Positive Thought of the Day:
The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege. -- Charles Kuralt
Positive Affirmation: I am a positive influence in the lives of others.
Three Action Steps:
1. Support Ian with any decisions he makes about school.
2. Make time for Janie even though my day is extremely busy.
3. Spend time playing with Kayden.
I have to keep reminding myself that money is not important. More and more doctor appointments all the time. Ian doesn't qualify for financial aid for school. I'm so frustrated! If this cancer thing hadn't happened, everything would have been different. But . . . here I am, and this is life. I have to deal. There are days that it gets to me, but then I remember that I made a commitment to be positive no matter what. So, lets turn this rant around. Ian is incredibly talented and resourceful. So, he will work then go to school just like his mommy did. I did it, and I am fine. The doctor appointments are necessary. Without them, I can't be healthy. So, I will enjoy spending time with family and friends while I travel back and forth to the multitude of medical appointments. Luckily, I can make payments on my medical bills. Yes, my life is changed, but it's a good life. We have a beautiful home. We have each other. So, today, I choose to focus on my family and not on my wealth or lack there of.
New Worlds Chapter 11
As for me, I went back home one week after Chuck's going away party. The day before I left, Aunt Tootie came into Vicky's room where I was packing my things into the little brown suitcase. She was holding something behind her back, but I couldn't see what it was. She handed me four leather bound books. She laid Rumer Gooden's Black Narcissus, Ruth Moore's Candlemas Bay, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the Durbervilles, and Pearl S. Buck's Pavilion of Women on the bed next to me. With a creak of bedsprings and a smile she said, "I noticed that these hadn't been polished yet."
"Oh," I said as a warm blush spread over my cheeks and down my neck.
"I want you to take these home with you. I've put a little note inside the Moore book, but don't read it until you get home."
Then, she threw her arms around me and said, "I love you, Marie. You are always welcome here."
I choked back the tears and said, "I love you too, Aunt Tootie."
The next morning Mom was there and in a great hurry. We loaded my suitcase with the books and my new clothes tucked carefully on the bottom into the back seat. Then, we rolled away in our used car with the rusted fender and phantom rattle. I watched Aunt Tootie's house fade away until all that I could see was a small chocolate dot on the horizon.
I had tucked one special book into the back pocket of my rolled up jeans. I couldn't wait to get all the way home before I opened the cover of the Ruth Moore novel to read Aunt Tootie's note. I carefully unfolded it and held it flat on my knees so that the vibration of the car rolling toward Highway 99 wouldn't blur the words. Through tears I read the note from Aunt Tootie. It simply said: Dear Marie, I want you to know that we are always here for you. The worlds in these books are yours to come to whenever you need them. Always remember that you are capable of great things. Never pass up an opportunity to explore and discover. With love, Aunt Tootie.
I thought about Vicky probably just now sitting down at the wooden kitchen table to eat a hearty breakfast placed before her by Uncle Bob, and I thought about my little brother, Woody, who was probably already in the back yard making mud pies. Kathryn would be screaming at him to wipe his feet, because she was the one who had to do all the work, and she shouldn't have to clean up after a little snot-nosed brother on top of everything else. And Woody would be yelling to Dad, "Kathryn called me snot-nosed!" I was sure that Kathryn would be there when I got home cooking dinner, banging pots and pans around so that everyone would know that she hated being stuck in the kitchen. I thought about the party at Inez's where Uncle Bob had danced with me all around the little dirt yard. Then, I thought about Daddy who would be sitting in his favorite green tweed chair -- the one with the hole in the arm and the cigarette burns in the seat. He would put his newspaper down and give me a big hug when I got home. I would have to be careful not to hug back too hard so that I wouldn't put any pressure on those ribs that had been broken way back when he had the accident. Dad always got angry with Mom when she was gone all day, which was most days, so there would most likely be yelling. Ah, the sounds of home. I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait for all of those things that were so familiar to me, but I also couldn't wait to dive into the new and strange things that would be found in those books packed away at the bottom of my tattered brown suitcase. And, once school started back up, I could walk to the library on my way home from school.
Mom's voice broke into my thoughts, and asked "Did you have fun at Aunt Tootie's?"
"Yeah," I answered, and we traveled farther and farther away from Oakdale and closer and closer to home.