Grandmother Fullerton

I received a beautiful story yesterday on facebook about my daddy's mother. It was her birthday yesterday and I didn't even know when her birthday was. I don't remember ever going to visit her on her birthday or ever buying her a gift. I really don't understand how I missed out on knowing such an amazing lady. I am angry that my dad didn't make sure that we got to be part of her life. I don't understand that he never told us about her and his life growing up with his family. We did go and visit occasionally. We usually went up for an hour or so on a Sunday morning or on a Wednesday afternoon if it was raining and he couldn't play golf. Don't misunderstand I loved my daddy more than anything. He was funny and loving, he was sentimental and would even cry when he was touched by something or someone. He came from a wonderful pioneer family. They had grit and courage and a great faith. My Grandmother was born in the Black Hills of North Dakota to a Scottish mother and father. They were devout Presbyterians. Her name was Christine "Tena" McClarty. She wasn't even 5 feet tall, but she had a spirit about her and I am sure was more than ready to take on her adventure to Florida. My cousin sent a story out yesterday about the night before she left to come to Florida. My granddaddy's family had a 165 acre farm for more than 75 years and they were auctioning it off. Their land, their house and most of their belongings were being sold off to the highest bidder. The night before she left she walked her porch and touched all the things she would miss most. She must have prayed that evening for God to be with them as they made their trip. She was taking her 6 children and going to a place she had never seen before. She was leaving her family, friends and everything that she knew. I can't even begin to imagine how frightened she was. But I think my daddy was a lot like her and he was definetly an adventurous person, but this trip must have been so scary for her, but also exciting. They came to Florida and settled in Penney Farms. My granddaddy was and had always been a farmer, but he didn't know what he could grow in that dry Florida sand. I know times were hard for them and they must have had to make many adjustments and sacrifices. I wonder if my grandmother cried to go back home or if she she didn't complain and did the best she could to make a happy life for her husband and children.I found out that my grandmother did teach and she was an excellent speaker. She was a great story teller, but I am sorry to say I missed out on that. My cousins have said that she lived with them when she got to old to be on her own and she was always telling them stories from books she had read or memories of her life growing up. I remember going to see her when she was staying with them. She was sitting up in bed so tiny and frail. She had a big smile on her face and she began asking me about my life. I wish I had asked her more about her life. I know it must have been glorious. She married a widower with two children. She gave him six beautiful children and was willing to leave her life as she had known it behind. She must have loved my granddaddy with all her heart and soul. I am so proud to have had a grandmother like Tena and I hope I have some of her inside me. Happy Birthday! I love you....

Green Where Are You?

I don't know about anyone else, but I am ready to see green. The rye grass that has stayed green all winter is now turning brown. It is full of brown and yellow oak leaves that are piling up daily. Every annual has burned to the roots and the ferns are an odd shade of black. The freezes this winter took out everything. It is about this time of year that I feel like I have turned a little brown myself. You know what I mean just like I have slowed down, I don't want to go out in the yard, I feel like I have been chilled to the bone and my energy is zapped. Then something amazing happens. The tree across the creek from our house starts to pop out tiny little lime green leaves. Then we rake away the withered dead grass and piles of dry leaves to find shoots of green grass underneath waiting to sprout upward toward the warm spring sunshine. It is then that I can feel my mood start to change. We usually head to Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot looking for petunias and pansies in bright purples and yellows. I start to feel alive like those little sprouts of grass and can't wait to see my crepe myrtles pop out with their pink blooms. The squirrels start climbing up and down all the oak trees in the yard and the birds come back to the bird bath and the bird feeder. Spring is here and has been long awaited, especially this year. This has to be one of the coldest and gloomiest winters in Florida history. I did enjoy the cool weather, but it is time to move on to the next season. I know that pretty soon I will be complaining about the heat. I will be cranky and sweaty and looking forward to cool weather again. Thank goodness we have seasons, because just about the time you think you can't take one more day of 98 degrees you have that day with just a little crispness in the air. Right now I am just looking forward to some sunshine and some color to come back. I love the smell of cut grass and look forward to climbing on my riding mower and feeling the fresh air around me. God planned it just right, Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter. I am always glad to see the new season come marching in, whatever season it is.

