The Beatles ~ There are places I remember...

...some are gone and some remain.  "In My Life" - a song that rips my heart and makes me ugly cry.  In My Life

I guess you could say I'm a "feeling" person.  I have a long memory for the people crossing my path in life.  Right, wrong, indifferent - I remember people.

Along my path of finding "Mr. Right" - my present husband - I found a lot of "not quite right but you touched my life" people.  Most parted ways because we weren't a good fit.  Of those that crossed my path - some have departed this earth way too early and some found the "right fit" that wasn't me.

When I met my present husband, we had long talks about songs/music/life.  I told him I was trying to find a song the Beatles had sung.  He found it for me, bought the cd for me as a gift and I sat in the silence of my bedroom - in the dark - and let the song flow over me - breaking me down - healing me.  I cried ugly tears as the song washed over me and I was so thankful for this man - my Bill - that provided this private healing time.

"Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments

With lovers and friends I still can recall

Some are dead and some are living

In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers

There is no one compares with you

And these memories lose their meaning

When I think of love as something new

Though I know I'll never lose affection

For people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them

In my life I love you more"

...and I have for over 25 years.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Songs in My Life ~ I'm Already There

I'm going through a list of my favorite songs.  We're in a new normal with Bill's lung cancer/lung problems.  I'd forgotten about this song.  I'm reminded so often of why I fell in love with him and why I stay in love with him.  This song is one of the many reminders.

I'm Already There by Lonestar

Bill's work was in the Metal Cutting Industry.  If a machine cut metal, he's seen it.  He knew how to write the software to make the CNCs (I'm sure you know this but just in case - Computer Numerical Controllers) tell the machine to do what it was supposed to do (simplified version and probably not exactly correct).

He was often called into a plant as a troubleshooter when machines were down.  He was once told that if he didn't get a machine going soon he was going to "shut down the whole GM line".  You can imagine what he said to that comment.

Anyway - I'd drive him to the airport on Monday and pick him up on Friday only to do it again the next week.  After he'd hurt his back and was finally home, I heard this song and just fell apart.  I promised myself and him that I'd do anything legal and moral to keep him home with me.  It's been over 20 years and I've kept my promise so far.

Promises made - Promises kept.  Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Sweet Southern Comfort ~ I'm home

My growing up years were in Central Florida.

My young woman - raising a family years were in Northern Virginia.  The first time I glimpsed the view of DC - my breath was taken away.  What a magical place.

Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

Then it was Nashville - didn't think I'd like Nashville but I knew I could make it there as a single Mom.  (I did like Nashville and I met my Bill there.)

Photo by Tanner Boriack on Unsplash

A few other moves and we landed back in Northern Virginia.  Girls were grown and I kept feeling the call to get back to my "Deep South" roots.

Every time I heard Buddy Jewell sing "Sweet Southern Comfort" I wanted to get "home".

Sweet Southern Comfort

We've been back nearly 15 years and it feels like yesterday.  It's my "Happy Place".  I drive by and can say, "that's where Traci was born" and "that's where Ginger was born".  Yes, my "Happy Place".

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

Small town - Magnolia trees - hot, hot, hot days - 6 weeks of winter - beach 90 minutes away - SEC - I'm home!

Thank you, Lord, for the many journeys I've had and all of the people I met to include my Bill.  Thank you even more for getting me back to my "Deep South"!

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Books in My Life ~ Clutterfree with Kids

"Change your thinking - Discover new habits - Free your home"

Granted I don't have small kids any more but I'm a huge fan of Joshua Becker - the founder and editor of  Becoming Minimalist.  I see several posts in my future about this book.  Loads of good advice.

Clutterfree for Kids...for now I'll add this excerpt.  (P. 46 of my version.)  It discusses the importance of Significance over Success.  I hadn't thought of this until reading tonight.  I get it and quite frankly it does matter to me.

Significance

"Significance carries on.  Significance keeps on giving.  You positively change the life of another human being...that person changes the life of another...who impacts the life of another...who influences another..."

Focus

"Focus on people, not dollars.  Begin to transfer your life's focus from your banking account to the people around you."

Strive

"Strive to live a life worth copying.  Live with character, integrity, and morality.  Your life should look the same in private as it does in public."

I promise to add more in future posts.  Until then...I'll be pondering these thoughts.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Books in My Life ~ Voices of the American Revolution in the Carolinas

I read this book a little at a time.  There are short firsthand accounts from actual participants to help us experience what life was like during those eventful years.  I love how it's written in the vernacular of that time period.  I find this book fascinating.

