Ghost Stories

Hey Friend!

How are ya?? How is it that we are nearly at October’s doorstep? How is it that I haven’t written here in forever? Promise me one thing, okay guys? Promise me that you’ll come and steal all of the Diet Cokes in my fridge if I take that long to write again. Okay? Okay.

I seriously hope that while I have been slacking, you have been kicking butt. In your business. In your art. In your workouts. Just in whatever it is you do.

A few days ago while I was not writing, ahem, I was watching one of my favorite creepy shows, Unsolved Mysteries. While I claim to be a semi adult, there are still segments of that show that I’d rather not watch alone. This episode dealt with a haunted bed and breakfast. There are reports of at least 5 ghosts that hang around there.

In the days after my dad passed away, I would dream about him. We’d be sitting at the dinner table laughing and joking, and I’d look at him and say “Dad, you aren’t here.” And he’d smile at me and say “I know.” If I stopped in a certain spot in the hallway I could smell his green Polo cologne.

Let me clarify something here. I do not believe in ghosts. I don’t believe you go to a holding place when you die, and have to fulfill some sort of special deed to get to go to the light. But you know what? When my dad passed away, memories of every single time I told him I was too busy to help, visit, or just play a simple game of checkers with him, absolutely freaking killed me. My heart hurt when I thought about it.

Regrets. That’s what this post is about. Those thing left undone, those memories we refuse to let go of, those are the ghosts I speak of tonight. Our brains are funny things. They will hang on to something even if it hurts us. It will remind us of those things at the worst possible times. But you know what? It may just be time to let go.

I know my dad would not want me to remember the bad times when I think of him. He’d rather I remember the times he made me french fries, and we talked about how he danced in the 50s. My point is, who are we really hurting by hanging on to those old, bad memories? No one but ourselves.

I don’t have a special prescription on how to this. For me, prayer and handing them over to God helps. Playing one of my dads’ favorite songs helps. Reminding myself that I’m human, and I am allowed to make mistakes helps.

Maybe it’s time you let your ghosts go. Let them leave and go on to the light. Let the bad memories be replaced by good ones. Let the past become the past. Don’t look back, just keeping going forward.One step at a time.

Well, that’s my two cents tonight. Keep on rolling friends, and please save me at least one Diet Coke.

Blessings and peace,

Helen

Too Much

Hey Good Looking, 

I hope your week is going well, and you’re kicking bootie out there!! 

My Summer hiatus/vacation/spending time with my younger brother is still going strong, so I apologize for not writing in a while. I had some thoughts tonight, and wanted to share them with you. 

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at my brother’s house in Limestone County TX, 85 or so miles from Dallas, when my phone pinged. My favorite reporter Jason Whitely was at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Dallas, and something had gone wrong. There was an active shooter. Before the next dawn broke, five officers would be dead, and my safe “too close to home” world was shattered. 

As on 9-11, the biggest thing I wanted was information. On the officers condition, on the shooter, on his motives, on what I could do to help. I remember clearly switching radio stations that Fall day, trying to find someone with information. 

But now a days we have all the technology at our fingertips. By picking up a smart phone, we are connected to Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and a host of other news websites. My brother didn’t get the Dallas news channels on his TV, so I followed along with the story, almost exclusively from the Twitter accounts of my favorite reporter and my favorite news station WFAA. 

And there in lies the problem. We have all of the information literally in our hand. We can sit on the couch and learn the world news, the scores to any baseball game, or the weather for the next 10 days. We can make plans for dinner, find a new recipe, talk to a celebrity, mock the opposition’s candidate. All while sipping a Diet Coke. We barely have to get out of our living room to live. 

Which makes me question, is it all too much? Our grandparents, our parents, even some of us had to go to the library to do research, look in the paper for our news, or even just to the kitchen to look up a recipe. 

Has too much information left us lazy or more connected? Has our ability to automatically see where our neighbors have gone on vacation, stopped us from actually asking them about their travels? 

