Month: April 2025

Posted in life

Book Club

Posted on by Dede
Just finished

This is the third year I have participated in my library’s 50 books in 50 weeks in 50 categories book club. I like going to the monthly meetings but it’s not necessary. You can still participate without attending.

The challenge initially seemed overwhelming. I decided to try it because I had been limiting myself to only a couple of genres. It was time to branch out and explore. Fortunately the library supplies the categories and if you need help they can even provide you a list of books.

I just finished The Song of Achilles. I think everyone must remember reading The Iliad and The Odyssey in high school. They were long epic tales of Greek heroes and myths. This is a modern retelling of part of The Iliad.

Written in a contemporary voice it is a moving tale of love, friendship, power, arrogance, and sacrifice.

Without the library challenge I doubt I would have read many of the books, I’ve read over the past 2+ years. And some of them have become favorites. So do not limit yourself to one genre whether it’s in books, movies, music and even people. Branch out and explore.

Posted in life

Lack of care

Posted on by Dede

I ordered something from a department store. This is the state of the package upon arrival. It clearly has been torn open and hastily taped back together.

When I opened the package the handbag chain was broken. 3/4 of it was gone. The gold medallion on the bag had been torn off and placed back on.

Needless to say I wasn’t happy. I paid $10.95 for shipping. (An outrageous amount in my opinion). I drove 45 minutes to the store to return it.

Happily there was no problem with the return and they even credited me the shipping cost towards the new bag I ordered. Then they ordered the bag with no shipping cost added.

FedEx was the company which shipped the item. Belk was the department store. (A southern staple).

My question is why did FedEx continue to send a package clearly damaged during shipping. Why didn’t they return it to the store. It’s not like it was possible to miss the damage. I get many packages delivered mostly from USPS and UPS. It is a rare occasion if something arrives damaged. To be honest I don’t even remember receiving a damaged package from either of them.

Again I’m astounded at the utter lack of care by FedEx.

Posted in life

Too Quickly

Posted on by Dede

I always wanted more children. I have two daughters but God knew what was in my future.

When I became a nanny in the autumn of 2016 there was one boy, A, and he was 16 months old. It was love at first site. I knew God had brought me to this town to love and care for this child. The following autumn another boy, O joined the family in September. And in January 2021, a beautiful daughter came along.

I knew time raising my daughters had gone quickly, but for some unknown reason I had the idea time would move more slowly now. I was in for a rude awakening. Time had sped up, not slowed down.

My bonus grandchildren are now almost 10, 7.5 and 4. I swear they were just babies. I had several years before I was to be 65, lots of time ahead of me. Time does not cooperate and slow down during the good times or speed up in the bad times.

So here I am with no more babies, bonus grandchildren and grandchildren growing so quickly right before my eyes.

It’s a joy to watch them grow and learn, but it leaves a yearning in my heart for times that have past.

Posted in life

Times flies

Posted on by Dede

I arrived in Texas 40 years ago on April 1st. It was a full circle moment for me as I was born in Texas 25 years prior to arriving. I was young, had an 11 month old and a husband who had completed training to become an AA pilot.

His pay was $1500 a month, a big increase from the $800 a month we had been living on. Then three months later the pay was raised to $1800 a month, we received a $900 retroactive check. I knew we had landed in the promised land.

In fact it was a miracle we even were in Texas. Every class of new pilots before my husband’s class and every class after were sent to New York City as a base. It can only have been God for this single class to have been sent to Dallas-Fort Worth.

I reared two incredible daughters here. We made lots of wonderful memories together. A fork in the road appeared some 28 years later and now I am no longer married. 30 years married and 12.5 years divorced.

Texas has taken me on a journey. The road hasn’t been easy or smooth but it is filled full of happy memories.

As the climate of our country has changed, I’m seriously considering leaving the US and finding someplace more closely aligned with my values. Until then I’ll continue to walk this path that God put me on.