Long Hollow

Heading West…and other sweet!s

October 6, 2013
My middle son and I were headed west on I-10 out of Houston tonight after a weekend visit with my mom when this glorious sunset appeared before us.

We were ooh-ing and ah-ing and I itched to grab my camera, but I played it safe and ordered delegated the picture-taking to Daniel. He was a good (and talented) sport about it.

And, of course, spending time with my mom is always sweet!

Last night, we enjoyed a marathon of "Modern Family" episodes. Daniel snagged the extra wheelchair for an up-close seat and I couldn't resist snapping this photo of the two of them hanging out, watching TV and enjoying adult beverages…

How's that for grandmother/grandson bonding?

Let me point out that the horse painting on the wall is my very own paint-by-number from around 3rd grade or so. Just the fact that my parents were proud enough of my paint-by-number of a horse that they kept it hanging in the front room is pretty dang sweet!, isn't it?

Here are a few more sweet!s from the past week…

Monday: an i-phone and your daughter with you to take the photo because you're driving when you spot a glorious sunrise over the mist-filled hollows and hills; help carrying groceries in and putting them away; an afternoon walk with your puppies

Tuesday: property tours with friends; feeling like you're making progress…even if it's in baby steps

Wednesday: shopping clearance racks with your daughter and a 30% off coupon; watching praying mantises frolic on the window screen with your son

Thursday: faces at work becoming familiar; referrals; the smell of brownies baking in the oven

Friday: your daughter helping you peel two dozen boiled eggs so you can make pink deviled eggs; helping to surprise a dear friend for her 60th birthday

Saturday: road trips through Texas with no traffic; laughing at episodes of Modern Family with your mom and son; customers becoming clients

Sunday: rainclouds breaking and temperatures dropping; magnificent sunsets; a safe trip home; your mom calling to check on you; a good report from a friend going through chemo for acute leukemia

What sweet! moments did you collect in the travels of your past week?

Remember…

"Happiness is not a destination; it is a manner of traveling." ~ Haim Ginott
Dreaming of Sandcastles and Sweet Sunrises

September 30, 2013

Usually the Monday following four incredible days full of sunshine in Port Aransas with twenty friends is a Monday in every sense of the word. But today hasn't been bad at all…except that it's too short.

With everything going on in my life right now, I really didn't have time to slip away and lounge on a Gulf of Mexico beach, but I did it, anyway. It's tradition…as in, this was the 14th or 15th year 10 to 30 of us have taken over a certain condominium complex with sigh-inspiring balcony views and someone else washing our towels.

So now I'm sitting in front of my computer after a full day of traffic jams coming and going, classes, communications with clients, grocery shopping, unpacking, laundry, and grilling. Bills still wait to be paid beside me; I'm considering waking up at 4 to take care of them tomorrow morning, but that Procrastination Warning is sounding in my head.

Unwritten thank-you's, birthday, and sympathy cards wait to be written and mailed on my desk… I still have real estate homework to complete… I'm drowning in emails… I need to close a Silpada party… I'm longing to lose myself in editing the hundreds of photos I took the past four days… but my eyelids are heavy, my brain is foggy, and my head is nodding.

I think I'll skip my regular sweets, share a few photos here with you that I've already edited, and then crawl off to bed, ignoring the Procrastination Warning Bells…

The two rules of procrastination: 1) Do it today. 2) Tomorrow will be today tomorrow.

~Author Unknown

A view of the coastline from our condo.

Just one of several glorious sunrises!

We ate dinner at a restaurant next door to this marina, with a clear view of the sunset.

So beautiful!

What's a weekend with girlfriends without a night or two of dancing?

Sharkey's is THE place on the island. Nevermind that it's usually empty – we have the dance floor to ourselves.

This talented tye-dye fan got up on stage and hoola-hooped through several songs.

Even a two-step. He was amazing!

This was my view 3/4 of the weekend…

Four of the wonderful ladies who were there with me……Rae, Sandy, my sweet sister Brenda, and Jackie.

Abandoned sandcastle…

Another sunset. You're welcome.

The sky, a perfect empty canvas, offers clouds nonetheless. They shift and drift and beg interpretation… such is the nature of art. ~Jeb Dickerson

P.S. Today was my friend Patti's birthday. She had planned to join us at the coast, but those procrastination bells were ringing something fierce in her knees. She couldn't put surgery off any longer.

We missed her, but I look forward to having her and her new knees join us next year, ready for dancing!