Here's an excerpt (p. 200 of my version) from the chapter entitled "The Race to the Dan" - from Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States by General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee.

"General Greene having withdrawn his troops from Beatie's Ford, on his Lordship's passage below, Lieutenant Colonel Webster and his division crossed the Catawba without opposition and in the course of the day joined the British general.  Cornwallis had now gained one of the great roads leading to Salisbury and the pursuit our light troops was renewed with activity."

The book goes in chronological order and each account is interesting to me.  If you're looking for some history, these firsthand accounts will take you back in time and place you in the middle of it all.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Books in My Life ~ The Simple Truths of Service

What a helpful book!  I've always believed in great Customer Service.  I certainly look for it when I'm shopping and do my best to offer it to my clients.

"The Simple Truths of Service" is full of great Customer Service examples.

Probably the most touching example is the story of "Johnny the Bagger".  You can find an excerpt of the book and Johnny's story on YouTube.  Here's the link I liked best.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8-xtih-jaM

The stories are good and so are the quotes.  The sections are short so it's definitely my kind of book.

Two quotes that hit me were..."The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."  Linus Pauling and "We do not remember days.  We remember moments in our lives."  Unknown

I'll leave you with this - it doesn't matter what we do - our careers, where we volunteer, the people we meet throughout our day - we're giving Customer Service.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Books in My Life ~ Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Christians commonly remember Brother Lawrence for the intimacy he expressed concerning his relationship to God as recorded in a book compiled after his death, the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God.   My version and the one I read as a teenager is "Practicing the Presence of God".

This book changed my life when I was a teenager.  I realized I could converse with God 24/7.  I didn't have to be at a specific place or wait until a specific time.  I've been conversing ever since.

The book is a collection of conversations, letters and writings of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (c. 1614 – 12 February 1691).  Brother Lawrence served as a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris.

An excerpt - p. 41 of my version.  "As for how things are with me now, I can't explain it sufficiently.  I have no suffering or worries about my spiritual state because I have no will of my own.  I only have the will of God.  I try to accomplish his will at all times and in all things."

For a book originally published in 1691 and 1694 it resonates today with me.  Join me in "Practicing the Presence of God" throughout your daily life.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Books in My Life ~ Dale Carnegie's Lifetime Plan for Success

I love books!  I mean you could lock me away in a library and I'd be a happy person!  Here are a few I've read often mixed in with some I'll read next.

Tonight I chose to read some of "Dale Carnegie's Lifetime Plan for Success".  I can create a lot of posts from this book.  Thank you to one of my daughters for giving me this book one Christmas.  It's a really good book!

I'll give you something from Chapter 1 to think about.  I know I'm thinking about it.

Chapter 1 - "If You Want to Gather Honey, Don't Kick Over the Beehive".  Principle 1 - Don't criticize, condemn or complain.

The entire chapter is good - here's an excerpt..."Instead of condemning people, let's try to understand them.  Let's try to figure out why they do what they do.  That's a lot more profitable and intriguing than criticism; and it breeds sympathy, tolerance and kindness."

"To know all is to forgive all."

I need these words in my life right now.  The word "tolerance" hits my heart.  I need to be more tolerant.  The definition of "tolerance" is "the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with."  Yes, I need these words right now.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Songs in My Life ~ I Need Thee Every Hour

How wonderful when my "work life" coincides with my personal life.  You want to learn how to play "I Need Thee Every Hour"?  Why, yes, let's do that!  I can't think of a song I sing more because..."I need Thee every hour...!"

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Enjoy this version... by Fernando Ortego  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZIMDcgrF-Q&list=RDtZIMDcgrF-Q&index=1

I need Thee every hour,

Most gracious Lord.

No tender voice like thine,

Can peace afford.

I need Thee, oh I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee!

Oh, bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee!

I need Thee every hour,

Stay thou nearby.

Temptations lose their pow'r

When thou are nigh.

I need Thee, oh I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee!

Oh, bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee!

I need Thee every hour,

In joy or pain.

Come quickly and abide,

Or life is vain.

I need Thee, oh I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee!

Oh, bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee!

Thank you for visiting ~ Reia

The Beatles ~ Help, I Need Somebody!

Have y'all noticed the commercial with the Beatles singing "Help"?  So many memories rush back to me!

1 - I'm so blessed to have grown up when the Beatles were a "thing".  I've tried to relay their importance and music to my children and now to my students.

Photo by Kara Eads on Unsplash

2 - They created so many songs - I can't just choose one to be my "favorite".  Some make me happy, some make me thoughtful and some evoke emotions I can't put my finger on.

