It's good to be #1.

As you can tell by my postings, I am the eldest. I am the eldest child, daughter and grandchild (on my dad's side.) Now that's a pretty big responsibilty. I have to set the example. I have to take care of the little ones. I am #1. At least that is what my mom has deemed me to be. It's kind of cute, when I call her at work and leave a message I say, "Tell her that her #1 called." And she always knows who it is.

I don't have children so I don't have a "number one" to pass the torch to. But I do have an abundance of neices and nephews. And they are all number one in some fashion, but alas there can only be one "number one." So I have decided to pass that torch to my Bon. She is the eldest grandchild, my sister's daughter. She has also made me so proud. She is so smart. So together. So beautiful. She is well worthy of such a title.

So Bon, here's to you. I deem you the next generation "Number One." I know you'll do me proud.
I love you. Aunt M.

Guardian Angel on Duty.

When I was going through my chemo I was blessed by the fact that I did not have to go to work. My wonderful husband supported me and took care of me. So I was at home everyday. I was bald from the chemo and very uncomfortable in public. But one day, at home, I heard my dogs barking like crazy... I looked out the window and saw that they were near the front fence carrying on like there was a strange creature about to enter their kingdom. I opened the door and ventured out further to see this creature. But, to my amazement, there walking up the road, jabbering away, was a small boy and a dog.

Now I live in a very rural area. In every direction you cannot see the neighbors for the trees. So I was very curious about this babe and dog. And he was a babe, he was so young that he couldn't even tell me his name. I didn't know what to think. Had he come down the hill from that neighbors house? or from the nieghbor that's closer to the main road? He couldn't tell me, the dog couldn't tell me. So I grabbed him up and walked to both neighbors - neither were at home.

So I took him into the house to call my husband. You should have heard that conversation:
"Hi honey. I found a baby. " "A baby what?" "It's a boy." "A boy what?" It's a baby boy child."
"Yeah, right." "No, really. He was walking up the road." "Where's his parents?" "I don't know, he didn't bring them. - Can we keep him?" "NO! You alreadly have two dogs!" Or something like that.

Anyway, I sat with him for what seemed like hours. My dogs loved him, licked him, and he liked them too. I gave him some water and crackers. I also found that he was covered from head to toe with ticks. So I went about cleaning him up - as best as I could with no experience in child - anything.

After a while I called my friend Kathi, who lives on the main road. To see if she knew of anyone missing a little boy. (Another weird conversation.) She didn't know of anyone, but would keep her eyes open.

Well after so long I was going to call the police. It was getting dark and I couldn't believe someone wasn't looking for this beautiful child.

Then the phone rings. It's Kathi, she says a truckload of people were driving up and down the road. She sent her husband, Stan, to find them.

Sure enough, it was Blaine's mom and dad. They had a whole bunch of people scouring the area for him. They live off another road nearby and all were outside. Blaine had followed his dog off. He had traveled through the woods about a mile - which is why he was covered with ticks.

His mom was crying and you could see the worry on his daddy's face. But everything turned out okay. I even got some chocolate cookies as a reward.

During a time of my life that seemed so bleak, Blaine and his family really brighten my outlook.

You have to appreciate the trees in the Autumn.

My favorite time of the year-Autumn. It's been so hot this summer and the cool morning today made me feel so alive. I LOVE IT! Now is the time for raking leaves, for home cooking - to keep the house warm, football, pumpkins, the harvest moon. So many things come to mind. When I was younger, my dad's family would load up every year to drive up to the north in our state. We had about four to five different vehicles convoying to Pea Ridge for an annual picnic. And, I must say that you have never seen God's beauty like you'll see in North Arkansas. I love it. The autumns are so vibrant. It's like a painted canvas if your timing just right. If you drive the "pig trail" around mid- to - late October you'll see sights that would compare to the first time you saw the grand canyon. I can't wait for this year's show of color. Last year my husband and I went with my family to Branson. As we were driving I went on and on about the colors of the trees, "Honey, look at the trees! Aren't they beautiful?" He said,"It's just a tree." A bit later my mom who's in the car behind us, calls on the cell phone and says, "Look at the trees, aren't they beautiful?" My husband, rolled his eyes. Then we arrive at the hotel in Branson and my aunt pipes up and say's, "Did you see the trees? Oh, so pretty!" I thought my husband was going to go back home. After twenty-six years you'd think he understood me.