Love Them Anyway

 

Rooted in God's Plan

 

Follow a Beacon of Light

 Time and Time and TIME again...over the years, I have processed and let it go...for the greater good of everyone involved. I can't this time. After processing....... I can no longer commit myself as I've done.... over and over again. It's that chip, chip chipping away, that Mother always talked about....and now, the wall has fallen.

Not my choice but thrust upon me.... I have to let it go. I cannot be accosted and screamed at over the phone. I have never been spoken to by anyone, like what I was met with back in May. I know that my sister would have NEVER screamed at me like that. She loves me; she never treated me like that, ever! I was told that I just like to fight about things....and that I always want things my way. 

It is sooooooo foreign to me and then this morning…. I feel angry and I don't feel anger hardly at ALL. But I felt angry that someone I have loved and cherished and been such a part of her life…and have held out hope that it could return to normal and that I could be the person who could help….and she called and now it feels like she accosted me. So yes, this has gone over the top. And as I calm down, it makes me bitterly sad. I have a huge lump in my throat. How could alcoholics leave such a wake with things tattered and shattered on the floor?

Once the screaming started.... over my slow and deliberate and calm voice, I reached a point where I had to scream back, just to get her attention. With God as my witness, I speak this as truth... screaming and yelling has never been a part of my adult world. I don't plan for that to be the case again.

It doesn't make any sense to me, but neither does alcoholism. Years ago, I was faced down by the demon of alcohol on a completely different front, and I swore that I would never abuse the substance. I've kept that promise to myself, but that promise could not ward off the demons of someone else. And now I'm choosing to stop letting it steal my peace and energy.

Mother fought the demon of alcohol and by the grace of God, on her own, she WON the battle. She returned to her faith, became a Sunday School teacher, studying the Bible daily, and with God's help she defeated the demon. Her words were spoken with such wisdom and still ring true in my ears on many many days. I can still hear her voice when she told me two things about my personality. 1) that I never make quick decisions, and good things happen to me because of that.... And.... 2) be careful, you are the kind of person that can be taken advantage of (THAT DOESN’T INDICATE A FIGHTER, DOES IT?) nor does it indicate someone who always wants things my way. Two things I was accused of. Boy! This caller doesn't know me.

The anger has subsided and the sadness has set in like a heavy fog over the bay. I no longer have my sister in her healthy mental capacity, but I will follow the light to a place of my own inner peace and serenity. I will leave the rest behind me.

Sensical Approach to Cultural War

 

Events — The Book Lady Bookstore

Sensical Approach to Cultural War

Stop Moaning

“This country was born in turmoil and conflict.”

 I’ve done a lot of soul searching since the pandemic when the world seemed to be turned upside down. In May 2021, my own neighborhood was invaded The Black Lives Matter organization. It was disturbing and thought provoking. I spent time wondering what I have missed and how maybe my own perspective is distorted. Then I found an article written from an interview with Annette Gordon-Reed. Annette is a Pulitzer Prize winning writer. This article was about her book The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.  I think she covers it quite nicely.

As a child Annette loved to read, more specifically biographies. She read about George Washington Carver, George Washinton, Thomas Jefferson, Dolley Madison, etc. Jefferson was the most interesting to her because he loved to read, and he wrote the Declaration of Independence…but he was a slave owner. Sally Hemings’ children were fathered by Jefferson. Annette says that though they were enslaved people, bound by the institution of slavery, they were also mothers, fathers, sisters, aunts, friends, etc. They had different personalities, different ways of going through the world. Their opportunities were severely circumscribed because of slavery but she wants to view them as individual human beings.

She understands why people would not want to name something after Jefferson, but “we have to grapple with him, because he embodies the contradictions of this country, the good things and the bad things.” Members of the founding generation of our nation must be a part of the conversation. The statues and things named for them present an opportunity to talk about the way this country was born. Annette believes that we can’t take out those parts of history because they are less favorable, yet they make us who we are today.

Annette is optimistic about the young people today because they have grown up thinking there is a problem, and it’s a problem we must deal with. She believes that some don’t want to talk about history, and she thinks young people are resisting that. She plans to write more books about the Black progress that has been made.

In 1964, Annette Gordon-Reed was a child growing up in Conroe, Texas. She was part of the generation, just as I was, that lived during the integration of schools. It was intense because it was a big deal for a Black child to go to a white school. We lived during a time where we had separate waiting rooms at the doctor’s office and Blacks were seated in the balcony at theaters. We were part of breaking those barriers.

