After retrieving some fried apple pies that needed a new home from my grandmothers today, she showed me her latest writing assignment. A young couple from her church have recently been married, and the groom's mother decided to compile a diary of women discussing the early part of their marriages. My grandmother was chosen as one of the participants.
I have to preface this by saying my grandmother is the most precious thing in my life. She has been the best mother, grandmother, and friend. To have her in your life is a blessing beyond words. Her words are simple yet should not be taken lightly. She knows the meaning of a life of faithful devotion to one man, no matter what may have stood in the way.
"It is so good to have a happy married life. We married so young and did not have anything except our clothes to wear. We didn’t think anything about it. My husband had just gotten out of service, World War II, and he came home and put out a crop that year. He said we couldn’t move out until he got his wheat crop out. When he was in the fields working, I was busy at the house setting his mothers old setting hens. In the fall of the year there was a little two room house down the road that became empty so we got that to move into. It was a mansion to us. His dad gave him a cow and calf and I had about 30 little chickens and his mother gave me the old mother hen and said I had about starved her to death. I set her 2 times to get all my little chickens. I was busy making him cakes and candy to eat all the time. You know, we need to do things to make each other happy. He would say “This is good,”but he would go to the door and throw it out. But he told me later on in our years he threw it out to the old dog and he wouldn’t even eat it.
We lived together 62 years and raised 5 children and they said they never knew that we were poor. We stayed too busy. The Lord called him home July 5th, 2007 after staying in the hospital about 24 hours."
Lillian Miller is the proud matriarch of a family of 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am the next to youngest grandchild and have enjoyed every single second I have spent with my "Grannie." I intend to raise a family according to her standards of how a family should be ran.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
You could go with this, or you could go with that...
For those of you who stay up to date with the happenings of Murfreesboro, Tennessee or watch The Daily Show with John Stewart, you are abreast of the current issue of the Islamic Mosque that has broken ground here. It's almost outside the city limits, but with the way everyone is bickering about it, you would think they were trying to knock down the County Courthouse and build it right there in the middle of everything. So here's my take of the whole situation:
I'm a Christian that was raised and still lives in the Bible Belt of America. You cannot drive anywhere without passing at least a few Baptist, Church of Christ, Church of God, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and even a few Non-Denominational Christian churches. There are two Catholic churches in this whole county. There's one Buddhist Temple on a road going towards Smyrna. The closest Jewish Synagogue is in Nashville. Up until a few months ago, most Murfreesboroans didn't notice the Islamic Mosque that had been on Middle Tennessee Boulevard (one of the city's main roads.) So what's the big deal that the followers of the 2nd largest religion in the world (Christianity being number one) want a bigger church? Fear.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of something that people have never researched. Fear of people that do not waver in their beliefs (and by the way, I'm not referring to terrorists here.) People see Islam and Muslims as the people who tore our country to shreds 9 years ago, and 1.5 billion people in the world are going to pay for the actions of a small group of radicals. People believe that knocking down signs, destroying construction equipment, and spray painting words of hate will deter them from building here. I see these acts as childish and ignorant. It says, hey, we fear what you're doing but won't take the time to learn about why you want to be here and what you're religion is about.
If you take this to mean that I am Pro-Mosque, then you might be right. If you take this to mean that I am indecisive based on the fact that I'm not Muslim, you would would DEFINITELY be correct.
I have said it more than once and will always stand by this: Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a spiritual person is religion.
World English Dictionary
spirituality
1. the state or quality of being dedicated to God, religion, or spiritual things or values, esp as contrasted with material or temporal ones
2. the condition or quality of being spiritual
3. a distinctive approach to religion or prayer: the spirituality of the desert Fathers
4. ( often plural ) Church property or revenue or a Church benefice
World English Dictionary
religious
— adj
1. of, relating to, or concerned with religion
2. a. pious; devout; godly
b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the religious
3. appropriate to or in accordance with the principles of a religion
4. scrupulous, exact, or conscientious
5. Christianity of or relating to a way of life dedicated to religion by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and defined by a monastic rule
I'm a Christian that was raised and still lives in the Bible Belt of America. You cannot drive anywhere without passing at least a few Baptist, Church of Christ, Church of God, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and even a few Non-Denominational Christian churches. There are two Catholic churches in this whole county. There's one Buddhist Temple on a road going towards Smyrna. The closest Jewish Synagogue is in Nashville. Up until a few months ago, most Murfreesboroans didn't notice the Islamic Mosque that had been on Middle Tennessee Boulevard (one of the city's main roads.) So what's the big deal that the followers of the 2nd largest religion in the world (Christianity being number one) want a bigger church? Fear.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of something that people have never researched. Fear of people that do not waver in their beliefs (and by the way, I'm not referring to terrorists here.) People see Islam and Muslims as the people who tore our country to shreds 9 years ago, and 1.5 billion people in the world are going to pay for the actions of a small group of radicals. People believe that knocking down signs, destroying construction equipment, and spray painting words of hate will deter them from building here. I see these acts as childish and ignorant. It says, hey, we fear what you're doing but won't take the time to learn about why you want to be here and what you're religion is about.
