For as long as I can remember, I've been drawn to the less
fortunate. Geezer has said to me so many times, "Don't you have any friends that aren't mentally challenged or that don't need something?" :8)
My first encounter with wanting to help someone came when I was about 6 years old and daddy had taken our little family to Baltimore to see some of his siblings and their families that have lived there for many decades.
While there, he said "We can't be this close to the Statue of Liberty and not go see it, so he took us on a little detour on our way home through New York.
We really were like the Hillbillies in a big city. Even at my young age I can remember daddy not being able to find his way around. I remember us getting lost several times and mom being frantic, just something she did if we got in traffic anytime. I remember him saying we needed to find the Hudson Tunnel to get where we were going and I asked how you spell it ... hahaha and he told me and GUESS WHAT????? "I" was the one that saw the sign. I felt so big and smart ... IN FACT ... that's my first recollection of being really helpful and I didn't realize it until just this minute. I felt like the Golden Child ... being able to help my daddy when he was in a bind.
We found the Statue of Liberty and got out and walked around and while walking, a man passed in a big truck and he waved to Sue and me and said "Hi pretty little girls" (Beth was a pretty little girl too, but she was a baby at that time) But the man looked so dirty to me and I tugged on daddy's belt and said "Daddy would you give me $5 to give that man to buy some soap, because he's really dirty"
Just before daddy's stroke about 4 years ago ... Geezer and I had taken him out to lunch and Geezer was talking about all the messes I get in trying to help people and daddy said "Well this is nothing new, you know ... she's always been this way" and he told this story again. He loved the story of the old dirty man in New York City that I wanted to buy soap for.
But as you all know that read the blog regularly ... it's always something with me. My life would truly make a good sitcom because I am one of the few people in this whole wide world that can get in a big mess ...virtually living the life of a recluse except for going to church and the grocery store.
I've mentioned my "Sharon Hair" many times ... and Geezer calls my hair "Sharon Hair" because of a mentally challenged young woman I helped way back in the 1970's...She never combed her hair and it was always a nightmare...We were very young back then ... and he always thought it was so funny that she didn't realize her hair was horrifying. There would be holes where you could see big patches of her head and other places where it was matted or stuck way out. I offered to do her hair for her many times, and she'd say "Naw, it's ok ... I do my own" :-(
Now Geezer's got a lot of nerve calling ME Sharon Hair ... because mine may not look fixie or primpie but it's a far cry from "Sharon Hair"
I'm just not much on primping and I pick my hair and where ever it falls ... I'm good to go as far as I'm concerned ... so Geezer will say "Get in the truck Sharon Hair and we'll go for a drive and look for deer in the fields." :-0
Weeeeelll the NERVE!!! Where's the love?
Of all the people I've ever tried to help, I think my favorites were the mom and daughter duo that I called "My Keystone Cop Girls". They were so hysterically funny. We'd be out and about on one of their mercy missions and I would literally laugh till I cried. And then a few times I'd get so frustrated I'd almost cry real tears of frustration.
The mom had alzheimers that was advancing fast and the daughter was another mentally challenged adult.
I was always having to take them to the doctor or the hospital for tests. Boy did the doctors take advantage of their inability to make good choices. They each had more Cat Scans and MRI'S than I have fingers and toes to count and I could never see a reason for any of it.
One day I was with them at the doctor and told him I thought he was taking advantage of them because the daughter was about to be sent for an angiogram and that's a very dangerous procedure to be sending someone for when it didn't appear they needed one. And boy did he blow his top!
But I didn't care....I stood and stand my ground. I DO feel they were taken advantage of because they didn't know any better. And my doctor had already told me years ago how much money he made for sending people for Cat Scans and this and that.
With the Keystone Cop Girls, I often said I was going to get some of those kids leashes and put on them when I had to take them to Western Baptist for something because GOODNESS they were a nightmare to keep up with.
Keystone Mom would get up to sing at church and she'd stumble around and sing 2 or 3 words and then look at me so blank and say "Kay sing along with me I forgot what I'm singing" :8) And we'd start in and sing her song together...
