I especially love nights like this… where the sky is clear enough to see every star within miles.  Living near the city makes it hard to have really dark nights but your eyes get used to viewing skies with the lights of the nearby town.  As I looked across the yards, I examined the shapes of all the different trees on my street.  The differences in the way the limbs are shaped are very noticeable – the oaks, the maples, the pear trees.  Obviously, they had a clever Creator!  How beautiful God has made this universe!  I started thinking about the fact that, in the summer with all the leaves, you never really see the tree shapes, the individual limbs with all their branches.  They seem so strong with all their leaves gone.  How much like us, they reminded me!

After the winters of our lives have come and gone and the storms have almost taken us under, we wonder how we have survived sometimes.  And here we are when the winds have died down – stronger than ever.  Whew!  I’ve been there many times.  It was a wonderful lesson for God to speak to me through the trees tonight.  They were all beautiful and strong without their dressing.  They stood very proud, like they were greeting me and the rest of the world with a smile.  Like they had a moral of their story – that they made it through another storm.  Thank you, God, for teaching me to watch what you give me and to learn from nature. 

My little 3-year-old grandson Connor came by to see me after he left preschool.  He goes to preschool at our church, which happens to be where I work.  So, lucky me, I get to see him a lot.  He is one precious little guy.

He’s at a perfect age to be very much into the Army and soldiers these days.  His grandfather D-Daddy had gone to the Army/Navy Surplus Store for Christmas and bought him more camouflage clothes and some great patches.  You see, he’s a veteran, so he knows all about the patches and what they mean.  And Connor wears those clothes with great pride.

Mom Laura got the patches all sown on when hubby Preston looked at them and said, “The flag’s on the wrong arm.”  

Now, how could we have known?!  Only guys would know that!  He said proudly, “That flag goes on the right arm because when a soldier goes into battle and he raises his right arm, the stripes look like they’re blowing in the wind.” 

I never knew that.  What a great thing to know!

Sure enough, I looked on the internet and found these…

http://www.flagpride.com/news/soldier.php

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?

http://www.marlowwhite.com/faq-why-is-the-flag-patch-reversed.html

So, now you know.  When you sow patches on your little boy’s uniform, you now have the facts!  Just one more thing for moms of boys to know!

I love the military.  My husband is a veteran of the Vietnam war.  He left for Vietnam in 1968 when our first son, Preston (as in Connor’s dad above), was 3 weeks old.  One year later, when Tom returned, he was 80 pounds lighter, glowed in the dark from being in the sun for months, and his baby was walking and talking.    

I love American soldiers and I have the greatest respect for them and for our flag!  God bless America and God bless our soldiers! 

Oh, I’ve taken sick days with my husband.  Let’s see – he had 5 bypasses about 8 years ago.  Then, a few years after that, he broke his ankle fishing one day and ended up having to take an ambulance back home to Nashville to have surgery.   And my children have needed me from time to time.  But I can’t remember when I’ve had time to be sick myself, except on the weekends.  

I do remember a sick day one time, many years ago, when I woke up with vertigo.  That scared me to death!  I literally could not get out of bed and the first thought I had was “brain tumor.”  Never had anything like that happened to me.  Well, my husband called our doctor and it seemed like forever before his nurse, Debbie, who knew us very well, called us back.  Tom gave her my symptoms and she immediately knew what it was.  Of course, I figured it couldn’t be that simple and that she didn’t know what she was talking about but she seemed so sure.  Tom went to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription that was called in, brought it home and I took it as fast as I could.  As I recall, it didn’t take very long to work.  I was astounded.  Turns out, it was an inner ear infection that played havoc on my balance.  For years now, I have carried that medicine with me because I don’t want to go through that again.  It was scary.  Now that I think about it, though, the medicine probably is no good anymore.  I’d better toss it out and take my chances!

Well, yesterday, I woke up and must have had what seems to be going around these days.  All I know is, I had to stay horizontal all day.  As soon as I got vertical for a few minutes, back down I’d go.  There was no trying to get up and get dressed, much less going to work.  No, sir.  It just wasn’t happening.   So, I stayed in my pajamas and stayed horizontal.  I did get out of bed to go to the den, thinking I wanted to be near the TV, just in case anything at all was happening that I absolutely had to know!  Funny thing… I ended up tuning the TV to music.  I just couldn’t handle anything else.  After spending the day on my back, I got up long enough to eat some Campbell’s Vegetarian Vegetable Soup and crackers.   You know, when you get sick like that, you tend to go back to your childhood and Campbell’s soup!  Nothing else works quite like it.

So, today when I woke, I was not sure what kind of day I was going to have.  I honestly thought yesterday was the start of a really good case of the flu.  But, voila!  I very cautiously got out of bed and was back in the Land of the Living.  I am still very sore so it hurts when I laugh.  But it is so good to laugh!

All I can say is, “Thank you, God, for feeling good today!”

I have 3 grown sons and I think they get a kick out of me as I carry on this venture of continual learning.  They all bypassed my talent in this area a long time ago but I try not to stay too far behind, however crazy and fast this world of technology gets.  I never thought I would get to this point, though… of having to ask them to help me do things.  I always prided myself in being thoroughly independent.  They even come over to help me change light bulbs these days.  Of course, the lights are pretty high up.  At least, that’s how I justify it!  Thank you, guys!  I don’t know what I’d do without you!

Sometimes, this learning thing gives them a chuckle or two.  As it did in the Summer of 2006 when my sister and I became clowns.  You see, Harrianne is my younger sister – 5 years younger, to be exact.  When we were growing up, she always wanted to run away and join the circus.  Seriously!  She is such a gypsy at heart and she would literally pack up every so often and move around the world, if she could.  So, it didn’t sound too out of line for her to bring up the subject of us learning to become clowns.  Having no idea what that meant, we loaded up the car and drove to Minnesota to attend Mooseburger Clown Camp.   Oh, my!  What an experience that was!  We were taught by former Ringling Brothers clowns – people who had made their living doing what Harrianne had only dreamed of.  Well, that began another chapter in our already busy lives.  Sunny Bee and Oopsie Daisy were born that summer.  Our kids can now say their mom is a clown and mean it!  After all, we have tended to laugh our way through some of the toughest times in life.  Why not help others do the same?

So, now you know where the name of this blog originated.   The Bee Line of Sonnie B (aka Sunny Bee) has hatched.