she's riding a horse underneath a branch...One involves roping a horse with a bra..

4. You've ever had a random goat not only peer in the window but walk right in the front door...

3. Everyone in the family knows how PaPaw lost his right eye and can retell the story in such a way that makes you laugh about someone losing their eye.

2.  Your children don't require a stuffed animal or a special blanket in order to sleep at night but they do crawl up in your bed and beg you to tell "an uncle Ernie story"...

1. You're perfectly happy with your family's weirdness and even if you don't fit in anywhere else in your life, you know you've got a place right here. You'd rather fit in here anyway. The "crowd" is highly overrated. 

Here's the "weirdness" photo of the day.. Addie gathered eggs using a walking stick and wearing her easter dress.

It's a helluva life...