Today will soon be gone -- be thankful!

I am thankful for …

The opportunity to work with high school kids and be a part of their lives. There are so many: Ashlyn and Sam,  Cassie and Rehema and Summer and Janna are just a few!

The coolest old friends in the world – Mays, McIntoshes, Sally and Terry Caves, Judith, Jim and Tracie Gulley, Joy and Norm, Andy and Kitty, Gina and Mike...of course, Rhonda!

and new and different ones that I hope to get to know better: Krista McKenzie, Beverly and Stuart Harmon, Charlie and Mark DeLoach, Jessica and James Welborn...and all those in between... Like the Rasberries with all their crazy sayings and love of Elvis and Conway.

I am so thankful for the chance to go to Nicaragua and experience the humility, love and genuineness of the people there. I am thankful I met Jurielka and watched her special folk dancing. I am especially thankful for the wonderful 100 year old man I met there named Perfecto. He WAS perfecto! (Don't you think?)

I’m thankful for the meals at the Treehouse Restaurant and the Planter’s Punch in St. Martin, and the island beaches with my girls and then my husband. I'm grateful I married a good cook and a football lover and tennis player who doesn't like to hunt. Now that is something to be thankful for.

I am thankful for little things like lemon trees and peanut M & Ms and the fun of being a tennis team captain. I am thankful for Twitter and Ya Ya’s Yogurt and the thrill of estate sale shopping. I am thankful that Gran can text and Marcia Beth can drive. I am super thankful that Rachel Beth has made so many friends at Ole Miss.

I am thankful for MK’s success on Etsy and at the Green Room and how she has met so many cool people through her job … and that she got to be in Southern Living this month!

I am thankful for my book club and authors like Lisa See and Lee Child. I am thankful for tennis opponents who don’t cheat and who compliment you when you get a good shot.

I am thankful that I have never been in enough danger to need a gun.

I am thankful for mementoes that remind me of people I love: my great grandmother's class ring, the mermaid sculpture from Mary Katherine in my bathroom, Rachel Beth’s and Miss Patty's artwork, a sweetgrass basket from my childhood best friend Joy, MawMaw Tressie’s “wisdom” plaque over my kitchen sink,  the gold metallic vintage purse from my Aunt Earline’s closet.

I am thankful for my crazy sister who does the craziest, insane movements and hand gestures in public  for my entertainment and my equally crazy brother. He showed up immediately when Rach was in a hit-and-run accident. I am grateful that he survived a scary bathroom encounter with cinnamon air freshener. I love that he is always sweet to and protective of my children, Peter included.

I am thankful for the absolute best and most resourceful brother and sister-in-law in the world... my dad who keeps me updated on the political scene and shares his love of being around people with me. My mother-in-law who is ready with comfort food. My handsome nephews. My prince of a son-in-law who just gets better like fine wine.

And my mom! Who does not complain even when we ask her to do impossible things. She is like that amazing rubber cement scrapbook glue -- always holding precious and beautiful things together and never getting wrinkles.

I can’t help but be super grateful for our third grandmother Frances, who gives sacrificially to Young Life and shares my passion for teens. I am also grateful for my friend Linda who is always ready to help and who likes my cooking! I am thankful for her adorable 4-year-old grandbaby Zi who told everyone that Rachel Beth was her “cousin” and  that “she will fight you!” (Just for explanation, Zi is black and Rachel is white but somehow they are cousins -- in the sense that your cousin has your back!)

And how could I forget our extended family dogs: willful Shorkie Sis and princess Jessie and Toby, who has the love of God in his heart. And only because I am commanded to be thankful in everything, I am thankful for our satanic cat Jake, who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking those he may find to devour!

Go with God

What do I love about my house in Peachtree Bend? Let's see: indoor plumbing, air conditioning, warm showers....

So why am I thinking about a place that has not one of those necessities? And dreaming of going back there?

I spent last week in Muelle de los Bueyes, Nicaragua. It cost me $1,900 to go to a place without a pool or a swim-up bar or a tennis court .... or drinkable water. But honestly, it might be the most unforgettable vacation I've ever taken.
It wasn't "fun."
It was "rich."
What a weird way to describe this experience among the poor.

There was Julisa, who badgered me for candy or chapstick or tiny plastic bracelets. Man, that kid's hug would knock you down! She ran so fast to reach you that you could feel her little heart beat against you as she hugged and would NOT let go.

Julisa, center, holding her red bag of goodies.

Then there was Perfecto. Age 102. What a lovely, smiling angel of a man, waiting outside the eyeglass clinic and grabbing my damp hand with his cool, strong tanned one.

Perfecto, left, with Blake Lawson

And teenagers? My favorites! Senorita Jurielka painted my toenails in vivid white and coral and invited me to her home. She took me down to the river, where the brown water creeped in rain forest beauty, contrasting with the crowds and litter of the village.

