Yes, it really is more

This day every year -- lucky Dec. 13 -- I ask my friends to say thank you with me.

Thank you God.

No really…..

Thank you.

Long story short. (As my sister says, and then it's still long.)

It was a snowy day in Minneapolis. Rachel got her dad's kidney. It took about 8 hours to fit it inside her teeny tiny abdominal cavity.

Nineteen years later, that kidney is still working like a charm.

I have to give lots of people credit. Doug Fitzwater, her truly invested pediatric nephrologist in Mississippi. Dr. Tom Nevins, our longtime friend and care-giver in Minneapolis. Dr. Jon Najarian, the surgeon who skillfully inserted hundreds, maybe thousands, of kidneys into the abdomens of tots who came to his world-renown hospital at the University of Minnesota.

But God gave them all their gifts. And for that we are more than grateful.

Not long ago Jeff Clark said miracles happen every day -- not usually in a magical, fairytale way, but when people step in and meet a need they see that needs meeting. 

My friends did that in countless ways -- prayer chief among them.

The doctors. Her donor dad. The hand-holders. Oh the hand-holders …..

Lori, who I didn't even know at the time, gave me a picture of angels. Tracy Traylor, herself a miracle, fashioned an angel crib ornament. 

There were countless blood-givers and note-writers. There were tree decorators and pound cake-makers. There was Mark McIntosh, who brought me a single serving supper in the hospital room. And Forrest, who called and came by and marveled that anybody could stay in a hospital room with a baby that long. 

There was Elmo. And Cookie Monster.

All helped with the miracle.

Thank you.

What a wonderful world

Some people have showy talents. They sing. Or they dance like Andy Perry.

Andy teaching the band his pistol dance

Some people can give a great speech or preach the best sermon, a la Jeff Clark at Venture Church. Some, like my brother-in-law, Gene Hortman, have a knack for remembering details from old movies.

 

Others make the best cookies in the world. Clay Taylor's mouth-watering chocolate chip cookies… Man…. Let me just say, it's been too long, Clay. 

Among the guests at my dining table yesterday were two hospice nurse friends. Those ladies, Meg Paul and Elizabeth Guice, have helped many a grieving family say goodbye. A talent for compassion and comforting the dying -- now that's a gift that makes an impact on a pain-filled world.

The others joining for lunch were no less accomplished. My friend Nan Wilson teaches braille to vision-impaired elementary students. And Melanie Brown collects best friends like I collect used tennis balls -- daily.

That was the lunch bunch. And I was the only slacker in the crowd. My talents are not so world-changing. Two things I know I am good at: making up rhymes and cutting out block words freehand. 

Those are weird gifts, I know. I can't quite figure how they fit into a career path. But they do bring a smile.

Here's an excerpt from yesterday's poem about the birthday girl:

I find it somewhat refreshing
That Tito’s is help for her stressing.

She often wears black, and color she lacks,

When choosing her wardrobe and dressing.

Everyone wants to befriend her.

This lady, the cell phone text sender.

She gives to the needy, but never looks seedy

Instead, oh so stylish and slender.

With ipad ready she stands

And exceeds all her husband’s demands

A true super mama, who faces girl drama,

And on her feet, always she lands.

So here’s to my fellow caffeinist

Who’s a help when you deal with the meanest.

I like her a lot

Cause perfect -- she’s not

And my house is not always the cleanest.

It won't get me a good score on the LSAT or help me sell pianos. But then again, neither would calculus. And poems are a lot more fun.

Double Nickles

Yesterday was a great day. The sun was shining, the wind was whipping, the tennis ball was dancing all over the place and I felt the love of so many friends.

First thing in the morning, I went down the hill behind the Seidenburg/Terry/Pulliam cabin in north Alabama to the Little River.

Looking through the clear water at the tufts of water plants growing on perfectly placed boulders, I thought. Yes. There is a God.

If anyone doubted, here is even more evidence.

one second on the Little River Falls

You learn a lot in 55 years, and this could be the most important truth. Everything didn't just happen.

Here are a few other things I have learned -- not all earth-shaking, but my personal favorites

1. Condescension and disapproval and judgmentalism never get you anywhere. Unconditional love beats that. Hands down.

2. Consider the lilies. They don't worry.

3. Teenagers and babies, even misbehaving ones, are still more in touch with God than cynical adults.

Teens must be God's favorites.

