A Southern Rehabilitation

Yesterday, January 22, marked the 3 year "anniversary" if you will, of one of my dear friend's death. It is hard to believe it has been 3 years. I miss her more every day. I met this friend in high school--1977ish. I was a sophomore and she was a junior. I thought she was a beautiful girl with this amazing smooth hairless olive colored skin. One time I watched her make this wax stuff. She stirred and kneaded until it was the perfect consistency and then Girlfriend put that wax on her arms, legs, etc... and pulled the hair right off her body. I visibly winced as she did so. She also had the biggest boobs of ANY girl on campus. We girls were totally envious! The guys thought Hugh Hefner sent her just for their viewing pleasure. PLUS, she was from Egypt! EGYPT! I was a mountain girl from Asheville, NC, and this girl was pretty exotic to me--to all of us. Her name was Fibi Hanna.  Today, yesterday--these days have been heavy on my mind. I have been thinking of Fibi a lo...

It's hard to believe that another 365 days have come and gone since my last "end of year post." I just went back and read my " Finding the Good in 2013 " post and at the end of it I said something about feeling like the rotten of 2013 was going to carry over into 2014. Well, it sure did... in a million different ways on a zillion different levels, but upon reflecting over the last 365 days, I did find some good; I did remember some incredible moments. In all honesty, I bet I could recount many more highlights from the year than the lowlights. I think it's the weight of the hard and difficult and painful and heartbreaking times that make the days feel so sucky. The hurt is just so heavy and and when the burden is "that heavy," it is difficult for me to believe that there will be a better day and there is a big tendency to simply give in to the hurt because that is all I can feel.  It's during those times that I forget about all the sunshine in m...

In my previous post, " A Different Kind of Christmas ," I told you I would post the two Christmas letters written by my daughter, Katelyn. Here they are and I would also like to share a link to HER blog. She is a very good writer and has a sarcastic wit that you will find quite humorous. She is a young professional 25 year old, trying to find her place in this world. She writes about her journey. It's good stuff. https://alexgreyfowler.wordpress.com/ 2013: Katelyn here. I took it upon myself this year to write the Christmas letter for the Garlow’s as testament to my Mother and all of that Christmas Spirit she instilled in me that she didn’t know I had. For the Garlow’s, 2013 has been all about change. Some change we have welcomed with open arms, and other changes could have been accepted with a little more grace. Even though this is my first attempt at this whole Christmas letter thing, I think I have a pretty good grasp on how it goes. Every Christmas I always sne...

Those who know me, KNOW that Christmas is my thing. My most favorite time of year.  I go all out and then some on the decorations, the music, the pep in my step... all of it. I love Christmas so for a couple of months I have been telling myself that this would be a good Christmas. I knew there would be many adjustments to be made on everyone's part but I would do my best to make sure it would be a good Christmas for myself and for the kids.  Everything would work out and be ok and we would all get through this transition year just fine because after all, this IS the most wonderful time of the year! Well, thinking it and it actually happening are two different things. Being in a "new house" this year, I wanted the Christmas decorations to look super great; I wanted the decorations to be really pretty and welcoming and I wanted the house to feel like home to all who entered, especially my children. It took me a long time to get it all up and looking like I wanted it to lo...