Here's a photo from last year and a post I wrote a while back in honor of her birthday. Dear Paquita...
It Happened Like This…

September 25, 2013

I leaned on a railing, watching couples swirl past on the dance floor below, feeling very alone because my boyfriend of five years wasn't with me.

I can't remember where he was. Probably with his buddies. Maybe with another girl. I worked most weekends, so I was fuming – and hurt – that he didn't want to go out with me on my rare Friday night off. And I was disappointed that none of the regulars I had counted on were there, either.

Then you approached and asked me to dance. It was a Michael Jackson song – again, my memory is foggy and I can't remember which one, but I know you do. Your memory has always been so good. In fact, now it often annoys me how good it is.

Anyway, you asked me to dance, and I was in such a grumpy mood I intended to say no, but yes came out instead, and next thing I know, we're on the dance floor. When Michael stopped singing, a country song came on and you asked me to dance again.

We talked a little. I was surprised you were older than me. You looked like a teenager with those mischievous blue eyes, freckles, and tousled sandy-blonde hair.

You invited me to sit at your table. I met Chris, Karin, and Karin's friends from New York. We talked a little, but Karin kind of monopolized your attention.

However, when closing time came, you walked me to my car, asked me what I was doing the next night (going to Gilley's to see the band "Alabama") and if you could meet me there. I said sure, and you gave me a little peck of a kiss before saying goodbye.

Was it on the cheek or the lips? I can't remember. But I thought it was sweet. And I thought you were fun. And sweet. And cute. And I hoped you showed up the next night. (You did.)

And that's how it happened (according to my memory, anyway) thirty-two years ago this evening…

Thank you for that first dance…and all that have followed. My memory may have faded about details, but I'll never forget that on a night when everything seemed to be going wrong, God proved he had my back, all along.

He gave me just what I needed:

You.

"Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end."

~Author Unknown
Reinvention

September 24, 2013

"Reinvention" is the theme for Generation Fabulous's blog hop this month.

Considering I just started a new career as a realtor, seemingly out of the blue, "reinvention" is right up my alley.

Or is it? Can it be considered "reinvention" if it's something you once loved, and spent hours doing, long ago?

You see, when I was little, my favorite section of the Sunday newspaper wasn't the comics – it was the Homes section.

I loved looking at the homes featured on the front page. I would study the floorplans of the huge houses on the back page, imagining myself wandering through them.

I was ten the first time Daddy and I toured the Bishop's Palace in Galveston, triggering my love for snooping through houses which carried on into my teen years, when my boyfriend and I knocked on the door of a house I loved and asked for a tour..

…and then into my twenties when Tom and I and two friends knocked on the door of a renovated old house in LaMarque and asked for a tour, and Tom and I and two friends explored a condemned Victorian house in Galveston, and Tom and I pushed babies in strollers through old homes' tours in LaPorte, and explored new construction in every town we've lived in…

I began designing floorplans when I was ten. My mother would bring home special paper from her job as a secretary at a construction company. I came up with some pretty good plans!

Television houses have always triggered my imagination. Back then I tried figuring out the floor plans of the houses on "Bewitched" and "The Brady Bunch" and "Dark Shadows", and even taped pages of typing paper together into large sheets so I could sketch out the floor plan of the Munsters' and Addams Family's mansions.

I thought I wanted to be an architect…but the idea of having to include the plumbing and wiring and placement of supporting beams in a structure bored me to tears.

I just liked the parts of houses you could see. And secret passageways.

But I'm not sure I'd ever heard of real estate agents back then. However, considering my obsession with houses and the list I made when I was ten of every single person I had ever met (my first "contacts" list!), it's obvious that (besides being a strange child) I would eventually grow up to be a Realtor, touring properties and reminding everyone I know that I can help them buy, sell, lease, or invest in it.

(There are also conventions!)

Why that didn't become obvious to me until I was 54 is a mystery, but I'm sure the journey to this place wasn't wasted, but was, instead, an invaluable trek to self-awareness.

Perhaps the midlife "reinvention" we talk about so often now is more about getting back in touch with who, or what, you really are and what you enjoy than becoming something altogether new.

What do you think?

Have you experienced "reinvention"…or are you longing to? Share your story in the comments, and read the other GenFabbers' posts to hear more. If you're a blogger, join the blog hop!

(By the way, who do you know that needs to buy, sell, lease, or invest property…anywhere in the world? Contact me!)
After every storm the sun will smile…

September 22, 2013

"After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul's indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer."

~ William R. Alger

We finally had enough rain this week to leave small pools in limestone bed of Long Hollow creek and set the frogs singing in celebration of several feet of water in the pond again.

