Month: June 2009

Abundant Life

Teaching: Healthy Submission

Karen

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

What we are going to look at today is Jesus Christ and healthy submission.

We are going to talk about what healthy submission looks like and what healthy submission does not look like. We are going to use marriage as an example of a relationship in which submission is present.

How many of you are not married?

How many of you hope to be married someday?

Even if you just have married friends or if you just have a relationship with Jesus Christ, this is a topic that applies to all of us. We are using marriage as an example to show how relationships work, so we will be referring to marriage often. This can also be extrapolated to any kind of relationship, and we will make mention of that as we go along.

How many of you know that within the Bible another gifting occurs besides marriage? That gifting is to remain single and serve within the church. This is a very highly esteemed gift that has been degraded within the last couple of decades. We want to take a look at this because this weekend is all about living life in balance and we want you to understand that within the Body of Christ there is incredible balance.

For those of you whose gifting is to remain single so that you can serve the Lord in any capacity, I want to start our sharing by saying that we totally esteem you and honor you. For those young people in the audience, who do not have it on their hearts to get married, I want to affirm in you that that is a good and healthy desire for you to have. I do not want you to buy into the worlds lie that you have to have a partner in order to fit into the world. That is not at all the truth. Jesus Christ went through his entire life without a marriage partner.

Jesus Christ chose the marriage relationship as the example of how he works with the Church and how the Body of Christ is supposed to work together. That will be the focus of this teaching.

We will look at Ephesians chapter five. This is “ground zero” for submission in a lot of respects in the Church Epistles. Ephesians 5:21 is really the beginning of any relationship. This comes at a very key point in Ephesians because it is the verse immediately before where Paul launches into verses on marriage, upon which we will touch.

Here is a significant verse that caught my attention this morning:

Ephesians 5:13
but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,

It is important within families that the family is a safe community where we can confess our struggles, our sins. No perfect family exists. I lived for awhile with the myth that if I could just be the perfect parent, then I could produce the perfect children. Who else in here has had that drummed into your head? Look at all the women’s hands go up! That is the perfectionism thing amongst us women. I wonder if our culture has anything to do with it? Think about it. Who was the perfect father, and who is the perfect father? God is! Did He have perfect children? Does that not just take a load off of your shoulders? What we can learn is how God chose to stay in relationship with His children and support them. Again, I wanted to bring your attention to where it says:

Ephesians 5:13 and 14
(13) but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,
(14) for it is light that makes everything visible.

In a healthy family it is important to have that environment where we can confess to one another that we are not perfect. We have good days, and we have some not so good days. It is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Wake up oh sleeper. Rise from the dead” (Eph. 5:14). We certainly do not want a community of believers where people walk in and it is kind of like what I have termed in my area the “Christian country club.” Everyone puts on their nice clothes on Sunday and walks in, “How are you?” The person’s heart could be breaking, they might be on the brink of divorce, or their children might be off in never, never, land, but they slap on the happy face and say, “Fine, bless you.” That is not the kind of community that we are trying to establish here in Spirit & Truth Fellowship International because that is not a biblical community. We would much rather have a community where people could say, “I am really struggling, and I could really use your prayers.” What then would be the result? It says, “Wake up oh sleeper. Rise from the dead,” which takes some effort, does it not? It takes effort to move out of the comfort of pretending and into being authentic, but look at the results, “and Christ will shine on you.” As a body, the Lord can shine not only on us but also within us.

Let us back up even more in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:1
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received [referring to chapters one, two, and three].

Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Verse one says to live a life. Well, where is life lived? Life is lived among others. To be completely humble and gentle, to be patient, bearing with one another in love—this is the start of submission. This is the mindset. This is where the heart needs to be in order to get to the place where you are ready to deal with others.

Ephesians 4:3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

The word bond is a very anatomical word. It is a word that is used when they talk about how cells are joined together. In certain junctions between cells, they still use the root of that word bond.

Ephesians 4:4-6
(4) There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called—
(5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
(6) one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Life is not lived in a vacuum. Life is lived in a place where you run into others, so we need to prepare our hearts to be among others.

