Random Letters

Dear Neighbor,

Let’s make a deal, k? We live on a short, dead end street. Flying up the road as fast as your Jeep Cherokee will go is pointless. How about you drive as safely and slowly as we, your neighbors, drive when your child’s in the middle of the road on his battery operated hummer. Deal? Okay. Thanks.

Dear Tan,

Man alive do I miss you. I just cannot wait for you to come back to me. Spring is around the corner, so bring it on, bronze!

Dear 10 pounds,

I most certainly do not recall inviting you back into my body. My thighs are plenty big without you. My stomach is, in fact, flabby without you. Honestly, I don’t like you. I despise you. I want you gone! And, you know what, 10 pounds, I declare war!

Dear Cold Sassy Tree,

I am really enjoying you; you’re a great book! But, I must admit it’s not easy to read your super-southern dialect. And I’m as southern as a girl can be! But I am sticking with you until I complete you; I hear you’re really good!

Dear Proud Parent,

I loved being with your precious son last night at church. It’s evident that his newest trick is saying, “Whoa!” very much like Joey from the old show Blossom. It was precious! Even though his nose was running like a fire hydrant. Whoa!

Pictures & Memories

As you might recall, my mom’s birthday was just a few weeks ago. For her birthday, Jenn and I (and our hubbies) gave her a session at Portrait Innovations for the 4 generations of the Towe family women to have a picture session.

Gma will be 89 in a week, and she is as spry and sharp as I can ever hope to be at that age. And a good sport to boot! We were one of oh, a jillion folks, in Portrait Innovations Saturday afternoon, and it was chaos! While Ellie was getting her own pictures taken, the photographer bent down to get a good shot, and Gma and Mom got a good shot themselves. Of the photographer’s crack. I wish, oh I wish I’d seen Gma’s face. Mom said her mouth just dropped wide open. She was speechless! Mom asked her if she was glad she’s lived 89 years to see that. Gma just said, “I’m glad I grew up when I did.” I warned her to behave herself before her 89th birthday and to try hard not to see anymore crack!

Here are a couple more pictures for your viewing pleasure

The Miller Girls

The McMen Fam

The most precious smile

Phone Smiles

I must, I must, I must do a better job of answering my telephone with a smile. I’ve noticed lately I am in a zone, working away, and my phone rings. I apparently answer it like I have this face:

With a really fast, “thisisbethanymayihelpyou” that does nothing but scare away my cohorts. How do I know this? I have been getting this type of answer, “um, hey, Bethany, it’s Cara, I’m sorry to bother you, but. . .”

Bother me? honey, you’re not bothering me. if you don’t need my help, as the trainer, of this bank, I’m a sinking ship. And these days, that’s absolutely positively not a good thing.

Happy Birthday to my Momma

The Miller Girls



Yesterday was my mother’s birthday. We had a great dinner last night at Jenn and Brian’s with Gma there as well. Of course, Ellie was still the center of attention for all of us! Here’s a list of various things: memories I have, things I love about my mother, good times gone by. . . Momma, this is for you.

