MLK day 2022

​        Today is a holiday to celebrate a great man’s life.  I’ve come to this realization gradually.  As a sheltered white girl growing up in Memphis in the 70’s I never heard anything good about MLK.  If anything, I heard disparaging remarks about creating the holiday.  I didn’t know much about civil rights in the 60’s as I was a child when it happened and it hadn’t made it into the history books I used in high school.  Since becoming an adult, I’ve learned about the Montgomery bus boycott, the freedom riders, Emmett Till and sit ins.  I’ve listened to the words of Martin Luther King and visited his memorial in Washington.  He was a inspiring leader and a martyr.  It’s fitting to have a holiday in his memory.

Mayfield tornado

       December 2021 changed our small town of Mayfield KY forever.  Our downtown was wiped out and hundreds of people lost homes or had damage from a large tornado.  Over 20 people lost their lives in Mayfield and Graves Co and 77 across the state of KY.  Our courthouse on the court square which had been there since 1888 was destroyed. The downtown was decimated.  It will never be the same.
   We live north of town and we were spared from all of it.  I feel very fortunate but I grieve for others that lost everything and for the lost historic buildings which can never be replaced.  
      Our town though, has seen volunteers from all over the country giving their time and talents and food and materials.  It has been astonishing and wonderful.  
    It has made me more aware of my blessings and    the meaning of community.

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New Grandbaby

  On Aug 22,2021 Charlotte Mary Helen Lewis came into this world in Croyden, UK.   I couldn't be prouder.  It starts a new phase of life as grandparents for us.  I have been hoping and looking forward to this.  Sophie and Oliver are going to be good parents and Anthony and I hope to be good grandparents.  I feel so blessed also that I got to travel to UK and spend some time with the new family.  She is such a beautiful and good baby.

Work

I am nearing the end of my work career.  I look forward to retirement on some level but I also can't help but look back and marvel at the journey.  It's been a long and winding road.  I've taken some detours and breaks along the way.   I have always sought to challenge myself though and I find myself in the ER now.  It can be a tough job.  I have to deal with complex patients and tough social situations.  I keep trying to be a better listener.  It's never ending learning and change.  Mostly I like my job, but it can be hectic and stressful.  I want to help people and sometimes it's just sewing up a cut.  Sometimes it's listening or breaking bad news to them.  Often I can relieve their physical pain.  Sometimes I'm just a witness to their tragedy.  I have lots of stories from my time in this strange place and I know I will miss it when I retire.

  I've been thinking about how important schedule is for your work life.  I've sometimes made job decisions based on it and I know other people have too.  I left a secure 9-5  M-F position to embrace a variable, holiday and weekend responsibility. This isn't what people usually chose. I always felt that I was in jail working 9-5 though.  I glory in being off during the week when other people are working.  I like to be able to choose my time off rather than be confined to weekends.  I do love my time off.  We like to garden,  camp and travel.  Work is important but so is living a good life.  

Racism

    I haven't given too much thought to racism in my life.  As a white person I haven't had to.  I did grow up in Memphis in the 70's and experienced a certain tension around race. I remember the failed experiment with bussing.  I remember wondering if my parents were racist.  They were older and my Mama was from Mississippi and she never stopped using the word nigger.  I remember wondering why there were no integrated neighborhoods.  My parents tried to instill fear of a group of blacks in me.  The worst thing that could happen to you is having your car break down and then you could be assaulted, raped and murdered usually by blacks.  I didn't totally buy into everything my parents believed.  I did have a black friend Charlene, my senior year of high school that I dearly admired and loved.  I really thought that racism was a thing of the past and blacks enjoyed all the rights and opportunities that we all had.  Even though I loved history, I was pretty ignorant of the details of the civil rights movement of the 60's.  

   I can remember being mystified by the verdict in the OJ Simpson trial.  I saw that as a crime against a woman and I felt a gulf between myself and blacks.  Then I saw the video of the shooting of Walter Scott in NC and I thought this has been happening for a long time but we are only just now seeing it because of the easy availability of video.  

    In sept 2018 our church made a trip to Montgomery, Al.  I went because I was off work and I like my church people and don't get to spend enough time with them.  I really only had a foggy idea about The Legacy Museum and The Memorial for Peace and Justice that we were going to.  The whole experience opened my eyes.  The words at the memorial were not sugar coated like I'm used to in reading history.  They spoke of lynching as terrorism.  It was a moving memorial to a painful past that so many Americans do not want to confront.  

 Earlier in 2017 I was able to go the Martin Luther King Memorial and the Museum of African American History in DC.  Both were eye opening.  I also made it to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis where Martin Luther King was assassinated.  I have some more places on my list to visit when I can.

    So the recent outrage at the killing of George Floyd both surprised and pleased me.  I wanted to be in the streets marching in solidarity.  All  because of a video and a pandemic people paid attention.  I was relieved to hear the verdict in the trial yesterday.  I am saddened that it has taken so long to get people's attention.  And the struggle will continue..........

   

New year New Internet

     We live out in the county.  We are about 6 miles from a small town. We have 30 acres but also have neighbors and have been here 25 years now.  When we moved here the kids were in grade school and we had a dial up internet connection and no cell phones.  Things have really changed.  Now we have no house phone and our internet has increased in importance.  It did get me through online classes at Murray state and I can stream and use the internet.  I know some rural areas haven't had it as good as we have.  It's lately been from At&t and is fixed wireless.  It has a dish to work and would drop the signal frequently for seconds at a time.  It was like the signal was stuttering. Sometimes it would work just fine.  You just never knew and there are few other options.  Well yesterday we got highspeed fiber internet.  I feel like we've come into the 20th century.  It's hard to function now without a reliable internet connection.  

   I have elderly relatives who have dropped their internet service.  I know it's not easy to keep up with technology but it's so important if you want to stay connected.  I go to Sunday school on zoom and skype with my daughter in London.  Streaming TV has replaced the networks and cable and it's better.  So many changes.  We all have to keep changing too.