Tommy's Sunrise

   It has been a hard few days.  In life, we have to face many things that we wish would not occur.  This has defined the way of life here on the Bayou for a while now.  The hardness culminated on this past Sunday morning.  I got the phone call that no one ever wants to receive.  My brother had ended his struggle.  He was free now but the pain was not over for the rest of us left here on Earth.

  For the past few years, my oldest brother has struggled, suffered and then gave into the horribleness of Alzheimer's Disease.  The first few years were not bad.  He had bouts of memory loss.  He dealt with it admirably.  Then, as the disease progressed, his personality changed from a loving, happy person to one that was fraught with confusion and frustration.  This was when it was becoming clear to him that something was not right but denial set in to the point that he refused help.  Finally, there was nothing left to do but intervene.  He had fought the valiant fight of independence but now had to submit to receiving help.  

  Once intervention came in the way of my other brother stepping in and taking over the caregiving role, things were somewhat better.  Tommy became more relaxed.  He knew he was no longer alone in his battle.  He knew that he would not become a burden on his (very ill) daughter which I think was adding to the war going on in his mind.  While the uncertainty of his day to day life was still there, the final destination was clearer.  There were days of complete oblivion and then days of perfect lucidness at the beginning.  Those clear days were soon to become far and few between.  For the past year, he became more and more dependent upon Jimmy's goodness for simple survival.  We were truly blessed to have Anna step in to aid Jimmy.  She has been a godsend to this family more than once.  

  This past week has seen the decline come with a rapidity that no one expected.  I am so blessed to be next door so I was able to see Tommy on Friday.  He was still able to be guided on short walks outside.  He and Jimmy brought my mail!  Out of the clear blue, he said "I love you." and he, by way of a gentle hand on my back, insisted I tell Jimmy the same.  But, of course!  I am so thankful that our family has always been very verbal about our love for one another but this was touching.  Jimmy whispered to me that those were the only clear words Tommy had said all day.  After they left, I went inside and had a good cry...one of thankfulness.  Later that evening, the disease took a powerful grip and the pull was too much.  Then, within hours, that grip became a strangling hold.  Tommy fought a hard battle with Jimmy and Anna by his side.  In the wee hours of Sunday morning, the disease had won the battle but Tommy had gained the prize.  On Sunday morning, his struggle left had he retained a peace like no other.  He is free.  Our hearts are broken because we can only see our loss. 

  After receiving the heartbreaking phone call from next door, I sought out my peaceful place...the Bayou.  Here, I could release my feelings.  The sun was rising over the pines and sent a glorious array of colors.  While I meandered the marsh line, I marveled at the scene set before me and knew this was a sign.  This was Tommy's Sunrise!  This was the way he looked at things.  New beginnings.  New adventures.  He had pushed so many of his students (as a teacher and coach) to reach their goals and now he had reached his.  This made me praise the morn and awakenings.

  I am asking one thing of my reading audience.  If you find it within your heart, please pray for all patients with dementia of any form.  Alzheimer's Disease is horrible.  It is so wretched on the person and, thus, their caregivers.  Also, I ask for prayers for my beautiful niece (Tommy's daughter) as she faces her own health battles.  She is very precious to me.

  If you have taken the time to read this far into such a dismal post, I thank you and leave you with this bit of advice.  Folks, be kind to all as you never know their inner battles.  Patience, love and kindness are so desperately needed in this day and age.  Offer the helping hand, the shoulder to lean on or simple a gentle smile.  Peace be with you.

"Hey."

  This morning, I was all set to go pay bills and run a few errands.  That idea was put to a sudden halt by the ringing of the phone.  "Hey."  Well, hey to you!  I always worry when my brother starts a phone call with a deadpan "Hey." and nothing more.  This usually means there is definitely more.  And there was.  He started again, "Hey.  Umm, can you come pick blueberries?  I have already picked three gallons.  I don't want any more today but they need picking."  Sure..I can come.  Bills can wait.  So off Son and I went.

