Hey there folks. I am back from Little Rock. I got to my house around 6:30 pm,Tuesday night. I was tired and had a fairly decent headache! Of course, I did not get away from Little Rock as early as I had previously anticipated. I knew we were not supposed to leave mom's early, because Ms. Thelma had a doctor's appointment in Cape at 1 pm. So, I made the appointment to get my suburban in for an oil change at 7am. While they had it in there, they found that it had a loose tie rod end, it needed to be fixed. Well, as long as it can be done and me out of here by 10am, ok. He assured me that it could be done, and made arrangements for the shuttle to run me over to mom's to help her pack for her 2 week trip. When I walked into mom's, she had her bag sitting in the chair, and said, she was done packing. The "bag" she had packed was her overnight bag, the one she uses for her bathroom items on her usual trips. I gently reminded her, "mom, you are going to be gone for 2 weeks, your going to need more than that." With surprise on her face, she said, "Two weeks!!?" So, I went down the hall, retrieved her suitcase and we began to pack her a bag with clothes. I got my pencil and pad of paper, and sat on the edge of her bed. I let mom pack her own bag, while I write down everything she actually puts in the bag. That way, when she gets distracted, and says, did I put any socks in there? I can answer her, and tell her exactly how many pairs, and the colors! LOL! Not to mention, I can remind her that she now has 13 shirts packed, but only 2 pair of jeans, or pants. We finally got the suitcase packed. But still had time to spare. Mom was anxious, and kept asking about my car, and when they were gonna have it done. I kept reassuring her that they told me it was no problem, and they would have it done in plenty of time. I kept reassuring her that we didn't need to leave here before noon, because of Thelma's doctor appointment. They finally called with my car, and sent the shuttle to pick me up. I got my car, and went back to mom's to load her bags in and we sat down to drink some coffee and kill some time. But, mom was too anxious. So, I ask her if she needed to go by the bank and get some money for the trip, or have any deposits to be made. She looked in her purse, and found the rent check from February, that she had not deposited, so we decided to go ahead and leave and head to the bank. We locked all the doors, turned off the coffee pot, turned down the furnace, and out the door we went. We went to the bank, and once that was done, we headed south, at 11 am. Needless to say, we were in Cape at noon. I asked mom, if because we still were way ahead of schedule, would you like to go eat lunch, sit in a restaurant somewhere in Cape while we wait on Thelma, or walk around Sam's? She chose Sam's, so in we went. We were just meandering around Sam's, when once she had gotten some bananas, she said, we need to get back towards the front, and get on the road (it was 11:25). Nevertheless, we headed to the check out and paid for the stuff, and got back in the car. We were about to Sikeston, when we got a call from Thelma, asking where we were. I told her we were about 20 minutes from Portageville. She said, well I am just now leaving Cape! I reassured her, that we would go to McDonald's there in Portageville, and eat some lunch, and wait there until she called us. She said, she still had to drop off her friend, Sue Neal that went with her, and they ate lunch before her appointment, so that was a good plan. Mom and I sat at McD's until 2 or so. Again, mom was anxious, kept saying, well, Thelma, where are you?? So, I cleaned up the mess, and said, let's go drive around P'ville, mom, see what's changed. So, we drove down main street, past the old house, and then before we could make a turn, Thelma called and said she was at home. So, we turned at the next corner, and made our way back to Thelma's house. By the time, we got her bags loaded, and all of us back in the car, it was 2:45. So, we were south bound and down!! We stopped for fuel once, and Thelma flipped out her credit card, and said, she was paying for the fuel! We fueled up, and got back on the road. We pulled into Martha's driveway at 6 pm. Martha had a big pot of soup on the stove, and we put together some tuna salad and before you know it, we were all sitting around the table. Pam, Martha's daughter and her husband came in, but didn't stay for supper. She just basically said, she was just getting off work, and wanted to go take a shower, and she would see me later, and come on over as soon as I got them settled in. After we were done with supper, Tom asked me