And if that's not sweet enough, yesterday morning dawned clear and bright and cooler than it's been in six months, as if the rain just washed summer away. A gorgeous welcome for autumn.

On this morning's walk, I noticed these little moths (or something) dancing in the sunlight…

Sweet!

Here are a few other sweet!s from the past week…

Monday: a morning at home to work on your to-do list; grocery shopping with your daughter; Bible study groups; finding more cards full of sweetness, sympathy, and friendship in your mailbox

Tuesday: waking without a stuffy nose for the first time in several weeks; the sun spilling over the hills into your Hollow; having an excuse to tour beautiful houses; real estate leads

Wednesday: walking under the stars; finding back roads to skirt clogged highways; a full moon lighting your way down a dirt road; finally having time to open your mail and finding a gift card from your writing group to help you buy a new printer; a hug from your brother-in-law, visiting from Arizona

Thursday: experiencing a real estate convention with your sister-in-law and a dear friend; friends who keep bandaids in their purse when you have blisters on your feet; the smell of rain

Friday: enough rain falling for the second day to make a difference in a drought; having your daughter for company when you're stuck in traffic; introducing your sister-in-law to Whataburger; the rain spigot shutting off almost every time you need to get in or out of your car, but then starting up again; giving thanks for your parents on their 64th wedding anniversary; the two-hour version of The.Most.Beautiful.Wedding.Ever

Saturday: a heron waiting for you to wake up and take its picture; a morning walk with your puppies for the first time in days; blue skies, cooler temperatures, and the golden glow of autumn in the sunshine; lunch overlooking a lake with your husband and in-laws and wandering through gift stores with your camera; a second evening spent around the table with loved ones playing 3-13

Sunday: sleeping in and still having time for a morning walk before Mass; a call from a dear friend; finishing your 'sweet' post on Sunday, in time to go sit on the front porch and just soak in the day

Whether your week is filled with sunshine or storms, I hope you experience enough sweet!s to fill your soul with good cheer! Share them here!

The windows of my soul I throw wide open to the sun.

~John Greenleaf Whittier
Six Things on Saturday

September 22, 2013

1.

Wednesday night, as I drove home from a meeting, the huge Harvest Moon broke through the clouds, beaming bright on the road ahead of me.

I relished the beauty of it, but would you believe I didn't even think about grabbing my camera when I got home?

Something must be wrong with me.

2.

I've now experienced my first huge convention – the Keller Williams Mega Camp, held here in the Austin Convention Center.

It started Thursday. Vendors, freebies, inspirational speakers, live music, and thousands of people from all over the world…so it was pretty amazing that a friend from high school, another new agent based in San Antonio , was sitting just a row behind me that first day.

3.

I haven't met with my writing group in…well, I think it's been a few months. But this week I got a sympathy card from them in the mail because of my daddy's passing. Inside, there was another card containing a Best Buy gift card. They had chipped in to help me buy a new printer.

That just blew me away.

I'm glad they haven't given up on me!

4.

Tom's brother Steve and his wife, Kim, are visiting from Arizona. She's an agent with Keller Williams (my sponsor) and came in for the convention, and they just planned their trip to stay over for the weekend.

The last time they were here, six years ago for Tom's big 50th birthday party/Shallue family reunion, it rained and rained and rained.

Then it stopped and we've been in a drought ever since.

Well, Thursday night it started raining and it didn't stop until early this morning.

Obviously, Steve and Kim need to visit more often.

Today…the first day of autumn…the sky cleared to a vivid blue, there was a golden tint in the sunlight, and temperatures dropped enough to enjoy lunch on a patio overlooking Lake Marble Falls.

Hallelujah!

5.

Friday was Mama and Daddy's 64th wedding anniversary. Sigh.

6.

Amen.
Bittersweet

September 16, 2013

I spotted it when I stepped out onto the front porch one morning this past week, in between trips to Houston. I noticed the fossil first, thinking it had fallen from its spot on the windowsill above the bench where it now rested.

Then I realized it had been placed there to hold down a handwritten note.

"…I wanted to drop you a note and let you know you and your family are in my prayers…"

It was from my longtime friend George. He has been making multiple trips from Houston to San Angelo to see his mother-in-law, who they discovered had lung cancer earlier this summer, and tries to vary it by taking different routes.

He left the note on Sunday. On Monday, a few hours after I found the note, his mother-in-law passed away. On Tuesday, while I said my last goodbye to my Daddy, he was on his way to San Angelo again, to help his wife say goodbye to her mother.