4. Art is our feeble attempt to copy God. Feeble though it is, it's still beautiful.

5. Generosity trumps greed.

6. You need to be around unpleasant people sometimes to teach yourself how NOT to act.

7. God loves everybody. Sometimes it must be hard.

8. Complaining is unattractive.

9. Selfishness is like a weed that keeps popping up in weird places. Even after you have poisoned it thoroughly. Keep using the selfishness Roundup.

10. The road to a friend's house is never too long.

Even if it's 4.5 hours!

11. Change is a good thing. Embracing it cheers you up. Fighting it frustrates the hell out of everybody. And it's pointless.

12. Honesty and vulnerability are two of my favorite things to see in a person.

13. Laughter is the only thing that will keep you sane. Thanks, Drew and Ellie Holcomb, for that song lyric.

14. Music opens the doors of a heart.

15. Sharing in a friend's deep sorrow paradoxically brings you joy.

16. Prayer can seem pointless when God knows everything and we don't even know what to ask for. But it's not.

17. Always keep in mind the body of a friendship before being hurt by a small sneeze of misplaced words.

18. Pride rears its ugly head all the time. Get out the sword.

19. Never put an apostrophe in the wrong place. Please.

20. Try not to be late to tennis.

True champions

21. Remember tennis is a game. It's fun to win. But it's really not the only thing.

22. Pear preserves are awesome. So is sauvignon blanc. But you must use self control.

23. Stay in the middle. #susiewisdom

24. Everybody worships God in different ways. Yours is not the only or even the best way. But please do worship.

25. Listening is a very good skill. Work at it.

26. Use your talents to make the world a better place. Even if your talent is writing silly poems.

Art by Rick Hurst

27. Be wise. Exercise. Move around. Have some fun.

28. The wise man built his house upon the rock.

29. A dog is definitely man's best friend.

30. Oxford is still God's country.

31. Never live in the past. Never live through your children.

32. Make sure to keep your friends watered and fed.

33. Apologizing is hard.

34. Children are one of God's best gifts.

35. You feel better when your hair is clean and your nails are done. But don't let that keep you from getting dirty.

36. Keeping your mouth shut is sometimes the hardest thing. And sometimes impossible. Can I get a guardrail for that?

37. Screen doors are awesome.

38. Take people in. 

39. Step out of your box. As often as possible.

40. It's hard to be brave when you are only a very small animal. Like Piglet. Be brave anyway.

A little blood, sweat and tears

This family has been seriously accident-prone these past couple of weeks. And I'm not talking about the usual driveway fender benders or even the occasional encounter with the gates of a gated neighborhood.

It's really not something to joke about, but you have to laugh to keep from crying.

Warning: If you are squeamish, walk away from the computer.

First, bruiser Bob had a collision with the fencepost of the sportsplex tennis courts. He is the least accident-prone of the bunch. He closes open cabinet doors and removes random house shoes from the hallways to avoid breaking a hip. Still, he couldn't stop chasing the tennis ball and the winning point. He left skin from his knees, shoulder and scalp on the court. That's balling.

Then Mary Katherine managed to slam a sliding glass door on her thumb. She promises this hurt worse than the time she dropped an entire metal locker onto the back of her achilles heel. And I can believe it. Photographs don't lie.

Then Reagan, one of our favorite cousins, topped off the week with a TERRIBLE head-on collision in Oxford. It is still so fresh and so close and so scary that there are hardly words to describe how grateful we are that he is safe and whole.

If Nanny were here, she would have been worried sick. But surely she knew, as Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently said:
"As soon as there is life, there is danger."

Or ...  here's a less eloquent way to look at it, taken from one of my favorite refrigerator magnets:

"You can either be a positive example or a horrible warning."

Here's to making the best things from the worst ones, fam. Be careful out there!

Hail, hail the gang's all here

January, cold and blank and not-yet-filled up, is a great time to take a memory trip. Just a short one. No time for wandering off into valleys and deserts.

Today, I was looking for a cute pre-school photo to instagram in honor of baby girl's 20th birthday. On the closet floor, I found her favorite childhood book "The Wind in the Willows." She loved it in the same way I like Sunday afternoon golf on TV -- it's such a comforting background for napping.

