On this Dreary Winter Day in Georgia...Aunt Betty is enjoying the SON!

On Friday, January 10, we got the news that Aunt Betty Smith had passed away.  We were all shocked and saddened at the unexpected news, as she was always so full of life, love, and sweet spirit.  When I think back on the life of Aunt Betty, four simple words come to the surface of my thoughts: strength, family, God, and glue.  Glue may seem like an unusual word to attribute to a person, but she was strong, and she held her family and loved ones close and she kept God even closer; and she was indeed like "glue" in the way she kept everything and everyone together so well.  She stuck with God through thick and thin; she was a true testament of faith in HIM and His love to her friends and family.  Unwavering, she stood for God in all that she did, such as the way she faithfully stood beside her husband, my Uncle Leavell, for many, many decades, until his death barely a year ago.  Amazing strength from within her beamed brightly during even the most painful times in life, and she loved nothing more than to smile and see the light in the eyes of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, and everyone else she came into contact with.  She was blessed and she let that light shine, as she blessed so many day in and day out. Aunt Betty and Uncle Leavell have left one of the strongest, Godliest legacies of love for God and service to Him, love for Family, love for friends, and love for community that I, personally, have ever seen. This legacy is ever-so-evident in the ministerial callings and service of so many of their descendants, who are such an inspiration to all who know them, as well.  To me, Aunt Betty was also an iconic reminder of Patriotism to our country, as she, Uncle Leavell, their children, and grandchildren hosted the hoards of us on their infamous "Fourth of July Barbecues and Smith Family Reunions."  Never did Aunt Betty fail to have on a bright array of reds, whites, and blues against an American Flag Shirt or the "Family-Slogan" T-shirt, complete with the phrase, "I pigged out at Velle's."  She never hesitated to open her home and her heart to anyone who wanted in to the warmth of either, and she left anyone she met feeling more faith in God, love, and humanity.  I am saddened at her loss, but I can't help but smile, as I think of the love, hugs, and kisses going around in Heaven upon her arrival.  She is now in perfect peace, with both of her True Loves, and having lived faithfully resolved to shine her light as brightly as she possibly could here on Earth.  The glue with which she held her family close and her God closer remains here with us, reminding all of her loved ones to stick tightly together in love and to stay bound inseparably with God.  Aunt Betty will never experience another dreary day in Georgia, for where she is, the SON will forever shine ever-so-brightly.

As, the final earthly "goodbye" takes place today, my prayers are with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, and all the friends and family who loved her so dearly!  She is not gone; she's just gone Home.

~It is in the hands we hold that we find the ties that bind.~  I love you all!

Bobbie

As Aunt Betty is enjoying the SON, I am reminded of the perfection we can feel when our Maker provides beautiful and peaceful scenery for us to enjoy here on Earth.  Let us feel God's Peace and Power surge through us through his Creations!  Below is a poem I wrote back in 1991 as a freshman in high school.  It came to mind, as I was remembering Aunt Betty.

The Beach

Bobbie Wright Grogan

Waves crashing against the shore,

Water that seems forever more,

Gentle breezes’ comforting sounds

Creeping across the sand-dune mounds.

These are just a worthy few

Descriptors of the ocean blue.

Walking along the beach, I see

Sea gulls, sailboats, and a single palm tree.

Walking along furthermore,

Small fish are scrambling along the shore.

Oh, so sad it would be

Not to be able to see the sea!

Breaking Free & Written in '93: A Poem About The Loss of a Loved One

My heart has been really heavy lately for many of my friends and family members who have lost loved ones recently.  Our community seems to have been hit so hard with death and bereavement over the past few weeks and months, and my prayers and thoughts are with each of you who are reeling from the loss of someone so near and dear to you.  This poem that I wrote 21 years ago came to mind.  I had revised it recently, during the loss of my Uncle Thomas a few months back.  It seems fitting to dedicate this to everyone who is missing a loved one or hurting with new loss at this time.  

