Good Morning and Happy Monday Blog!!
I hope you’ve all had a great Memorial Day weekend so far and are remembering and honoring our heroes and their gifts to all of us—Where would we be without them?! Let’s be mindful of this, not just as this new week starts off, but forever, and let’s hold our heroes dear to our hearts and pray for their families and loved ones. Amen.
As this new week begins to unfold, I’m excited to see what it brings to us. So far, for me each Monday for the last several weeks now, has been another “awakening.” I had no idea that reliving each one of these chapters of my book would have such a profound effect on me, but it has. However, this time around is quite different from the first time I wrote about all this stuff—my lonely childhood, if you will. That’s how I see it now; that is, now that I can see it. And it was lonely when you consider the fact that I pretended most of my life didn’t even happen…not the way it actually happened, anyway.
So, I’m finding that as I revisit these chapters each week, I can read the written words without all the pain, grief and tears. I truly have survived my childhood. I can be honest and authentic now— the very opposite of my former self, “The Great Pretender” — Yes, that is profound!
I have one great superlative for me: HALLELUJAH!!
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Chapter 5—Excerpts and Thoughts
“The Lord gives and someone else takes.” – Author unknown
“Hey, the way I look at it, after forty, a woman has to choose between losing her figure or her face. My idea is to keep the face and remain seated. It’s a no-brainer since my profession requires that I spend way over fifty percent of my time sitting. You know, actually, skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like, ‘You know sometimes I just forget to eat.’ Now I’ve forgotten my keys, my mother’s maiden name, and my address, but I have never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat, right, Maggs?”
“That’s probably true. However, since you’ve always been a skinny little thing, weight has never been an issue for you. You just wanta get outta here ’cause ole memory lane’s getting to ya, huh, Doc?” I teased.”
“Oh sure, Maggs—that’s it, sure. Don’t forget that I’m the one with the big brain when it comes to the brain. Remember, I’m the fixer. Nothing scares me, Magg Pie, but that’s not to say that ole memory lane’s not pretty scary. Just let me run in and check my emails, and we’ll head out for some dinner. Then you can get back on that scary road, and we’ll see who screams first, okay?” She concluded with confidence as we both walked back inside the office from the patio.”
“It was about eight o’clock in the evening, and Paula had long since left for the day. I amused myself by browsing around the oh-so-Lizzy office. It was beautifully decorated—very spacious yet warm, inviting and quite disarming. I guess that’s what a psychiatrist’s office is supposed to do— disarm one, right? As I looked around at the walls, I studied several pieces of art that I had done for Lizzy over the years.”
“Before I knew it, we were pulling into the parking lot at the restaurant and up to the valet parking sign. The young man opened Lizzy’s door and I got out on my side.”
“She insisted we order a fabulous meal, way more than we could eat, but vowed nothing would go to waste because she would, of course, request a doggie bag for leftovers. “Okay, that’s fine, Dr. Frued—I mean Frugal—but you’re paying, ” I said. She just sipped her wine and ignored me.”
“As usual, Lizzy told me about her latest most interesting and challenging patient. This practice was something we had done since she first opened her practice several years ago. She would give me the specifics surrounding the case—using code names, of course—and then I would come up with my own diagnosis.”
“This new case was different, though, and Lizzy was busting to tell me about it. She was quite intrigued and knew I would be also, and once again, I must admit that the Lizzy-Girl was right.”
“Do you remember when we were in the first grade and had just met for the first time at Grace Chapel School?” she asked.
“Yes, dear, of course,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Okay, do you remember that little boy who was kidnaped and on the army base in that little community next to us that same year?” she asked.
“Oh gosh, yes, I do remember, because he was or age, wasn’t he?’ I answered.
“He was actually my age almost to the day! Remember, you’re six months younger than me, little baby!” she mociked in her usual bossy tone, as she stuck our tongue out at me. See what I mean—older, wiser?
“They looked for him for years, Maggs, and to this day, they’ve never found a trace of him or who took him,” she explained.
“So what does that little boy have to do with your new patient?” I asked.
“Well, my dear Watson, my new patient is his mother—her code name is the Mother—and I’d say she’s about twenty years older than us, Maggs.”
“So in 1950, her husband was reassigned from New Jersey to that army base not far from us in Grace Chapel. They had one child, Ricky, who was three at the time, and then three years later, when Ricky was in the first grade, same as us, he was abducted. They had just celebrated his sixth birthday, and a few days later, the day before Valentines Day, he just disappeared. The Mother relived her horror story for me in our first meeting.”
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Here’s me, sending you heart-felt thoughts and prayers for a wonderful week—Do good stuff.
God is Great. God is Good.
Love,
Margaret
“People who shine from within, don’t need the spot light.” – The Free Verse
Author Margaret McBride 