Time In A Pocket, Judy T. Lloyd [i can read with my eyes shut txt] 📗

first double wide mobile home that we had seen in the county. She lived across the road from my aunt and uncle.

Uncle Creston had a turkey named Suitcase and that turkey created a few problems. Especially for Uncle Creston. The darn turkey would perch itself in a suitcase, hence the name. I have a fondness for turkey even to this day. My father had several strokes and during one of his hospitalization, my brothers and I stayed at Uncle Creston's house. Suitcase would strut around and check out everyone who dared come into the yard. My cousin Sue and I slept in the same room. Suitcase would gobble and I think that he was pointing that cousin Pete and Carol Lee were wrestling. My brothers did not join because I am not sure which of the cousins slipped and put his head through the sheetrock. The other one was hanging onto his head so naturally his feet went through the sheetrock. My brothers,Sue and even my aunt and uncle had to laugh at that.

We had a two hundred year old house when we moved in. Eventually the kitchen needed replacing as did the porch. Uncle Creston was a carpenter and so he came over to build our porch. He had brought along Suitcase because he was afraid that the hunters in the area would shoot Suitcase. Somehow Suitcase got startled and spurred Uncle Creston upside his head. Poor Uncle Creston wore that scar until he died. I am not sure what happened to Suitcase, we think he was left to plunder the woods. On purpose we believe.

We love our family a lot but we all had our Uncle Luther stories. Especially my brother Joe and cousin Charles. One day our uncle decided to play a trick on the boys. He went to great lengths to dress himself up as the Bogey-Man. From what I understand he was quite the sight. The boys were returning home that day after playing hooky from school. Since Uncle Luther wanted to teach them a lesson, he waited where the well worn path carried them past the old barn. He was hiding inside until the sound of footsteps alerted him that it was time to pounce.
"Boo,boooh, I'm going get you." Then he jumped out and reached over to grab them. However they had grabbed something too, the tobacco sticks were handy. Where upon they commenced to beat the figure of the Bogey-Man soundly. Oh what a terrible thing it was,our aunt was yelling for them to stop since it was Uncle Luther. Uncle Luther was screaming in pain and the boys still scared continued hitting him with the sticks. Somehow in all the ruckus our uncle got away and managed to get in the house.
Thereafter he never pulled that trick again.

December 30,2009.

Once again the clock reminds me that it is time to get up. Time seems to slip away, more so now that I am sixty. In another few hours it will be New Year's Day. There are a few memorable New Year's Day in my pocket. There were the dances,parties and celebrations that we all enjoyed. The new year in 1977 is very clear. I was still single and sad because it was the year that the Baptist minister left to preach at another church. The congregation were invited the "watch" at his house.

We had gathered at the house and when it came time for us to leave we were shocked when the local pharmacist's car had seemed to disappear. There had been a lot of road work on the rural road. Eddie had parked his Lincoln Continental on the outside median strip. Rain had fallen hard that winter making the ground soft. Someone discoved that the car had sunk down in the mire. There was nothing to do but call a wrecker. Eddie was none too pleased with that event because he was the typical male that lauded his car. It took a lot of cleaning to get the car clean. It was a lesson though for us to obey traffic signs.

I had a similiar experience with a car a few years before Eddie. I went to another party on New Years day alone. An ex boyfriend was at the party. His new wife to be was there also. It was a miserable party and then when I left I found my car mired in the mud. Fortunately for me, the other men at the party had felt sorry for me. They got the host's wrecker out which was hooked to my car which resulted in our being able to get out. I did not see the ex-boy friend again until his wife was in the hospital. When I saw how drunk he was I was glad that we were no longer together. I met and married my husband in 1979. Some would say the two favored each other, perhaps so but the difference was my husband is a faithful,non smoker,teetotaling dear man. This year will be our thirty-first holiday together. We will stay at home and watch 2010 come in.

