For Chris...

Yesterday morning I woke up to a beautiful spring day. The birds were singing, and the sun was shining, and the daffodils were blooming, and all was right with the world. That is, all was right with my world.

Until I turned on my phone … and it immediately beeped with a devastating message from my sister letting me know that someone very dear to us lost her battle with cancer very early Saturday morning.

And then the sun seemed too bright, the birds seemed too loud, the world was too happy and full of itself. How can this be when this lovely woman, who guided so many young lives, who was such a delight to be around, is suddenly gone? How can this be when two happy, beautiful young women have lost their mother, a husband his sweetheart, a brother his only sibling, a father his only daughter?

My heart breaks for this family. I can’t bear to imagine their sadness and grief, the loss of all their tomorrows with her…of all the promises of joys to be shared. 

No, all is not right with their world, and I pray that, someday, it will be right again.

What comes rushing at me now, is the reminder that life is short and fleeting. 

That in the blink of an eye there are no more tomorrows to make things right, to do things differently.

Let us be gentle to the people we love.

Let us be forgiving of the people we love.

Let us reach out to the people we love, instead of waiting for them to reach out to us…

Because, that “someday” may never come.

As my baby sister so eloquently told me, “Our real epitaph isn't words carved on a stone, it's memories carved on the hearts of the ones we love.”   

Chris, you will live on in the hearts of the many lives you touched.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the flowers are blooming for you.

Rest in peace…

Rest in peace.

Damn You, Angry Birds!

Last July, I finally decided to step into the right decade and upgrade my cell phone. This was precipitated only because I had to change cell providers, and this was because my cell provider didn’t extend to the wilds of northwest Georgia. I actually had not intended to get an iPhone, because, I surely didn’t need all that nonsense on my phone, BUT AT&T gave me a rockin’ deal on one, and after looking at it and determining how totally cool it really was, I caved.

Soooo, around Christmas I decided that it may be time to actually set the phone up to do what it was intended to do. That is, play music and games, right? Oh, and all those really cool apps, too. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have done it even then if I hadn’t received an iTunes gift card for Christmas.

First I checked out the free games and downloaded Jetpack, which is really kind of fun in a crash and burn sort of way. One really needs to be feeling energetic in order to play this, though. The other free one was a modernized version of Atari’s Pong, which is also fun if you’re looking for something less strategic.

Then, on a whim, I decided to burn 99 cents of my gift card on Angry Birds. Hello! There is something quite charming about those little birds, each with their own special powers, jumping and doing backflips, as they wait their turn to catapult to their deaths in order to save their eggs from the evil green pigs. I hate to admit this, but it took me a long time to figure out that those creatures were actually pigs. (Hanging head in shame.)

Well, it didn’t take long to fall under the Angry Birds spell. And, like an addict, I used every free moment to satisfy my AB craving. The only thing that kept me in check was that the game blazes through battery life. I also started noticing that my neck and shoulders were starting to hurt. Seriously, I was only using my fingers, so what gives here? Then I realized that every time I sling-shotted one of those birds I would tense up until the moment of impact in anticipation of death and destruction.

Then, after repeated attempts, successfully destroying pigs through what seems to be a gazillion levels, AB added insult to injury, taunting me with the ol’, “Congratulations, you made it, but you’re just not good enough, because you didn’t get the coveted three stars on every level. Go back and try again, you big loser!” Grrr. But, being defiant and strong-willed I said, “To hell with you, I don’t need a stinkin’ three stars to make me feel superior about laying waste to a bunch of smirking green pigs and sacrificing a bunch of innocents birds in the process.”

So, I carried on and finally made it through every level of every section. Done, finished…I can get on with my life, right? But that taunt was rattling around in my subconscious…I succumbed. Again, hanging my head in shame, but I now have the coveted three stars in every level of Poached Eggs. One down, six more to go. I need a break!

Damn you Angry Birds and your vile three star Kool-Aid!

(Oh, and you’ll be happy to know that I now have 269 songs on my iPhone's iPod and one book on my iPhone's iBook app…just call me i-Girl!)