I originally wrote the following poem three days before the death of my Grandmother (Granny Howard.)  I was sixteen years old at the time and heartbroken at the knowledge she only had a few days left to live.  She was fighting Melanoma Skin Cancer that had only been diagnosed about nine months before her death.  She was not "old" at all, and she was so very vivacious and just plain "cool" for a grandmother.  She spoiled us five grandchildren greatly, and as the youngest grandchild, I always felt extra tender-loving attention from her when the "older" cousins left me out of things, or so I thought.  :)  In April of 1992, she had a small bump come up on the skin around the hip/groin area.  She tried treating it herself for a while...after all, it was just a "bump," right?  When it showed its stubbornness and wouldn't go away, she went to the doctor about it.  After the biopsy came back, it was that dreaded word no one wants to hear: cancer.  And it was Melanoma, which was even more disturbing, because it is the most-aggressive and deadliest form of skin cancer.  But Granny was young and strong, and the spot was fairly small.  A surgery was scheduled to remove the small growth, and everyone felt the prognosis was pretty good.  After the biopsy results from the surgery came back, things went from bad to worse...detrimental would be a better word.  The cancerous "bump" was located directly above a lymph node in the groin area, and the cancer had invaded that lymph node.  Even more disturbing, the cancer had spread from that one small bump to the lymph node, and had gone on to invade her entire lymphatic system.  Although she felt fine at the time, the bump had created a much bigger problem, and the situation within was not fine.  It quickly took over her entire body, and just nine months after the bump was spotted, she was gone.  Just...gone.  

I remember the day like it was yesterday.  I knew what had happened when I saw my Mom leaving in the car, as I looked out my bedroom window just before getting ready for school one morning.  We had semester finals that day at school, and my Dad made me go on to school, so I wouldn't have to make up the exams later.  He knows how to be really tough on the inside and outwardly calm and composed in the most difficult of circumstances.  After all, he was in the Marine Recon Battalion in the height of the Vietnam War, and he is a church pastor,  so he has seen it all and he has seen it often.  He deals well with losses outwardly.  As a 16 year-old girl losing a grandmother, I did not.  I couldn't bear the thought of going to school after hearing that news, but those of you that know my Dad, know that he isn't much on negotiation when he has made up his mind about something, especially when we were children living under his roof.  I remember sitting in my 11th-grade Literature class trying to take that exam, and tears were pouring out so quickly that I couldn't prevent them from soaking the scan tron answer sheet.  To this day, I am not sure if the teacher ever actually got it to run through the scoring machine or not.  It was so hard for me to lose my Granny then, and, as of eight years ago, I have lost all of my grandparents to the grave.  Time has a way of healing, but the pain of their loss still hits hard sometimes, at the most unexpected of moments.  I pray God's Comfort and Peace upon those of you dealing with loss at this time.

Breaking Free

Bobbie Wright Grogan

(January 12, 1993 & 2013)

Breaking free from my grasp,

I'm left alone without reason -

Victimized by a cold and bitter treason.

I ask again

One last time

A spark of hope ignited.

I pray again

One last time,

And hope I have invited.

I pause to look

One last time...

A tear rolls down my cheek.

It is then I find,

That I can’t rewind

Only God’s peace I seek.

My Life; My Leaf; My Daughter's Feet

A Leaf in the Wind

By Bobbie Wright Grogan

(I wrote the first stanza of this poem in 1990 at age 14, and

 I wrote the second stanza in 2004, after the birth of my first child)

A leaf in the wind

Is always on the go.

Which way?

It doesn’t know.

That’s how I feel,

So confused.

I never know

Which choice to choose.

I’m a leaf in the wind

Always on the go

Who’ll ever know

Which way I’ll blow...

                                                                       *****

I no longer feel like

A leaf in the wind;

So much time

Has passed since then.

Life is now

Much more clear

Than I could see

In my teenage years.

Troubles have come,

And they have gone,

But the life of my child

Has made me whole.

As a leaf in the wind

I needed more,

Although I didn’t know

What to ask for.

My life is now

So complete;

My leaf has fallen

At my daughter’s feet.