A Refuge

The word refuge has been in both my Circle bible study this week and my Wednesday bible study. It is talked about in both Joshua and in Psalms. Joshua created cities of refuge throughout the promised land as instructed by God to Moses and in Psalms David tells us that God is our refuge. A place of safety and a place to find peace and support and love. America is an entire nation set up as a place of refuge. Send us your weary and oppressed and they will get a chance here. They will be safe and find peace here. I guess we offer more of a refuge than most places, but I think our purpose may have changed a little and I know our principles have. God was part of the equation then and maybe not so much now. I feel like I find refuge in Him, he is the safe harbor. It is in Him I find peace and hope. I then think it is up to me to create that refuge in my own home. It is a place to go at the end of the day that provides that peace and safety. It is that place to get away from the chaos of the day and feel the warmth and peace of being home. I also want my family and friends to feel that when they walk across the threshold of my home, that this is a place to feel like they can be themselves and laugh and talk and not worry about the problems outside that door. My grown kids have stayed here while they were in college. My grandson stayed here while he recovered from surgery. I want them to always know this is their home and a place they can always come to for refuge. This home is a place where God is present. Don't think for a minute that this country and this world isn't filled with God's presence. He created this world to be a place of peace and love. We have made it different not him. Maybe we can't change the face of the world, but we can change ourselves by being like Joshua and create places of refuge in our country, in our state, in our towns, in our churches, in our schools, in our homes, in our hearts. Safe havens, safe harbors, they are found in God's loving arms.

Perry News is now PerryWorld

I decided to make a change in the name of my blog, because I don't think anything I write about is news worthy. It is about our life and the day to day things that touch us. Sometimes things are crazy in PerryWorld, sometimes they are sad, sometimes extremely happy, but always things are real. My Granddaughter Josie loves the playroom at our house. There is an old dollhouse with a mishmash of pieces to go inside. There are stuffed animals and cars with three wheels. There is a plastic bag with broken crayons and coloring books with scribbles on almost every page. There are dolls with no clothes on them and some with missing body parts. We get all the hand me downs that the grand kids don't play with anymore. Our playroom is the land of the misfit toys. But Josie comes over and she disappears into that playroom. She sets up the plastic chairs and drapes them with an old blanket, lines up the naked babies and old stuffed animals some missing eyes and limbs and it becomes Josie's World. I have never seen anyone like that except for myself. I started pretending when I was three years old. I heard stories from my mom that I would play in my pretend world and would only come out for food or to use the bathroom. Josie is just like I was. So, when I started writing on this blog I thought I would just write news stories about the family. I realized that I need to go into Josie or Lynn world and write more about what I felt about our life not necessarily about what we were doing over here at the Perry house. I hope you guys that are reading what I write know it is from my heart and it is my quirky take on situations that happen everyday. I love my family and I love my life and I am happy to let you in on little parts of it.

Meeting Tim Tebow

Last week my daughter Jill, husband Tray, and Troy came by to pick up Sydney from my house. Bill had gone to pick her up from Kelley Smith and wasn't back yet. They had been at a Beta Club Meeting at Jenkins with Troy and were telling me all about it. Strangely though they were in an exceptionally good mood. They were smiling entirely too much. I knew something was going on, but was unsure of what. When Bill and Sydney came in Syd was bouncing off the walls telling everyone about her fabulous day. Mrs. Simpson said this, Mrs. Roth said that, yada-yada-yada. Jill finally broke in and told her to chill and let her tell us about their day. Tray had heard that they were giving away pictures and signatures with Tim Tebow on the radio. He just had to call in and tell them what he would say if he got to meet him. Tray racked his brain to come up with something besides thanks for the memories. After several tries he got through. His brain was sparking neurons to come up with the winning comment. Then he thought maybe just tell him about how much he has blessed his team, his fans, and his sport. He would love to have the opportunity to have him pray for his family. Well, he heard about some winners later in the morning, none were him. He ate lunch when his phone rang. He didn't recognize the number and didn't answer. Whoever it was they had left a message. To his surprise it was the radio station and he had won. He won an opportunity for the entire family to meet and have their picture taken with Tim. It was so exciting being that they are all such huge Gator fans, but even more than that they are huge Tim Tebow fans. Troy and Tray would watch the pregame to see what scripture Tim would have on his face. They would get out the bible and see what inspirational thought was on his mind for that game. What a fantastic role model...and they were all going to meet him. Tray had to drive all the way to Jacksonville to pick up the passes and the next day they would leave early to stand in a long, long, long line to have a picture taken with Superman. Sydney had made Tim a card, which was so sweet. It said, Dear Timmy, You are a Superman and we love you and God loves you. When she finally got there she gave it to him and he told her how sweet it was. They all got to be introduced and say hello, then have their picture taken. Troy was excited, but I think this was bigger that meeting a superstar from the movies, this was bigger than his first meeting with Santa, I think he was dumbstruck. After leaving the multitudes in the picture line they were sent to another line to pick up there pictures. It was a long day, but one they will always remember. Jill said Tim put his arm around her and she was never washing that shirt. Sydney said her shirt brushed against the Heisman Trophy and she was never washing her shirt either. Troy still hasn't had much to say, he just smiles anytime you ask about it. Sydney asked me yesterday did I think Timmy threw her card away when he got home. I told her with everything I have read and heard about Timmy I bet that card was on his refrigerator. She said, yeah and it was a pretty nice picture and he said Thanks. We want to thank you Timmy for being who you are, someone after signing autographs and taking pictures all day still could smile and tell a seven year old Thanks for the beautiful card. We Love You Tim Tebow!

