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!