  We were not prepared for what was to come. We needed more than five buckets...far more...and more hands to pick.  I cannot believe the blueberries on my brother's bushes!  My goodness!  Michael and I picked for two solid hours and filled all five buckets but even with that, we only picked the berries from three bushes.  The man has nigh on thirty.  How would we ever pick that many? Geez!  

  I am not sure just what my brother does to get his bushes to grow so well except for the fact that he must have that proverbial green thumb. All in all, Michael and I picked twenty-four pounds of berries today.  I am sure that we could have picked well over a hundred pounds and still not gotten all of the berries.  Those things were ripening as fast as we could snatch them from the bush!  I am not complaining, though!  I will fill the freezers with the delightful berries and make jam with any extras! I have the best brothers in the world even if their phone calls usually mean something other than just "Hey."

A couple of gallons!

  Last night, my brother called me with an invitation to pick blueberries at his place.  His garden has really had a bad time with all of the rain but the blueberries were doing well.  The way his property sits makes the water puddle almost like a pond.  This drowns any little plants but bushes take advantage of the moisture.  I was elated to get the call and assured him that we would head up that way at first light.  My only question was concerning the number of pails that would be needed.  "Oh, you will only get a couple of gallons."  was his answer.  "They are just starting to get ripe."  Ok!  

  Before we headed out this morning, my son, Michael and I gathered up the plastic pails.  I had two.  That should work since he did say a "couple" of gallons.  On a whim, I picked up a large four gallon basin.  This would at least serve to keep the gallon buckets from overturning on the ride back home.  We arrived a little after seven in the morning.  The sun was just peeping over the pines at the edge of his garden.  As we walked to the furthest end of the blueberry rows, I noticed that there were a good many berries ripe.  Hmmm...a couple of gallons?  Michael made notice of the size of the berries.  These things were huge!!!  What easy picking this would be!  A couple of gallons would be quick work.  We started on the smallest bushes and worked our way back toward the car.  By the time we reached the two rows of large bushes, we already had a full gallon of the plump berries.  Were we to only get one more gallon off of these huge bushes?  I think not!  We picked.  About two hours into our chore, the berries started looking small.  The size had not actually changed...by blueberry standards, they were still huge.  By picking standards, they had suddenly become teeny-tiny!  The end of the row seemed to be miles away!  A couple of gallons...yeah, right!  We could pick until the cows come home and never reach the end of those rows!  We picked.

  At the end of three hours, we had filled every container we had carried with us.  Short of dumping the buckets into the trunk of the car, our picking had come to a halt.  Looking at the number of bushes left unpicked, we just shook our heads.  A couple of gallons was a slight understatement on my brother's part.  He SHOULD have said that there were billions of blueberries awaiting our picking!  He did not...and we picked...and picked...and picked.  (I promise I saw a few cows heading to the barn long before we finished!)  

Arriving home, he flagged us down in the driveway.  "How many did you get?" he queried.  Duh!!!!  I just stared at him and said "A couple of gallons."  Then...I opened the car door and he got a glimpse of the buckets.  A wide grin spread across his face.  That man knew!  A couple of gallons.  Yep.  Sure.  I must say that I have wonderful brothers!  Wow! To share this many blueberries is a very nice deed.  In three hours, Michael and I picked five gallons of the sweet blueberries and we easily could have filled "a couple of more gallons"!

Have a Jolly Good Christmas!

It is Christmas Eve!  Old Santa is busy flying from town to town delivering the many toys that the elves spent the last year making.  By this time of evening, he has probably already visited at least a million homes. A lot of the stockings have already been filled and multitudes of toys have been stacked beneath adorned trees.  Good Old Santa!  He always plows through even when the rest of us get bogged down with the stress of the holidays.