Sometimes she'd stop and walk over to the piano and give me a big hug and say "Kay I LOVE you" ... and I'd say "I love you TOO Doris" and then she'd sing some more ... She had an absolutely beautiful voice before she got sick that would just send chills right down your spine. Vestal Goodman didn't have anything on Keystone Mom....
But Keystone Mom is in a nursing home now and Keystone Daughter was sent to live with her brother. And in spite of all my frustrations with them. I REALLY miss them.
And then there was JANE just a couple years ago. Jane and I had gotten very close. I had known her from my daddy's first church way back in the 1950's and we played together as little girls on the hills beside Macedonia Baptist Church.
But her mom and daddy passed away just about 6 years ago and about 6 months apart and JANE still lived with them so I called and invited her to church and told her I was kind of a recluse like she was and we'd be recluses together and she could come and sit with me at church. She was there before I could say "SCAT" and we were thick as mud from then on.
But I noticed that she was failing about 2 years ago. She was saying things that just didn't make sense ... like she wanted me to find her a doctor for a facelift ... :-( And she wasn't any more primpy than "I" am. THEN one day she knocked on our door about 8am and said she had a surprise. I invited her in and she said "I'm getting married in about 2 weeks and I want you and Shannon to plan my wedding at Weaver Creek" I said "WHAT????? YOU DON'T EVEN DATE ANYONE!!!"
Well ... it appeared really quickly that she had for some reason ... just fell off the deep end. It went from bad to worse with JANE and you can find her many stories in our achieves. Some sad, some very funny and some just goofy as all get out.
She ended up in a hospital for about 3 months and is home and doing much better now.
We have no clue what really happened.
And then there was Amber and you all know Amber's story. The loss of Amber has been the hardest on me by far ... because she lived such a sad and lonely life and with my own family and chores and this and that ... there was just only so much I could do and she was always in a mess ... often times she would be in a big mess and didn't even realize it.
We had a special service for Amber at church last night and Bro Jake asked if anyone had anything they wanted to say about Amber and GOODNESS I wish she could have been there to hear all the good thoughts and words about her. Almost everybody had a sweet story about Amber.
Quite a few there had known her since she was a very little girl and I didn't even realize that. AND I wonder if SHE remembered that because she never mentioned it to me.
Amber was craving love and finding it in all the wrong places. She just wanted a place where she felt she really belonged and someone that she felt really belonged to her.
She's been 'in love and engaged' 3 times just this year. None of those romances lasted long at all. One man she met online and never met in person. Another she found on the city bus and that romance went viral within 24 hours but only lasted about 4 days :-(
The first one, I think she really loved in her own way. They had known each other for many years and had a lot in common and she talked about him all the time ... even in the last couple weeks. But it just didn't work out.
And goodness, there have been so many more that I have fallen under the spell of.
I wish I had kept a journal through the years because all the stories combined would have made a SUPER book if I could have gotten permission to tell these personal stories.
But I look at it this way ... You just can't do too much good in this old world.
Oh you may try to do good and it goes sour on you... I could write a book on that subject.
And you can try to do good deeds and have people take advantage of you...I'm experienced there too ...
Getting to know and help Amber, was one of the greatest joys of my life ... and it's so sad that I didn't realize it until it was too late. I would have loved to have done so much more to help her have a real and happy life.
Just remember in helping others. It's always a good thing to do good deeds when you can.
And if you're stretched for cash ... just remember that there are people out there that would appreciate even a box of macaroni and cheese.
Reading my blogs, you'd possibly think I'm a big loud splashy person. But really I'm not!
I can hold my own if I need to and I'll always stand up for what's right even if I'm the only one standing ...
But what I do ... I do in my own quiet little way.
I LOVE what Mother Theresa said and I try to live by this ... she said "Spread love everywhere you go! First of all in your own home. Give love to your spouse, your children, your next door neighbor!
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness. Kindness in your face and your eyes and your smile and kindness in your warm greeting"
Peace and love from the canyon ... I love you all gobs and thanks SO MUCH for stopping by!