Considering my house is a mile down a dirt road, off of a small highway that twists and turns and isn't a shortcut between San Angelo and Houston by any means, it's a huge honor that he took the time to go that way to ease my pain over losing my dad, especially when he knew I wasn't home.

A few years ago in a post about friendship, I spoke of it as a garden that needs to be watered. Ever since then, we've referred to our infrequent emails as 'watering the garden'.

So on the back of the note he sketched a flower and added these words: "You are a daisy in my garden…May God continue to shine through you and give you Peace…Can you feel the water?"

All those years ago, when we worked on the high school yearbook together and planned to go sky-diving, we never imagined that one day our friendship would include these days of mourning each other's losses. And I'm glad we didn't.

However, I am so very grateful we're still friends, flowers in each other's gardens.

(Please keep George, his wife, and their family in your prayers!)

A good friend is a connection to life –

a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.

~Lois Wyse

Here are a few other bittersweets from my past week…

Sunday: joining with your siblings to support your mom after your father's passing; a safe journey home after a heartbreaking weekend

Monday: a day to immerse yourself in images from your father's life that will become a slideshow memorial; a safe journey back to your childhood home with two of your kids, and the safe arrival of two more

Tuesday: helping your mom prepare for your dad's funeral; an ice chest full of eggs, bacon, and biscuits waiting on your parents' doorstep, courtesy of a friend; a limo driver named Paul, who provides just the right amount of conversation on a tough day; friends who help you mourn your father; "Day is Done" by a solitary trumpet, in honor of your father's service to his country

Wednesday: breakfast, courtesy of and the friend who left the ice chest full of food on the porch the day before, and your son, who took his Granddaddy's place at the stove; fitting the huge schefflera plant from your Divas and other plants from friends into your car trunk; a safe journey home; Whataburger in LaGrange at sunset with your kids

Thursday: winning a book you wanted in a contest in your lead generation class; love, in the form of cards, waiting for you in your mailbox

Friday: lunch with new friends/colleagues; your new business cards waiting for you on the front porch; a walk with your puppies at sunset

Saturday: a day at home to catch your breath; your cousin traveling to see your mom and take her to lunch; tiny purple flowers shaped like Easter lilies

Sunday: Mass with your kids and hugs from your friends; cleaning and organizing sprees, even if they only make a dent; your husband making it home, safe and sound, after his own long journey to support his brother during a sad time

I hope your week has been full of more sweet!s than bittersweets. Share them here! If nothing else, look around at those you call friends, and give thanks.

“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.”

~ Shauna Niequist
Dear Daddy

September 10, 2013

Saturday morning my dad finally got an answer to his prayers: He went to be with the Lord.

In his honor, I'm reposting this letter I wrote to him here a few years ago…

Dear Daddy,

All of my life, you've been right here, holding my hand – loose when I needed loose, tight when I needed tight – but never letting go.

I disappointed you at times over the years (Oh, yes I did and you know it!) but you never stopped believing in me, never stopped wanting the best for me or wanting me to be the best I could be.

You believed in me even when I stopped believing in myself.

You taught me what unconditional love really means. Even when I knew I had disappointed you…

(Remember when I hit that parked truck with my brand new Toyota Celica, my graduation present from you and Mama? Remember when I decided to flush my scholarship down the drain and drop out of college to work in a chemical plant?)

…I never once, not once, doubted your love.

You never said a word, never chewed me out for being stupid and irresponsible (even though I deserved it) but just kept holding my hand, offering whatever help and support I would accept.

Like you, I love reading, watching a good Western, history, traveling, kitschy tourist spots, pecans, rocks, and sweating in the sun. I inherited your silliness, impulsiveness, teasing/mean streak, and flash-fire temper.

I hope I also inherited your generosity, loyalty, and tenderness.

With Mama, you raised me to be confident, courageous and independent, willing to test myself, push myself, try new things, truly believing I could do anything I wanted to do because you believed it.

You raised me the same as you raised the boys, with no discernible difference related to gender. No matter what I did, or still do, your pride is palpable. It's a fuel that keeps me chasing my old dreams and discovering new ones.

Memories tied to you are the treasure of my life…

…Thank you for my sunflower garden, my orange and green painted bedroom, introducing me to ping-pong, Black Beauty, Leon Uris, James Michener and National Geographic.

Thank you for taking beginner square dance lessons with me and letting me chop down that tree when I was sixteen.

Thanks for teaching me to drive, to play tennis, and for trying to teach me to bowl and play golf. Thanks for shuttling me and my friends to the movies and basketball tournaments, and for finding some of them jobs at your chemical plant.

