365 Promises and Prayers, Promise 164.

How would I feel, is suddenly I woke up and could not walk, could not stand at all without a walker? I wrote these words to start a post Nov 18, 2025, 

And Never touched it until a month later  Dec 13th, 2025 , I added this list of thoughts.

Bob stopped walking in March of 2025. I made A list of what I would not be able to do,  if suddenly I could not walk.

The list came to mind because I prayed ever day over and over for God to help me SEE Bob, to understand what was happening to him was worse than what I was living each day. I was angry, hurt, stressed and feeling hopeless it would ever get better. 

If I could not Walk, I would have to ask for any and all things.

I'm thirsty, would you bring me water?

I am hungry, could you bring me a snack? or fix my breakfast

Please bring me a cup of coffee. Could I have a 2nd cup?

Now I need to potty, please help me out of bed and on the bedside commode.

I dropped the remote and can't reach it,

Would you bring me my laptop?

I need my iPad, I want to draw.

Please put the wheel chair by the bed so I can get in it and go pay bills on the desktop

I need to wash my hair, and shower, will you help me?

I need a lozenge my throat is sore and dry

I spilled my soda on my shirt, will you bring me a dry shirt?

I am to hot, would you turn on the AC, open the windows?

I am cold, would you turn on the heat? close the windows?

The above sat in my draft for another 3 months and on Friday 2/28/2026 I wrote these words, after reading a page in my book 

I learned this verse as a very young child, Matthew 7:12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

I must do to others what I  want them  to  do to me!

I.Need.To.Do.The.Right.Thing.

if I could not walk, How Would I feel and act? 

And now, this week I am going to finish this post, that has been in drafts for 6 months and 3 tries to finish it, in drafts since Nov. 18, 2025.

I prayed for months, daily, many times daily for God to help me See Bob through Gods eyes. 

This is what happened. I was in the kitchen fixing lunch and I saw this

Looking at him asleep and vulnerable like this, I SAW Bob, really saw how he feels and SEEING Bob and how he felt, tears running down my face, I grabbed the cell phone and this photo and reading the book,  stopped my crying, Stopped my anger and stopped the feelings of thinking I wanted to bolt from the house and never return.

When I changed, Bob and Beau also changed, the less anger I felt, the better they both did. The rage at life of caring for my spouse, like he was a child, was less every day. I also took advice of blog friends and finally listened to my Doctor and took a Lexapro and that has allowed me to live a good life, to live with life as is,

while Doing.The.Right.Thing.  Is life perfect? No, but it is a lot better and I have changed causing the two in my life to change with me. Yes, I still get angry and sometimes MEAN, but it is not normal any more.

I Do The Right Thing.. I have accepted life as it is. You can stop here if you made it this far. The story is finally told. I am posting the page which slapped me upside the head months ago. I scanned it with my phone, it might not be clear.

short version of page is this. If you want to make the world a better place, especially you own home life, practice the golden rule. TREAT Other People the way YOU want to be treated, no matter how they threat YOU.

Be kind to others, especially the ones that are not kind to you. It is easy to be kind to nice people, not so easy when they are not. this takes practice.

It has changed my life to a better home life as caregiver. This also will work for those that are being cared for. 

Joining Yam for FFF, Final Friday Feature.. 

Final Friday Feature-Knives Out, Mystery

I have been known to toss out a spoon, or two.

They always return, when, not if I do.

When I toss out the dishwater into the backyard rubbles

they are hiding in dishpan, under the bubbles.

Never,  have I ever tossed out more than two, and for Seven Knives to go missing at is really a LOT!

In fact, 7 is almost all we've Got.

We only own 8 butter knives, 8 is all that we own,

I sat to Beau, do you think you can find them, if I pay you with a bone?

Seven of Eight knives went missing, you see.

I was in a dither, yelling out loud where could seven knives be?

The first place I searched was the kitchen drawer,where they have been for 38 years.

This is no lie, I was frantic and  in tears.

I cried because the knives can be replaced, but my memory can NOT.

