Dear Friends,
It’s been a really long time
since I’ve sent out an email to all of you. I have so much to talk with
you about so just put your feet up.
The last long email I sent
was in November 2012….over a year ago. I didn’t realize it had been that
long until a friend reminded me of it this week. That email was entitled
“Change” and I could easily have chosen that same title for this one. So
I just thought I would bring you up to date with my world.
In looking back over my 2012
email, I realized I left out one of the very special things which happened that
year. My son, Ray moved back to North Carolina after having lived in
Alaska for 5 years. I hadn’t seen him since 2009 when he came home
for his Dad’s funeral. He arrived in Charlotte in July and moved in with
TJ and Amy until he could get on his feet. Due to a lot of things going
on at the time, I didn’t get to see him until I went to TJ’s for
Thanksgiving. Needless to say, it was one of my best Thanksgivings ever!!
I started working for my new
boss in December 2012 and worked 3 days a week – usually Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday. Those were pretty good days to work since it gave me a long
weekend every week! I really liked working with Rob. He was very
different from Melvin….he came in every day at 9:00. It took some getting
used to having a boss in the office all day. But I got along fine with
him. He’s a very smart man, very laid-back, friendly and easy to work
with. He taught me a lot about computer bookkeeping and I really
struggled with some of it. I was used to doing bookkeeping the old
fashioned way– handwritten, double entry books. I really still prefer to
use those but I adjusted. I’m pretty sure he felt like throwing me out
the door often, but he’d just shake his head and explain it one more
time. The original plan was for me to just work through tax time, but Rob
decided to keep me on. This was great for me. I really couldn’t
afford to totally retire and if I had to work I would rather keep on doing the
same kind of work. I also had the opportunity to work with his wife,
MaryBeth, at her business at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island. She
operated a sandwich shop. It was hard work…really hard work. When you’re
used to sitting behind a desk all day and then have to stand on your feet all
day….it’s hard. And I also made the mistake of wearing shoes like I wear
to work…not tennis shoes. I really paid for that mistake….my feet and
legs were killing me by the time I got home. I think I worked for her 7
different times and one Saturday, I had the shop by myself. I could
handle everything except the ice cream machine. It was soft-serve and I
was supposed to kinda swirl it in the cone….I never mastered it. I gave
everyone their money’s worth of ice cream but they sure weren’t pretty cones.
The owner of my lot in Manns
Harbor, Dick Mann, passed away this year and I was very anxious over what would
happen….would I have to more….would my lot rent increase so that it would be a
hard-ship for me…..etc. When everything was settled, my property went to
the daughter who lived away from Dare County…out near Raleigh I think. I
was told she definitely would not want a ‘mobile home’ on the lot. I
anxiously waited and waited to hear from her. Finally, she called me and
she was so nice (something I had also been told not to expect). We had a
long talk about the property. She did not ask me to leave and she did not
raise my rent. Thank you Lord. I still haven’t had the chance to
meet her, but she was certainly kind and gracious to me.
I continued to work at my
church – a job I really loved to do. I mentioned in my 2011 email how I wish I
could open doors so my present pastor, Charles and his wife Candi could stay in
Dare County. Well, that didn’t happen and they made the decision in
September to leave the church. It really broke my heart cause in addition
to being my Pastor and his wife, they were my friends and Candi was like my
younger sister. I missed them so much. I know they were doing what
they thought was the best thing and I guess ultimately I guess it was. We stay
in touch and visit as often as we can. Steve Vohs filled in as
interim pastor the later part of 2012 while we were looking for a new
Pastor. In December 2012, our prayers were answered. Scott Baxley
and his family answered the call; moved to Dare County in January into a rental
home they could stay in through February. He knew he had to have a secular job
in order to supplement the income from the church but no doors had been opened
in the job field. This was a family of 8 so they definitely took a step
of faith by coming to Dare County. They have been such a blessing to
us. And I guess the greatest blessing was for me. Their oldest
daughter, Caitlyn, plays the piano…something I’ve prayed about for many
years. And, she plays beautifully…it’s like the music just runs out of
her fingertips. God is still blessing RIBC.
I guess the biggest change
happened in July. I seriously began talking about leaving Dare County.