Today, we name things also for ALL people who have made a difference in communities, state, and nation. There are no barriers. The walls have crumbled, and we must be aware how much we have grown as a nation. A new school in Conroe was recently named Annette Gordon-Reed Elementary School. Let’s celebrate our successes and stop groaning about the history which led us to this place today.

KUOW - In 'On Juneteenth' Annette Gordon-Reed chronicles hardship and joy on the path to Black freedom

Mack's Son, Alfred McNair, Proof of Sarah's Name

 Alfred Minlus McNair

Alfred filed for a delayed birth certificate. It reveals his parents' names. What was of interest to me was that he gave his mother's name as Sarah Miranda Henderson. I have long said that her name was Sarah Merinda Henderson, but I have had a hard time substantiating that. Here is my proof.

Curious About Jimsonweed

 

Devils Weed Background Images, HD Pictures and Wallpaper For Free Download | Pinetree

Jimson weed is a plant. The leaves and seeds are used to make medicine.

Uses: Insufficient Evidence to Rate Effectiveness for...Asthma, Cough. Nerve diseases. Causing hallucinations and elevated mood (euphoria).

More evidence is needed to rate the effectiveness of jimson weed for these uses. A few other names for the plant: Angel Tulip, Datura, Devil's Apple, Devil's Trumpet, Jamestown Weed, Locoweed, Mad-apple, Nightshade

Despite serious safety concerns, jimson weed is used to treat asthma, cough, flu (influenza), swine flu, and nerve diseases.

Some people use it as a recreational drug to cause hallucinations and a heightened sense of well-being (euphoria).

Jimson weed contains chemicals such as atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. These chemicals interfere with one of the chemical messengers (acetylcholine) in the brain and nerves.

In the United States, the plant is commonly known as "Jimsonweed" (or, more rarely, "Jamestown weed"). This name derives from Jamestown, Virginia, where soldiers sent to suppress Bacon's Rebellion in the English colony of Virginia reportedly consumed the plant and spent eleven days in altered mental states:

Datura stramonium - Wikipedia 

Mack McNair's Wife - Sarah Henderson

                                 History Sheet

                        Sarah Henderson
                        compiled by Nancy Quillin Long
                        1991- for my 1st McNair booklet
 
 
     Sarah Henderson was born around 1858 to the parents of
James Henderson and Susan (Sewell) Henderson.  She married
Mack McNair 1 Oct 1873, and they had 12 children.
 
     Sarah and Mack moved their family to Texas around 1896
and settled near Waco, Texas.  From there they moved to Jones
County, Texas between Leuders and Avoca.
 

     Sarah was a very small person.  She was real quiet and

suffered greatly from asthma of which she eventually became
an invalid.  She smoked a corn cob pipe with jimsonweed to
relieve her asthma
 
     The following letter was written from Lessie (McNair)
Rawlins to Ova Kerr and explains Sarah McNair well.
 
          "If I have left out anything--Something you think I
          may know.  Martha Jane died bowel trouble.  Like to
          have lost your dad (Frank McNair) when he was
          young.  Dr. said he could not seem to do enough.
          An old man traveling through town came and spent
          the night with Dad and Mom (Mack and Sarah).  He
          told them he could cure their baby (Frank).  Here's
          what he did.  Fried bacon crisp and that is all
          Frank ate for three days and he was well.  Mom and
          Dad (Mack and Sarah) said he really ate that bacon.
          Mama (Sarah) went to Dallas.  Sister's baby was
          with summer complaint and the Dr. had told them the
          baby would die.  Mama (Sarah) said 'If I could get
          to the baby I could cure it.'  She was in bed with
          asthma.  Alf and Ethel, Thelma and Lee put her in
          buggy and took her to where the baby was and bacon
          is what she fed the baby.  Dr. came by next day and
          said, 'O, I finally found a cure for the baby.'
          It's mother said, 'You did nothing.  Mrs. Mcnair
          took over the day he gave up.'  Dr. got mad told
          them to just call Mrs. McNair when they need a Dr.
          My arm is about to play out and this is on the
          family record I forgot about that
                        Love you much
                              L T R    "
 
     Sarah died at the age of 64 on 6 Oct 1922.  She is
buried in Bethel Cemetery near Avoca, Texas.
 

We drove in and found the graves. Mother, Carolita Jones Quillin, is standing beside her car.