Family...........

I went home and got to see my family this past weekend. It was a weekend of memories and confirmation. I slept in the bed in my parents house that I slept in as a teenager. This bed has always been known as the BIG bed in my family. It is in fact only a standard bed, however it sits fairly high off of the ground almost to my waist and always has. The other reason for the name is that it has a very high headboard almost to the ceiling. It has been in my family for a little over 100 years. Now that you have all this knowledge you should also know that I sleep better in this bed that in any other place. It's mattresses are who knows how old and just let you snuggle in and the smell of the old wood is soothing to me. All that to say I slept really well while I was Home.

My reason for going Home was to be a part of a family tradition that I have not been able to go to in years. My maternal grandparents live in what we call "the country." They own 200 acres of land close to Ft. Walton Beach ,FL. It is the country with a pecan orchard , a pine tree farm, 2 creeks, huntin dogs, a lazy cat, cousins, aunts, uncles, dusty dirt roads, roses, vegetables, grape vines, grandparents, and a million memories that this time of year center around sugar cane.

Every year around this time the sugar cane crop is harvested to make cane syrup. My grandparents and uncles do the harvesting and syrup making. The cane is cut which makes everything and everywhere smell sweet. It's loaded in a truck and brought behind the house to the grinder or press. The grinder/press squishes the cane stalk and squeezes the juice out. The old stalks are piled for replanting later. The juice goes into 1 of 2 covered pans to be strained from here it is taken to the pan. This is a homemade large rectangle pan set in a red brick oven of sorts. The oven is wood heated and the juice is stirred with special long handled wooden spoons. All of these implements have been passed down just like the bed. The excess foam and cane stalk leftovers are removed while the color and consistency of the syrup is continually checked . When the syrup gets to the right color and thickness it is drained a bucket at a time in to another pan. It is strained again and canned in a jar.

I grew up eating this syrup. It is very dark brown and nothing in the world equals it's strong sweet taste. The pictures of this day and others just like them are set in my mind and spirit. Sweet smell, and colors of cane juice and syrup and mustard bar-b-q chicken that is also only made this time of year. My family laughing and smiling and hugging and welcoming the new babies and just enjoying each other. The metal clanking of the grinder mixed with the hum of a thousand bees eating the sugar from the left over cane and my dad whistling to a song that he likes or just to the work he's doing.

I love my family so much, and wish I could take everyone I know to experience this part of my life. As hard as it is to be away from these moments, more i am thankful that GOD, the lover of my soul, is creating a new family for me here. I praise HIM because soon I will be able to write about the memories and family that are a part of me here.

I have two thoughts to write about today. One has been a constant lately in my life and is very silly the other is new and not silly at all... So thought one. It occurs to me that music plays a huge role in our lives we worship with it, are excited, sad, and angry with it, Music can envoke every emotion I can think of from patriotism to Love and everything in between. So why not live our lives as musicals. I am sure most people do not do this but as i go though my day I have this internal soundtrack playing and yes I admit it have been known to break out in song without even realizing it. Just think how fun would it be if we all greeted each other with a song rather than a meaningless, HI, How are You? Just a thought..... On to the more serious.. I got some news today very sad news. I work with children I also work with addicts and their families. These two worlds do not collide very often or so I thought. Today I found out that a very young relative of a student of mine died from an overdose. Someone who could have been in one of the groups that I work with who could have gotten help. Not that I could have fixed this person or was ever responsible. I guess my big issue is, Why are these two parts of my life so seperate GOD put me in both for a reason why did I not force them to at least know about each other. I am so mad at myself for not see the BIG PICTURE .... I hate that it took this to show me

My favorite time of day is 6 pm. the reason it is my favorite time of day is because the light changes and this color of green comes out in the trees that you could not see earlier or later in the day. How creative is GOD that HE made something like the color green at 6pm.
God is romancing us and this is one of the love letters HE has sent to me. What's one of yours?