When is too much online living too much? 

Just wondering. Save me a cold Diet Coke friend, and keep on rolling!! 

Helen 

Who Left Us In Charge?

Hey There,

Here we are at the beginning of a new week. I sincerely hope you are taking steps to change your corner of the world. Even if it’s just  you getting up of the couch and walking around your block. Or smiling at people in line with you at the grocery store. Or following your long lost dream.

It’s been a hard, devastating, crazy, horrific weekend, hasn’t it?! Well if it hasn’t for you, it was for me. I cannot wrap my head around what happened in Orlando. I can not fathom that 50 people who were laughing, hurting, breathing, being one minute, were not the next.

And to tell you the truth, it disappointed me that some fellow Christians shied away from mentioning it, because of where the attack happened. I don’t care if they were gay, straight, black, brown, white, pink, or purple, no one deserves to die like that.

I started thinking about something today. Who left us in charge? Who decided that we were grown up enough to handle this world and it’s responsibilities? For example, I am babysitting 6 kids this Summer. Who exactly decided that I was mature enough to handle that? I mean I barely follow through on stuff I set out to do. Yet I have babysat for over 20+ kids in the last 14 years.

I once read a meme that said something about realizing an “adult needed to handle a situation, realizing you are an adult, and then looking around for an adult-ier adult.”Who decided that at 16, you could get behind the wheel of a two ton vehicle, and be responsible for not killing anyone with it. Who decided that at 18, you were old enough to serve your country? Who decided that at 21, you’d be cool to have a few drinks in you, and also to go vote? Who got to decide all that? Did they make the right call? I don’t think we’ll ever know.

But if there’s one thing I do know is that Jesus has left us in charge of making disciples for Him:

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

I don’t believe that He meant we should do that by fear, rudeness, name calling, protests,  or beating people into submission. One of my favorite pastors Pete Wilson always says people who were least like Jesus, liked Jesus. They’d just hang out with them.

And yes, He taught them the truth, but they sought Him out to listen to Him. We were told to be salt and flavor the world, not to be salty and rub it in their open wounds. When the last time someone sat and listened to us, just because they knew we knew Jesus?

Like I said earlier, it’s just something I was thinking about…..

Well save me a Diet Coke friend, and keep on rolling!!  Blessings and Peace,

Helen

 

 

Columbo Campers And Summers

Howdy Folks!!!

So how have you been, friend? Ducking into phone booths to switch into your Clark Kent outfit and changing the world, perhaps? Do they even make phone booths now a days? Anyways (snaps fingers and points forward), moving on.

You are long overdue for an update, and there are a few things I need to share with you.

#1. First and foremost, God is gooooood!! We’ve been praying for an answer to a family situation for 2 years. And God answered last week! We cannot put our praise into words yet.

#2. I am back in my camper trailer, the HeardCamper. We figured out that the leaks were coming from minor things, like the water tank pump and water heater. Who needs those? Haha, totally kidding! But we found a way to bypass the water pump, so it’s out. We also took out the water heater, but have yet to figure out how to get warm showers without that, so a new one it is.

Between my nephew and stepdad, my bad floors were covered with good strong plywood instead of the particle board that had been in there. I was without running water for a while, as we had to disconnect all of the plumbing. But that was fixed as well. It’s getting there.

Also, I have named my camper Columbo, because there is always one more thing that it needs. Lol! I crack myself up.

 

#3. Summer’s here and the time is right for….. visiting. I have babysat for the same little girl for two years now. Her mom is a teacher at the local school so she and I both have Summers off. I decided I would come and hang with my brother and sister in law, who live in another little town in Texas.

My plan was to watch my niece, get a lot of writing done, and rest. Well they say when men make plans, God laughs. My brother knew a lady that needed a babysitter, and so now I am watching 6 kids from 1 to 10, and have only just begun to write. But technically it’s not Summer until June 21st, right?

