Merge Rebels

There are a lot of traffic rules which chaff the fool out of me but I don't think I am a rebel.
I try to follow rules.
Really.
Rules are usually created for our good and since I am a rational person, I try not to rebel.

However, there are a few which scream to be broken. Ones such as...
**35 mph on Republican Rd, (Weepyseeds author just paid a $200 ticket for breaking this rule)
**45 mph on the deserted 5 miles stretch of Batesville Pike (Weepyseeds author pulled over but received no ticket)
**4-way Stop sign at Olmstead, Arkansas. It would be a traffic jam is 2 cars arrived there at the same time, much less 4.


But there is one traffic rule which I follow and it drives me nuts when others do not. I think the reason it bothers me so badly is because it goes against Southern Hospitality.
It reminds me of being in elementary school when the class bully or the obnoxious kid would race to the front of the line. All of us meek rule-followers wanted to be at the front on the line, but we didn't manipulate the circumstances to get there.

My frustrating traffic rule has to do with lane closures and "merging".

I get all irritated with the drivers who refuse to merge left (or right) when instructed! They have a mile's worth of warning to merge and yet, they race breakneck to the last possible moment and then put on their measly little blinkers to signal that they are finally ready to follow the rules.
Now,....I'm not prone to road rage at all, but I garandernteeya that this chick will get all mean-spirited and spiteful as I work my way to the front of the lane.
There is no way on God's green earth that those traffic merge-rebels will force/insert/inch their way in front of MY bumper! In fact, if I had my way, they'd sit right there on the pavement under that flashing LANE ENDS! sign until the freeway is EMPTY!!!

silence

(deep sigh)

I feel better.

By the way, Ralph is not a typical merge rebel. He's worse!
When I'm in the passenger seat beside him, he will let every merge rebel go in front of him just to spite me.
He says he's just being nice, but I know better.
Even though I've never smoked, I'll almost need a cigarette by the time he gets me past the bottleneck.

Are you a merge rebel?

On Stage

For some reason, I've had one thought on my mind all day long:

The earth is a stage and Heaven is the audience.

Is that original?

Did I make that up?

or was it Shakespeare? :)

Not too long ago, I cared for an elderly patient who had been devastated by a stroke. He could barely move and his speech had been reduced to unintelligible mumbling.
It was late in the evening and I entered his room and began to reposition him for his first few hours of sleep.
The door was closed.
The curtains were pulled.
As I often do, I leaned over his bed and began to softly sing Amazing Grace.
He closed his eyes and with his garbled slurred voice, began to sing along with me. The words were so slurred in fact, that had I not known the song, I wouldn't have recognized it.
He was out of breath at the end, and we were both in tears but we finished all the verses I knew.

Without a doubt, it was one of my most poignant moments in my career.
I imagine that all of Heaven paused to hear that man's song of praise.

The earth is a stage and Heaven is the audience

Amanda is in Heaven

Please pray for Amanda's family, the precious young girl whose family blog has been linked

to mine for a couple of years.

Amanda's life has been so inspiring to me during her illness , especially during

these past few hard months.

It's comforting to me that she and Jae may meet each other soon.

I wish I knew how all that works.

My heart breaks for Amanda' family.

My heart still breaks for mine.

"I thank my God for every remembrance of you"

Philippians 1:3

Casey Leigh Russell, Bachelors of Science

This was a BIG weekend for the Russell family.

Casey Leigh Russell's name was called off in the middle of about a half-million other graduates at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. To Ralph and I however, the tedious three hour ceremony was well worth sitting through the 3 seconds of watching her walk across the stage.
(I doubt our 15 guests thought the same thing but they blessed us deeply with their presence!)

So many emotions! I am filled with pride at her accomplishment but I swear as she walked back to her seat, I thought her facial expression was the same one we photographed in her kindergarten play back in 1994.
Casey has had an intense dislike (!) of school since about the 5th grade and I am relieved she finally finished! I can not tell you how many times we had to convince her to "stay".
She would have been a high school dropout in her junior year, but instead she chose to skip her senior year and graduate early. Her sophomore year at the University we, once again, thought she might drive up our driveway with all her belongings in the back of her truck. Rough doesn't describe that year and it had little to do with academics.

I'd describe some big moments but Casey isn't like that. Unlike her daddy and momma, she's the quiet-private type.

Lots of emotions from missing Jae Lynn at such a huge family marker-moment but tried oh so hard to suppress them and focus on the joy of the occasion.

Mothers Day.
Graduation.

I'm feeling blessed.