"The Wind in the Willows," with its friendly rodent characters, became like a worn baby blanket -- something a toddler could cling to and cherish. We took it to Minneapolis with us when she went for her kidney transplant 18 freezing winters ago. And in a flash of sentimentality, I asked the medics in Minneapolis to leave a note for her in the favorite book.

Today, I discovered that those notes, written for a two year old, were the perfect well-wishes for a 20th year birthday.

From our Nigerian housekeeper friend:

 May the Good Lord be with you. I shall continue to remember you in my prayers.

From the lovely woman pediatric nephrologist who was a Mississippi native:

 May your life be filled with rainbows.

From our longtime friend, the good Dr. Nevins: 

Love and prayers for a full life.

Happy 20th Rach!

It's 2014 y'all

Bet you couldn't predict last year. I sure couldn't. Thinking back makes me grateful. And really amazed.

In January, I went to visit my good friend Rhonda in Phoenix.

The highlight was climbing to this Indian cliff dwelling with a wonderful guide, who refused to let me fall off the mountain. Graceful.

Later in the month, Bobby and his team "Hot to Trot" won the chili cook-off in downtown Laurel. The secret ingredient? Bacon! That's almost cheating because bacon makes everything better. But we married them for their cooking ability -- right Carole? (and a few other things).

Team Hot to Trot: David Casey, Jim Rasberry, Mike Axton, Bob Gholson -- Mike Attaway went missing!

As usual, crazy Young Life antics were ongoing at the Gholson house.

We generally make a mess, but hey, that's life -- messy.

On February 14, lots of precious girls came over for Young Life spa night -- an annual Laurel Young Life tradition. The house never looked more beautiful, thanks to sweet Janna and her decorating talents.

And then when the girls arrived! The real beauty sparkled.

Lots of pampering, massages and manicures and sharing of heartaches and happiness. Jessica Welborn spoke about the love of God -- how he pursues us. It was a great reminder of true beauty and true love!

In April, in honor of our birthdays, my long lost friend and tennis partner Pam Howard played tennis with me. There's a lot of life, pain, joy and "twirly do's" bonding these two blonde chicks.

All along the way there was lots of tennis and lots of Toby!

And then in May, it snowed in hell I guess, because the Gholsons got an unsolicited offer on the Laurel house, and -- WHAT? -- sold it. Our friends were appalled, shocked, even mad. Kitty wouldn't speak to Bobby for weeks.

And despite my friend Karen's advice to take my time buying a new house, we didn't. A couple of weeks later, we were the proud new owners of a very old house in the Hattiesburg historic district. Not quite sure it was the right thing to do but doing it anyway.

Rachel Beth said she was homeless. Mary Katherine thought it would be a great adventure. Marcia and Papa and Aunt Rachel and Gene thought it was perfect -- the entire Roseberry family back in the hub city. How's that for coming full circle?

That's my down-the-street crazy sister and General Hortman entertaining our sweet neighbor Jane. 

The house is becoming home. We are working real hard to make it "where we love."

Kitchen before

kitchen after

300 6th Avenue, send us a letter!

Pretty much all the girls!

Since the move, life has been a blur. Rachel was a lifeguard this past summer at Young Life camp Woodleaf in northern California. Probably because I had the audacity to say she couldn't do that, so she proved she could.

At summer's end she moved into the Chi Omega floor at Crosby on the Ole Miss campus with her sweet friend Chandler. She changed her major to pre-law and engineering, much to our surprise and joy.

I took the trip of a lifetime in August with my girl friends and Sister Golden Hair Surprise (a.k.a Mary Katherine) to St. Martin.

And then, if that weren't enough excitement, Peter got a lawyer job with a great firm in Jackson! We think he is the cutest prince of a lawyer ever. And we think Daniel, Coker, Horton and Bell is fortunate. So is the prince.

Christmas was so exciting with the best presents, including a second trip in one year to St. Martin. We'll call this one a honeymoon.

Finally, not wanting to miss out on the big events of the year, Sister got a new home.

Mary and Peter bought a fabulous house on Northside Drive in Jackson. It just needs a little work. 

Don't we all!

Happy 2014 from our house to yours!