This 81 year old brain is all I have got.

Dont' get upset, or feel despair,

because the THIRD time I checked the drawer they were THERE!

UNDER THE 12 TEASPOONS!

I say, UNDER 12 SPOONS, I have absolutely no memory of LIFTING 12 SPOONS out and putting 7 knives under them and putting the spoons back.

Since I am the only human that can walk and do this, and the dog has no hands to open a drawer or hold spoons and knives, I KNOW I did this, but HOW?

I did spend a while figuring out why we have 8 KNIVES and 12 SPOONS and the pattern is the same. I finally remembered, I bought two sets, same pattern, one was 8 of everything. the other was FOUR of everything. That was 40 years ago, so WHY can I remember THAT? and not THIS?

Who let the Knives Out and put them back IN?

Its a Mystery to ME!

Joining FFF Final Friday Feature with Yam at Doses of Wild Yam

https://inimaynaelcammeno.blogspot.com/

Stop It!! Final Friday Feature

 

STOP IT

While on FaceTime with my brother and his wife, he showed me his birthday gift from his 17 year old granddaughter. A toy that says Stop It.

He sent me to YouTube to find Bob Newhart's, STOP IT! I am smiling as I just type the words. I suggest you watch this video. I have watched it 3 times.

I wrote the words STOP IT  in red and placed it on my fridge, since it is the most opened door in the house, ha ha and all my meals are eaten at the breakfast bar and it's IN MY FACE.

STOP IT! has become my anthem/chant, my shout is heard silently in my head, spoken entirely to myself.. It works. 

There are things a caregiver should not do, when dealing with dementia. 

Don't reason.

Don't argue.

Don't confront.

Don't remind them they forget.

Don't question recent memory.

Don't take it personally.

All of these is the norm for the two of us. We have each done these things on a daily basis, we are two peas in a pod.

To break the habit, when I start to do one of these, I shout in my head. 

STOP IT!

I still forget once in a while, but there is much more peace in the house since Stop It moved to the fridge. 

When Bob asked me what it was there, what it meant, I watched the video with him, and said its there to remind me to not fight with you, to not argue, to not yell, to not get angry.  He said, Good idea.

This works for any problem you might have. I am keeping this brief because I want you to Stop and watch Stop It! Don't leave without watching it.

PS I keep saying to my MIND Racing, STOP IT! nope, did not work

Bob Newhart - STOP IT! The best two word coaching you'll ever get ...

watch on YouTube or below, its six minutes that has changed my life. truly

Joining Yam for Final Friday Feature with Yam

The Big Bad Wolf! FFF (Final Friday Feature)

Oct 9th, 2024 at 1:30 Pm we sat watching the monster that was headed a direct hit on Bradenton. the sky was dark, winds gusting to 60 and 70 MPH were blowing and The Power Went Out.

We waited for it to come back. It took 7 days, We sat from 1:30 until 1:30 in the morning, just staring and praying. Waiting! At exactly 1:30 AM the radio said Milton is now making Landfall, we were slammed with wind and noise and frightened out of our minds. 

 I sat huddled with lighted lantern hanging from my elbow, 2 whistles, and my ID  card on a lanyard around my neck, cash in two pockets, purse hugged to my chest, weather radio balanced on my shaking knees, me in the hallway, Bob lying 20 feet from me, in my sight but on the bed, UNDER the tree that hangs over the bed, our dog Beau in the walk-in closet. 

It was 1:30 AM, the monster hurricane Milton raged over our home. As I listened to the monster stalking our home, it sounded as if The Big Bad Wolf was trying desperately to kick the window on the world out of its frame, each kick shook the walls, the floor vibrating, the windows rattling and the sheer curtains fluttered even with windows and blinds closed, they actually Moved.

Each time the windows shuddered and bowed out into the living room, I waited, praying out loud, God, please don't let the window blow out, please keep the tree off our house, please keep the roof over our heads and on the house! It seemed an eternity even though it was about 45 minutes.

