Memories, memories Friday Five

Sally from Revgals gave us a memorial Friday five:

This year Tim and I have planted and nurtured a vegetable garden, and I have just spent the morning preparing vegetables and soups for the freezer, our veggie garden is producing like crazy and it is hard to keep up with, that said it'll be worth it for a little taste of summer in the middle of winter :-). That got me thinking of the things I treasure, memories are often more valuable than possessions. How about you, can you share:

1. A treasured memory from childhood?

In 1949 I was 4 and we moved from Illinois to TX. My father had asked for a transfer because the northern winters were getting too difficult for his lungs and the doctor had told him to move to the southwest, I don’t remember the move per se, but I remember the train trip that brought my mother and I here. My father and 16 year old brother had preceded us. My father, who had wanted to be an artist and not a draftsman, had made me a coloring book of the event. I have since lost that coloring book, but I can still remember the pictures.

2. A teenage memory?

When I was a junior in HS, I made the state band. It was a great experience for me. The sense of personal worth that came from that experience undid much of the put down I heard at home. It was also from that HS band experience that I got a scholarship to university.  And that introduced me to a whole different world.

3. A young adult memory?

I came to know Christ at 25 and not long afterward entered the convent. The two are not necessarily connected, but I am clear that it was the call of Christ to know him intimately that was the reason I entered religious life. I am very thankful for both of these events in my young adulthood because I learned to pray—various methods and they have all served me well though my ministry and my life.



4. A memory from this summer?

I retired and have moved back to my family home in TX after being away for 38 years. Lots of memories have been coming up since I moved back here. But honestly, I don’t want to remember the agony of moving or do it again!



5. A memory you hope to have?

J and I have been visiting churches in the diocese. Finally last Sunday while sitting in a large parish, I suggested that we need to choose a parish in which we wanted to have our funeral! We have never gone to the same parish and will continue that practice so that we can both have a parish community where we both can be of assistance to the local rector. We also thrive in different kinds of parishes. For years we did that so that people would not think of us as a lesbian couple. So on my part, it was done partly out of fear. A memory I would like to have is for people to respect the relationship that J and I have, honor it and support us the same way that they support others who have made commitments to each other. We celebrated 32 years of living together this year. Married couples don’t generally do so well. Just sayin’….

Bonus- a song that sums up one of those memories