The Gaffe and the Aftermath

Anyone can make a gaffe, a slip of the tongue, and unintended mispronunciation. And I don't have a problem with that.  I don't look for hidden agendas. I don't look for subconscious meanings and intentions. Goodness gracious, I am Queen Foot-in-Mouth. I say the wrong thing all. the. time.

But what I've recently read about my state's challenger for governor is enough to make me incredibly upset and physically ill. This YouTube video has been making the rounds. In it, he accidentally uses the word "whore" instead of "her" in talking about the incumbent, Nikki Haley. Now some may argue that it was intentional or characteristic or not surprising (given their intense acrimony against his party).

However, what he said (or mis-said) is not what infuriates me. It was a mistake. It could have been an accident.  My shock and frustration comes from what happens a few seconds later. How I wish he had stopped, horrified at his slip-up and admonished those around him who were enjoying and reveling in it. But he laughs. Giggles. Shares a wide smile. Points and encourages the audience to continue their applause. He enjoys the limelight and levity that calling a woman - even by mistake - a whore can give him and his agenda. And given all the jovial camaraderie he is sharing with those around him, one might stereotypically guess that he was in a room full of members of the Old Boy network. But no, you can see women in the video. What?  Women?  Laughing along at one of their own being called (even by a slip of the tongue) one of the worst words you can call a woman?

I have tried to read as much as I could to see what people's reaction was to this bit of news. Sadly, there isn't much for me to read.  There hasn't been much of a reaction. And it makes me extremely sad. The only person who seems to care is Ann Romney, who spoke to CNN.

Where ARE OUR voices?  Why don't we care?  I feel that many women today get so caught up in  political and "justice" issues that they overlook the day to day, personal experiences that are truly a war on women. Because that is where the war is: in the snide comments, the laughing and revelry of belittling women, the treating them as objects. I could go on and on.

Yes, we all make mistakes. But it is what we do with them that really matters. Do we use them to change and make the world around us a little better? Or do we relish them and perpetuate the ills that hurt others?  Why is it such a conundrum?

Giving Thanks - Part 2

As I began and continued writing this blog three years ago, I only measured how much it was being read by the comments that were posted. And oh, how my self-worth as a blogger was dependent on those comments. I was much like the teenage girls who check to see how many "likes" or followers they have on Instagram. It was only a week ago (yes, I am slow) that I discovered the Blogger Stats page on my dashboard. Oh, there are the real numbers. Well then.

And it was on that stats page that I realized more and more people are reading my Giving Thanks - Part 1 post. That was my very last post in 2011 - with no Part 2! I had promised to tell of "...how God's hand was such a part of those few days from October 4th through the 7th. Days that could possibly only be described by someone as a nightmare. Yet there were so many glimpses of His presence, His Holy Spirit moving among us, His unexpected - and unexplained - gifts and blessing."

And I fell short and broke my promise. (Now this post is pretty graphic, but I feel it needs to be told so that you can understand the magnitude of how I feel the glimpses of God were so evident.)

After my father-in-law's funeral on October 7, 2011, my parents, grandmother and two sons left for my parents' home a little over an hour away. My husband and I waved goodbye and went back to his mother's to decompress. Around an hour later, we received a call from my brother-in-law that there had been a terrible one-car accident. A tire had blown and my parents' SUV had flipped three times.

Herein lies the first blessing.  My sister and brother-in-law had left the funeral before my parents. They stopped at a convenience store and, therefore, ended up behind them and drove up on the wreck site. They were the first on the scene. Somehow, Sumter was able to get out of his seatbelt and crawl out of one of the broken windows. They saw him standing on the side of the interstate beside the overturned SUV. My sister was immediately able to comfort Sumter as well as assess the situation. (She works as a physical therapist in the trauma unit.). Do I believe God had a hand in them being the first on the scene? Absolutely, I do.

But no such luck for Jackson. He was still trapped inside, eyes squeezed shut to block out the blood-soaked view of my mother, but not the sound of the moans of both my parents. My grandmother was halfway thrown from the vehicle and her leg was on his shoulder. His seatbelt was stuck and he couldn't get out.

