It's True.......You Can't

There's an old saying....."you can't go home, again".........and maybe if you can, you shouldn't.

A friend and I decided to make a trip, while in Des Moines, down SW 9th Street. For approximately 13 years, I had worked in an office at the end of a small strip mall on that street. The man, for whom I worked, owned a chain of McDonald's Restaurants and a chain of Camelot Dry Cleaners.

We drove from Fleur Drive across Bell over to SW 9th. Nothing looked the same - everything had changed. Of course, I had to take into consideration that it had been well over 30 years!

I suddenly realized that we were passing what looked like the small strip center, so we turned around and went back. Mike pulled the car into the parking lot, and I decided to get out and go into what was once the old Vegas Corp. offices. It was now an eVape shop.

Once inside, I explained (to the very unconcerned young man behind the counter) why I was there. I asked if I could look around.....but it had changed so much.....I recognized nothing.

Have you ever wished you'd just left your memories alone?  

Here I was.....a grown woman who was revisiting memories of 30+ years......and in an eVape shop I felt the tears building in my eyes. What, in the world, would Arch Madden think? He didn't smoke. Would he approve of this?

As I walked outside, I realized that the fish pond that had been outside the office had been replaced with rocks, and the

beautiful rock wall was now just stucco. 

All those memories of years gone by had flooded my mind. 

How could things have changed so much? Why had things changed so much? Where had all the years gone? Where had all the people gone?


The office wasn't the same. The McDonald's Restaurant was gone....there wasn't even one, anywhere, on SW 9th! The lot, where the McDonald's had been was empty except for a storage building.

The strip mall wasn't the same.........everything had changed.....except what had existed in the "Memory Book in my Mind."

When someone says "you can't go home, again".....it's true. And even if you can.......you probably shouldn't!!

Do You Ever Wonder........

I'm not quite sure where the name "Sluggy" came from, but my two Texas granddaughters gave Douglas Bynum that name when they were younger.  And, it stuck. 

Strangely enough, they called Hilda Grace "Mary" (that was her mother's name - but Miss Mary died before they were even a gleam in their mother's eye.)

On Saturday, granddaughter Sydney and I went to Meridian, to the hospital, to visit Sluggy. Neither of us was prepared for what we saw. 

He wasn't the Sluggy that Sydney remembered - nor was he the Doug that I remembered. We both knew that he was in the end of life stages - or as a cousin says he was about to finish his journey.

He didn't know we were there. The visit was more for us and for "Mary" than for Sluggy. It brought back memories of the final days of Sydney's "Papaw."  

Late last night, we received the text message that the time was getting close - and then, the final "he's gone" message came.

With the message came a sense of peace because he was no longer in pain and suffering, but it brought sadness to this house where Sluggy and Mary had celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary just three years, earlier.

My mind wandered to times gone by. Doug and Bob would often collaborate in the shop. Bob would loan patterns to Doug and they would plane boards for things that were being built. When we built our house, Doug made the screens for the sun porch. 

Doug loved jokes - and he would often tell them over and over. He liked to talk about his time in Korea during the Korean War, and if he started the "telling"....you were held hostage until he finished his story.

I began to wonder,  what really goes on in Heaven?  Are there Golf Courses? Are there Woodworking Shops? Do old friends get together? Do they really look down on us and protect us? 

I'm going to remember the Doug that I knew and not the one that I saw, on Saturday. As granddaughter Sydney said, "I want to remember the Sluggy that walked up to Papaw's shop - that's the one I want to remember."

RIP, Doug....and if there's a Woodworking Shop in Heaven...I know that you are already there.

Do you ever wonder???

Prayers for Jerry Shepherd .......

I've been a little "under the weather" lately, so blogging has been slow (well, non-existent.)

In my previous blog, I discussed the upcoming (next month) "Author Extravaganza" at Main Street Books in Hattiesburg, MS. Main Street is owned by Jerry and Dianne Shepherd who are also very involved in community life.

After retiring from the Petal School System as a Principal, Jerry and Dianne, who had retired from USM, opened Main Street Books in 2002. They are tireless promoters of local authors.

Last week, on October 31st while I was having a Heart Cath in the Laurel, MS hospital, Jerry Shepherd was undergoing surgery, in Hattiesburg's FGH, for a Brain Tumor that had been discovered, just days before.

My diagnosis was better than Jerry's. The Brain Tumor is a Glioblastoma - which is a very aggressive type of brain cancer.

This sweet man, and his family is desperately in need of prayers.

Our family has had two occurrences with this type of cancer. It's unforgiving, relentless, and severe.

Prayers for you, Jerry Shepherd....and for your family.
#Glioblastoma  #JerryShepherd  #MainStreetBooks #PetalSchoolSystem