Read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off because I’ve been receiving some really odd, and incoherent comments lately. These teaching posts are meant to bless and educate you. The information is here, it’s up to you to accept, or deny, it).

Summer Fun

Summer Fun Activities: June 5th

Karen

Are you ready for some fun ideas to keep your kids busy this next week?

Here are five ideas to get the creative juices flowing (and please, take these ideas, build on them, make them your own, use them as a springboard for bigger and better ideas):

Day One – Make up a board game with your child.

Day Two – Have your child put an ice cube outside. How long until it melts? Until it evaporates?

Day Three – Look up events on the day your child was born.

Day Four – Make finger puppets with your child. Cut the ends off the fingers of old gloves. Draw faces on the fingers with felt tip markers, and glue on yarn for hair.

Day Five – Help your child find your town on a map. Take a virtual trip – start by helping your child find cities on the map, and then Google that city.

Crafts for the Kids (by age)

Featured Craft of the Week (all made from cardboard boxes!):
Toddlers
Kitchen in a Box

4 to 5 year olds
Corner Market

6 to 8 year olds
Cardboard Skyscraper

9 to 12 year olds
Box Office

Here is a fun activity from the book, “A Lithgow Palooza!”:

groovy-face2 Tableaux Vivants

The Victorians endlessly entertained themselves with tableaux vivants, or living-statue scenes, depicting classical paintings or allegories or moments in history. Elaborately costumed tableaux were the entertainment centerpiece of many a high-society ball, while simpler though no less inventive versions were created every night in ordinary homes. This is a thoroughly modern take on a classic Victorian amusement.

arrow-right-side What to do:

The twist to this palooza is that you won’t be acting out a scene, but rather staging a shot, kind of like dramatic freeze tag. Choose a scene or theme to depict, forage in closets for costumes and props, then create the picture. Think of scenes from your favorite books or movies, from the breakout in Holes to the melting witch scene in The Wizard of Oz. Or re-create a famous image, say Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware or Auguste Rodin’s Thinker. Or explore a theme more abstractly, like a series of tableaux depicting the four seasons.

Another approach is to skip the costumes and props entirely and depict a scene very simply, relying only on the staging and dramatic execution. You don’t need to be dressed like Washington crossing the Delaware and standing in a boat to stage a wonderful, evocative — or even funny — tableau of that scene. Every figure could be precisely, unmistakably arranged in the scene — all wearing pajamas, or with Washington wearing a cowboy hat. There’s no end to the simple, witty variations you can create.

Take turns being the director, placing subjects in their positions, adjusting props. Create one elaborate tableau or several tableaux, as time and resources allow. Finally, take a photograph of each tableau to memorialize the creation, and perhaps keep them in an album of family tableaux.

Fiction Fix

Fiction Fix: Lost, But Found

Karen

fiction-fix

“How do you know if someone loves you?”

I exhaled softly through my smile. “Wow, that’s a tough one. Why don’t you start off with something hard this morning?”

Donald chuckled and kept his eyes on the road. We had just started our morning route and the school bus was cold and smelled faintly of moist feet.

I settled back onto the hard, cracked seat and snuggled deeper into my sweater. “Are you and Sue having problems?”

He shrugged and gave me a sidelong glance. “She’s been distant lately. I can’t really put my finger on it. It’s like, she’s looking at me when I’m talking to her, but I can tell her thoughts are a million miles away.”

“Well,” I sighed and positioned myself so that I could see him from across the bus aisle, “it’s never easy to relocate.”

We were silent for long moments before he continued in a soft voice. “It’s just …” he paused as we turned down the first street of the day, “we’ve always sort of argued, but this is somehow … different.”

I studied him for long moments, but decided to wait to respond until after our first passenger settled into her seat.

“Morning Sara,” I smiled softly at the eight-year old girl who stepped onto the bus. “Did you have a fun weekend?”

The girl flashed a toothless grin at us before offering an enthusiastic nod. “We went to Silver Dollar City!” she said, her dark green eyes widening for emphasis.

I played along and gasped dramatically. “You did?! What did you do?”

Sara carefully maintained her balance before settling into a seat some rows back. “I rode a roller coaster for the first time!”

I gave her an impressed look. “Were you scared?”