And suddenly 

the wind changed, the kicking stopped, the pressure dropped, the raging roar of the wind, lowered and I knew we were in the Eye of the Hurricane. My radio was telling me, Bradenton, you are now in the eye of the storm, you are on the North edge, do not go outside, do not open doors and windows. I released my breath I had been holding with fear, my shoulders dropped down from beside my neck. I waited.

The radio broke the silence. Bradenton you are under EWW Warning! This means its about to get Rough where you are. Hunker Down! Stay away from windows! Seek the safe place in your home! EWW is Extreme Wind Warning, sustained surface winds of 115 MPH or greater. Consider this your final call to SHELTER IN PLACE!

 I started to tremble as the winds roared even louder than before, it was twice what it was before the eye, The Big Bad Wolf was at our door, he kicked his feet into the windows and doors, the sliding doors rattled and shook, if was as though he had a bull whip in his paws and was roaring around flicking this tree and that tree and karate kicking and flicking that whip and each flick was a POP ad the Kick was a roar.

The Wolf in the Eye, came at 2:30 and he kicked and stomped and roared and flicked that whip until 4 AM. Just before 4 AM the sounds of Milton started to drop, the winds were lower, the kicks were halfhearted. By 4:30 Milton was kicking his way across our county and leaving us alive, with windows and a roof.

I went to the front door and steeped out on the porch into My Worst Fear. The world was BLACK, there was no sign of light, I turned 360 degrees and could see nothing. No skyline, no earth meets the sky, total blackness, as though the Wolf had turned a black bowl down over the city. I am afraid of the dark, have been since birth.  I rushed back in the house and said, Bob come outside. the city is gone.  Milton had left our entire county without power. It was like the end of the world. I took the lantern out and could see the car survived, the porch post was gone and was too afraid to move off the porch and decided to wait until daylight.

our first view out our kitchen window at daybreak. 

The Big Bad Wolf was gone, leaving chaos behind, we were safe, the roof was on, the trees were down but not on the house, we did not DIE!  

The End 

PS INFO NOTE: I chose the whip because the damage that Milton did to the entire Tampa Bay Area, looked like someone chose this house to rip off the roof, those houses to do nothing to them, that house for 2 trees to fall on it. The winds were like a whip, powerful here but not there, there but not here. 3 homes destroyed; no homes harmed. No pattern, just wild roaring flick of the whip chose which was damaged and which was not. 

This is the Label for Milton, for anyone who missed the photos and stories.

Below is a link for any that wants to know how Milton became a Monster, a Karate kicking Wolf.

This LINK is to and NBC News article on How  Milton Became a Monster.

Definition: Extreme Wind Warning (EWW) is issued for sustained surface winds of 115 mph or greater from a MAJOR Hurricane (Category 3, 4, or 5) are expected within the next hour. This is usually associated with the eye wall of a major hurricane and is considered your final call to shelter in place.

If you want to join in the FFF you can still do it today or any day of your choosing.

for the Rulez click https://inimaynaelcammeno.blogspot.com/p/fff-rulez.html

Mommy and Daddy, Final Friday Feature With YAM

 

My Dad in his retirement mobile home, Savannah GA, 1995 

While cleaning out the cabinets, I found this book and the photo

It is The Pastors Manual, James Randolph Hobbs, D.D., L.I.D. Copyright 1934

Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee

Daddy bought this manual in 1953, in the used bookstore at Clear Creek Mountain Preachers School. The sticker says $1.50. I remember that the cost was a lot. He earned his high school diploma at the same time as his Batchelor's Degree in Theology. He worked part time in the campus grocery store.

 His pay at the time was $30.00 a week. And a huge $30.00 a month from the church he pastored.

He was Our Appalachian Mountain Preacher.

This small book contains poems, marriage ceremonies, funerals, every single thing a pastor would need to know how to do. The page below, says Order of Service for Organizing a Baptist Church.

I do hope Dr. Hobbs did not take offense as I giggled my way through the pages Titled.

It's Public Worship... the giggling was the thought that this was written in 1934 and if the author could see the ORDER of Service now, he would be shocked, TO.The.Core!