Your Time Is My Time

By Judy T. Lloyd

Amid the noise and haste of the season,
we must make time for others with good reason.
In everything the Lord of all has made time for us.
Do we not know that our time while limited is given in trust?
So it is that when we have a sick friend,
that we must go and visit them as time is but a commodity to lend.
His time was made for us and he took the time to listen to our prayers.
Every difficult step that we made as we climbed lite's stairs.
So is it too much to ask when we say to the Lord?
"My time is your time." Do we know that he does not get bored?
Friends sahring a sorrow, or joy?
Just to marvel as a baby plays with its first toy.
Walking a dog for an elderly neighbor cannot be beat.
Especially when you reach in your pocket for its favorite treat.
Perhaps taking the time to give away a smile.
These things done on your time will carry you for many a mile.
So it has been written that what you do for others you do for him
Simply saying Your time is my time is no mere whim.
Take the time the Lord has given you and show what you can do with it.
Then use that time in the manner he see fit.

We are now but a few hours away from saying good bye to this decade. We pray that the new year and decade coming in will be better than the last. I think of all those who have walked in my time be they friend or relative. There are lessons too to be learned from those that we could not be friends with. Somehow in the measure of time in my pocket they too had their story. They too had their lesson to be learned. Just as Joseph said to his brothers in Eygpt,"you meant it for evil, God meant it for good." He meant that everything was according to a master plan. Right or wrong, good or evil, for better or for worse nothing is wasted in the game of life.

Relationships take time to develop. Some of the toughest relationships are between family members. The week before the century came to an end, I had the occasion to understand more about my own mother. The year 2000 was supposed to be the most dangerous year, because of superstitions about the millenium. I watched 1999 go out and 2000 come in with an elderly patient. She had severe kidney disease and was in a retirement center. The retirement center was nothing more than a glorified motel.

I have always maintained that no matter what we are put where God wants us to be. The patient was not that difficult but she had sneaky relatives. They wanted total control of her and when someone got close to her they would sabotage the relationship. It also happened that the patient was friends with my cousin Terry and my grandmother's sister-in-law. At that time I was in a great deal of pain as I was still recovering from an attack that happened at the nursing home where I had worked. That and the stress of having to file a workman's compensation claim did not help matters. The family decided to move their relative to the nursing home where I had worked. But not before I had hurt myself once again from lifting the very heavy woman. I actually re-injured my back. I ended up going back to the hospital for xrays. Naturally the xrays they took did not show what was going on with my kidney. However I was relieved of my duties and it was then that I decided to find out what was really going on with me.

I hired my friend who is an attorney to file a claim for me. I could hardly walk and MRI's were ordered. They discovered what they thought was an AA or abdominal anuerysm. I did not have the disorder but I did have a lemon sized tumor on my kidney. The blood tests revealed that the tumor was malignant. When I talked to my mother she was devastated. My brother also had cancer and would have to have surgery. My mother and I really began to communicate that year. She was by now confined to a bed and rarely got out. She had an excellent home health aide who negotiated us to start really talking. I think if I had really known how short time would be with my mother I could have avoided a lot of pain. You can not turn back time as the song by Dolly Parton tells you. Her Silver and Gold became one of my favorite songs. Yet I am glad for the time we did have and it was on that relationship that we built.

From time to time late at night I find myself thinking about both of our mothers. They come back to me in dreams. That is the reason why I wrote the following poem.

For A Moment In Time

Judy T. Lloyd

The midnight sky looms above my head.
I awake and see you standing at my bed.
For a moment in time you are there.
I can see the breeze on your hair.

I feel so safe when you are near.
It is as if you are still here.
For a moment in time I can only stare.
Watching as you began to rock in the chair.

Shadows come and they go.
You wave goodbye and fade ever so slow.
For a moment in time you are there.
In that moment I know you still care.

The feelings come and they go just as the hands on the clock move and time slips away.
Yes we are to treasure the things that money can not buy. Just as silver and gold can buy you a home, the things of this world soon grow old. Cherish love while you can because that is the only way you can keep time in a pocket.

Last night I had another dream about my mother.