“Nope!” She said, shaking her head vehemently back and forth; long, straight strands of chestnut-colored hair gently brushed her cheeks. She then shrugged and lowered her eyes to her lap. “Well, maybe a little.”

“I’m sure you were very brave,” I said.

She gave me a happy nod and settled deeper into her seat. She pulled out a book and I took that to mean our conversation was over.

I shifted my attention back to the driver. “Give her time, Donald,” I said, maintaining a soothing, rational tone of voice. “You’re asking her to uproot her very existence and start all over again. It’s enough to throw anyone for a loop. I should know.”

“Oh, that’s right. You were married to a preacher. I keep forgetting that,” he said while shooting me a sympathetic look.

“Yes.” I could feel a lump forming in the back of my throat at the thought of my dear husband. “It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since he passed away.”

“Well, he’s in a better place now,” Donald responded and I simply offered a lone nod to let him know I heard him.

I didn’t really believe he was in a better place, but this wasn’t the time for a philosophical discussion.

“So, you two moved around a lot?”

I sputtered a laugh. “You could say that, yes.”

“And how did you handle it?”

“Well, I didn’t, if you want the truth.”

“Oh?” Donald’s head swung around and he gave me a surprised look before offering a smile to our second passenger.

“Morning Adam,” he said and the boy silently nodded to him before taking a seat near the back of the bus.

Adam ignored me completely, but I expected it. Ever since I had had to scold him and his little friend, Patrick, for their naughty behavior toward the girls last week, he hadn’t spoken one word to me.

Donald shifted his eyes from Adam’s back and then returned them to me. He raised his brows and gave me an understanding look. I waved his concern aside and continued our discussion.

“Yes. I’m afraid I was quite a brat when we first got married.”

“You?” Donald laughed and maneuvered the bus out into the morning traffic. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Oh yes,” I said, my voice quite contrite. “I really had a hard time with Timothy’s profession, calling, vocation, whatever you want to call it.” I fluttered my hand in an attempt to articulate the correct word.

“You sound like you were bitter.”

I glanced out of the window and vaguely noticed passing buildings before continuing. “I was, Donald. I really was.”

“But didn’t you know what you were getting into when you married him?”

“Well, yes and no. I mean, I knew he wanted to spread the Gospel, but I don’t know, I just always pictured us staying in my home town and running our own church. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought he had quite a different vision in mind.”

“Regrets?” he asked, his voice came out gruff and I knew that was just the way he sounded when he was trying to be understanding.

“Oh yes, plenty.”

He shot me a look of surprise.

“What? I’m being honest,” I laughed back.

Our conversation paused as we picked up another child.

“I don’t regret marrying him, Donald,” I clarified as the child took her seat. “I regret the way I acted toward him for the first year of our marriage.” I shook my head in self-disgust. “Honestly, it’s a wonder the man kept me around, I was such a brat.”

“Why?”

“Because … I was spoiled, I guess. It was really hard on me to uproot everything I had built, from getting our house in order, to making new friends, only to have to start all over from scratch every few months. And I missed my family. A lot.”

Donald nodded in agreement and opened the door for three more students.

I watched as the children happily took their seats. Oh to be so young and carefree once again, I thought.

“But I can tell you the exact moment I realized I knew my husband loved me, despite my irrational behavior.”

Donald arched a brow. “Oh yeah? When was that?”

I turned around to check on the dozen or so children we had in our care up to that point before turning back to the driver.

“He had an interview in Ohio,” I began. “And I was furious. We had just moved to North Carolina and I had settled in, and was making new friends when he sprung the Ohio thing on me. It was a very small church and they were desperate for someone. But I remember I didn’t care,” I gave an apologetic shrug. “I told you I was pretty selfish back in those days.”

Donald kept his attention trained on the traffic, but I could tell he was listening intently to me. His eyes would wander over to me in the overhead mirror from time-to-time.

“We were on our way to Ohio and I pretty much nagged him the entire trip. We got up to some small town … Blanchester, I think, when we ran into an ice storm. It was like driving into a crystal bowl – everything was glistening, it was quite pretty, actually.