But herein lies the second blessing.  Jackson tells us that he didn't get out by himself. He says an African-American man with dreadlocks and a Yankees baseball cap came up to the SUV and asked, "Hey, buddy. Can you get out?" (This was a man he says he saw just moments before the accident in a green car. He says the man smiled and waved to him as he drove by.) Jackson told him that he couldn't. The man got box cutters, cut the seatbelt and helped him climb out. Jackson swears this happened. He can describe the man and his voice. But no one else saw or talked to this man. We've asked my sister and brother-in-law. We've asked other witnesses. We've asked the highway patrol. We've even seen photos. There were no African-Americans in any of the photographs. No green car anywhere near the site. That's crazy, we thought. This was a wreck that made the AP news wire and was even on the evening news in other parts of the country. This was a wreck that held up traffic for many miles and hours. No one just leaves the scene of a wreck of that magnitude. No one... but an angel. And we hold on to that truth. Do I believe God had a hand in that deadlocked angel in a Yankees cap? Absolutely, I do.

Both of my parents were airlifted to the trauma center where my sister works. Sumter and Jackson were both banged up pretty badly and were taken to the same hospital, but they were ok. I found this out from my brother-in-law's phone call. But as many times I asked, he wouldn't say anything about my grandmother. I don't know whether it was because he didn't want to tell me on the phone or because he alone had just witnessed her last moments alive.

And herein lies the last blessing I will share. My sweet Muz was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown halfway out of the SUV. I still don't know all of the details of how she was found by my brother-in-law in relation to the vehicle. I'm not sure I want to know. What I do know is that she was pinned. She was breathing. Her eyes were closed. Her body was in shock. But her last moments were with my brother-in-law holding her head and praying over her. And then she died.  How beautiful is that? After something so violent and sudden, to have your granddaughter's husband, a Godly, faithful man who loves you and you love back, usher you out of your life on here on earth to your eternal life in heaven. Do I believe God had a hand in that?  Absolutely, I do.

So there they are. The glimpses of God and His involvement in even the most tragic circumstances in our lives. The reminders that He is in control. The promises that He will bless even the most painfuland incomprehensible times. And for these I am grateful.

What more was there to know?

I was all ready to rant. I was irritated and angry at the news - both from the left and right. I was doing research and was ready to write - and rant. And I did. I wrote about bias and opinions and agendas. I ranted for quite a long time. And then I stopped and read it. Ugh. Usually, writing makes me feel better. But this did not. It was rambling. It was quite unsatisfactory.

And my mind kept coming back to an article I read during my "research". It was an Op-Ed piece from the Huffington Post by Shane Windmeyer, the Executive Director of Campus Pride and (past) vocal protestor of Chick-fil-a over comments made by Dan Cathy, CEO. In Windmeyer's own words, "...the whole nation was aware that Dan was 'guilty as charged' in his support of a 'biblical definition' of marriage. What more was there to know?"

What more was there to know? That is the question so many of us have when we read something on Facebook or Twitter, or watch a segment on our morning news show of choice. We read or hear what we want to read or hear. Our mind is made up almost instantly. We form passionate opinions based on Tweets and sound bites. We are sucked in and we regurgitate with relish.

But there is so much more to know. In the article "Dan and Me: My Coming Out as a Friend of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-a", Windmeyer tells how he received a phone call from Cathy during the height of the protests and, over time, the two developed a friendship and respect for the other. When I read this, I was blown away. (Take a few minutes and read it for yourself.) Here were two men of decidedly different views, belief systems and experiences. How easy would it have been for them to smear each other and continue to polarize an already divisive - and newsworthy - issue. But their perspectives - and therefore, lives - were changed because they asked What more was there to know?

Can you imagine what our lives might be like if we all asked that question? How broken relationships could be mended? How much more compassionate we could be with those around us? How much more respectful and understanding we could be with people whom we disagree? How our lives might be changed? How others lives might be changed?

So ask yourself What more was there to know?