Several times when the children were small, Mark had to miss spending Christmas with us due to his job on the riverboat.  It was hard for us all. He has always loved the outside decorating and the shopping and without his helping hand, those jobs were difficult for me.  I muddled through, though, and the children awoke to happy surprises on Christmas Morn.  I did have the advantage of having my brother live right next door.  On one of the Christmases that Mark was away, I told my brother how hard it was to get the children to sleep on Christmas Eve.  If they did not get to bed early enough, I would never get everything finished in time.  Well, just about seven o'clock that evening and just after their prayers were said, I heard something strange outside the window.  Bells!  Jingle bells!  Oh, my goodness!  I have never seen kids clamor so fast to get under the covers and close their eyes!  Old Santa was already in the neighborhood!  They had better not be awake when he got to our rooftop!  Yep, Jimmy was out ringing those bells for all he was worth!  Brothers sure are good!  The next morning, bright and early, he was at the door.  "Are the kids up yet?" he asked.  When I told him that they were still upstairs fast asleep, he charged up those stairs like a wild man!  "Get up! Get up!! Santa came!!! Santa came!!!"  Yep, brothers are great!  The kids flew downstairs to get their toys and my brother got to share in their excitement.  He probably does not even remember these antics but I remember it as an act of kindness and my kids still talk about hearing "Santa" that night.

This year, it is just the opposite.  Mark is home but with the exception of Michael, our other kids are not here.  Of course, all of the "kids" are grown so that does have a tendency to change things a bit.  They are all busy with their own lives and sometimes it just does not work out that their schedules coincide with ours and the holidays.   Still, the holidays come and go.  They are just a bit different.  Since my kids are not here, my brother will not be outside ringing bells nor will he be waking up the little ones tomorrow morning.  Santa won't pay a visit to the Little Bayou House nor will toys be piled beneath the tree.  But one thing is for sure.  Christmas will always be on time.  We will celebrate Jesus' birth and rejoice in His love.  Merry Christmas, Folks.  May your holidays be filled with joy and may you always find a reason to celebrate.

Little Treasures from Brothers!

The Little Bayou House is decorated from top to bottom with all sorts of fantastical things.  The Christmas Season has become more of time of remembrance for me than the eager anticipation of what is to come.  I find myself cherishing things from long ago more than any new items that I purchase as decorations.  It is true that I find all decorations for the season beautiful and wish at times that the house could stay adorned with all of the reds and greens but alas, that would soon grow to be a bit tiring.  This year, things are a bit more rustic and a bit more nostalgic than years past.  I pulled things like antique toys from their hiding places in closets and put them out under the Christmas trees.  Oil lanterns, rope garlands and even burlap made their way into the decorating theme this year.

Michael helped me to gather some fresh cedar and pine branches today.  These have been placed on shelves and the mantles.  Pine cones and red berries fill in the areas nicely and add a cheery touch.  In one of the windows of the dining room, I placed pine branches and red and green fairy lamps.  In this window, there are three shelves.  When I was poking the pine on the top shelf, I picked up a small oil lamp to be placed along with the pine.  A memories started flooding back from days of my childhood.  This small lamp was a gift from my oldest brother when I was only about seven years old.  Money was hard to come by and we, as kids, had to earn pennies to spend on our gifts for family members.  Pecans, Dogwood berries and Red Bud seeds were all picked and sold.  Our share being a penny a pound.  That did not add up very quickly but if we worked hard, we could save at least a dollar or two!  The little lamp probably only cost him a few nickels..he got one for me and one for my sister.  It mattered not that the lamp was inexpensive..I loved it.  I still do.  I have both of the little lamps..hers and mine.  They sit on the shelf each year as a reminder of a happy childhood.

