God Bless Double D

It's 4AM and I can't sleep.

Isn't that a song lyric?

I had started a post a couple of days ago but that has been scrapped. What a difference a day makes.

My mom's doctor advised that she needs more assistance than Independent Living will provide. The next level of care is too costly for her comfort zone, eating up all of her monthly income.

Double D graciously suggested I move to Baton Rouge to be with her. He will stay behind until we can sell the house. My mom is thrilled. And relieved.

I resigned from the tennis association as web site director and tendered my resignation to my company today. My bosses were super supportive, caring, and understanding. The best part is that I can still do some work remotely for my main boss, and for that I feel incredibly blessed and grateful.

Hopefully I'll get some awesome bayou photos to add to my portfolio along with a variety of birds native to the area. Another positive is visiting more often with my crazy dad, his lovely wife, and the rest of my immediate family. Daddy and I have talked about going fishing once I get settled. Doesn't that sound nice?

Yes, I think this is exactly what was supposed to happen, at the exact time that it was supposed to happen. I feel such an immense sense of relief.

Double D is an amazing man. I adore him with all my heart. He has taught me so much about patience and kindness and unconditional love. Christ's love truly emanates from the center of his being. Love is patient, love is kind...it is not self-seeking....(1 Cor 13).

May God bless Double D for this enormous sacrifice!

Goodbye, Normandy Village

My mother will be leaving her home of over 30 years to start a new chapter of her life. Rather than go into all the minutiae, let me just tell you that she is out of the hospital and has no lasting effects from the stroke.

Two doctors confirmed that she is in the advanced stages of Parkinson's Disease and that she should not be living alone. She had fallen a few days before her mini-stroke and admitted to me that she had fallen several other times in the past, as well as hallucinating some days, and recently waking up from a daze to find her cache of pills strewn all over the living room floor with no knowledge of what took place.

Scary.

With two referrals in hand for a nearby senior community off I went early Monday morning. A sweet, energetic tour guide named Karen, excitedly showed off all the amenities. It felt like I was sending my mother to kindergarten. I was thinking how I'd go back and say "Oh, mama, you'll absolutely love the LSU room. Wait til you see all the beautiful LSU wreaths the residents made for their doors!"

This current role of caregiver to my independent mother (think Mary Tyler Moore) is new and strange and jarring. It is one of the drawbacks of being an only child. I'm on deck for every little decision, responsible for it all. With three of her brothers and a sister looking on, I cannot fail. There's no one else to point to if something goes wrong.

Mama was super stoked to go visit the facility so back out to the home we went. Karen was gracious enough to do the tour all over again even though I had just left her 30 minutes prior. As we walked toward the unit that my mom might soon call home, we ran into a group of very well dressed, manicured ladies who stopped to chat. One lady decked out in purple and gold said, "How 'bout those players Saturday night? I wanted to give each one of those boys a great big kiss!" (#1 LSU had played #2 Alabama, with LSU the victor.)

As we walked away Karen whispered, "That was Les Miles' mom."

Les Miles is the head coach of the LSU Tigers.

You should have seen my mom's face! Her eyes were huge and she was literally beaming.

I said, "Well, if this place is good enough for Les Miles' mom, it's good enough for my mom!"

So there we are. Once the paperwork is in place I will go back and help her pack for her exciting new adventure.

At this moment I want to give all my special blogging friends a great big hug! I was so busy and so distraught that I hardly noticed being without a computer for seven days. But as I was waiting on my flight I thought of all the blog reading that I normally enjoy each day and I was suddenly missing you all terribly, wondering what you had been up to. Obviously I can't go back and catch up on every single post, but I will do my best as time allows to get caught up with all of you. I truly MISSED YOU!

These flowers are for you. My uncle, whom I refer to as "The Godfather", picked them himself. :)

My new baby!

I want to begin this post by telling you that I'm not a status-conscious person, obsessed with owning expensive toys...unless we're talking photography. That's a whole other ball game. Other than that, I'm a simple girl with simple tastes. But I must admit, when my good friend Les—who has sold us our last 5 vehicles—assured me that I would fall in love with this car after I'd pretty much settled on a 2008 Volkswagen Beetle, I thought, pfffttt, no way. Well, people, when I'm wrong I admit it. The 325i is pretty farkin' amazing in every way. It is L-O-A-D-E-D. Although it's 5 years old, it looks and drives like a brand new car, and is definitely an upgrade for me. This beauty replaces a 2000 Honda CRV that was pretty plain Jane with 107,000 miles and an air conditioner that was ready to conk out any day. I couldn't have that, not in this heat wave. It was time. The writing was on the wall.

Processed with Shadowhouse Creations' new Postcard series

Double D took this of me standing in front of our house. Gee, I thought I was doing good on my diet, but looks like I need to drop another 20. Note to self: no more sleeveless shirts! :/

Stay tuned for some BIG news happening in my life in the next several weeks! Ciao for now, my friends!!