1. She’s my momma. That’s why I love her!
2. She gave me life.
3. She always made the best roast ever
4. Growing up in Gordon, we spent hours upon hours riding from Macon to Gordon, Milledgeville to Gordon. When I was little, momma would sing with us. I can’t count the times we sang “This Little Light of Mine”, “Jesus Loves Me”, “Popcorn Poppin’ on the Apricot Tree” or any other song she could think of.
5. I remember loving to watch her get dressed up for a date night with my Dad. I loved going into their bedroom after they’d left just to get a whiff of momma’s perfume she’d sprayed minutes before. Perfume never has smelled as good as it does on my momma.
6. The ultimate may / can teacher. “I don’t know, can you?”
7. Her love for the beach.
8. Even in the very minute of heartache beyond belief, she never wavered from the strong mother I knew she was
9. She’s a friend who’ll always be honest with me and tell me exactly what she thinks. Whether I want to hear it or not.
10. Her home always has smelled like you could “eat the walls” like one of Jenn’s high school friend once said.
11. Nights of sitting on our back porch on Senora Place, us three girls, crying, hurting, and comforting each other months after Daddy died.
12. My 17th Birthday party where just a few friends turned into waaaay too many, including a few cops!?!?!
13. King & Prince visits through the years
14. Crabdaddy’s and the best waitress ever
15. Lovin’ me through my ugly years when she didn’t like me!
16. The many formal dresses we shopped for, tried on, and bought through the years of proms, Valentine’s Dances, Homecomings, and the like!
17. Corky the Cat and his many siblings. . . alive and dead.
18. Christmas Sugar Cookies that the Piggly Wiggly always had that I loved!
19. Canning veggies Daddy grew in the Griffin’s garden
20. Her strong grip on my hand walking into the church for Daddy’s funeral
21. Surprising me at Jayne’s with my new car for my high school graduation!
22. Senior Cruise
23. Spring Break trips
24. Momma’s admiration and love for her family that I always admired.
25. Island Townhouses, C9
26. The no good horrible very bad terrible Surprise Party
27. The fact that we can now laugh about that Surprise Party
28. My K5 teacher had a baby while I was in her class and momma was the sub. I would immediately forget who my mother was every day we walked into the class. I was scared of her as a teacher, I think!
29. Quebec City and Toronto
30. Hotel del Coronado
31. I was always amazed as a child at how she could harmonize any hymn in church
32. Her stories of her life growing up. I always loved to hear her say, “When I was a little girl. . .” I knew it was going to be a good story!
33. Calling out daddy for his cousin Maurice
34. Pulling me through the lowest times of my life
35. Always assuring me God did in fact have someone out there for me, even when I didn’t believe it.
36. Watching her in her teacher role.
37. Jenn’s Graduation Party!
38. Being there when “my” branch opened downtown
39. Being the happiest mom of the bride ever!
40. Watching her be Lovie
41. Her “surprise” and excitement each Christmas and Easter morning when we saw when Santa or the Easter Bunny left!
42. The fact that she honestly never knew that Jenn and I always snuck into the room before they were up to see what Santa left us!
43. Our many trips and times with the Kononens
44. Her new Friday night tradition with Ellie
45. “Jesus love the little Ellies. All the Ellies of the world. . . “
46. Her life long friend LaDon and how LaDon and Harry are my second parents
47. All the Georgia games we’ve been to in our lives!
48. Her love for junkin’
49. Her plants, flowers, and such she always has growing
50. “Child of Mine”
51. Heartbreak and triumph we’ve all 3 known
52. How protective she still is of me and Jenn
53. The comforting fact that I know, without a shadow of a doubt, my momma will always be there for me. Always.

Think there’s 53 things just by chance? There’s your clue! Happy Birthday, momma! I love you with all my heart!

Gotta Keep Singin'

One thing I absolutely love is praise music. I just love it. I can’t get enough of it. It’s something that really calms my heart, centers my thoughts on what really matters in life, and speaks to me in incredible ways. It’s one of the things I love about our church, too. We have incredibly talented musicians from our Music Minister to the orchestra and choir, it’s just amazing week after week.

Recently, we held a Celebration of Hope in Memory of Amy Faile at our Operations Center. For those of you who don’t know me personally, you probably don’t know who Amy was. Amy was a dear friend of mine, who bravely battled cancer and entered into the Gates of Heaven last year, January 30. She worked with me, too, and she was an angel, a precious friend, a light of hope, and she is deeply missed.

Amazing Amy at our wedding. She read scripture, and for that, we will forever be grateful!

While preparing for the Celebration, I heard this song on the CD I’d bought so I could play another song on it during the balloon release. This song is just beautiful to me. It reminds me of how when things are so rough, so bad, when our hearts are so broken, we must – we must – keep singing God’s praises. Without the love and comfort of our Heavenly Father, I really don’t see how folks make it.

Keep Singing
Another rainy day

I can’t recall having sunshine on my face

All I feel is pain

All I wanna do is walk out of this place

But when I am stuck, and I can’t move

When I don’t know what I should do

When I wonder if I’ll ever make it through

I gotta keep singing

I gotta keep praising Your name

You’re the one that’s keeping my heart beating

I gotta keep singing

I gotta keep praising Your name

That’s the only way that I’ll find healing

Can I climb up in Your lap

I don’t wanna leaveJesus sing over me

I gotta keep singing

Can I climb up in Your lap

I don’t wanna leave

Jesus sing over me

Oh You’re everything I need

And I gotta keep singing

Some of you are walking through some hard times. Whether it’s a career path gone awry, a loved one passing away, heartache of finding your way in this world, or just the everyday struggles of life that are getting you down, I pray for you today. I pray that you’ll Keep Singing. I know I am.

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"The Lord your God is with you,He is Mighty to save.He will take great delight in you,He will quiet you with his love,He will rejoice over you with singing."

~ Zephaniah 3:17
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Random Happenings

I went with Jennifer to Ellie’s 2 month check up. First of all, Ellie’s doctor is one of 9 in a practice, so it’s definitely Grand Central Station in that office. There were children everywhere! Ellie slept right through the waiting, and once we were in a room, we had to wake her up to undress her. As expected, she’s right on target with her height, weight, and head size. If you’re a mother, you know what’s coming next. . . . SHOTS. 5 of those bad boys. It was awful! The nurse couldn’t have been more compassionate about it, explaining to Jenn how she’d go as fast as she could, then clean up Ellie’s little legs and bandage them. Ellie’s little hand was wrapped around one of my fingers as tightly as she could possibly hold on. My other hand was used to hold Jennifer, who quickly melted into tears as she watched Ellie cry in pain. It was pitiful! I just can’t explain the sadness in Ellie’s little face; it was as if she was looking at her mother like why in the world are you letting this happen to me? She calmed down fairly easily, and even though she sniffled a little on the way home, I have to say it was a successful doctor visit.

