Afterthoughts

     Many children live in fear and sadness by living in a home with violence.  I lived in one.  Even with turmoil surrounding them, children can find hope.  At the age of fourteen, I overheard my youth director's wife say her favorite bible verse was Romans 8:28.  I latched onto the verse and have treasured it.      Since this is a new year, I want to share two poems with you. I pray there is peace within each and every home. Happy New Year! Within The Walls Within the walls came the silence of night, To be replaced by foul exchanges and weeping. Angry words filtered through folds of cover on the bed. Sweet morning dawned. With it came uncertainty. Times of peace were haunted by times of turmoil. Within the walls.                                                      Patricia Westbrook Lifeline If trouble reaches out and grabs you by the hand, There's a time to turn loose and take a stand. Lifelines exist along li

      During the Thanksgiving holidays, my youngest son, Robert, asked me what I thought of the television set they had recently purchased.  I commented, "It looks great.  It takes five to eight minutes for the lines to go away on mine.  When it goes out, I plan on getting a sixty-five or seventy inch."      Little did I know what Robert and his wife, Cecilia, planned for me. The very next Saturday they knocked on my front door.  To my surprise there they stood with a seventy inch television. Because of the words I had spoken, they bought the bigger TV instead of the fifty-five inch they intended to get.. Their youngest son, Shane, bought me a sterling tobacco barn door TV stand to put it on.      Overwhelmed I  struggled on what to say. How can I accept such an extravagant gift with grace?  Then I remembered what my middle son, Roy, once said,  "Don't take away the blessings someone receives from giving. Just say thank you and let them be blessed."So th

John and Lee Bell  Campbell      Where did I leave the past?  Who knows?  I've tried and tried to retrieve the things I've left behind.  You can't help me with my search. You see I've played, laughed, and cried.  Now it's gone.  It would be nice if I could change some of the things I've done for the better.  I can't.  Wishing so doesn't work. Today the wisdom of age has given me a different perspective.  It's not to say it brings about a great breakthrough.  But with the gift of time, I'm more apt to think about my actions.  Now that I've been blessed with the breath of a long life, I can play harder, laugh at myself, savor each moment, and perhaps use what I've learned. As I go into the future, I can love with compassion holding onto the beauty around me and to the hand of God. A Reason I'm not a star that shines at night. Nor am I a sliver of sun that sparkles in flight. I'm only a woman all bent and old.

     Each of us are given special people that influence our lives.  It may be a relative or a friend.  For me it was Grandma Appling.  She left this world at the age of ninety seven.  I'm so thankful for the lessons she taught me. After she passed away, I found this letter among her possessions. Even though she borrowed the words from an unknown author, they expressed her true feelings.. Dear Pastor and Christian Friends and My Loved Kin,      when you preach about heaven, I am interested in that land because I hold a clear title to a bit of property there ever since I was eleven years old.  I did not buy it.  It was given to me without money or price. But the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is not transferable.      It is not a vacant lot. For many years I have been sending material out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me.  It will never need repai

     Pat Westbrook      I've never been afraid of living in the country.  Even the times the children and I found ourselves alone at night, I felt safe.  The night my husband went on a hunting trip, everything at home seemed normal.      My two boys needed to go to the bathroom.  Since we had yet to put one in, I gave them a flashlight to see their way to the outhouse.  I told them I would wait for them on the porch so they wouldn't be afraid.      For some reason I looked over at the garage.  Now our garage happened to be made of used sheet metal.  Many a nail had been driven into it making it easy for the wind to blow right through.  Just as I looked, I saw a flicker of light. I assumed someone lit a cigarette.      Like a mother bear ready to protect her young, I went back into the house and got my husband's twenty two pistol.  Seconds later I returned and hollered.  "Boys get back here, and whoever is in the garage get out, and leave now or I'm going to fil

     In the sixties my family moved to the country in Milam County,Texas. In front of our house, cars traveled on highway seventy nine and trains traveling on the other side of the highway broke the silence of each day.        One morning while doing the dishes, my daughter tugged at my skirt.  With her wide eyes looking up at me, she said, "Mom, there's a man outside and he's hungry."  I looked out the living room window and saw two of my boys sitting on the grass, outside our fence, with a strange man. He looked like a hobo that had jumped off a boxcar from the train.  As quick as I could, I prepared four peanut butter and jelly sandwiches one for each of them. After wrapping  the sandwiches in wax paper, I gave them to my daughter. She smiled then ran outside.  I watched as the four ate their meager meal.  When they finished, the children waved at the man as he walked away.  A Child's Compassion Compassion in a child can be seen if  we look. It

Beth Griffin         It's hard to lose a friend to death.  The grief stings daily deep within the soul.  When my best friend of fifty years went to heaven, I lost the only person that knew all my secrets. She loved me for being me.  When I had a problem and went to her for advice, she knew just what I should do. With her sharp mind and quick wit, she would advise me on what to say if someone hurt my feelings.  Several times I told her I would like to put her in my pocket so she could be there to talk for me. During our friendship, we went through times of visiting in person and times of being phone friends.  The love of friendship lived in both our hearts, and oh how I miss her. Goodbye My Friend What fun we had dear friend  while you walked this earth. I know you enjoyed your time  here ever since your birth. You laughed and cried living life as best you could. The hardest part you told me is living as you should. You also said, "Forget yesterd

           Often when we moved from town to town, we pulled our three-bedroom, one bath 12 x 60 trailer house to the side of the road in order to check the tires. On one of our moves, while my husband checked things out, the children and I walked up a narrow country road with our dog.  After several minutes, I told the children to head back to the highway so we could continue on our way.  My daughter started down the road toward the trailer and hollered, "Let's go home." Her brothers followed jumping and running as boys will do.       Many times, we look down on people just because they are not like us.  They may not make as much money, dress the way we do, or even live in as nice a house as we do.  If living in a trailer house made us trailer trash, I'm proud.  For you see those seven years happen to be the happiest years of my life.  It didn't matter what other people thought. As long as we had love and a roof over our head, we called it home. Home My home

