Saturday, December 15, 2007

Endings and Beginnings

I buried my mother last Friday. She was almost 94, in very frail health, and when she fell and broke her hip, she never got up from the surgery.

After many years of working all over the world, I returned to Arkansas 20 years ago to be near my parents. We had 15 years of life together, living mostly in a large house with separate quarters until Daddy died in 2002. Mother and I moved to smaller quarters and shortly after that she was diagnosed with chronic renal failure. We thought this diagnosis was a death sentence but with careful attention to her diet and excellent medical care she had several more years with a good quality of life until the fall.

So this December is an ending to one phase of my life.

I am a believer of that cliche "when one door closes, another opens." For me the opening door and beginning is an opportunity to do something new and different, something that may make a difference in a small way in the work my church does. I have volunteered to manage our church bookstore and try to get it back on its feet and to return it to its original purpose of providing a source of religious and spiritual books not available in the big box bookstores.

Another arrow in my new quiver is the opportunity to work with my niece (I am Tamsaunt), in her publishing business. We have signed a contract for me to edit some of her forthcoming books and I am excited about working with her. She and I are "soul mates" in many ways, our love of books, of anything English, and our animals; she is the daughter of my heart.

I don't know where this blog will go, we'll just have to wait and see.

1 comment:

Janna Barber said...

I do hope you continue to blog. I've enjoyed reading.