Parking lots are Against Me!

Have you ever been watching  a movie and you know it’s going to scare you.    The suspense music is playing, you know that the main character is going to open that door and the bad guy is behind it…just waiting for him.    When watching movies like that my stomach flip flops a little.   I want to yell out an escape plan for the person.   Well……..that’s how I sometimes feel about parking lots.    I hate to admit it but I have a fear.   It is irrational…….I’m smart enough to know there is absolutely no reason to panic……but I do.   I can’t think,  I start to panic a little, no rational thoughts can override the sense of anxiety I feel.   It’s weird and a little funny.   It’s especially funny to the people with me and I’m not so far gone that I can’t laugh about it.   

I guess I have to tell ya.   I’m afraid of losing my car in parking lots.    I’m guessing the fear started when I traveled SO much.   A different car every week…..but it’s not something that has gone away.   I mean some of the scariest moments I face are when I walk out of Wal-mart and stare at the vast unknown parking lot (LOL).    My car could be anywhere……I mean anywhere, and I don’t have one clue where it is.   (hopefully you are laughing with me).  

My friends tease me about this.   They’ll say “Do YOU know where the car is, I forgot”   I respond by saying “ Of course I don’t know where the car is……it’s YOUR job to keep up with the car”   then I’ll panic a little…….get a distressed look on my face and scan the entire parking lot for my car….even though we’re in my friend’s car!!!!   As I stated….this is considered most entertaining to everyone around me.    The funniest incident happened last fall.   I was talking on the phone…just chit chatting away…parked the car….went into  the store and shopped.   I had several bags....as I walked into the parking lot…it hit me.    I had NO clue where the car was.  I wasn’t even sure I came out the  same door that I went into.    I was all alone……no one could help me.   So after I decided I had to put one foot in front of the other,  I started the search.   Now, I know the normal person could just think back to where they parked, but you see my brain will not work in these situations.   I’m in a panic mode.    So   I just started walking……up one aisle….down another.   Suddenly, I saw it.   Not my car, but my friend Tricia.    There she was to rescue me…..I’ve never been so happy to see a minivan.   She pulls up ….opens the door and laughs….she knows exactly what has happened.     Being the friend that she is…we rode around and found my car three rows over!!!   She was my hero that day.     

So if you see me wandering, please stop and help…..the parking lots are against me! 

Pam

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Hard Candy Christmas

This is an old Dolly Parton Christmas song.  It falls into the stereo types for country music for certain.   It’s about someone who has had a bad year.   There are lines in the song like  “I’m barely getting through tomorrow” and  “I won’t let sorrow bring me way down”    I told someone that was complaining about expenses that this year would be a Hard Candy Christmas. …..meaning it’s a year for the cheaper hard candy instead of the more expensive gifts.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the business of this time of year, but we need to remember that whether we have all the money in the world or we are caught up in a hard candy Christmas, we have received the most wonderful gift.  Christmas is Love come down on earth to offer us a gift beyond measure.  The gift of salvation.  I’m amazed at how much my Father loved me, he sent Jesus here to earth.   He was  sent not as a mighty conqueror but as baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes…to be placed in a manger.   He grew up in the meekest of households.   Jesus would certainly understand a hard candy Christmas.    He would also understand the meaning beyond a slim year.   The song holds hope.   No matter what the singer faced during the year, she was going to be hopeful, optimistic……she’s a glass half full kind of person.  

I’ll be spending my Christmas with family and friends surrounded by those that I love the most.   I hope your Christmas will filled with love and happiness, but more than that I pray your Christmas will be filled with the confidence that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.   After all he is the only reason that Christmas is Love.

Merry Christmas!
Pam

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Jane Austin Fan club.

I guess you could consider me a romantic. Not in the sappy, sentimental sense of the word.  I don’t swoon over a prince charming or feel that every story should have a happily ever after ending….but I do enjoy..no love romanticism in literature. Jane Austin is by far my favorite. I’ve read all of her books and find myself re-reading them time and time again. I normally start reading “Pride and Prejudice” in October or November and then continue to read the others throughout the cold months. We don’t have a lot of cold months here in SC, but enough to enjoy a good read.

I love the fact that the heroine has to overcome everyday life to find joy & love. I love that in every story the heroine is confident in herself…she knows who she is. She may make mistakes or draw the wrong conclusions at times, but in the end she is a strong person who knows how to handle herself and any conflicts that may arise. She also wants the right and just outcome to occur……even if this means she may not get the perfect end to her story.

I hope I’m like that in life. I hope I appear confident…sure of myself even if I’m not sure of the circumstances, a strong person who handles problems and conflicts well. I hope in the small decisions I make  that I choose the right and just outcome over the best end for me personally. Proverbs 31:25 – 30 tells of this virtuous woman. I pray that you see these traits in me.

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Pam

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Winter time = Carmex

It’s almost officially winter (next week)….I’d have to say although winter offers some wonderful things…it’s not my favorite time of year.  I’m just not a fan of being cold.  Maybe it has something to do with all that travel I used to do during the coldest times of the year. I turn into a homebody in the winter and try to stay nice and warm. One of the products I always use during the winter months is Carmex.  Now, I’m not fanatic, but it’s good stuff.  I know a couple of these fanatics and honestly it’s very funny to see them realize they have no Carmex. Other brands will not do. They must, must, must have Carmex. I have one friend that put it in her hospital gown pocket during a surgery so that she could have it in the recovery room..... Now that’s a fanatic.  I’ll admit that I do like it, and I’ve visited the website more than once…which for me means I like the product….anyway….I hope you enjoy the cold…and I hope your lips are moist and smooth with a layer of Carmex to keep them cozy.

Have a Carmex day!
Pam

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Mantras

The road less traveled is really a less of a saying and more of a mantra for me. It comes from the poem by Robert Frost " The Road Not Taken"

I love the idea of taking the road less traveled. It's an adventure. I am never quite sure what life might bring but am always happy to find it. I was thinking about the adventures I'd had this year........it's seemed like a pretty calm year...but looking back....these are some of the highlights: Winter Cruise to the Bahammas, a weekend Beach trip with friends, Jacksonville, FL with Work (I'm counting this one......some I do Some I don't), 2 Weeks in Indonesia (wow what a trip), 2 Weeks in Indonesia (so nice, I'll say it twice) and a beach trip with family in September.

I'm excited about writing this blog and getting my thoughts out there....and I plan to take the road less traveled ...hope you do also!

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Pam

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