A Sister At Last

When I started school I had the meanest teacher that a shy child could have. I don't know if you remember, but in those days when you came into class you put your books in your desk, sat down in your seat and folded your hands on top of your desk and waited quietly for roll call. If only my teacher lived long enough to see how perfect her little class was by today's standards. I am sure she would have got into serious trouble on day one for her attempt at disciplining with the use of her ruler or yardstick. I made it through that year because of one little girl, Peggy who was as terrified as I was of that growl and frown that greeted us everyday. We became best friends that year. The thing that was even more strange is that my mom started working in her mom and dad's bookkeeping office. Our parents would go to the Elk's club and I would spend the night at her house and her sweet grandmother, Meme would keep us. We had our precious baby dolls and we would disappear into a world of make believe for hours or at least until our stomachs said it was snack time. We spent the night together every weekend for years. Our families would take beach vacations together even until we were in high school. Her parents even though not blood kin were my Aunt Edna and Uncle Glenn and my parents were her Aunt Dot and Uncle Howard. Our dads always loved to make us laugh and embarrass us at every opportunity. Mostly it was the bad dancing that would get us going. My dad had a problem of leaving his pants at the door when he came home from work and when my friends would come over I would always have to throw a newspaper over his shorts. We had a great time together since neither one of us had sisters. I had a brother named John, she had a brother named John, I had a brother named Rick, she had a brother named Rick, and then my mother gave me another brother when she turned 39. I was sure she was going to give me a baby sister, but Peggy helped to console me telling me he was only a baby and I should love him and maybe since he was a baby we could dress him up in some of our girl doll clothes and just pretend he was a girl. Life moved on and Peggy lost her mom to cancer. She was young when she passed away only in her 50s. It was a really sad time. Years later my dad got cancer and died when he was only 60 years old. You see my mom and Uncle Glenn were already great friends. Our families knew each other so well. He was there helping my mom through a terrible time. After a while they started dating and then they eventually got married. Our families became one, 2 Johns, 2 Ricks, Lynn, Peggy and Clay. We were all adults by then with families of our own, but God gave me something in all this, He gave me the sister I had always wanted. He gave me a sister who I already felt like was my sister. We shared a history that went back to being 6 year olds helping each other make it through an impossible school year. We shared our make believe doll world and as we turned into teenagers we shared the problems of puberty. We shared in our marriages and a divorce. We shared our children and grandchildren. We have never quarreled although we haven't always agreed with each other. She showed me how to walk with God and how much I am loved by him. I was given a sister, we did lose a parent in the process and we never would have wanted that to get to where we are now, but life happens, people get sick, people, good people die. I think my dad and her mom would have wanted us to reach out to each other in our grief and we did and so did our remaining parents. God can take an impossible situation and bring good from it and me and my precious sister are proof of that.

Weekend With Friends

I recently had the pleasure to spend the weekend with a few friends at Flagler Beach. Jo, who is one of my best friends was invited to go spend the weekend with her next door neighbor and a few of her friends and she asked me to come along. I have been doing a lot with the church and helping with grandchildren and Bill's mom so I decided with Bill's encouragement to go. First, I must say I have had the pleasure of staying at Alice's beach house before. It is so charming and relaxing I couldn't wait to get back. It is one of those places that reminds you of going to Grandma's house and being surrounded by all the things she loved most. The house was once Alice's Aunt Iris's who recently passed away and Alice's mother. It is a place full of love and comfort. If you are looking for luxury, this isn't that place, here there is no heat and you have to plunge the toilet if you use one sheet too many of toilet paper, no it is just a place to unwind and find a little perspective. Alice has filled her cottage with chenelle bedspreads, rose patterned throws, rag rugs, soft greens, sea blues, beach pictures, shelves full of books. I truly appreciated being invited to come. We had to plot out the many eating and drinking events around talking and junking trips. What wonderful cooks and the company was so much fun. Stories about families, work, and friends poured out both evenings. Stories that inspire and stories that made you laugh so hard you might wet your pants spilled out between glasses of wine. I think it was nice to listen and learn about others experiences and take our minds away from our own daily problems. I am so blessed to have a great family and many wonderful friends. I am blessed to have a husband that understands when things get to be a little overwhelming a weekend at Alice's though no weekend at Bernies' is still just the thing to bring me home happy and ready to get back to the real world of everyday life. I thank Jo and the other girls for sharing their weekend with me and I look forward to more stories, great food, fun shopping and rest. Alice your so lucky to have your retreat, and you are so gracious to share it with your friends.