Next to the little lamps, sits another gift that I received about the same year.  My youngest brother (who is just a bit older than me) gave me a little Christmas elf.  This has to be the cutest elf ever made! Recently, I have seen a lot of these as they have now become popular again.  None are as cute as mine!  When my brother gave me this, I can remember falling in love!  My Little Elf never left my side!  I took him everywhere!  When it came time to pack away the Christmas decorations, I cried for Mom to let me keep Little Elf.  She relented and the elf lived with me all year round!  It is a wonder that it is not ragged and torn to bits but I suppose I handled it with love as it is still relatively intact.  It is a bit grubby and a lot faded but not so much that I could ever discard it!   Even though I came in possession of a dozen or so other little elves over the years, this one is still a favorite.  Even Michael told me earlier that this was always his favorite as well. Mom used to hide the elves all over her house when my kids were small.  Each time we would visit Mom and Pop, (which was almost daily!), the kids delighted in finding the elves!  They never knew just where they would find them!  Sometimes an elf was perched on a picture frame while another might be hiding on the piano.  Mom and Dad enjoyed not only hiding the elves but watching the kids hunt for them!  Simple games...good times.  Now the little elves peep from the branches of the Christmas Trees or hide among the garland at my house...and Little Elf is still my favorite!  hehe...And those two brothers are favorites!

Sea Savvy

Sometimes you learn lessons without the instructor ever being aware that they are teaching. Today was one of those times for me. I have three brothers..two of them live right near me. Needless to say, I am very close to both..they are amazing men..loving brothers..incredibly smart. I should learn to never question anything when it comes to these two..but sometimes I have lapses where emotions get the best of me. Again, this is one of those times for me.

Let me start by saying that there have been some tragic accidents on the water in recent days..this may have been in the back of my mind today..who knows. It was a gorgeous day out on the Bay and I knew that one of my brothers and his sweet lady friend would be out on his boat. I did not worry in the least as this guy is one of the most sea-savvy boaters ever. He knows to watch the weather for any signs of disturbance and will steer his boat homeward if the scene warrants. He also has the vast knowledge of the workings of a boat of any size or shape. This is what he does for a living..repairs the motors and refurbishes watercraft. I have had many, many people tell me that if you want your boat fixed right..take it to him. That added to his immense commonsense should and always has pulled him through in every situation. It was my lapse that caused me worry..not his.

Early today, the Game Warden came up the lane and questioned my older brother as to the whereabouts of the younger brother. It seems that they had found a boat abandoned in the Bay and when they checked the registration it was in our brother's name. I was immediately called to see if I had heard from him...I had not. Emotions ran wild and overtook the knowledge that he could handle himself in any given situation. The Game Wardens (who all knew him) were all keeping watch..they were remarkable in their duties. After many phone calls to his friends, my older brother and Son took to the water..heading for the abandoned boat. Confusion was in our minds..this should not be happening. I stayed behind and fretted even though I knew fully that my brother's "sea-smarts" could put the legendary "Jack Sparrow's" to shame.

In the end, this had a happy ending. One phone call was returned..it was from one of the friends on the water with him. They were safe..just as we all should have known. They were merely enjoying a day on the water unaware of the scene that was unfolding on the Bay..they were much further out on the Gulf. It seems that the boat in question had been sold long before and had just never been registered in the new owner's name. It was still registered as my brother's boat..therein the cause of the confusion. The cell phone on board..not his. There was good reason for them to not answer their phones..they and their friends were in water, the phones were staying dry in the boat. Still..this was what seemed like a lifetime of stress..of unknowing..of stomach-wrenching turmoil. None of which should have ever occurred if I had only listened to my head and not my emotions. This man could handle himself.

The lesson learned, though..leave a list of telephone numbers even if for no other reason than to reassure others (especially worrisome little sisters!). We had both of their numbers but no one else's. Lesson two learned..try to keep a cool head about yourself. My older brother was amazing. He handled everything as it should have been done. He did not rush into things headlong without exhausting all other means of locating the boaters. Lesson three..be ever thankful for friends. We have some of the most caring friends in the world. They all offered to do anything and everything to be of assistance.

All I can say about today's events..I am so blessed to live next to these two brothers. When Hubby is not here to handle stressful problems, I am quite sure that if the need ever should arise that I need help..these two would be here. (And would have the knowledge, commonsense and levelheadedness to solve whatever the problem may be!) Brothers are awesome!..little sisters just tend to worry.