3 - During the multiple hours of "Beatles" conversations I've had with my husband over our twenty-plus years together...one of the topics I found most interesting...

... the Beatles created beautiful music and the words didn't matter as much - for me the song would be "Blackbird" - the music is beautiful but the words are, well,... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kx4xVKo9z8

... or they created beautiful words and the music didn't matter as much (still looking on YouTube for an example).

... or it was just different - "Little Piggies"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upJB1XZQU0k

... or it just made you happy  "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Life Goes On" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J9NpHKrKMw

and then there were the songs that were perfect in word and music - one would be - "Let It Be" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra3rF4b6O3E.

I have a lot to say about the music the Beatles created so I'll stop here and write more later.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Songs in My Life ~ Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Holy Anthems Rise

One thing I've learned in my 14 years of providing music for the Catholic faith - Easter arrives on Saturday night during the Easter Vigil - also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter.  It's a service held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus.

We begin in darkness - the readings are done with the lights out - we hear Genesis - in the dark - and it's impressive.

I've learned to appreciate and look forward to this celebration.  I've been singing our recessional song all day - "Alleluia!  Alleluia! Let the Holy Anthem Rise".  It's a song of hope, a song of rejoicing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4r1Ocb0B04

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let the holy anthem rise,

and the choirs of heaven chant it

in the temple of the skies.

Let the mountains skip with gladness

and the joyful valleys ring,

with hosannas in the highest

to our Savior and our King.

May your Paschal Vigil be filled with hope and rejoicing!  He is risen - Alleluia!

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Songs in My Life ~ Behold the Wood

I've discovered as I wind my way through my 14th year as a musician for the Catholic faith...Holy Week is spent walking out the Passion of Christ and I truly love it!

Last night the Altar was stripped and the church was prepared for the sacrifice Jesus offered of himself for my sins.

Tonight we enter in silence and leave in silence.  As a Music Director - I'd really love a quick run through of the songs but...we enter in silence and leave in silence.

We also venerate the cross during the Mass and will be singing this touching song - "Behold the Wood".  "Behold, behold the wood of cross, on which is hung our salvation.  O come, let us adore."

You can hear it now on YouTube (another great video) and tonight when I stream the Mass on the church's FaceBook page. 

Hope your Holy Week journey is full of meaning and meditation.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Some of My Favorite People ~ They're Fantastic!

Holy Thursday is in the books and it was beautiful!  It was so touching to hear the congregation singing and worshiping as we worked our way through the Mass.

I was able to get some pics of the best choir a church could have!

I love these wonderful people so much!

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

The Songs in My Life ~ As I Have Done for You

I'm ready - 3 notebooks prepared.  Clues for myself because I'll be changing transpositions and we have a lot of moving pieces.  The phrase "moving pieces" has a couple of meanings because we really have moving pieces...musicians, singers and me hopefully remembering all I have to do.

As Fr. Adam humbles himself to wash the feet of 12 parishioners and Deacon Doug assists, we'll be singing..."I your Lord and Master, now become your servant.  I who made the moon and stars will kneel to wash your feet.  This is my commandment to love as I have loved you.  Kneel to wash each other's feet as I have done for you."

You can hear "As I Have Done For You" on YouTube (the video is really good also)...and "live" when I stream the Mass on the church's FaceBook page tomorrow night.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Holy Week ~ Almost There

I'm working on my 7th Holy Week preparation.  As a group we've come a long way.  This year we're more bilingual than ever and that makes me very happy and a good bit nervous.  I've included YouTube links of some of the songs we're singing during this time.  Feel free to join us because I'll be streaming!  https://www.facebook.com/saintstephenfirstmartyrcatholicchurch/

I grew up in a Charismatic world and now I earn my living in a Liturgical world - similar and yet very different.  Both are good and I love the diversity.

In my present liturgical world we'll walk out the Passion of Christ from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday and it touches me so.

During Holy Thursday our Priest will humble himself and wash the feet of some of our families.

The Altar will be stripped and we'll prepare for Good Friday.

  Donde Hay Amor y Caridad - Where Charity and Love Abound
As I Have Done for You

Good Friday will be Stations of the Cross in the Garden. 

Our amazing Hispanic community is giving us a "living" Stations of the Cross...

...to be followed by Good Friday Liturgy.  We enter in silence, we venerate the Cross, we have Communion and we depart in silence.  Very moving.

