Forever Beloved

God has truly blessed me with the BEST, most amazing friends ever.  I honestly don’t know what I would do without each and every one of them in my life.  I’ve realized throughout the years that I don’t need a bucketful of friends, all I need is handful of true friends.  How lucky am I to actually have that!  I am completely blessed to have these amazing people in my life.

Two of them have even been there since basically we were babies, bless their hearts.  I don’t know how those girls have dealt with my “Amyness” for that long.  We can go months without seeing each other and pick up right where we left off.  I absolutely adore the sweet, sweet friendship we have together!!

One of them has stood by my side even though our friendship has been through the ringer.  My health issues, her health issues and crazy that y’all wouldn’t believe even if I told you.  Knowing that our daughters have the same sweet friendship together that we do makes our Mama hearts so happy.  She’s my unbiological sister that God sent.  We can sit and talk for hours, laugh like crazy, cry as soon as we see the other one tear up and just enjoy the fellowship of each other.  Our “girl nights” are the most amazing thing…movies, jammies, daughters, food, laughter…perfection!!

So many of my friends I’ve met online, either through scrapbooking or photography.  Lifelong friendships that I treasure!

My handful of friends might each look different, and have different personalities, but I hold each of them close to my heart.  And I know that with one phone call they would be here for me, and I for them.  Love y’all!

I am so completely thankful for music.  It’s such a HUGE part of our lives in this household.  With one note it can take you soaring back to a moment in time.  It can lift your soul.  It can make you shed tears of grief.  And it can make laugh.  Music is a universal language, you don’t even have to understand the words if the artist is pouring their soul into the song.

Music has always always been a huge part of my life.  I can remember singing along with my Dad to a Statler Brothers record when I was just a wee one.  He gave me my love of southern gospel quartets.  Every summer, we would pack up the car and head an hour away to the Gospel Singing Convention.  It was always one of my favorite days!

As a young girl, I can remember standing beside my parents every Sunday in church and waiting impatiently to sing a hymn.  Singing was always my favorite part of the service.  The song leader would announce the hymn number and I would quickly grab my hymnal and stand, always being one of the first ones up.  As soon as the hymn would start, my Dad’s voice could plainly be heard above the rest of the congregation.  When he would start singing, I would stand a little taller.  I was so proud of my Dad’s singing voice, his ability to harmonize easily and his knowledge of virtually every verse of every hymn.

As I grew up, my love of music transpired into learning to play the piano, clarinet and bass clarinet.  I was lucky enough to have a piano teacher that was also a Christian and attended the same church we did, so many of my weekly lessons were learning to play hymns.  I can assure you there were many a night spent around the piano (not always willingly on my part), playing hymns with my Dad singing melody and me singing harmony.  I can remember the neighbors saying how they enjoyed sitting on their porches in the summer listening to us.  And Sunday mornings when the song leader would call out a hymn that I KNEW we had practiced at home, I would do a little victory dance inside.  I would stand up and sing beside my Dad as loud as I could.

Music for me was always a way to let my emotions out.  There are songs to this day that still invoke the memories of what it meant to me years ago.  Hold On by Wilson Philips takes me back to my Freshman trip.  To Be With You by Mr. Big takes me to a dance after a wrestling match one cold, winter Friday night.  And we can’t forget Friends by Michael W. Smith.  Oh, so so many tears were shed at church camp while singing that song around the fire.  Funny, years later (we won’t discuss just how many years it’s been, please.and.thank.you) I still get teary when I hear that song come on.  And I Won’t Need You Anymore by Randy Travis takes me back to the night Joe sang it to me while we were dating.  During that song, while tears ran down my face, I knew I loved him and that he was the one I wanted to spend my life with.

I am so super thankful for music and all the memories it has given me over the years and the way it has left mile markers along my journey.

Today I am thankful for being a country girl.  For dirt roads and corn fields.  For chicken raising and garden growing.  For the ability to change my own oil, bake up a cake from scratch and put shingles on the roof.  For learning to drive a 1946 John Deere H when I was 11.  For truck pulls and diesel fumes.  For cowboy boots, t-shirts and jeans.  For loving to get muddy and spinning out every chance I get.  For not being afraid to tackle any task while my husband is at work…whether it’s putting new plumbing in the toilet or replacing the thermocoupler on my furnace.  For my Mama showing me how to grow and can my own food.  For my Dad teaching me dirt washes off, how to replace a universal joint, how to mix bondo {which I love the smell of…is that weird?} and how to weld and braze.  For being country even when it wasn’t cool.  There is no place else I’d rather be than in my little Small Town, USA.