Noreen update

Many of you new to my blog may not have seen my post about Noreen, an amnesiac, rather clueless customer service rep that I must deal with frequently. I am happy to report that these days we enjoy a great relationship. She is now quick to go the extra mile, while before she was obstinate and unhelpful, sometimes downright rude, but mostly clueless. Noreen still has trouble following instructions, but she actually did a huge favor for me this morning, so things continue to improve. Graciousness goes a very long way in business and in your personal life. This little exercise completely changed my attitude not just toward Noreen, but others as well, and I have Noreen to thank! And to think at one point I wanted to throttle her with my bare hands. God is working in my life, for sure! Here is the repost from 12/23/2009:

I have a thorn in my side at work and her name is Noreen (not her real name). She is my main contact at one of our major suppliers, so when I am sending custom orders, she needs just enough acumen to read the instructions on my purchase orders and get the parts into production. You'd think this was a pretty simple task, but for Noreen, I might as well be asking her to map the human genome or balance the federal budget.

I don't want to come across as cruel, but facts are facts: Noreen is about as alert and intelligent as a box of rusty nails. When her stupidity surfaced during our first point of contact, I tried to be nice about it and not make her feel inferior by pointing out the obvious answers to her questions, typed neatly on our faxed purchase order. Right there in black and white.

Then there was a fleeting thought that I must not be communicating properly. Maybe it's me. But not having this problem with other suppliers, I quickly came to the conclusion that it's not me, IT'S HER. And that sort of realization wore my nerves down to a frazzled mass of tangled vessels, ready to explode at any given moment.

After months of dealing with Noreen I was through with being nice. I got to a point where I wanted her to feel my pain. I wanted to shove her idiocy right back down her own throat with force. My frustration levels were off the chart. In 21 years I have never encountered such daftness. So I stopped being nice and said things like:

"Just get it done, Noreen."

"I don't have time to explain every little detail to you, Noreen."

"Read the purchase order, Noreen."

"Look at the previous order, Noreen."

"It's right there on the order. Why are you asking me?" (after which I would read the answer to her inane question aloud from the PO)

"Whatever, Noreen. I'm tired of explaining this to you. We just talked about this yesterday. Do you not remember our conversation?" (she never remembered our previous conversations)

"Figure it out, Noreen."

These things were all said in very clipped, abrupt tones. Oh, and the curse words I wanted to spew were pushed way down into the depths of my belly. I'd pray they would stay buried there and not surface like projectile vomit or a sudden case of Turette's. I'd be damned if Noreen was going to do me in after 21 years in this job, using her mind-numbing ignorance like a machete, chopping feverishly on my frayed nerves.

One day something came over me. Perhaps it was the realization that being blunt and to the point wasn't getting through, or maybe the vein that was throbbing in the side of my neck started to become worrisome, ready to burst through and cause a fatal heart attack. No way was Noreen getting the best of me, nor would she claim responsibility for putting me in the grave. Dear God, no, don't let it be Noreen.

So I changed tactics. I decided to be exceptionally nice. Not fake nice, but out of a place of true compassion. Perhaps with genuine patience and understanding I could make the situation better. For both of us. I would no longer point out obvious inconsistencies in her statements or thrash her for overlooking crucial details. It was difficult beyond belief and my tongue was sore from biting it. I patiently walked her through orders, politely answering her questions. And I'm proud to say it wasn't in a condescending way.

Niceness toward Noreen felt foreign and forced at first, but over the weeks, surprisingly, it came more naturally. In turn she also became nicer and more accommodating. She actually did me a favor today, which saved my company $150. Score! I win!

Did my diplomacy make Noreen any smarter? No. Did it make her remember things she had just told me the day before, but can't remember today? No. Did she suddenly figure out how to read our orders and process them without incident? No. Did my nicety make that vein stop throbbing in my neck? It's easing. Baby steps.

I think I'm on to something here. Never give up on someone. Remember that everyone is not at the same place in life — intellectually, emotionally, physically — that you are. What I learned is that even when you don't feel like being gracious, if you try your best to put it into practice anyway, it makes life exceedingly more pleasant.

After 2 years of dealing with Noreen, it's doubtful that I will ever write her a recommendation letter or suggest to her superior that she receive a promotion, but I have created a little bubble of peace around us, fragile though it may be, and that's enough. I hope to carry this lesson into other areas of my life.

Peace and love,

Louisiana Belle

Sunday, 4/10/11

Sunday morning I got up, showered, dressed for church, then realized that my bladder infection would not be denied any longer. The symptoms were getting worse by the minute, so hubby and I drove to Care Now instead of St. Matthias. By noon, I was armed with antibiotics, and shortly after lunch, started feeling much better. 

Our next stop was cheering on the Tornadoes. I'm pretty sure they lost, but Seth doesn't know it. They're so cute at this age. He has so many funny expressions and I love capturing them with my camera.

When we arrived at the soccer field Hannah greeted us with her newly acquired ladybug. She was so proud of her new friend, showing it off to friends and strangers alike. She is an adorable child.

Next stop was Liam's 1st birthday party. When we walked in we were warned that he hadn't had a nap all day--it was 5:00PM when we got there--so they thought he might get cranky. Pffttt! He really showed them with that sweet, happy disposition he has. His mom tried to make him wear a hat to shield him from the harsh sun, but he was having none of that. He also loved playing with the garden hose and the angel fountain by the pool. He was a muddy mess when it was all over, but that's how a little boy's first birthday should be. Right?