The book even gives advice on the Deportment of the minister at the funeral. 

Should he walk in front of the casket, or walk behind it, or stand at the front and not walk in.

No wonder he spent hours in his study each time there was a funeral or a wedding.

When I opened it to the bookmark, I found the above Bookmark of his mother, my grandmother, always called Mommie by all the grand kids. it was her Obituary from 1959. It has a wealth of information about her family that I did not know. I was 15 when she died and lived 1000 miles away. I had no idea she had living sisters that I had never met or even knew existed.

The photo was taken sometime during WWII. My dad, dark pants, and his 4 of his 6 siblings, left to right, Edwin McCall, Marine. Robert McCall, Helen McCall, Charles McCall, my dad and Uncle Jack, Army. Uncle Julian , the missing brother in the photo, took the photo and Carolyn died at birth.

Below is Mommie, on the steps of the family home in Manassas, Ga.

It was a bitter and hard life for all of them. My grandfather had a stroke and was in a wheelchair for most of their childhood, Mommie and my Daddy, the oldest Male, born in 1913, ran the store, the boys gave her fits with no man to control them. 

The War Between the States, also called The Civil War, ended in 1865. My Dad's Grandfather died at Shiloh. You might say I was raised in Dixie and no one in my family ever forgot The War. When I was 17, I dated a boy from Connecticut and my grandmother, not this grandmother, but my mothers mother down here in Florida, had a hissy fit. That is Southern Talk for very upset.

In 1985 I married a Yankee from Pennsylvania. My grandmothers were deceased, or it might have killed them both.

Carrie Terrell McCall 

1886-1959

Joining Final Friday Feature with Yam

Finding JOY

I stopped and took this photo of the banana trees at a neighbor's house, while giving Beau his Sunday Ride and park visit.

 We had banana trees and bananas before the drought. This neighbor must have a well to water with. Enlarge to see the hand of bananas. everything is GREEN and that brings me joy. We have had 2 weeks of rain almost every day. 

Beau, my greatest source of JOY. Some of you might not know Beau, he has his own blog. He loves his grazing buffet, at the back yard faucet. Also all of our dogs have pages under tabs on this blog. The sidebar has my 3 blog links. Beau and all our angel dogs are on FourpawsEtc and today has a Dear Beau Letter of Joy

The Moses in the cradle gives me joy 

Moss Roses give me Joy

the thorn tree at the building next door to our vet's office gives me joy each time I park under it

Winston gave me Joy when he sat on my lap, Beau gave me joy with his head on my tummy. Sunshine gave me joy in our backyard. Beau is Dane/Catahoula and Winston is a Great Dane/Mastiff and belongs to my cousin Shari.

Today we join Final Friday Feature and Nature Friday

Window on the World AGAIN

 

Our Window on the world

I spend a lot of time standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes, at the stove cooking/preparing. I also spend many minutes in the swivel chair and on the sofa in the living room, both positioned in front of the window. Our view of the world window is 114 inches in width.

The house directly across from us has been our 34 years of free entertainment. For 29 years the house was occupied by good friends, but when he died, she went in a retirement home it became a rental property.

The past 3 years it has been designated House of 7 cars. It is a huge part of our conversation and a never-ending story of mysteries and OMG moments.

They are known as The Big Guy and his wife, and are the parents of 2 adults, son and daughter and the spouse of each. 6 adults and one not yet walking baby girl. The son is Big Guy Son, and big Guy wife. The daughter is The Big Guys daughter. We do not know their names.

Their eating habits are a source of amusement. 

2 and 3 times a DAY, take out is delivered. We have decided, each of the three couples, decide what they want and when to eat it, and call for it. There is never enough delivered for more than 2 people. (we get tons of giggles each time a new takeout comes because they can never find the right door) yes, you are right we need to GET A LIFE.