So now you are in the know of all of the hip happenings, here in my corner of Texas. I hope you come back to visit me here on the blog soon. And I promise I will write about more than just my Summer. Maybe. You never know what God has planned…..

Save me a diet coke friend, and keep on rolling.

Helen

Yeah, It’s Like That — A Personal Update

Howdy Folks,

How’s it going guys? I truly mean it when I say I hope you are out there changing the world. Whether it’s by a story, song, smile, or whatever else. Just go do something!!

Well the last two weeks have been kinda crazy around here. Ever been on a merry go round? When you get off the ride you feel sick, and wonder why the heck you were even on there. Then you forget all that, and go again. Yeah, it’s been like that.

And where exactly did the time in the past two weeks go? Where does our unused time go?? Anyways, I thought I’d pop on over, and give you an update. You know I’ll bring the Diet Coke, here’s hoping you have chips and dip handy.

I had posted a few weeks ago about my trailer camper having a leak. Well, my stepdad John  and I ended up gutting the kitchen. I mean everything was taken out. The next day, he developed some bad chest pains, so I kept telling him “hey we’re not in a big hurry, we just need to get it done.”

By that Friday John was hurting pretty bad, so I called my nephew Dalton to come over and help. We started working on pulling up the floors. It was extremely slow going!! We were pulling up particle board, so it was like tearing through layer after layer of splinters. While we were doing that, my nephew asked me about selling the camper, and getting a cabin. He and my soon to be nephew (by marriage) would do the work on it.

So the Heard Camper was put up for sale. One day I received a “someone wants to come see it, they may buy it, so you might want to get your stuff out” text from my nephew who had posted it for me. That led to hurried packing, and throwing all kind of things in boxes, and taking my hang up clothes to moms. That was followed by a “they never got back to me” text.

A wedding, and a baby shower on the past two weekends, and the message that we were only going to get half of what we wanted for the camper, was enough to get me to say uncle. I told my nephew to remove the listing, and I would go about fixing up the camper how I had wanted to in the first place.

For Mothers Day weekend, I had gone to spend the night with my brother and his wife. Mom and John were supposed to come to their house on Sunday. Early Sunday morning about 1 am, we got a phone call that John had had a heart attack, and that they were transferring him from our local hospital to Dallas. By almost 4, my brother, sister in law, mom, John, and I were sitting in a tiny room in the ER in Presbyterian Hospital.

When they got him in his own room, we all pretty much passed out wherever we could. That began 4 days of going to and from Dallas (about 60 miles away), trying to get the necessary things to Mom and John in the hospital, and taking care of their house and animals here. John had to have two stents put in, as he had 90% blockage in one artery.

Oh and while we were at the hospital, my nephew texts me with another offer for the camper. Because apparently, he had not removed the listing yet. This offer was only $600 less than what we were wanting for the trailer.So the day before John and Mom came home, their kitchen, craft room, and barn were full of my furniture, clothes, and household stuff.

My sweet, exhausted sister in law and her sister, came and helped me move everything out. Now the latest word is that this person will come on Saturday to look at, and buy the camper trailer. Things are looking up though. John is home, and is feeling better. Even though my mom who was a nurse for 50 years, has him on a heart healthy diet.And well since I don’t have a kitchen or appliances, I have been staying and eating with them. It’s been interesting to say the least. 

All of this reminds me of my favorite quotes. It’s from the movie Tombstone. Doc Holliday tells Wyatt: “There is no normal life Wyatt. It’s just life. Get on with it.” On to the next thing! But hoping and praying that it’s good news!!

Well friend, it seems we’ve run out of Diet Coke, so keep on rolling!! Blessings and peace!

Helen

 

Curses, Curses

Good Day,

How’s your Wednesday? Hopefully you’re out changing the world already!! It’s been a day or two since I’ve talked to you! I promise tomorrow you’ll get a nice juicy update. Well maybe not juicy, but at least a little flavored.