If you take this to mean that I am Pro-Mosque, then you might be right. If you take this to mean that I am indecisive based on the fact that I'm not Muslim, you would would DEFINITELY be correct.
I have said it more than once and will always stand by this: Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a spiritual person is religion.
World English Dictionary
spirituality
1. the state or quality of being dedicated to God, religion, or spiritual things or values, esp as contrasted with material or temporal ones
2. the condition or quality of being spiritual
3. a distinctive approach to religion or prayer: the spirituality of the desert Fathers
4. ( often plural ) Church property or revenue or a Church benefice
World English Dictionary
religious
— adj
1. of, relating to, or concerned with religion
2. a. pious; devout; godly
b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the religious
3. appropriate to or in accordance with the principles of a religion
4. scrupulous, exact, or conscientious
5. Christianity of or relating to a way of life dedicated to religion by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and defined by a monastic rule
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Back with a bang....
Hello everyone! I'm back from my summer-long Blog hiatus. It's been one of the most stressing and tiring summers that I can remember, but hey, its life I guess. I have been trolling the blogger website to get updates and posts from my favorite bloggers, though.
My friend Greg over at Pitt Rehab (Go Penguins!) posted an interesting story about an ABC News report targeting the For-Profit Colleges of our nation. Examples of these include University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, etc. I have no experience with these forms of "higher education" but I do know of friends from high school that chose this path rather than the traditional Community or State College path.
Why would they choose this path you ask? I've whittled it down to one thing: Excellent Marketing. They have the rather ridiculous commercials with annoying tunes and cute girls talking about going to school in their pajamas (which is something I accomplished with my traditional education at MTSU), and then they reel you in when you inquire by touting an almost 100% acceptance rate. Well who wouldn't want to bypass the waiting list of schools such as Brown, University of Tennessee or even MTSU? Why would you want to take remedial classes at those other schools when you can walk right in to your degree program at University of Phoenix? It's almost too easy.
Precisely. Harris Miller, CEO and President of the Career College Association, admits that recruiters have been guilty of providing students with false information regarding what their degrees will earn them in the end and also poor financial aid advice.
What can be done about it? I'm not saying all these schools are evil. It warms my heart when I see someone strive to get an education. What students are not researching and finding out is that you don't have to go to one of these schools for an education. There are many fine community colleges that will accept you regardless of your GPA coming out of high school. The key word in all this is that you need to strive to get into a school. Even if remedial classes are needed, they are only for your benefit and will prepare you for upcoming classes.
What else should be done? I truly believe this issue should be dealt with by the US Dept. of Education. There should be a law requiring that all these schools must be compatible to either community or state colleges in the area. If that means requiring students take general education courses, so be it. It will create a cushion for those students who wish to start their studies at one school then transfer to a more advanced, larger university.
But that's just my opinion.
My friend Greg over at Pitt Rehab (Go Penguins!) posted an interesting story about an ABC News report targeting the For-Profit Colleges of our nation. Examples of these include University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, etc. I have no experience with these forms of "higher education" but I do know of friends from high school that chose this path rather than the traditional Community or State College path.
Why would they choose this path you ask? I've whittled it down to one thing: Excellent Marketing. They have the rather ridiculous commercials with annoying tunes and cute girls talking about going to school in their pajamas (which is something I accomplished with my traditional education at MTSU), and then they reel you in when you inquire by touting an almost 100% acceptance rate. Well who wouldn't want to bypass the waiting list of schools such as Brown, University of Tennessee or even MTSU? Why would you want to take remedial classes at those other schools when you can walk right in to your degree program at University of Phoenix? It's almost too easy.
Precisely. Harris Miller, CEO and President of the Career College Association, admits that recruiters have been guilty of providing students with false information regarding what their degrees will earn them in the end and also poor financial aid advice.
What can be done about it? I'm not saying all these schools are evil. It warms my heart when I see someone strive to get an education. What students are not researching and finding out is that you don't have to go to one of these schools for an education. There are many fine community colleges that will accept you regardless of your GPA coming out of high school. The key word in all this is that you need to strive to get into a school. Even if remedial classes are needed, they are only for your benefit and will prepare you for upcoming classes.