 Their trash at the curb is always good for conversation on Mondays and Thursdays pick up days. (Among the most memorial of things at the curb, were a like new stroller, a beautiful hand carved rocking cradle, a new electric lawn mower, because they just could not figure out how, who and when to cut the grass and gave up and hired it done.  A like new pressure washer for the cars, they only had it for 6 months. The list is long, but don't fret, a neighbor down the street pulls up and loads the good stuff in his car and then adds it to his yard sales on weekends.  Thank the Lord we have no need for a cradle. 😁 and Bob refuses to use electric because the cords are a pain to drag back and forth. We did snag a gate from their pile once.

This week while making lunch, I watched as The Big Guy and his wife removed, a stroller, a car seat, and a lot of STUFF out of the car and its trunk, many trips later they had filled it with a set of red drums and a set blue drums. (we watched them move the two sets inside 3 years ago) and listened to them for 3 years.

 I got all excited and said to Bob, they are moving the drums OUT OF THE HOUSE...

Fast forward 4 hours later AND I said BOB come look what they are taking out of the trunk...

It was a bigger, better, gold sparkles Drum Set... I quickly pulled up a blue set, a red set and a gold set and figured out what they had done. The red/blue sets sell for 900 to 1000, the GOLD starts at $2000.00 we think it was the 2800. Without binoculars' (think Rear Window) I could not tell the brand, and I am 99% sure they traded UP. I hope they are not LOUDER! Bob doesn't care, he can't hear them.

Did I mention the Heavy Metal Rock band of 4 men in their mid 20's that live next door to the big guy? They have drums and guitars and screaming singers there... 

YEP! we need to GET A LIFE. 

joining Yam on Final Friday Feature

Blood-Kin

 

In 1953, my 9th year of my life on this earth, 1 was suddenly transported from the place of my birth, Savannah, Georgia, USA,  Transported by a drive of 500 miles, in a brand new, $2300.00, 1953 Pontiac, to Clear Creek, Kentucky. This move was to become the most loved five years of my first 20 years of life. 

That huge car, also transported us through time from 1953 to 1893. We stepped out of the car from the century I was born in, into the century before.

In a few blinks of an eye, I was transformed into a child of the Appalachian Mountains, a mountaineer child, a child awed by the new accents, a new language, I started to sang my words, and sucked up the sounds and stories of this mountain language like a sponge. A world that made me giggle at first, when the words far tar, meant fire tower.  

The mountaineers stories fill my head with clans, family ties, kinfolk, family feuds, shootings and men with guns in the woods. Long guns, shot guns, pistols and most folk packed a gun. I was living in a world of frontier stories you may have read about in Zane Gray or Louis L'Amour book
 

I heard this over and over. Thars moonshiners in them thar hills that  sooner shoot you than eat! You'uns see anything up that holler, you don't say nuthin, you don't see nuthin and you keeps ya mouth shut and get ya self outa there. they is all blood-kin, and ya wanna watch out what ya say and where ya say it.

At age 12, I looked forward to Saturday, because we visited daddy's pastoral flock and  I rode in the coveted front passenger seat, with my dad driving, and we drove to the Church he was pastor of.  I was 12 and loved to go with my Dad to visit the homes of the members of his church.  Saturday was the day I listened to stories, protected Daddy from cats and dogs, platted the tail of a mule and got kicked in the stomach, was showered with fresh milk by a teen boy milking the cows, climbed in barn lofts. We visited homes that barely clung to the side of a mountain. #1 on the most memorial memory of those days, was the great Dane dog with 12 large puppies. I will never forget them.

 #2 on the most memorial memory 

The big green car with daddy white knuckling the steering wheel, rolled slowly down and down and down the Devils Switchback road towards the church as we left our house that  perched on the edge of the mountain we lived on. Daddy's tenor blended with my alto and the words of Amazing Grace probably echoed off the mountains. 

We had a wonderful day and the last house we visited, was very close to the church. We left the front porch and down to the car and headed towards the church and home was 40 minutes away.