“Anyway, I took my rings off to put lotion on my hands and tucked my rings into my coat pocket. I had meant to put them back on, but our skidding around on the ice distracted me and I forgot about them.

“At one point, we stopped to help someone who had skidded off the road. Timothy helped the man push his car back onto the road and I had kept the man’s wife company. In fact, we got along so well, that we exchanged emails and we still keep in touch to this day.” I smiled at the memory.

Donald stopped to open the door and my favorite child, Marylyn, stepped on and promptly swung around the entrance to snuggle in next to me. I put an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

“Hey there, kiddo. How are you?”

“Fine,” Marylyn responded and primly tucked her jacket around her small frame.

“Are we done already?” I asked as Donald turned the bus around and we headed toward the elementary school. I didn’t wait for his answer before continuing.

“I better hurry up and finish my story, then.” I cleared my throat and turned my thoughts back to that cold February morning in Ohio.

“I think it took the men about twenty minutes to get the guy’s car on the road again. I remember we had to give it a jump as the battery was weak and the engine would barely turn over.”

I felt Marylyn’s trusting eyes on me and I smiled down on her before returning to my story.

“We had been driving for an hour and were talking about the people we had just helped, the Wallace’s, when I realized I didn’t have my rings on. I tucked my hand into my coat pocket and came up empty. I checked my other coat pocket and … nothing, but I did notice a small hole about the size of a half dollar in the lining of my pocket and that’s when I started to panic.”

Marylyn gasped and Donald gave me a sympathetic look in the mirror.

“That sounds just like the boy in the Polar Express, Ms. Connie!” said Marylyn.

I gave her another squeeze and nodded. “I was devastated. In addition to them being my wedding rings, they were also family heirlooms and couldn’t be replaced.”

I glanced down at my hands and balled them into fists at the memory.

“There was no consoling me. We had to go back and look for them. But we were already so late as it was that Timothy didn’t want to turn around and go back. He was quite cross with me. But do you know what he did?”

“What?” Marylyn asked.

“He turned the car around and we went back to look for my rings.” I smiled at the thought. “We must have looked for those rings for nearly three hours. In fact, some folks stopped to help us, which I thought was incredibly nice, but no luck. We couldn’t find them.

“It was as we were getting back into the car that I noticed something shiny on the floorboards …” my voice trailed off. I looked down at Marylyn expectedly and she didn’t disappoint me.

“The rings!” she said with a giggle.

“Yep. Those darn rings had been in the car the whole time. Well, I was elated! We had found them! But I was also worried. Would Timothy be angry at me for being so careless and for wasting so much time? Can you guess how he reacted?”

Both Marylyn and Donald shook their heads.

“He laughed. He thought it was hilarious and it was in that moment that I realized just how selfish I had been with him. And it was also in that very moment that I knew he loved me.”

General

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Karen

This song gives me goosebumps every time I hear it; it’s just beautiful.

And I’m feeling this way today – optimistic and carefree. I’ve got my eye on the rainbow and I’m not losing sight of it, this time. Summer is here and I’m struggling to find a new normal for us for the next several weeks. The boys and I have a lot of shopping to do before our cruise, Jazz will be busy with band camp and Dude and I will be busy practicing his driving and talking about college.

The time has come to start seriously thinking about his future.

But for now, I’m quiet, serene and feeling peaceful. Our rainbow has come (the end of school) and I’m feeling fired up to start writing again. Look for a short story later.

Thanks for reading. Hugs and rainbows. 🙂

Amy Walker sings “Over the Rainbow” a capella, starting out in character as young Judy and gradually morphing into old Judy.

I’ve posted about Amy Walker before when she was doing 21 dialects in a row. This woman simply amazes me – her talent is outstanding.

Life

Mentally Overwhelmed

Karen
From Kodak Picture of the Day
From Kodak Picture of the Day

Mentally, I’m in this picture. I’ve been so distracted lately. All I can think about is this upcoming cruise and I’m just so excited to take the boys this go-around (Kevin and I went on a cruise, by ourselves, for our tenth anniversary nine years ago). I can’t wait to introduce them to so many different experiences.