What else should be done? I truly believe this issue should be dealt with by the US Dept. of Education. There should be a law requiring that all these schools must be compatible to either community or state colleges in the area. If that means requiring students take general education courses, so be it. It will create a cushion for those students who wish to start their studies at one school then transfer to a more advanced, larger university.
But that's just my opinion.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The weekend that changed Nashville
The last 4 days have been surreal. The rain started on Friday night. Saturday morning it was still going. Water started to pool. All of a sudden people were trapped in their cars on the interstate, drowning because they can't get out. Semi's were floating. A mobile building (that belonged to a customer of mine) broke from its usual foundation and floated down the interstate that had been overcome by a creek that I didn't even know existed.
The rain stopped on Sunday but the waters didn't stop rising. The flood finally crested Monday evening, not before flooding part of downtown Nashville along with Titans Coliseum, Opryland Hotel, and almost all of LaVergne.
The Grand Ole Opry house
But we're Nashville. We can stand up to anything.
The rain stopped on Sunday but the waters didn't stop rising. The flood finally crested Monday evening, not before flooding part of downtown Nashville along with Titans Coliseum, Opryland Hotel, and almost all of LaVergne.
The Grand Ole Opry house
But we're Nashville. We can stand up to anything.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Looking into my heritage
Karabeth, when I started thinking about this subject, I automatically thought of you and your zest for all things genealogy. It made me smile.
The Gilbert family is very lucky to have a close family friend who has taken the great task of compiling our family tree. Near the end of my grandmother's time on earth last year, she trusted our family's genealogy paperwork to my Aunt Teela, who then passed it off to her best friend and roommate Jackie for more research. Before my grandmother passed away, I was able to steal a few moments to look at this valuable information. Turns out, our family settled in Jackson, Tennessee after an ancestor who fought in the War of 1812 was given land in return for his time spent in war. Before that, I believe we were settled in the Virginia area. How amazing to see where my ancestors came from!
So from here, I'm eager to find out exactly how long my family has been in the "New World." I'm excited to fill out my Daughters of the American Revolution membership form and claim my heritage. It's like looking into the past and knowing that there's a reason I'm in Tennessee, in the Southeast, in the United States!
Where are you from?
The Gilbert family is very lucky to have a close family friend who has taken the great task of compiling our family tree. Near the end of my grandmother's time on earth last year, she trusted our family's genealogy paperwork to my Aunt Teela, who then passed it off to her best friend and roommate Jackie for more research. Before my grandmother passed away, I was able to steal a few moments to look at this valuable information. Turns out, our family settled in Jackson, Tennessee after an ancestor who fought in the War of 1812 was given land in return for his time spent in war. Before that, I believe we were settled in the Virginia area. How amazing to see where my ancestors came from!
So from here, I'm eager to find out exactly how long my family has been in the "New World." I'm excited to fill out my Daughters of the American Revolution membership form and claim my heritage. It's like looking into the past and knowing that there's a reason I'm in Tennessee, in the Southeast, in the United States!
Where are you from?
Research, Shlmesearch
1 week, 4 days to go on this journey called college.
Tomorrow night (technically tonight now) I have an 8-10 page paper on the topic of my choosing due. Not to mention I have to take a break to go take a final exam in my Business Policy class. I must keep repeating to myself, breathe it's almost over. Just breathe for goodness sake.
Did I mention I don't enjoy extensive research? I'm not the biggest fan of it for sure. It can sometimes be as bad as getting bored watching the show House M.D. just because I get tired of all the what-if's that arise from all their research. (BTW who knew that so many ailments existed in this world, I'm just sayin') The good thing about my major is I haven't had to write as many research papers as maybe a Biology major would have, but I've done my fair share of "Pick a topic and write about it just so we know you can write" types of papers. My number one pet peeve of college has been the busy work, but I will digress on my pet peeves and other observations of my college experience in the upcoming days.
So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. By the way, in case you were wondering, my topic for this paper is "Older Workers in the American Workforce." This was for an Office Management class, of which the teacher has already said she doesn't enjoy my writing. I stick my tongue out at her.
Let the countdown begin!
Tomorrow night (technically tonight now) I have an 8-10 page paper on the topic of my choosing due. Not to mention I have to take a break to go take a final exam in my Business Policy class. I must keep repeating to myself, breathe it's almost over. Just breathe for goodness sake.