We drove for maybe 20 minutes and as we went around the curve into the straight part of the road, we saw 3 men. They were staggering down the mountain, two of the men practically dragging the one in the middle. they staggered into the road in front of us, and we could see there was a lot of blood on the front of the middle man. The fact they came out of the woods, down the mountain and their  overalls and dirty long hair, screamed Moonshiners, not to mention the blood.

Daddy smashed the brakes, I screamed, no daddy, don't stop! He is covered in blood. the car rolled to a stop and Daddy got out to talk to them, a few words and he brought them to the passenger side, MY side of the car, and opened the door behind me. They put the bloody man in the middle and one climbed in on my side, the other went to the other door, Daddy got back in the car and started it up. By the time the last door slammed, I had turned my self around and pressed my back against the glove compartment with my feet drawn up

Terrified I stared at them and suddenly forgetting every thing I ever heard, I said "What Happened"?

The man in the middle pointed to either side with his thumbs and said

Deese men be my Blood Kin, we's tryin ta get ta do horsespital down yonder, I got me 3 shoots in my belly and I needs a doctor. 

I have no memory how far the hospital was, I just remember what he said and that my mouth never stopped peppering them with questions. they were feuding moonshiners, it was and adventure and evidently the warnings I heard about keeping my mouth shut went right out the open window. We survived, and we have no idea if he survived those 3 shoots in his belly. Daddy dropped them off at the hospital and Its been 65 years since I left Kentucky, and shoots in the belly still lives in my memories.

I do know I loved every moment!

NOTE:

The snips are google maps as the source, and the house and church and both the roads are what they look like today. In 1953 the road had no markings, was full of potholes. 65 years ago the church was a small white church, now it is  a large brick church.

Looking back I can see that living in the state of Kentucky, 1953-1959 was very similar to life in Kentucky during the feud between the Hatfield's and McCoys, an American Feud (1863-1891) 

We lived about an hour away from Harland county, in coal Country. Some of our church members worked in the coal mines.  Click on this link to 1950's Harlan County Kentucky to see the world we lived in.

Joining Yam for Final Friday Feature

Nsaid Dreams (Final Friday Feature)

 

Photos by Bing AI and I, the MadSnapper

I have mentioned before, if I take any type of pain pill, all NSAIDS I have really weird dreams. This past week I had three. Three days of Aspirin. Three Dreams 

Dream One

My dad (deceased in 2006) is driving an old big and boxy car, I am in the passenger seat, we are driving over the Sunshine skyway. As we drive up and up the very high bridge, I see a really large leather purse on the road, we pass it and then another leather purse and a 3rd leather purse, then we pass a backpack, a really big, stuffed full backpack, and last there is a leather suitcase. As we go down the other side, I see a big boxy car floating in the water with no one in it.

Dream Two

 

We are driving on the interstate, passing a very tall truck on our right. Bob is driving, he Yells; SAMAR SAMAR Samar! Samar! (Samar is my nickname) and I see a blue muscle car coming straight at us, no where to go, a wall on the left, a very tall truck on the right.

Bob is riding the brakes. tires are screaming.

the blue car is riding his brakes. tires are screaming.

suddenly the blue car stops, we stop, we move to the left to allow traffic to pass us.

we are moving slowly around the blue car, cars flowing past us, suddenly a semi, a huge, blue and white semi, with a large trailer, jack knifes, the trailer is sliding, towards us, faster and faster, as it comes, pushing all the cars towards us and I startle awake. I make a trip to the potty and go back to bed. I ponder the meaning.

Dream 3

Next day, while reading after lunch, I doze. I wake up. I doze, I drop into much deeper sleep, its cold outside, I am snuggling under a warm blanket, which always puts me to sleep.

I dream.

Alice, a friend dead for years, her friend Daphne, are in what I think is our house, we are watching out the front window, a HUGE, blue and white semi, pulling a double the height trailer, too large to be real, flashes past the window, we all lean out and watch as the huge trailer starts to jackknife, and slowly slides into and through and over the house two doors over, a blue concrete block house, smashed into smithereens. I startle awake!

