Who I am today...

I get chills when ironic things happen in life.





We just got back from visiting Mr. Shook's parents in Ohio and I went through our mail last night. I often don't read the church newsletter first thing but I decided to sit down with it for a minute. The opening letter from our pastor really hit home to me. He shares with us his experience returning to the first church he pastored in Kentucky many years ago. He talks about how the people there molded him to be the Pastor he is today. How forgiving they were for his lack of experience (although I guarantee Pastor Paul put his practice to very good use there and the congregation wasn't disappointed). He shared how many of the faces were the same as they were when he first arrived there and how he recognized quite a few of them.





Yesterday we worshipped in our "home" church. I feel the very same way there as our Pastor did in Kentucky. Many of the faces are the same, the people are very familiar to me and these are the people who molded me into the woman I am today. Mr. Shook and I take very seriously the part of a Methodist baptism that says the congregation will help you to raise your child with Christian love. All 3 of our children were baptized in that church in Ohio and even though we don't attend there anymore I know that they pray for us, love us and support us with Christian love. So many of the faces are the same and it makes me sad when I hear of one of those very familiar faces not being around anymore. The people who we have known for over 30 years are like a breath of fresh air to me. Comfort, familiarity and promise.





You see, it's after going back and visiting what I would originally call "home" that I now realize that I am who I am and I am where I am suppose to be in life. I know this with my whole heart. I always need to work on the who I am part but I believe that God brought us to Central Illinois for a reason. I never really felt like Michigan was home to us but I think that I am now, more than ever, in my home.





And, it's scary and exhilarating all in the same breath. And it often gives me chills.

Funny things people tell you in the retail world...

Believe me when I say I may have heard it all being out in the (scary) retail world. I thought I might include a few of my faves since I really need to lighten my bloggy world.

Side note: Nothing I say provokes these comments. I am innocent. Allegedly.

Me: What cute girls you have. Are they twins?
Mom: Nope. They are 10 months apart.
Me: Vision jaw hitting the ground: Oh.
Mom: Our oldest we adopted and then I found out I was pregnant.
Me: Oh OK! Doesn't God have a funny sense of humor (as I'm thinking shouldn't she have told me the details first!!)

Me: Would you be interested in opening a credit card? I am able to offer you 15% off of your purchases today.
Customer: I would NEVER get approved. When my last loser of a husband left me I had to file bankruptcy and I got stuck with all the bills. My credit sucks.
Me: Oh, OK. Do you have another form of payment?

Co-worker: Well, I hope that I can buy some Christmas gifts for my kids this year.
Me: I know, things can get really tough around the holidays.
Co-worker: Oh, well not because of the money. I'm just hoping that I'm not in jail in 2 weeks.
Me: Oh. (Silence.)
Co-worker: Well, you know, I got a DUI last spring and I was on probation.
Me: Oh. (Silence.) Ummm, did you do something that violated your probation?
Co-worker: I gave a dirty dump a few weeks ago.
Me: Oh. I'm not sure what that means.
Co-worker: Oh, well I was using and had to give a drug test and it came back positive. I thought for sure it had been enough time. It had been at least 3 or 4 days since I had last used.
Me: (Imagine jaw scraping the floor.) Oh. I guess that could be a problem.

Same co-worker (she's quite infamous at Kohl's but for some reason is friendly to me.): I need to write a check for what I'm buying. The address is wrong, the account number is wrong, the bank has changed names but the checks always go through.
Me: Oh. (Thinking...I hope I don't get fired for this.)

Living with no regrets...

Do you try to live life with no regrets? Do you try to do things "right" the first time. I know that I do, but not always very successfully. I have gotten upset at Mr. Shook or my children at times when it really didn't matter all that much. I have said something that didn't come out the way that I meant it. I have allowed myself to not be spontaneous and then been disappointed in my reaction. But, I think it's learning from these regrets that makes me a better friend, wife and mother.

Lately I have been having some regrets on the last few months of my Grandpa's life. I know it's the way life works out - I lived 480 miles away from him, I have 3 kids under 7, my husband is busy at work and we couldn't get to Ohio nearly as often as we should have...you catch my drift. I hope that Grandpa knew how much we all loved him. I think he did but I wish I could have had one last chance to tell him. I wish I could have hugged him one last time. I wish I could have heard Bether once last time.

Mr. Shook, my brother, my sister-in-law and myself are moving my parents to Illinois after Thanksgiving. It really feels like a whole chapter of my life is going to end. We have been Buckeye's for a very long time! I know that I will still have many reasons to go there and visit but things will be different. I guess it will eventually be like driving past an old house you use to live in. It's always a part of you but it becomes less and less of a memory over time. That can be said about the house on Pleasant Street but that could also be due to how scary it looks now!

If you are reading this it's probably because you are a friend or you are my family. Thank you to each and every one of you for appreciating my quirks, my sometimes weird sense of humor and for just appreciating me.

Because you are important to me and I say that with no regrets.

These things I know to be true...

I have been compiling a mini-list of things that I now know to be very, very true. Here are a few...

- It's a good chance when your stomach hurts that you are in need of a 15 minute private water closet visit. Try it.

- Water really, really does quench your thirst.

- No matter how old you are you are always some ones child.

- Cheese that comes individually sliced in cellophane will never taste good nor will I really call it cheese.

- The cure for a bad day can really be a 32 ounce, crushed ice Coke.

- The above world solver does indeed account for 440 calories. That totally sucks.

- Giving your worries to God really does help.

- Stepping on a Lego smarts. The impression it makes on your foot will just piss you off.

- There is absolutely no way, and I mean no way, that I think I could live anywhere without air conditioning. Once you have it it's hard to go back. I'd probably have it in Alaska.

- I'm pretty sure that Twilight is overrated. No, I'm positive. But, with that said there is nothing like an excellent book that transports you to another time, another place where real thinking and emotions happen. Unfortunately, Twilight hasn't done that for me. But, I am pushing myself through Eclipse in case I haven't gotten to the really good part yet.

- My son is not playing flag football. (Let's see if Mr. Shook is reading like he tells me he is!)

What do you know to be absolutely true?