It was a hard decision for me; quite bittersweet. I knew I could
not afford to live in Dare County…it was getting harder and harder all the
time. My home was getting in pretty bad shape; quite frankly I didn’t
know if it would survive another hurricane season. I really wanted to be
closer to my boys. In July, my computer crashed and I thought I had lost
everything on it. I was devastated. So in early August I made a trip to
Albemarle for 2 reasons….get TJ to PLEASE fix my computer and to look for a
home. Thankfully he was able to reinstall everything but 8 files –
which we think were pictures. While TJ was working on my computer, I
decided to ride around and look for some rental places. I seriously think
I was driving him crazy. I found several things and made note of
addresses and contact numbers. The next day we picked Hannah up from
school and drove to a rental facility where the rent is based on your
income. I have drawn a total blank what that place is called (maybe I
really do need to be there). Anyway, we drove around it; it was very nice
but I kept feeling sadder and sadder. TJ was talking to the woman on the
phone about the rental, what was included, etc. After he hung up he
looked at me and said “Mom, I’m not ready for you to live here”. Thank
you Lord. I wasn’t ready to live there either. It was nice but
everyone I saw was either in a wheelchair or using a walker. And I ain’t
there yet!! Later that same day I found a home. Or rather a friend
of ours found it for me. She was coming back from Concord and decided to
take a different way home that day. The rental sign had just been put out
and it said “Senior Home for Rent”. Here we go again. But Paige
gave us the information and I came by the next day to check it out. I
fell in love with it right away. It is a small house on the property of
the owner – I guess you could call it a garage apartment. She wanted to rent to
an older person and I absolutely fit that category. It’s just the right
size for me. TJ came back the next day and looked at it and he fell in
love with it too. It’s about 3 minutes from downtown and the malls and
about 7 minutes from his house. On August 15, I signed the lease and went home
to begin the process of moving.
Now came the hard, really hard
job, of telling my family, friends and work clients that I was moving. I
was so touched by how many of my clients came by the office to say goodbye to
me and tell me how much they were going to miss me. It was such a nice
feeling to know how many of my clients had turned into friends. Telling
my sisters was hard. They are 10 and 15 years older than me and both have
health problems. To make it even harder, my oldest sister’s husband had
passed away in July and my other sister was facing some pretty serious medical
situations. But, both of them were very understanding. Now came the
hardest part….leaving my church. I truly believe that is one of the
hardest things I’ve ever had to do. They gave me a wonderful going away
party my last week there. There were tears and smiles. There was
sadness and happiness. I miss my church family…a lot.
On September 13 (which
happened to be a Friday) Ray and some friends and I started loading up the
U-Haul. We finished up on Saturday and headed out. We arrived at
Albemarle the middle of the afternoon and I’ve never been sorry. Well,
there were a few days I second-guessed myself. And I think that was
because TJ had to leave to go to Michigan the day after I moved and was gone
for 2 weeks. Ray lived a little over 2 hours from me so it wasn’t like I
could see him every day. But things leveled out. I live in a really
safe neighborhood, mostly people my age and older. Haley and I are able
to walk a lot. The hardest thing about that is some of it is always uphill.
Some days I don’t know who is panting the hardest but at least my tongue isn’t
dragging on the ground.
In October I started working
for Rob again remotely. Now I really love that kind of work. I can
work in my pajamas…can’t get much nicer than that. We’ve talked about my
going back to Manteo during tax time and working for a couple of weeks at the
time but we haven’t finalized anything yet. I really enjoy working
remotely and wish we could just keep doing it that way. I am looking into
doing some volunteer work for the Humane Society – just to get out of the house
a few days now and then. I am willing to work any day but Thursday – that
is the day the animals, which need to be, are put down. I don’t want to
be there for that. I often go over to TJ’s if he is working on something in his
shop I can help with. We did refinish a buffet his dad and I got many
years ago. It had not been taken very good care of but with a lot of
elbow grease, it looks like new. I have it here in my house.
I have a lot of time on my
hands. I’ve done more crocheting since September than I have in the last
3 years. I take lots of pictures and spend a lot of time on the
computer. I organize my office space and reorganize it just about every week
or so. But, I’m happy. Ray has moved a little closer to me – about
an hour away. Things are going well for him and TJ and Amy.
The only thing I am lacking
is a church and I believe I have found one. I’ve been visiting Sweet Home
Baptist Church since early October. It’s reminds me very much of
RIBC. The Pastor is preaching out of the right Bible and preaching the
right things. They have beautiful music – 5 piano players and so many
talented singers. The services are always a blessing. I feel right
at home there. So, I guess this Sunday, January 5, I will take the
first step to joining with them. Please pray for me about this. I
want to be able to serve my Lord.
And now, I guess I’m down to
what I would like to see happen in this coming year. I believe there are
so many things wrong with this world and the only thing which will fix it is
God. More and more this country is going ‘to hell in a hand
basket’. So many things which used to be kept somewhat private are now
totally in the open and it breaks my heart. Killings, diseases, wars,
financial disasters…..on and on. And the only thing I know to do is
pray. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the answer but so many people just don’t see
it.
So, my friends, I guess I
will bring this long email to a close. I hope I can stay in contact with
everyone better than I have been. I miss hearing from some of you and
hope we can strengthen the cyberspace contact. I hope all of you have an
absolutely awesome (had to do it Marie) 2014. I hope it is filled with
lots of good things and an abundance of God’s blessings.
Till next time,
Brenda
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