I have a long to-do list, that I plan on blasting to bits in the next 17 days (17 days?!). I mainly need to shop for clothing for the boys. They have both outgrown their shorts, don’t have sandals and will need some dress-up clothes for formal nights. I’m not exactly looking forward to taking them clothes shopping, but I’ve put it off long enough – the kids simply don’t have anything that will fit them.

I’m also feeling pretty guilty about taking this cruise. It looks like most people are staying home this summer. I know times are tough and I certainly don’t want to rub this vacation in anyone’s nose, but at the same time, I don’t want my guilty conscience to cast a shadow on a potentially great family vacation, either.

Emotionally, I’m in a strange place.

This past week has been …. draining. I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday, I feel like I’ve lived two weeks in only a handful of days.

Kevin took a sick day today. This is his third sick day that he’s taken in the past six years. The fact that he caved and actually TOOK a sick day is enough to make me worry.

The man simply doesn’t succumb to sickness very often.

In fact, hate us if you will, but we’re just not a family that gets sick very often. Oh sure, we have the occasional running nose or cough, but overall, we just don’t get sick.

Kevin has been down, flat on his back, since yesterday morning. It all started about 7:00 a.m. I was working on some school websites when I hear this croaky, little voice call out to me,

“Karen, come here.”

“What?” I said, confused as to who was calling me because I wasn’t familiar with the voice.

“Come here.”

It was Kevin. And he sounded terrible. I walked back to our bedroom and he’s slowly lowering himself back to the mattress. He’s moving like an old man and his skin is really red – like sunburned red.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, a finger of alarm worming it’s way down my throat.

“I can’t walk,” he says and collapses back onto the bed.

“What do mean, ‘you can’t walk’?”

He doesn’t answer my question and instead asks for a thermometer. I fetch it for him and while he’s shaking it down, I put my hand on his head.

He doesn’t feel hot, but he looks terrible.

“What’s wrong?” I ask again.

“I don’t know. My whole body aches and I can’t walk.” He sounds worried, which makes ME worry. This man doesn’t make a big deal out of anything.

He did end up having a 100.5 fever, so after placing another blanket on him (he was trembling), I fetched some ibuprofen to help with his muscle aches and put a damp washcloth on his forehead.

And that’s what I ended up doing for him all day long. I alternated between giving him Tylenol, food, blankets, a fan, and cool compresses.

He was flat on his back all day long. And he slept for most of the day.

I told the boys to stay away from him. But in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “WHY haven’t I been sick?” We were, uh, intimate Sunday night and then this sickness sucker punched him Monday – if he had been carrying some sort of germ, shouldn’t I have had it, too?

And save for a little soreness in my hips/back and a scratchy throat, I’ve been fine. Of course, I’ve been ODing on vitamin C and popping Zicams like candy, but still.

I’ll be honest, I was a little scared for him. And I’m still pretty worried today. Though he’s feeling better and he can walk, he’s pretty sore and really tired. Whatever this was, just zapped the energy right out of him.

I offered to take him to the clinic, but he didn’t want to. He thinks it’s just some sort of flu bug and since he already feels so much better today (he actually had enough energy to take a shower, but he’s back in bed now), he really doesn’t think it’s necessary to go see a doctor when all he’s going to tell him is go back to bed and drink lots of fluids.

Which he’s doing.

This whole sickness thing threw me for a loop. I found myself … not knowing what to do. And if you know me at all, not knowing what to do or how to handle a situation makes me cranky. I don’t like feeling lost and helpless – at all.

But I was fine. I kept my cool and played nurse to him all day yesterday. The only time I lost it and snapped at him was when the mole guy called to say he was on his way over. Since there was no way he could talk to the guy, that left me. And I had no idea what I was doing, or what was going on.

Hell, I didn’t even think having this mole guy come over was even necessary. (The guy charges a rather large amount to retain his services for six months and then it’s an additional $50 for each mole he catches. And judging by the state of our lawn, we have several generations of moles living on our property).

So, I got cranky. I couldn’t understand why he just didn’t reschedule the guy some other time when he could talk to him.

But this is Kevin we’re talking about here, and he likes to get things done, and once he has his mind made up, there’s no turning back.

So, I dealt with the guy (who was really nice, by the way. And when I watched his 20-month old son waddle around our yard “helping” him, well, my irritation evaporated).

