Welcome to my big new world. One of big surprises, big tears, big blessings, big fear, big love, big laughter and great big hope. My name is Angela and if you haven't heard already, I have one very special ass.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Am I blue?

Oh, yes, I'm blue.  Or was blue. Yesterday.  I suppose it's one of the many withdrawl symptoms from the Fentanyl patch.  

I was introduced to a singer (thank you, Dwain), who somehow, someway I had overlooked through the years.  Eva Cassidy. Eva's voice sparked intense emotions within me that only escalated upon reading her bio.  She and I share the same birth year.  And she died in 1996. Of recurring cancer.

So, yes ~ as I listened to her stunning renditions of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Ain't No Sunshine When He's Gone," and "Songbird" among others, I allowed my body to be enveloped in a shroud of gray and my mind travel to places it shouldn't. I cried for her. I cried for me. I cried for my children. I cried for my husband. I cried for my friends. And I even cried for my fat cat Frio.  I had me dead and buried at least three times. 

All before noon. :)

My Zach came galloping to the rescue for a while and we went antiquing in dark, musty, wonderfully cobweby antique malls for a few hours.Then, I dropped him off at his dad's house and I went home.  And cried some more. And by three this morning, I was pooped.

Waking up in a chilly cold sweat (yet another withdrawal symptom,) I realized it was Sunday morning.  I love Sunday mornings . . .time for renewal.

So first thing I said a prayer, reflected on the following lines (thank you Martha Jo) . . .

"Each day is a day of steady progress. You may not see it but I do. Persevere. Love and laugh." --Two Listeners
"Wait in Love with Me. As you wait, courage and hope will flow into your being."  --Two Listeners
"Your need is My chance to help. Faith is all I need to manifest My Power."
--Two Listeners
 
and took a steaming hot bath. Washing yesterday's junk away.
 
 


Thursday, January 27, 2011

He went out on the back porch

He went out on the back porch
in the middle of the night,
and he cried, and he cried, and he cried…

and the moon didn’t change a damned bit.

~ Dwain Cromwell

The Darkest Hour

Dare I blog about the darkest hour in this journey?  

Dare I mention six days after returning home that my skin, on the outside and inside of my yahoo and butt, had turned into a tortured, peeling and raw burned mess?  That on Tuesday, January 18th, despite the Fentanyl pain patch and morphine that filled my body, I fell to my knees with Bruce on the phone crying and pleading for him to come home and shoot me between the eyes while literally screaming to God for His divine mercy?

"Do you fucking hear me, God???" I wailed over and over. And again.


Well, I suppose there is need to get that out . . .because, well, there it is. The brutal truth.  

But understand that as about as quickly as that barbaric pain plowed me over, it left. By Saturday I was morphine and Ambien free.  By Sunday, my sweet bottom was 95% healed.  Yesterday, there was no need to replace the 72 hr. Fentanyl patch.

And I realize, no matter what demons any of us are facing, no matter how black and painful life can be . . .light does follow.

The darkest hour is just before dawn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6g4IFJE4oc 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Sweetest Gift

A couple of days ago I received a get well card with a long note from a man whose late mother had been close friends with my mother for decades. He is serving a life sentence in a state prison in Angleton, Texas.

Honestly, I hadn't thought much about him since he was incarcerated quite a while ago,  but reading his scribbled hand brought forth a flood of memories. I was touched to the brink of tears by the sweetness of his written words  . . .this person I had known during my childhood had always harboured a sweet spirit. I recalled how shocked I had been, how shocked we all had been, when we learned that in a drug-filled rage, in one brief second, he made a heartbreaking move that darkened his life to black and tragically changed a host of innocent lives, forever.

I thought about his mother endlessly over the past weekend ~ who died while he was behind bars ~ and this song filled my head as I relived what I knew of their relationship and examined the relationships that I have with my sons.

I used to sing this to live audiences back before I had my boys ~ when the lyrics meant very little to me. . . when I felt obligated to perform it because it was originally published by my great granddaddy, VO Stamps. 

Today these simple lyrics hold intense meaning. I pull out my old Takamine acoustic in this hotel room and I sing The Sweetest Gift for Scott. 

I sing in Pam's memory. 

I sing in Barbara's memory. 

And I sing for my own mother while clinging to the diminishing hope that one day she will embrace these poetic lines for her own children who, for 44 and 47 years, have silently begged to be lovingly accepted and lifted up, not cruelly judged and torn down.

And when the night grows very, very still, I sing The Sweetest Gift for my three sons pledging forever my unconditional love I have for each of them.

One day a mother
Went to a prison
To see an 'erring
But precious son
She told the warden
How much she loved him
It did not matter
What he had done

She did not bring to him
(Bring to him)
A parole or pardon
(Pardon free)
She brought no silver
(Brought no gold)
No pomp nor style
(Him to see)
It was a halo
(Halo bright)
Sent down from heaven
(Heaven's light)
The sweetest gift
(A mother's smile)

She left a smile
You can remember
She's gone to heaven
From heartache's free
Those walls around you
Will never change her
You were her baby
An err will be

It was a halo bright
Sent down from heaven's light
The sweetest gift
A mother's smile

With much certainty I know that Scott is yet another earth angel sent to me during this journey as a reminder that there is nothing much more sacred than the relationship between a mother and her boy. That love remains steadfast, no matter what, in life and in death, just like the love shown between Mary and her sweet Son.

The sweetest gift will shine in abundance for my Ben, Zach and Dillon upon my homecoming tomorrow night ~ and always.  God bless everybody.
And tonight, an extra blessing for Scott, Pam and their boys.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Good morning, 2011!

Wanting to greet the new year with fresh breath this morning, I loaded my new toothbrush from Santa and guided it toward my awaiting mouth. In the final second my brain realized something wasn't quite right and the 'mission' was aborted just in time.

Boudreaux's Butt Paste® may be a lot of things to a lot of people.  But toothpaste it ain't.

Happy, happy New Year!