Last year my husband’s uncle died.  His name was Joe M. Thomas.  My husband’s name is Joseph E. Thomas, but everyone knows him as Joe.  Can you see where this is headed?  Coincidentally, when the hospital called to release Joe M. to us, Joe E. was the person answering the phones after hours.  We were […]

I saw a meme once that said their mind was like someone emptied the kitchen junk drawer onto a trampoline and, right now, I get that.  It has been an extremely stressful month filled with too much pain, far too much loss, and enough disappointment to deter even the most optimistic person from getting out […]

“Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong.  They are weak but He is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  The Bible tells me so.”  It’s a song I learned at the earliest of ages, one that is universally […]

    In the early hours of Sunday morning, the unthinkable . . . the unimaginable … happened and a family of four lost their lives.  Their deaths have devastated our community and brought that same community together as nothing else can.  A loss this great defies comprehension, but those who can are lifting up […]

The holidays had been difficult but not impossible.  They had gotten through them as a family, sharing memories and laughter and, occasionally, tears.  And they had tried to include her as much as possible—‘her” being his girlfriend, the young lady to whom he planned to propose at Christmas.  But his tragic death in July had […]

It was New Year’s Day, but that hadn’t stopped Death from making several visits throughout our little communities, so while a great deal of the world slept in that morning or claimed the recliner and the remote, several of our locations had employees clocked in and hard at work.  In Savannah the schedule called for […]

Ah . . . To-Do lists.  I love them dearly and depend upon them more and more as the years fly by.  I’ve ceased to view them as a crutch and now consider them an essential part of daily life.  My problem is, no matter how many lists I make, I either lose them or […]

This past Thursday, a couple of hundred folks gathered in Savannah’s chapel to remember someone—or several someones—they lost during the year.  Our Commerative Tree was magnificent and a collective gasp rose from those in attendance when it was lit.  There was the opportunity to laugh and the freedom to cry and a lot of both […]

I’ve been listening to a lot of music lately because:  1. We’re baking cookies and that calls for all the traditional Christmas carols by all the traditional artists—and John Denver with the Muppets and Pentatonix (John Denver sings with the Muppets but not with Pentatonix . . . they didn’t exist when he did), and […]

Monday night was Savannah’s annual Christmas Parade, an extravaganza of light and sound that is traditionally held on the first Monday night of December—unless it rains, and then it’s usually rescheduled to a date that conflicts with our Service of Remembrance or staff Christmas party.  Of course, there’s the marching band and the Dance Team […]