Behold the Wood ~ Entre Tus Manos

Saturday is our "Easter Vigil" - we begin at dark (8pm) - we enter in darkness and after the Readings, lights are turned on and we begin the celebration of the Savior's Resurrection.  Resucito

We're reminded of the importance of our Baptism.  I Saw Water Flowing

The entire evening is so moving to me.

Then we come back for Easter Sunday and what a celebration!  He is risen!

I truly hope and pray that you are celebrating the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ during this time of year!

If you aren't, you're truly missing out!

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Apples of Gold ~ Proverbs 25:11

If you've been around me, you know I love books.

There are a few books that - no matter how many times I moved - they traveled with me - always.  I re-discovered one of them last night.

Apples of Gold by Jo Petty

My parents gave me the above book in 1979.

It's one of my all time favorite books.  I cherish it.

The title is from Proverbs 25:11 -

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."

I've been thinking about this verse a lot lately.  "A word fitly spoken".  There are so many times when my words are not "fitly spoken".  They're rushed, sometimes careless and often hurtful.  They're not the words I really want to say.

I pray that in my world of commitments and walking out my daily life I take the time to form my thoughts and my words so they're "like apples of gold in pictures of silver".

Some of the nuggets in this book...

• "What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity."
• "Children are a great comfort in your old age - and they help you reach it faster, too."
• "All sunshine makes a desert."

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

My Girls

This is a little bit of a tough time for us right now.  All's good but multiple testing and the follow up doctors' appointments can get wearing.  I just want to shout out to my daughters for checking in with me, asking what they can do to help, prayer support and just general "we're thinking about you - what can we do to help" comments.

Thank you Traci & Ginger for your words of support and for "being there".  It means a lot!

Biopsy is tomorrow - Bill always does really well and I'm amazed at his body.  The nurse today said they'd keep him in recovery until they know he's safe to go home because it's like putting a needle into a balloon.  Thanks for that thought and thank you for not sending him home to my care until you know he's "good to go".

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Cancer Wife ~ PET Scan

24 hours of no carbs - no sugar.  Oh my goodness!  I'm married to a man that doesn't do well following the rules.  In fact - he rarely follows rules of any kind.

Thankfully he realized the importance of the test he took yesterday and did a pretty good job following "the rules".

While he was tested I was able to spend 1 hour and 20 minutes of time in prayer and time being thankful for the incredible facility we're at.

The Lewis Cancer Center offered me the following...

A beautiful view as I waited for my husband.

All of the coffee I could want plus a place to charge my phone.

The waiting room in the CyberKinife/Radiology area as we waited to hear the results.

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia

Cancer Wife ~ Something Grew

This is such an interesting journey.  November 2017 was when Bill was coughing up blood and saying if it's lung cancer - I don't want to know about it.  Umm - if it's lung cancer, you'll know about it.

Fast track to March 2019...in remission since July 2018...CT scans every 3 months looking for new growth...March 4th CT Scan - new growth.  Bam!  We're in a new experience and what an amazing group of doctors we have.  Radiologist has a PET scan scheduled immediately, we see him right after.  Oncologist puts Bill's fears to rest - "I'm not going to use chemo for this."  Whew!  (Apparently that's the bar with my husband - the line between I'll be treated for this or I'm ready to meet my maker.)  Chemo kicked his butt.

The new growth (1cm grew to 1.6cm in 3 months) is scheduled to be biopsied next week - fiducial markers placed for radiation - radiation plan to be put in place - a couple of zaps and done.

I'm actually marveling at the tremendous job our team of doctors and their staff are doing.  I'm attaching reward dinners and a hotel stay since I don't do "early mornings" any more to the present testing.  (If my mama taught me anything, she taught me to be rewarded after something tough.)

Thanks for visiting ~ Reia 

Cancer Wife - Guess That's Me

Tonight I was asked to write about my experiences as the wife of a Cancer Patient...it will help someone.

Wow!  Brave face blown!  Real face revealed!  I am the wife of a man dealing with Cancer.  There it is - I said it.  I own it - I don't like it - in fact, I hate it.

I've never run from reality - I've run to reality and dealt with "worst case first".  If I can deal with the "worst case" then I can deal with what I'm facing.  It's worked well for me.  And then my husband of 20something years developed lung cancer.  The big bug-a-boo.

Truthfully - we've been blessed with incredible doctors and supportive staff.  I wasn't the person having the radiation zaps or the chemotherapy that zapped my husband to "stand up - pass out" status -  I was the was the person on constant alert should he "hit the floor".

So, I'll keep my promise and tell my story of what it's like to be the "Cancer" wife.  It's a life of prayer, faith and constant words of affirmation.

Thanks for visiting ~ more to come ~ Reia