to look at his computer for him, he was unable to get into his email room. So, as I was back in the computer room working with Mr. Tom on his computer, I heard the ladies scream, "MARTHA!!". I went running back into the kitchen to see what was going on! Martha had the door to the dishwasher open, and went to step back and fell over it! Smacked her head hard on the tile floor. She said she just wanted to lay there until the pain stopped. I got something to stick under her head, and felt around....no blood, thank God! But, yea, a goose egg on her head. But she seemed to be okay, so I let her lay there for a few minutes. Once she seemed to be laughing and re-telling the story, I got a chair from the kitchen table, for her to lean on, and use as leverage to get up on, and sit down on. She then did that, and sat in the chair for another 10 minutes or so. Eventually she was up and walking around, and we were all laughing about the whole ordeal. She said, "Debi, how did you know I had fallen?" I told her I felt the earthquake! We all laughed, and then I told her I heard everyone scream! Of course, Tom being hard of hearing had not even heard any of that, nor had he heard me say why I had run out of the room! LOL! He was still sitting back in the computer room, unaware of what was going on in the kitchen! Pam is going to have her hands full these next two weeks with this crew to watch over! Mom is convinced she is going to convince Tom and Martha to move closer to her and Thelma. Tom says the next move he makes will be to the cemetery. I told mom they all have the same feelings you have! "This is my home, it is paid for, and I want to stay here!" Mom says, well, I am going to talk to Thelma about taking turns, a month at my house, a month at your house. I said, give it your best shot, mom! Sounds like a plan! I am sure by the end of this 2 week watching how far they have come down this road of life, they will definitely have a different perspective on how much help they all need. I had made contact with my Aunt Roxene while down there, and was able to meet up with her at a gas station of her choice, that was within 2 blocks from Martha's, so I met her there at 8:30am and picked her up and took her back to Martha's and she got to have muffins and coffee with us! After about an hour, I told them I needed to get back on the road, I had miles to go before I slept. I dropped off Roxene at her car, and got on the road about 9:45 or so. I arrived in Memphis right about noon. I was supposed to have lunch with Janice and Johnna Bell. I pulled into Janice's drive way about 12:30 or so. We had a wonderful visit, some yum vegetable soup and ice tea! I got back on the road around 2 or so. I took one wrong turn getting out of Memphis, which cost me about 30 minutes. I got on east instead of west, and when I passed Bellevue Baptist Church, I knew I was going the wrong way! I turned around in their parking lot, and headed back west. Before you know it, I was headed toward West Memphis, and saw the familiar exits I knew I needed. I stopped in Blytheville for more fuel, and picked up some sandwiches from the Dixie Pig. "You can't stop in Blytheville without stopping at the Dixie Pig!!" By the time I got home, I was one tired chick. Pam and I had stayed up until midnight talking!! And I was up in time to leave when she left for work at 7:30am. We were talking about kids, and our upbringing, how our parents were when we were dating, how we had turned out, how our kids were today, how our parents were today, etc. Good stuff..... Lots of talk about our paths we were walking, and how we don't get to choose our path. God does that. All he asks from us is that we keep our eyes focused on Him, and keep walking, one foot in front of the other. Most of the Bible talks about the saints that were in prisoned and tortured. None of them would have chosen that path in serving and following the Lord. Yet, they did not lose their faith!! Their trials made them stronger and better......not bitter! So, as long as we keep that in our mind, in the front of our mind, we can stay focused on the One in charge of what comes across our path, we can keep our joy. Happiness is different than joy. Happiness is effected by outside circumstances, joy is not. Joy comes from within.....or above. People keep telling me to focus on myself, I need to not be stressed. Well, yea, whatever. I have a self employed husband, that these days, is not employed at all!! That is stress. I have teenagers.....that is stress, daily. I have mom. I have breast cancer. I can't eliminate stress, but I can re-focus. My stress relief comes from God. He is still in charge.