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My first encounter with wanting to help someone came when I was about 6 years old and daddy had taken our little family to Baltimore to see some of his siblings and their families that have lived there for many decades.
While there, he said "We can't be this close to the Statue of Liberty and not go see it, so he took us on a little detour on our way home through New York.
We really were like the Hillbillies in a big city. Even at my young age I can remember daddy not being able to find his way around. I remember us getting lost several times and mom being frantic, just something she did if we got in traffic anytime. I remember him saying we needed to find the Hudson Tunnel to get where we were going and I asked how you spell it ... hahaha and he told me and GUESS WHAT????? "I" was the one that saw the sign. I felt so big and smart ... IN FACT ... that's my first recollection of being really helpful and I didn't realize it until just this minute. I felt like the Golden Child ... being able to help my daddy when he was in a bind.
We found the Statue of Liberty and got out and walked around and while walking, a man passed in a big truck and he waved to Sue and me and said "Hi pretty little girls" (Beth was a pretty little girl too, but she was a baby at that time) But the man looked so dirty to me and I tugged on daddy's belt and said "Daddy would you give me $5 to give that man to buy some soap, because he's really dirty"
Just before daddy's stroke about 4 years ago ... Geezer and I had taken him out to lunch and Geezer was talking about all the messes I get in trying to help people and daddy said "Well this is nothing new, you know ... she's always been this way" and he told this story again. He loved the story of the old dirty man in New York City that I wanted to buy soap for.
But as you all know that read the blog regularly ... it's always something with me. My life would truly make a good sitcom because I am one of the few people in this whole wide world that can get in a big mess ...virtually living the life of a recluse except for going to church and the grocery store.
I've mentioned my "Sharon Hair" many times ... and Geezer calls my hair "Sharon Hair" because of a mentally challenged young woman I helped way back in the 1970's...She never combed her hair and it was always a nightmare...We were very young back then ... and he always thought it was so funny that she didn't realize her hair was horrifying. There would be holes where you could see big patches of her head and other places where it was matted or stuck way out. I offered to do her hair for her many times, and she'd say "Naw, it's ok ... I do my own" :-(
Now Geezer's got a lot of nerve calling ME Sharon Hair ... because mine may not look fixie or primpie but it's a far cry from "Sharon Hair"
I'm just not much on primping and I pick my hair and where ever it falls ... I'm good to go as far as I'm concerned ... so Geezer will say "Get in the truck Sharon Hair and we'll go for a drive and look for deer in the fields." :-0
Weeeeelll the NERVE!!! Where's the love?
Of all the people I've ever tried to help, I think my favorites were the mom and daughter duo that I called "My Keystone Cop Girls". They were so hysterically funny. We'd be out and about on one of their mercy missions and I would literally laugh till I cried. And then a few times I'd get so frustrated I'd almost cry real tears of frustration.
The mom had alzheimers that was advancing fast and the daughter was another mentally challenged adult.
I was always having to take them to the doctor or the hospital for tests. Boy did the doctors take advantage of their inability to make good choices. They each had more Cat Scans and MRI'S than I have fingers and toes to count and I could never see a reason for any of it.
One day I was with them at the doctor and told him I thought he was taking advantage of them because the daughter was about to be sent for an angiogram and that's a very dangerous procedure to be sending someone for when it didn't appear they needed one. And boy did he blow his top!
But I didn't care....I stood and stand my ground. I DO feel they were taken advantage of because they didn't know any better. And my doctor had already told me years ago how much money he made for sending people for Cat Scans and this and that.
With the Keystone Cop Girls, I often said I was going to get some of those kids leashes and put on them when I had to take them to Western Baptist for something because GOODNESS they were a nightmare to keep up with.
Keystone Mom would get up to sing at church and she'd stumble around and sing 2 or 3 words and then look at me so blank and say "Kay sing along with me I forgot what I'm singing" :8) And we'd start in and sing her song together...