But I was disgusted with myself. What sort of wife gets cranky with her husband when he’s OBVIOUSLY sick and can’t even walk?!

I seriously have some issues to work out – like my selfish, self-centered tendencies are two that come to mind.

We all know about my many faults, so let’s move on ….

The last day of school is today. Finally. I was beginning to think it would NEVER get here.

Both Dude and Jazz have been asked to parties tonight. Dude’s going to a sleep-over and Jazz has a mixed gender party at a subdivision pavilion. (Which might get rained out, boo!)

I can’t believe another year has passed …. blahblahblah. I get impatient whenever I read posts that lament on the passing of time, so I won’t bore you with the same ole, same ole, but suffice it to say, BOTH of my boys will be in high school next year and I’m feeling … torn. I think I’m mostly relieved that they’ll be together and can look out for each other. I’m hoping Jazz’s social butterfly personality rubs off on Dude and he gets involved in something next year. We’ll see.

I’m looking at this summer being the last real “fun” summer for them. Next summer, Dude will get a job and Jazz will be busy with summer school and band. I also plan on working by then, so it’ll be a challenge to schedule family time/vacation next year.

In addition, Dude will be a junior next year which means it’s time to start getting serious about looking at college, scholarships and taking the ACT test (for the first time). Though a big part of me is sad that the boys are no longer, well, BOYS, I think I’m more excited about the men they are becoming.

They will be released two hours early today. I plan on taking them out for Subway sandwiches and then ice cream; I’m looking forward to wrapping up their 10th and 8th grade years with them.

And lastly….

You can now subscribe to Write From Karen from your Kindle.

Yes, there’s a Write From Karen (Kindle Edition).

Scary, isn’t it?

You can try it out for 14 days, for free, if you wish, and then it only costs a measly $1.99 every MONTH. That’s 30 plus days of scintillating articles for just pennies a day.

I know, what a deal, right??

And the best part?? You can take me with you wherever you go! You don’t even have to be in a WiFi hot spot to read my blog because Kindle runs on whispernet – which is the same technology that your cell phone uses.

Though I’m THRILLED that Amazon has started this program of subscribing to blogs on the Kindle, I’m a little … intimidated. It’s one thing to write for ME and to goof off and be silly, but it’s quite ANOTHER thing entirely whenever people are PAYING to read it.

*gulp* I hope I don’t disappoint anyone.

But it also motivates me to do more creative writing if only to provide a little spice for you, dear readers. 😉

Anyway, if you’ve subscribed MUAH! I love ya. If you’re thinking about it, MUAH! I love ya.

I’m pretty easy to please.

Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction: Painfully Shy

Karen

I’m nursing a sick husband and fielding numerous school emails today, so I don’t really have time to post anything new. Instead, I’m re-posting another flash fiction piece originally published on my self-hosted blog January 25, 2006.

Fiction under 250 words
null

alone Why am I here? Why do I endure this crap every month?

Wendy pursed her lips and looked around the school cafeteria. The other mothers were milling around, quietly talking to the members of their particular clique, phony smiles plastered on their faces, their designer clothes wrinkle-free, their expensive perfume clogging up the atmosphere.

It’s too early in the morning for this.

Wendy cautiously sat down on a gray folding chair near the back. She tucked her purse in between her feet. She spent a few moments smoothing her shoulder length reddish-blonde hair before tucking soft stands behind her ears. She attempted to rub the goose pimples from her arms, was the room cold? Or was she simply reacting to being rejected, yet again?

The PTA President, a tall, thin woman with long, silky straight black hair and a light tan, took her position behind the podium. The other mothers, taking the cue from their leader, began taking their seats all around Wendy. There were soft giggles and a low hum of dying conversations.

Wendy studied her hands nervously.

As usual, no one sat next to her.

She choked back a sob and blinked back the moisture in her eyes.

“Excuse me?” a rather low, husky voice sounded next to her. “Is this seat taken?”

Wendy’s head whipped up so fast she felt a tad dizzy. “No, no please, have a seat.”

The woman smiled and sat down. Wendy swallowed her shyness and opened her mouth to introduce herself.

image by naraekim0801