YES or NO?

Have you ever wondered about the thought process a person goes through when responding to an event on a social media site?  Recently, I was invited to an event on facebook and the options to choose from were YES, NO and MAYBE.  I started thinking about the word MAYBE and its meaning.  Webster’s Dictionary defines it as another word for PERHAPS.

Searching through the Rolodex of my mind, I used the word MAYBE quite frequently as a teenager to respond to an invite in hopes that a better offer might come along…  Don’t deny it, you have done it too.

Having raised two boys who were always asking questions, which required a YES or NO response, they quickly learned what their father’s responses truly meant.  If he responded with MAYBE, it really meant, “No, don’t even think about it because no way in heaven is it going to happen.”  If he said, “I will think about it,” it pretty much guaranteed that it would transpire into a YES.

I remember a shopping trip with my grandson, Ben, when he was three years of age.  He was sitting in the seat of a grocery cart and as I pushed him down an isle, he tugged on the sleeve of my blouse to get my attention and asked me, “Grandma, can I have chocolate?”  I responded with, “in a minute, Ben, grandma has to finish her shopping.”  More than a minute passed and again, Ben tugged at the sleeve of my blouse and asked, “grandma, can I have chocolate?”  My response was, “grandma needs to finish her shopping, Ben.”  As I turned the shopping cart to go down yet another isle, Ben placed both of his hands on my forearms, starred point blank at my face and said, “grandma, YES or NO?”  I have laughed over this story many times but the simple fact was, Ben just wanted a YES or NO answer.

I was just thinking, when we are waiting on an answer to prayer, God will in His time answer with a YES or NO. I don’t know about you but I’m sure glad He never uses the word MAYBE.

Aargh Matey! Trick or Treat?

Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar.  It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead.  Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago.

All Hallows Eve is the evening before All Saints Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans, and is celebrated on November 1st.  As the Christian debate marches on, celebrating Halloween is a preference that is not always viewed as participating in an evil holiday.  Halloween is often celebrated with no reference to the occult.

While there are many versions of the origins of Halloween, some have remained consistent throughout the years.  Different cultures view Halloween somewhat differently but traditional Halloween practices remain the same.


Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe.  Strong roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead.

Samhain signifies "summers end" or November.  Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of a new one.


The celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets at night.  Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, treats and even gifts were left out to pacify the evil spirits and ensure next years crops would be plentiful.  This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.




What are your thoughts on trick-or-treating?

ITS ME, THE KID

Excerpt from A Beggars Purse, chapter 1...

I would scoot my chair up to the red Formica kitchen table, as close to my grandpa as I could possibly be, and watch him devour the feast.  My breakfast consisted of a warm cup of coffee with two heaping teaspoonfuls of sugar and half a cup of milk.  Mind you, I was only eight years old.
     The red Formica table sat on its stylish chrome legs under a huge window about the size of a sheet of plywood that faced out onto what we called the playing field.  Our refrigerator stood like a knight in shining armor against the back wall of the kitchen.  To the right of the fridge was our back door.  The back door had a window in it so my grandma could see who was standing on the back porch when someone knocked on the door.  The window had what I called a secret screen...

As a child, what was your fondest memory of the house you grew up in?

My Grandfather Mac and me (the apple of his eye) 1951