     Many stories have come out of the horror of 9/11.  Here is mine.      My one week visit with my sister had come to an end.  On the morning of 9/11, I began my trip back to Texas. She and I got on a ferry to cross Lake Champlain in New York.  It didn't take long to go from Essex New York to Burlington Vermont.  Once we arrived at the airport, I walked to the American Airline desk to get my boarding pass to Boston then on to Texas.      The lady helping me said, "That's strange."      "What?" I asked.      She cleared her throat and continued, "It says here the plane is damaged. I'll have to give you a different boarding pass."      After she gave it to me, I sat down and waited for the boarding call. It seemed odd when I saw a United Airline plane pull away from the terminal then quickly return.  The passengers left the plane with concerned looks on their faces. One of them explained what little he knew.  It didn't take long be

     It's common to hear gunshots in my neighborhood.  Usually, we think nothing of it. We roll our eyes and continue with whatever we're doing.      Awhile back, I heard two gunshots in the middle of the night. When I looked outside I saw a black truck pull into my neighbor's drive.  A man got out and ran into the house.  Moments later three people rush out to the street, got into a parked car, and drove away.  Not long after that, three police cars came on the scene.  Six police officers got out of their squad cars and began walking around the house looking in the windows.      The next morning, I found out what happened.  The couple that lives there had received a call from her brother. His truck had engine trouble.  In order not to be late for work, he needed a ride.  When he drove over the bridge next to their house, his truck backfired.      Now I realize, sometimes what I think I hear is not what I heard. IN ORDER TO HEAL The times we live in make us run

Chilton W. McPheeters    Each person has a gift in life.  Sometimes it's hard to know what it might be.  Unusual gifts are easy to spot,  Take for instance a man I know who buys shoes for people.  It doesn't matter who they are. If you need shoes I suggest you look him up. He will smile at you and insist you go with him to the shoe store. The Shoe Man I know a man who likes to buy shoes. He counts by ones and sometimes twos. His kindness is great for your weary feet. They are so grateful for the wonderful treat.  So, look out for the man with a smile on his face. He's waiting for you to slow down your pace. Then, into the store you both will go. How many pairs he'll buy, I don't know.                       Patricia Westbrook                                                                                                                                                 

     I'm not superstitious.  I just know not for any amount of money would I drive a hearse for my personal use.  That is what I use to think.  My perception changed the day my husband came home and handed me a set of keys. With a proud voice he said, "Come outside and see what I bought to go fishing in."  I walked out the door and to my surprise I saw a long white hearse made in the forties or fifties.      Okay, I thought, you drive it and you sleep in it.  Not me!  That changed when my husband went out of town looking for work.  He took our car and left me with the hearse.  If I went anywhere, it had to be in what I swore I would never drive.      One day, on the way to the laundromat, the three older children played in the back among the baskets of dirty clothes.  The baby and I cruised along in the front seat enjoying the Cadillac ride.  (It did have a Cadillac V-8 engine.)  When a car started to pass us, I saw a woman pointing at my children. The large windows on

Outhouse at the Lawson farm       Bathroom paper is important.  Even so, having a commode is more important.  I found that to be true when for two years and with four children, my family lived without one.  It had been replaced by an outhouse.  Our outhouse had unique features.  One, it had accommodations for two people.  Many times, I brightened it up with a vase of flowers between the two holes.  Another feature happened to be a cut out of a half-moon in the top of the door. That made the nighttime visits nicer.  Bleach and lime helped keep it as clean as any hospital surgery room.  We always had a flashlight with us in order to see the orange spot on the underside of black widow spiders.  Now that we are blessed, once again, with indoor plumbing, toilet paper has become our number one priority when we visit that special place. Discrete Decisions Going to the store for toilet paper seems like a simple task. The main thing is to get enough and make it last. When your

Eugene Lawson and friend      Cowboys hold a bit of a mystery in American history.  Since I grew up on cowboy movies, my view of them may be a little out of sync with reality. Even so, they will always hold a special place in my heart.                 THE COWBOY Like a West Texas wind blowing in the night, the cowboy rode through town then out of sight. Who is that the townspeople asked, as he eased along like a cold winter blast. No one knew nor could anyone say. They still talk about him to this very day. When he crosses our minds, as we lay at rest, The mystery of his existence is intriguing at best.                        Patricia Westbrook

     At the end of this fourth of July I asked myself, what does America stand for?  It isn't a question we usually ask.  We go about our daily task and take our lives for granted. The answer to my question is- FREEDOM Many God-fearing people came here from afar. They navigated their ship by following the stars. Years passed when evil tyranny took a stand. Freedom surfaced when brave Americans retook their land. Today isn't any different than the times past. Good men will make sure freedom will last. As we respect the red, white, and blue, Praying God bless America still holds true.                                                                                  ~ Patricia Westbrook

        Did you ever do something and wonder why?  In a way that is what is happening to me now.  I'm starting this blog because several months ago I felt I should.  Why, I don't know.  I just felt compelled to write about things that are on my mind at the end of a day or event.  My hope is you will gain a little insight, lighten your day, or maybe break out in a belly laugh.  If you think it is about you, most likely it isn't, or maybe it is.  No matter what I write it is done in love. LOVE When I say I love you,  don't take it wrong. It's a love I learned as a child, and it's strong. Not many people understand, how love like this can be. Agape love at its best is meant for you and me.             Patricia Westbrook