Speaking of flavored, and speaking of speaking, I wanted to talk to you about cursing. I have never pretended to be a perfect Christian, I am very much a work in progress. One of the battles I fight a lot is keeping my mouth clean. My thoughts though, are routinely punctuated by four letter words.

Having grown up with a mom who thought and still thinks, the word “butt” was/is a curse word, you wouldn’t think I’d have this problem. Say butt in front of her, and you will not only get “the eye,” but a lecture on how the appropriate word to use is bottom. Hiney is also acceptable. And don’t even think about using the word a– around her!!

My brother, who is now a pastor, and I used to cuss horribly when we got mad at each other as teenagers. I mean using ALL of the words. I’m not even sure where we got the words we hurled at each other, but we somehow had them in our arsenal. When we started following God, he lost all of those words, I of course did not.

My first experience with a curse word was at my sisters house. Some of the adults were sitting on the porch, and one man was talking about his ex wife. I still recall him looking around before he called her a bi—. I’m not sure what he was looking for, but it certainly wasn’t to see if any minors were present.

Now it is acceptable to curse even in front of kids. The first time I heard my four year old nephew say sh–, was an unpleasant, yet not unexpected experience. Being a babysitter,  I have heard a few other kids say some “off color” things.

I heard Pastor Robert Morris talk about cussing once. He mentioned that when you curse or damn things or people that you are actually damning and cursing them. So if you say “this damn car,” don’t expect your car to run right because you are cursing it. Which I have to admit I hadn’t thought of cussing that way before he said that.

Proverbs 18:21: Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.

 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.– Ephesians 4:29

According to these verses, I have a long ways to go.Something for me to work on, because if we were all perfect, we wouldn’t need Jesus.

I have to say I’ve also gotten pretty adept at “Christian cussing.” Substituting a word like crap, when I really mean, well you know. I think that might just be as bad. So if you here me say “ever lovin’ crap monkey,” you’ll know what I mean. I mean hiney Mom, I mean hiney.

Well save me a Diet Coke friend, and keep on rolling!! Blessings and Peace,

Helen

 

Minor Details

Well,

Hey there good looking! Made it to Saturday, did ya? Awesome possum. Hope you had a wonderful, kick butt week, last week. And I hope you’ll take time to worship God tomorrow, then be rested and ready to go again on Monday.

Me? I’ve always said I’d be straight with ya. I’m not going to pretend that life is all always rainbows and peanut m&ms. I’m sitting here on the floor, writing this post. My camper is a disaster!! I mean there’s a breaker box on my floor, wires hanging down from where we removed the stove, refrigerator, water heater, and furnace. The sink pipes are sticking up with no sink attached.

I finally plugged my camper back in tonight, and water started gushing out of one end. Of course the pump was still on, and when I went to turn on the TV, it did not. Because the outlet she is plugged into is apparently connected to something else. I’ve had to throw out two bowls of expensive dog food, since the ants keep finding it. And I am 100.99 percent positive that one of my sweet fur babies peed ON MY BED. MY BED, y’all!

But you know what those are? Minor details. Small setbacks. Just a little hitch in the plans. A speed bump, if you will. No I’m not feeding you some mind over matter crap. And I’ll admit there are some times when I want to chuck it all, have someone buy this camper, and move back in with my mom.

The definite good thing about the minor details in life, is that we can have a do over. Or two. Or ten. No one will get sick or die if my house stays a mess for a day, or week or two. It’s simply an inconvenience for me. I can spray for ants. My floors will be done next week. Everything on my bed can be washed (thank You Lord for mattress protectors).

I know we’re all human and sometimes life does get us down and the little things do add up. All I mean is maybe it’s time we stop “majoring on the minor details,” and realize that there are bigger and more important things out there that need our time and energy. Maybe I need to remember to take a deep breath, grab a Diet Coke, plug in the headphones, start up Pale Blue Jak, and realize it WILL be okay.

