March 16, 2011 – CUTAWAY – HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY

How could this be?  Two years I’ve been away.  What happened?

The last two years have been interesting, to say the least.  In the interim I have had two total knee replacements, have enjoyed some (forced) quiet time, done some studying and, in general, life has moved at a slowed pace.  My surgeries and recuperation have greatly improved my mobility and I have now resumed a near normal lifestyle. 

Being quiet is not a bad thing.

Our family has grown by three great-grands, two boys and a girl, and we’re expecting a third girl in a few days. 

We anxiously watch the daily news as we follow the events in Japan where we have a granddaughter living through the nightmare of the mammoth earthquake and tsunami.  She and her Navy husband are finishing out a tour of duty there, soon to be returned stateside.  How we wish that had happened sooner.  So far, she is fine although she is quite anxious as the aftershocks continue to come.

Spring has come to Florida and the plants are flourishing.  Azaleas, dogwoods and Bradford pear trees have exploded with pink and white color to awaken our senses after the long winter chill.   We experienced the coldest winter on record, I believe, certainly since we came here from South Carolina in ‘71.  Hard to believe we’ve spent over half our lives here and yet still feel so very close to SC.  Great family and great friends never grow distant.  God is good!

So as I begin anew to open my life experiences up to you, I trust that something I might share will lend encouragement and inspiration to your life.  

FAMILY -- IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

At the Benjamin home we began to take our places as children of purpose. Our mother was the dearest person in the world to us and even at our tender age we were sensitive to her needs and learned parental respect for her. But we were, after all, children.

Mother had now achieved a level of financial stability that allowed her to purchase our first pieces of new furniture, a sofa and chair that I recall as a very pretty rose color. We were working in the cotton field and I can't recall how or when the items arrived at our home but they were left sitting on the front porch. However it came to be, we found them there and, being children, began to have a heyday climbing all over them, jumping up and down on them – in essence, having a ball. The party was to be short lived.

We saw her coming, in no particular hurry but slowly and patiently making her way across the field toward the house. She carried in her hand the dreaded hickory switch -- which on this occasion was from a tender cotton plant -- and when she arrived delivered it on the three in turn quite deftly. Her point was well made and three pairs of skinny legs told the tale. Lesson learned.

Our mother never failed to discipline us when discipline was required. It was always swift, just and thereby infrequent. Her method of parenting her children was to teach, and we learned early on that our best choice of discipline would be self-discipline.

Our mother demanded, earned and received our respect for as long as she lived. We will never forget her or the lessons she taught us.

CUTAWAY – FAMILY IN SEPARATION

In 1971 my husband was transferred by his employer to Florida from Greenville, South Carolina. We spent all that summer preparing to leave our families. Beginning in April, Tommy would catch a plane each Sunday afternoon and spend the workweek on the job, all the time searching for a new home for us. Then on Friday evening he would return home for the weekend.

Back in South Carolina I was taking care of our four children and attempting to sell our home there. From April until July, this activity went on with no success. Then on a Sunday afternoon in July, a weekend that Tommy did not get to come home, we had a visit from a young couple to see our house. There was no question in my mind that they would return. The very same weekend, down in Florida, things were happening. On our Sunday afternoon telephone conversation, Tommy said to me "I've found the only house that I would buy for you, sight unseen, because I know you'd love it." Excited, I told him, "Well guess what! This afternoon a couple came to look at our house and I'm positive they'll buy it. They did, and we did.

A couple of weeks later I flew down to Florida to see the house. Tommy was right. It was perfect. And in the front yard, a humongous magnolia tree shaded the whole front yard from the curb to the front steps. Later we made a return trip with all the children and they were equally pleased. In September we relocated our family to Florida and never looked back. We had the perfect house and the perfect tree. We were at home.

A few short years later as progress was being made in the local infrastructure, the telephone company came through our neighborhood and laid an underground cable down the side of our street. We would later learn that a main root of our magnificent magnolia had been disturbed and it began to fail. For ten years Tommy babied, nurtured and cajoled the tree to survive. It stood proudly as long as it could but finally the time came when safety became a major concern and the tree had to come down. God is so good. Not only did he provide shade for the hot Florida summer sun but also a touch of nostalgia to nurture our family during a time of separation from our family.

FAMILY – God takes care of His own.