Did I mention I don't enjoy extensive research? I'm not the biggest fan of it for sure. It can sometimes be as bad as getting bored watching the show House M.D. just because I get tired of all the what-if's that arise from all their research. (BTW who knew that so many ailments existed in this world, I'm just sayin') The good thing about my major is I haven't had to write as many research papers as maybe a Biology major would have, but I've done my fair share of "Pick a topic and write about it just so we know you can write" types of papers. My number one pet peeve of college has been the busy work, but I will digress on my pet peeves and other observations of my college experience in the upcoming days.
So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. By the way, in case you were wondering, my topic for this paper is "Older Workers in the American Workforce." This was for an Office Management class, of which the teacher has already said she doesn't enjoy my writing. I stick my tongue out at her.
Let the countdown begin!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
I hate my job
I don't mean my normal 9 to 5 job (but I wouldn't mind having another one of those either). I'm talking about my side job as a caregiver. I usually love it, my patients are almost always someone I've known for a long time or are the family members of someone I've known a long time. I have a connection to them thus I automatically make them one of my family.
But there comes a time in every caregivers life when you realize your patient is not going to be there after your job is done. My patient right now is given a week to live, and her family has to just sit there and wait. My job at night is to sit there and wait for something to happen. And when it does happen, I have to be there when the family gets there. And I have to tell them that everything went peacefully, and that she suffered no pain. I know this process all too well because I've been through it, even with my own family members.
After speaking to one of this lady's precious children, I knew he had no idea what was ahead of him. He's going off what the doctor's say, and he's wise enough to know when to say "no, Mother wouldn't want that, it will just pro-long the inevitable." What he doesn't know is how hard this next week is going to be. I know an approximate time table of the events that are about to unfold for this family, and they are asking me questions about what happens next. How do you tell someone the next step is complete kidney failure, or she's going to go into a coma and be taking her turn towards Heaven? How do you tell 5 grown people that their mother, who has lived 91 wonderful years is suddenly not going to live past a week? Even more weird is when they ask you what they should do next.
I got on the elevator this morning and cried. Because I know how that family member feels and I know their anticipation of something might turn around. I have a great respect for death and the peace that it brings to your body when you've been suffering. You're released from this earth into Heaven, and there has to be no greater joy. My job here on earth is to make your suffering body at least as comfortable as you can be before you're released. There's no greater joy and yet pain to tell your loved one that it's okay, they can go on. I know there's a heaven because I see it through my patients. You see them connecting with some great beyond, and to this day I've never seen anyone frowning as they pass on. Even with faith on your side you have no concept of what Heaven is going to be like, but in my line of work you get to see the reaction of what someone else is seeing as they cross that barrier.
So to be blunt, my job is not bad and I really do enjoy it. But when it comes to times like this, I hate it.
Karabeth and Karen, please send your prayers for Mrs. Ruby Robertson and her family right now.
But there comes a time in every caregivers life when you realize your patient is not going to be there after your job is done. My patient right now is given a week to live, and her family has to just sit there and wait. My job at night is to sit there and wait for something to happen. And when it does happen, I have to be there when the family gets there. And I have to tell them that everything went peacefully, and that she suffered no pain. I know this process all too well because I've been through it, even with my own family members.
After speaking to one of this lady's precious children, I knew he had no idea what was ahead of him. He's going off what the doctor's say, and he's wise enough to know when to say "no, Mother wouldn't want that, it will just pro-long the inevitable." What he doesn't know is how hard this next week is going to be. I know an approximate time table of the events that are about to unfold for this family, and they are asking me questions about what happens next. How do you tell someone the next step is complete kidney failure, or she's going to go into a coma and be taking her turn towards Heaven? How do you tell 5 grown people that their mother, who has lived 91 wonderful years is suddenly not going to live past a week? Even more weird is when they ask you what they should do next.
I got on the elevator this morning and cried. Because I know how that family member feels and I know their anticipation of something might turn around. I have a great respect for death and the peace that it brings to your body when you've been suffering. You're released from this earth into Heaven, and there has to be no greater joy. My job here on earth is to make your suffering body at least as comfortable as you can be before you're released. There's no greater joy and yet pain to tell your loved one that it's okay, they can go on. I know there's a heaven because I see it through my patients. You see them connecting with some great beyond, and to this day I've never seen anyone frowning as they pass on. Even with faith on your side you have no concept of what Heaven is going to be like, but in my line of work you get to see the reaction of what someone else is seeing as they cross that barrier.
So to be blunt, my job is not bad and I really do enjoy it. But when it comes to times like this, I hate it.
Karabeth and Karen, please send your prayers for Mrs. Ruby Robertson and her family right now.
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