Just something to think about. As is this (one of my favorite) quote by Doc Holliday in Tombstone:  “There’s no normal life, Wyatt, it’s just life. Get on with it.“

Save me a Diet Coke my friend. Keep on rolling, blessings and peace!!

Helen

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A Huge Pain In The Gut

 

 

Howdy Folks,

Hope your day has gone great!! It’s almost Friday! I’m still not entirely sure why we get all excited about Fridays, other than the fact that we can sleep in on Saturdays. At least that’s why I get excited for them.

How have I been? Not too good. Right now, I’m in pain. I have these blisters that break out in my mouth when I get really worried or stressed. Which you think would be a deterrent to that, but I’m a little hard headed. It’s a bit like having a bad sinus headache, a toothache, and biting your tongue all at once. No es bueno!

Last night I was in a lot of pain, so I only walked a mile and then came home. This morning I woke up pretty much pain free. I was in a good mood, determined to have a good day! And then I realized my heating vent had filled with water. That shouldn’t happen, fyi. I went to sop up the water with paper towels, and water started gushing in to the vent. Somehow I had angered it.

After peeling back the layer of linoleum, I saw:

Then my stepdad came over, and he started telling me about things like replacing the kitchen floor (which I knew moving into the camper that that would have to be done), buying plywood, moving cabinets, finding leaks, and other such minor details. I promptly did what any stressed out person would do. I burst into tears.

After that, I cleaned out my lower cabinets, and we got to work. Then we started talking. About how I had never had, and never will actually use the gas stove. And how the sink could be moved over to the other side. And how the refrigerator isn’t deep enough. And somehow, looking for a leak in the floor turned into gutting my camper’s kitchen.

Which seems bad now, because I have no water, no electricity, no appliances, and oh yeah, no kitchen!! But the cool part is that I get to customize my kitchen now. I get to get new floors, new appliances, and an entire new floor plan!! Something I thought was going to stress me out even more and cause a lot of grief, has actually turned into something good.

That got me to thinking. Isn’t that just like life? Things get thrown  at us out of nowhere. Plans change. People betray us. Life hurts us. Sometimes, it even just plain sucks. But if we look hard enough, maybe we can find the good in even that. The compassion of a family member to lean on, the friend rising up to have your back. The ability to rebuild.

Now I’m not all sunshine and rainbows. I know that some of you might be going through horrible things. There are people out there truly suffering. I’m not saying I believe in giving them a simple “look for the silver lining” quote, and then walking away skipping while they’re lying there bleeding. We also have to be willing to get down in the trenches, and fight and cry with people too.

For most of us (like me), pain of any kind is something we try to avoid at all costs. But sometimes it can serve a purpose. It can warn us when something is dangerous, and it is part of our physical and emotional growth. Pain can defeat us, or it can push us. We can let it fester and drive us under, or we can use it as a step stool to the next level. Each one of us has to decide what we will do with pain, for ourselves.

As I told you earlier, I went to bed last night in pain. This morning I opened up my Youversion app to read my Bible plan. The first suggestion it had for a new plan? “The Problem With Pain” was the title. It was about recognizing what causes you pain, and  finding healing in it. Because of course. I think God might be trying to tell me something :).

Tweet me home, or find me on the face book.

Well save me a Diet Coke my friend, I’ll bring the ice. Blessings and Peace!

Helen

 

Don’t Listen, Linda

Hey There,

How you doing? Yaay for you surviving Tuesday!! Is it only Tuesday?! Has it not been the longest most Monday-ish Tuesday in a long while? Goodness!

I’m a little embarrassed to tell how clever I think I am about this post’s title. I tried to get different combinations of the words hear, listen, and story to work, but alas and alack (what the heck does alack even mean?), this is the kind of humor in writing that I strive for. You’re welcome.