The big problem is I had 2 more crazy dreams a week after these dreams, and I had stopped the NSAIDS the week before.....   Translations Welcome. I have no clue... Needless to say, I have seen Three Blue and White Semis since the first 3 dreams, and I clutch the wheel and pray until they are past me.

Joining Yam at Final Friday Feature click here for the Rulez  and to see Yams Post HERE

Dollar General- Her Holiday Looking Back FFF

 

Dollar General has decorated end caps now, Just Like Walmart. Above is Fall/Thanksgiving related. In my childhood, there was no decorating for Fall. 

My mother had what I considered odd ideas for decorating, but decorate she did, not by seasons.

Are you old enough to remember Vinyl tablecloths with flannel backing? My mother owned white, red, green, easter pink, easter blue, and candles in the same matching colors. She paid $1 dollar for each of them, and the candles were 5 tapers for $1 dollar. Each holiday the color for that holiday was placed on my grandmothers huge table, the white lace draped, 4 candle holders with matching colors in the center, assorted greenery if appropriate. Back then there were no affordable decorations and if there were, I never saw them. That was it, and she left that for the month of the holiday, then went back to no tablecloth, just wood.

Christmas was HER HOLIDAY! Mother had green or red vinyl, AND 6 placemats, of the cheap plastic Christmas kind on the vinyl with MORE matching candles, 8 or 10. She hung plastic mistletoe from light fixtures, both ceiling and lamps, draped silver garland on any and all Drape-able places, put out the Nativity with pieces that were 8 inches tall, covered the entire FAKE mantal. There was a hole for a fire, but it was a wall. (The fake mantle was where daddy hung his shirts/jackets when he removed them, EXCEPT during the weeks from Day after Thanksgiving through New Years Day, when he understood he better not hang anything on her decorations. She loved artificial poinsettias and the living room looked like a bouquet of them exploded leaving them everywhere. Last but not least the cheapest and largest tree that would fit in the room, which meant it was always crooked, and daddy had to remove some limbs and add them to other places on the tree, then Daddy put it in a bucket of coal, with water, tied it to the wall with hooks to straighten the crooked and also to steady it. She put 87 million icicles on it, and every time we hung the last icicle, she sat down and said: 

"This is the prettiest tree we have ever had." 

That sentence was the family joke! There was never a year she did not say that sentence as the last icicle was hung. As I took these two photos of endcaps that were nothing but decorations, I found myself wishing she could see the endcaps, see Dollar General Stores and Dollar Tree Stores. She would have gathered every aqua decoration in that one spot. She also would have fainted at the cash register when we rung up the first item. 

Things have changed since she died, really changed. Not just prices, and how much we have to choose from, but the HUMANS have morphed into a different species.

 My mother would be shocked to her core over the next thing I saw/heard while these endcaps were in my view.

As I stood scanning my purchases, doing my chatty Cathy imitation, the manager, a Chatty Carl, who chatted back, while a homeless man came in with a backpack on his back. He walked down the aisle and Chatty Carl, said Sir! you must leave your backpack up here, no bags or backpacks allowed in the store. Three times he said it, each time elevating the decibels that could be heard all over the store.

Right there, in front of Fall Harvest, wishing us Thanksgiving Blessings, and also, there in front of the Christmas display of peace, love and joy, the argument escalated to screaming and cursing at each other, and threats from both. I grabbed my bags and ran for the car, hoping I could drive away before one or both pulled a gun and started shooting each other.

Right then and there, the word Noel, which means Born of God, stood watching the war that started over a backpack.  Thanks to our governor, we now have FREEDOM to wear a concealed weapon without a license, open carry a gun, which means you can walk around with a gun in plain sight on your hip and be ready for just in case someone says you can't walk in with a backpack.

NOTE: I drove home, put the bags on the counter and found I was missing a bag, with 20 dollars or merchandise in it. I drove back, walked in the door and smiling Chatty Carl held it out and said I saved it for you! Thanks for coming back for it and thanks for shopping with us.

Joining Yam for Final Friday Feature, Click Here  for FFF Rules and Instructions