You never thought you were special – you still don't – but let me assure you, you are, and I thank God every day for making you my Daddy and giving me (and now my kids) so much time here on Earth with you.

I look forward to the day I again feel your hug and see the twinkle in your eye, but for now, I carry them in my heart.

Rest in peace, dear Daddy. You deserve it.

I love you.

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.

~Clarence Budington Kelland

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.

~Ruth E. Renkel

I love my father as the stars — he's a bright shining example and a happy twinkling in my heart.

~Terri Guillemets

Thank you all for the many prayers you've offered for him and my family this past year. Now please continue to keep my mom in your prayers as she faces life without him by her side after almost 64 years together.

I'm grateful I've been able to spend so much time with Daddy this past year, even if a lot of it was in ERs, hospital rooms, and doctor's offices.

I'm especially grateful that I was able to tell him I love him (and hear him say it back to me) on the telephone Friday.

Don't ever take the time you have with loved ones for granted or miss a chance to say "I love you!"

Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes. ~Gloria Naylor
Five Things on Friday…er, Saturday

September 7, 2013

1.

I am kicking myself every day that I didn't become a realtor years ago. And I haven't even made any money yet! (Call me!)

(Thanks to my sweet sister-in-law for the blingy name badge!)

2.

I believe juggling real estate, my blogs, photography, writing, and family responsibilities is going to be harder than I thought it was…at least at first…but I'm going to keep trying to do it, anyway.

3.

It's September, yet we're hitting triple digits every day, as if it were still summer! Consequently, my house smells like country dogs and my allergies are going crazy because of it.

4.

Our 'big' pond is now a marsh. We need rain.

This is the original creek bed. In a good year, the pond level is ten feet above the banks of the creekbed.

5.

We experienced a family tragedy this week, in the true sense of the word. It isn't my story to tell, other than a broken heart because people I love are suffering, so I'm not going to share details here.

But I will ask that you lift them in prayer.

Thank you.

Sadness flies on the wings of the morning and out of the heart of darkness comes the light.

~Jean Giraudoux

Linking with Nancy's Random 5 Friday
(The One and Only) Rae of Sunshine

September 3, 2013

Back then it was slumber parties…scary stories…dancing…eating junk food…wrapping houses…riding bikes…prank calls…boys…

Back then Rae was the life of the party…always on the move…full of ideas…as playful and mischievous as a puppy…

Fast forward forty-four years and things haven't changed very much, thank goodness!

We're still having slumber parties where we tell scary stories about menopause and loss. We're still dancing, eating junk food (but not as much!), and even occasionally wrapping houses.

The boys are still around…and Rae and I are still friends.

I admit…there was a long gap in there where we weren't a part of each other's lives, except for reunions every five years and occasional Deepwater/Deer Park girls dinners. But rather than drifting further and further apart, we grew closer and closer as time went on.

Now I hate to imagine not having her in my life.

Rae has seen enough dark times to recognize every blessing she receives, and she generously shares those blessings with everyone – even strangers if she sees there's a need. She keeps her eyes open for chances to help.

Rae has a way of bringing people together – people who have nothing in common except loving to be around her. She can be a ham, a clown, the center of attention…and yet make everyone around her feel special. She's comfortable in her own skin without ever being "full of herself" – in fact, she exudes so much confidence that it spreads to those around her.

Rae is classy and earthy – lipstick and tomboy. She embraces life, savors it, lives it passionately and adventurously, not taking one single second of it for granted…and she wants to make sure no one else does, either.

She is a vortex, pulling us into her whirlwind, taking us all along on the ride, not wanting any of us to miss a thing. Making us not want to miss a thing, either.

Yes, ten was a lot of fun, but fifty-four is even better, because of the friends I'm sharing it with…friends like Rae.

Happy, happy birthday, sweet Rae!

This is an updated re-post from a few years ago.

Rae is the kind of friend who always has a zillion things going on, who is always doing something for at least half a dozen people all the time. She has been there for me too often to count, checking on my parents, taking them food or just giving bringing them the sunshine of her smile. She sends me cards of encouragement and when she visits, always comes bearing gifts…even for my puppies!

And yet, I didn't even get a card in the mail in time for her birthday!

Okay, there's really not even a card in the mail, yet, period, but I do hope to see her this weekend and help her continue her birthday celebration. There will be at least a card then!

In the meantime, my gifts to her are my words and assurances that I know I am blessed to call her friend, and that she can call on me anytime she needs me.

Happy birthday, Rae!

"Friendship is a promise made in the heart.
Silent.
Unwritten.
Unbreakable by distance.
Unchangeable by time."

~ unknown

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