Teens Jurielka, left, and Jury, on the veranda

My friends said I would be forever changed by this trip.
May it be so, hermanos and hermanas of Nicaragua.
May it be forever so.

Happy Angst Day!

It's Mother's Day. I know whoever created the event had good intentions. But, for me, it's usually just a day to feel inadequate.

I'm not the mother you see in Highlights magazine wearing the cute flared skirt and serving up a tray of lemonade. I'll never rank close to my own beautiful mother, who birthed me at age 21.

So, just to clear my troubled mind as this chapter of motherhood ends for me, here are the ways I have missed the mark.

1. I did not donate a kidney to my baby girl -- her dad did that. (I could have. I really could have.)

2. I hated breastfeeding. It's supposed to be healthy and bonding and wonderful in a home-school, mom-of-the-world way. I refused. (I could have done that too.)

3. I forgot to pull out the Halloween and Easter decorations. And at Christmas, I sometimes hired a Christmas tree decorator. (It's true. Sad, but true.)

4. I never baked cookies. (I'm not apologizing for that.)

5. I rarely, if ever, sat down to dinner with my family. I was usually out playing tennis.

6. I never did homework or made posters for my kids and rarely asked about homework.

7. I haven't showed up for school events put together, hair perfectly fixed. I'm usually in exercise clothes that don't match.

8. I sometimes let my kids stay out too late and I sometimes made them come in too early.

9. I occasionally let them skip school or church for not a great reason.

10. On the first day of junior high, I forgot to pick up both Mary Katherine AND Rachel from school. (Different years, same school. Horrors!)

Ten confessions are enough for today. I could beat myself up a little more but I still have a sermon coming, so I'll leave room for that. Wouldn't it be great if the preacher said: "It's OK...you did the best you could...and you loved your kids' guts...so enjoy your day!"

It's easy being green

A facelift can be good for the soul. And one day I will probably boost my soul with one. But until then, I'm loving these trash to treasure projects.

The decor at our Oxford getaway is DIY chic thanks to my good friend Lori Burson, who can make a snap decorating decision in the time it takes to hang a picture.

Above left, Nanny's chair recovered with a geometric pattern. Not real comfy ... but real cute!

Above right: the table from my childhood house on Dixie Avenue, painted cream and roughed up with Lori's rotary sander. Some recovered club chairs I found in the attic give it pizzaz.

Right: Also from my grandmother's house in downtown Hattiesburg -- side tables, which were once an outdated maple, look so adorable painted lime green and placed alongside her antique iron bed.

My next project, once I figure it out, is painting an Asian-inspired lamp with bright colors like this one above, which I spotted in a store window in Oxford.

My lamp needs its youth and vitality restored ... a nip and a tuck of beauty that, yes, is skin deep and just what the doctor ordered.

I've come a long way baby

A man from South Central Bell came to my first grade classroom at Davis Elementary 45 years ago. Yes, it's been 45 years.

His name was Ott Brockman and I remember him predicting a future of robots and picture phones. He even showed us a model -- white frame, black screen, receiver perched beside it. George and Jane Jetson-style.

Fascinating!

But what if someone called when you had curlers in your hair, or worse ... what if you were walking through the house naked and your phone rang? Troubling.

All these years I've waited, expected. Other fantabulous things have come into my life. Televisions with hundreds of channels (then, we had two) and radio stations tailored to my whims (in 1960s Hattiesburg, everybody tuned into WXXX, affectionately known as Triple X, for the latest).

Now there are microwaves (no, we didn't have those) and voicemail (didn't have that either).

In 2012, we don't have to wait for a meal to cook or a boy to call

or a favorite song to play on the radio.

And now, thanks to an iPad with facetime, I have my very own picture phone.

As my grandmother would say: Oh my stars!

Life is like a game of Twister

So, what would you like people to remember about you when you die?

It kind of helps put New Year's resolutions into perspective.

Here's what they might say:

She had a great, comfortable house

She exercised every day.

She loved her dog.

She tried, unsuccessfully, to wear all the cute clothes in her closet but there were too many tee shirt/sweatshirt days.

Not too good, as funerals go.

I think I'd prefer:

She was generous.

She took on people as a project and really stuck with them.

She tried to just be ... before going out and just doing.

Of course the beginning of a new year is no time to think about funerals, but it is a time to consider priorities and think about the road you are taking or the couch on which you are reclining.

So what will this year bring? An abundant life or a retiring life? Here's hoping it's rich with activity, emotion, friends and strangers. Here's hoping it's difficult and challenging and a real stretch.

Reminds me of a phrase that harkens back to Nancy Ratliff's high school Latin class:

Non est vivere sed valere vita est

Life is more than just being alive.

These are a few of my favorite things

Christmas china

Croaking carolers

Peter's "I Like Turtles" Ornament

Cool Christmas card display

Mexico Nativity Scene

Vintage Reindeer Panorama from my Aunt Earline

The Rockettes Christmas ornament

Pickenpaw Pottery Angels