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An actual conversation between mother and me at TJ Maxx this weekend

Me: “These jeans fit! I’m so excited! Not only because they’re $7, but also because they’re a size smaller than I normally wear!”

Mom: “That’s even better! What’s the brand?”

Me: “Willi Smith. Oh, look, Mom, here’s a whole section of Willi Smith.”

Mom: “Oh, good. I love Willi!”

Me: “I love Willi, too!”

We both started laughing and quickly changed the subject. I hope no one walking by heard just those last two lines.

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My precious husband painted our bedroom and hallway this weekend. Gone is the African Gold that would just about blind you in our room! YAY! It’s now a warm Biltmore Estate Mountain Trail hue that’s the perfect combination of khaki and brown. It really brings out the red in our bedspread and makes our furniture look so nice and rich! I would post a picture of Tim painting, but he made me promise not to post a picture of him in his painting attire, which includes a pair of red flannel UGA pants that are quite sexy. . .

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Mom and I went to a shower in my hometown this weekend. My hometown is very much like Mayberry. One blinking light, a chalk mine that is the livelihood of 80% of the population (which, I bet isn't over 1,000), and is soooooo 30 years behind the times. It's a little piece of Heaven on earth! Except for the fact that two of those old women asked me if I am pregnant. Apparently what was one of my favorite dresses gives the "blousing" effect of a growing mommy-to-be belly. Blousing is the word one of them used when I quickly corrected her that no, I am not with child. Thanks. I've almost decided to burn the dress.

My Favorite "B" Things

One of my favorite blogs, Skinkering Hearts, participated in this fun little Alphabet Game, courtesy of another blog. I was assigned the letter B. Fitting, don’t you think? I do! *GRIN*

You can play along, too! If you want to participate, leave a comment on this post and I will assign you a letter. You then write about 10 things you love that begin with your assigned letter and post them on your blog. When people comment on your posted list, you give them a letter and the chain continues on and on.

Yay!

My 10 Favorite Things that begin with the letter B:

Bags: I am definitely a Bag Lady! I love bags! Purses, over night bags, little bags for make up and such, any of it! I love bags! Here’s the bag my mother gave me for Christmas, which I have enjoyed using!

Buble: As in Michael Buble. His voice is just smooth as silk! I love his jazzy tones in his music. Tim and I danced to Buble’s “Everything” for our first dance, and it was honestly the most fun I’ve ever had dancing to one song! We often still play it on our iTunes and dance in our house!

Baking: Since marrying, I’ve fallen in love with being in the kitchen! I feel complete, fulfilled, inspired while I’m baking! And I love, love, love my Kitchenaide Mixer!

Books: I am such the book worm, and I frequent the library often! I enjoy reading anything from Christian literature to fictional novels to memoirs. My most recent books would include the Twilight series; Manic, a fascinating book written by a lady who battled bipolar disorder; and I’m currently reading Love Dare, a great book for improving the way I love my husband. If I had to name one book that has had a great impact on my life, other than the Bible, I’d have to say Perspectives, by Colin Creel. This is the book that the Bible Study group was doing when I joined and met Tim!

BBQ: I don’t eat it that often, as it’s not the healthiest meat around, but I do love some good ole’ southern barbeque. You’ll never catch me turn it down, and I get it honestly, from my Dad. I remember after he died, we had container after container brought to us. We had BBQ in our freezer for months to come. And I remember for a while, my mother didn’t like to eat it. I think it made her sad. And that made me sad. Still, it’s a favorite of mine, and I love the memories of my Dad that flood my heart while I enjoy a good ole’ BBQ sandwich.

Beach: it just don’t get no better than a warm day spent with your feet in the sand, your head on a towel, a cold drink in your hand, and the sun beatin down on you, all while the ocean’s crashing in front of you! I LOVE IT!

Baby Ellie: Helloooooo. She’s like my most favorite thing ever!!!!

Belle: our black lab who’s 5 ½ years old and full of life! She’s a daddy’s girl through and through, too. But I still love her!

Buddy: also known as Grandpa, Buddy’s our 12 year old mix who’s the sweetest dog ever. Buddy’s been with my family through some pretty tough times. If he could talk, we’d all be in trouble!

Being Lazy: Tim laughs often at how excited I get to have some time to just chill out. laying around in my comfy clothes, watching mindless movies, reading books, and napping. I love it! I need it, too. If I go too long without some Lazy B time, I tend to get quite honery. . . . so don’t say you’ve never been warned!