This past weekend, I was privileged to attend a ministers conference. My mom and brother are both ministers, and one of my favorite moments is when they linked hands with each other, and 14 other ministers, and prayed for each other. Very, very cool!!

My brother and his wife live out of town so during the conference, they got a room at one of our local hotels. They invited me to come spend the night with them. After we had gone swimming, and while I was waiting to change, a tweet popped up on my phone from one of my favorite Twitter peeps. He was joking around with a favorite singer of mine, and I though “wait, I can so join in on this conversation, and make another joke.” I typed it up, laughed in my head. But right before I hit send, it happened.

It, being that little voice in your head that says, “they don’t care about anything you have to say. You’ll just sound stupid.” These tweeters are what I would consider power tweeters, and for a second or two, I considered listening to that voice. Do you know what I did? I sent the tweet.

Nobody liked it, the other two tweeters didn’t even acknowledge it. But I had won. A small victory, but a victory none the less. You have that little voice in your head too. “Don’t write that post, no one will read it.” “Don’t tell that joke, no one’s going to think it’s funny.” “No body will even look at that painting.” That voice says all those things and more.

But you have to do something, not for me, but for you. You have to tell that voice to shut up! You have to do things anyway. Maybe no one will read your first blog post, but you will have written it. And then you’ll write another the next day, and then another, and…. That voice will probably never go away, but you will be able to turn down its volume over time.

You and you alone know the stories, dreams, and talents that are inside of you. And guess what? The rest of us would like to meet them. But the only way we can is for you to introduce them to us. Ignore that fear, and do it anyways. Don’t listen, Linda.

 

And for anyone who doesn’t know where “listen Linda” came from:

 

Save me a Diet Coke, and keep on rolling (stole that from Keith Harkin)! Blessings and peace!

Helen

The One Where She Talks About A Table

 

G’day,

How is your Saturdays eve’s eve going? I’m hoping great and good things are happening for you, my friend.

So yesterday was a bit of a funky day. I woke up late, and then was just in a mood. I got my work out in, but waited forever to go walking and didn’t write. Which is against my rules. When I finally did “sit down to write”, it was about 10:00 pm. So instead I found a new artist to listen to named Lesley Pike, after hearing her duet with CT’s Ryan Kelly.

Also, I moved my table yesterday when I cleaned house. I live in a camper, so this was fairly easy to do. I have been using that table as a writing desk. It was over by the big front window, where I could look out and daydream, ahem, I mean think.

There was a outlet a little to my right. Because of that, I could also plug my phone in right beside me when I wore down the battery from playing too much music, and continue listening. My notebook and calendar were right behind me on the kitchen cabinet. It was a perfect set up.

Then I moved the table, because I get really tired of having things the same for too long. How’s that for irony!! Now the table is on the other side of the room. There are NO plug ins on that side of the camper. And the more comfortable spot is with my back to the door. Anyone who has ever watched the Godfather knows, you sit where you can see the everloving door.

No, I’m not going to write an entire blog post about a table. Although I can feel and appreciate your hugs in my distress. I do think at times, that our brains get so wired in on one way to do things. We don’t even try anything new, because we know we can’t do it, we’ve already convinced our selves that it won’t work.

This post is being written standing at the kitchen cabinet, in between getting babies lunches and changing hineys. My last two weeks of blog posts were written sitting at that table, by the big window. Does that mean that the only spark of creativity I had sits at that table? Yes.

Totally kidding. True creativity is found wherever you are. Wherever you decide to think, draw, write, create, mold, inspire, sing, or capture your thoughts is where it resides. But it is all up to you. There’s no secret formula. No magic spell. No waiting till New Years. No putting it off until Monday.

There is just you. On a Thursday in April. Starting. Creating. Deciding. So quit thinking about whatever your “table” is. Let it go, and get your life on.

Well, save me a Diet Coke (my little neighborhood store was out :(). Blessings and peace!

Helen

Tweet me up, Scotty. And may the Facebook be with you!