Sometimes she'd stop and walk over to the piano and give me a big hug and say "Kay I LOVE you" ... and I'd say "I love you TOO Doris" and then she'd sing some more ... She had an absolutely beautiful voice before she got sick that would just send chills right down your spine. Vestal Goodman didn't have anything on Keystone Mom....
But Keystone Mom is in a nursing home now and Keystone Daughter was sent to live with her brother. And in spite of all my frustrations with them. I REALLY miss them.
And then there was JANE just a couple years ago. Jane and I had gotten very close. I had known her from my daddy's first church way back in the 1950's and we played together as little girls on the hills beside Macedonia Baptist Church.
But her mom and daddy passed away just about 6 years ago and about 6 months apart and JANE still lived with them so I called and invited her to church and told her I was kind of a recluse like she was and we'd be recluses together and she could come and sit with me at church. She was there before I could say "SCAT" and we were thick as mud from then on.
But I noticed that she was failing about 2 years ago. She was saying things that just didn't make sense ... like she wanted me to find her a doctor for a facelift ... :-( And she wasn't any more primpy than "I" am. THEN one day she knocked on our door about 8am and said she had a surprise. I invited her in and she said "I'm getting married in about 2 weeks and I want you and Shannon to plan my wedding at Weaver Creek" I said "WHAT????? YOU DON'T EVEN DATE ANYONE!!!"
Well ... it appeared really quickly that she had for some reason ... just fell off the deep end. It went from bad to worse with JANE and you can find her many stories in our achieves. Some sad, some very funny and some just goofy as all get out.
She ended up in a hospital for about 3 months and is home and doing much better now.
We have no clue what really happened.
And then there was Amber and you all know Amber's story. The loss of Amber has been the hardest on me by far ... because she lived such a sad and lonely life and with my own family and chores and this and that ... there was just only so much I could do and she was always in a mess ... often times she would be in a big mess and didn't even realize it.
We had a special service for Amber at church last night and Bro Jake asked if anyone had anything they wanted to say about Amber and GOODNESS I wish she could have been there to hear all the good thoughts and words about her. Almost everybody had a sweet story about Amber.
Quite a few there had known her since she was a very little girl and I didn't even realize that. AND I wonder if SHE remembered that because she never mentioned it to me.
Amber was craving love and finding it in all the wrong places. She just wanted a place where she felt she really belonged and someone that she felt really belonged to her.
She's been 'in love and engaged' 3 times just this year. None of those romances lasted long at all. One man she met online and never met in person. Another she found on the city bus and that romance went viral within 24 hours but only lasted about 4 days :-(
The first one, I think she really loved in her own way. They had known each other for many years and had a lot in common and she talked about him all the time ... even in the last couple weeks. But it just didn't work out.
And goodness, there have been so many more that I have fallen under the spell of.
I wish I had kept a journal through the years because all the stories combined would have made a SUPER book if I could have gotten permission to tell these personal stories.
But I look at it this way ... You just can't do too much good in this old world.
Oh you may try to do good and it goes sour on you... I could write a book on that subject.
And you can try to do good deeds and have people take advantage of you...I'm experienced there too ...
Getting to know and help Amber, was one of the greatest joys of my life ... and it's so sad that I didn't realize it until it was too late. I would have loved to have done so much more to help her have a real and happy life.
Just remember in helping others. It's always a good thing to do good deeds when you can.
And if you're stretched for cash ... just remember that there are people out there that would appreciate even a box of macaroni and cheese.
Reading my blogs, you'd possibly think I'm a big loud splashy person. But really I'm not!
I can hold my own if I need to and I'll always stand up for what's right even if I'm the only one standing ...
But what I do ... I do in my own quiet little way.
I LOVE what Mother Theresa said and I try to live by this ... she said "Spread love everywhere you go! First of all in your own home. Give love to your spouse, your children, your next door neighbor!
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness. Kindness in your face and your eyes and your smile and kindness in your warm greeting"
Peace and love from the canyon ... I love you all gobs and thanks SO MUCH for stopping by!
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