Fifteen

When I was younger, I just knew I was going to be the mom of girls. I was going to have blonde haired, blue eyed cherubs with smocked dresses and bows bigger than their heads. I would buy them Madame Alexander dolls when they were young and then take them to get their ears pierced on their eleventh birthday (and not a moment sooner). We would hit the Clinique counter for makeup lessons and then take mother/daughter trips together before they went off to college. I had it all planned out. Never did it cross my mind that I would ever have boys. Having only a sister, I knew nothing of that species.

But oh, does God have a sense of humor. Not only one son did I bear, but two. I've written about both of them in past posts, but I haven't written in three years. And a lot can happen in three years. Sumter is now a sophomore and Jackson is in middle school. Both are in new schools with (some) new interests and friends. Their personalities continue to evolve and they are growing into the men they will become.

Sumter was in seventh grade in 2011. And even without the tragedy that affected our family that fall, he was pretty awful. Stinky and gross awful. Sarcastic and argumentative awful. And when I mean awful, I mean "ship him off to a deserted island until he was twenty-five" awful. Now don't shake your head at me and think judgemental thoughts about me - because you've had the same fantasies about your kiddos too. And if you haven't, it's only because you lived on Xanax and Vicodin cocktails for the majority of their childhood.

 Anyway, back to Sumter.

Three years have passed. And I have to say I love fifteen. I love the maturity that has bloomed and the take charge attitude that has evolved. I love the conversations that we have - adult conversations. I love the fact that when just the two of us are out, he looks out for and takes care of his mama. I love that we have the same warped sense of humor and I can now share a perhaps a little inappropriate joke with him and he gets it. (Is that really all that bad?!) I love that he has opinions about important issues - even if I may not completely agree with him. I love that he gets on to his younger brother for being sassy to me. (Well, maybe I don't love that because it turns into a big argument.) I love that he's more focused on school and  thinking about his future. I love that he is no longer in his skateboarder phase and likes more preppy (albeit more expensive $$$) clothing.  I love that his faith is so strong that not being able to attend his Young Life Bible Study can be used as a consequence for not fulfilling family or school obligations. I love that he texts me "I love you Mom" for no reason. I just love lots of things.

And can you guess what grade Jackson is in? Yep, he's in seventh grade. Perhaps I'll write about him in three years... after my Xanax and Vicodin cocktails.

Be the Reason

Have you ever taken one of those quizzes on Facebook? Don't lie, you know you have. Well earlier today, I took "What Your Life Motto Should Be". So after taking the quiz and thinking my answer was so cliche, I took it again with my second choice answers. I then took it for the third time with some of the same answers as the first time and some of the answers from the second time. My (so-called) life motto was always the same: Be the reason someone smiles today. Vomit.

I saw the comments from other people with their results. Theirs were so much more real and authentic. I wanted theirs. Theirs were "If you can dream it, you can achieve it" and "When writing the story of your life, don't let anyone else hold the pen for you" and "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain".

Again, here is what my life motto should be according to the all-knowing creator of aforementioned Facebook quiz:

"Be the reason someone smiles today" - Don't forget to spread some of your happiness around. You are lucky, you have a lot of great things going on in your life to be thankful for, and a lot of light within you that you can share with others...

And again, vomit. Bleh, bleh, bleh. Whoever created this Pulitzer Prize winning quiz does not have a clue. Because we are going through some rough times right now. My husband is still not 100% since his "gall bladder explosion" back in February (if you have no idea what I am talking about, click here), and the closing of Tea Garden Gifts has certainly taken its toll. Life is not all golden. I worry a lot. And I grow weary. I get tired and anxious. I cry.

And then HE reminds me - again. (Because I forget over and over and over and over) HE whispers to me, "My precious, precious child. Times are rough right now. You do have a lot on your plate. It's does look dark. But you do have a light inside of you: ME. I am the Light that shines in your darkness. In your worry. In your anxiety. I am the Lion, who will mightily overcome, and the Lamb, who will gently guide you." Wow.

And then I remember HIS promise to me:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

And I guess as long as I can remember that, I can be the reason someone smiles today.