way back in december . ..

I was looking through my pictures and trying to think of something interesting to write about and I came across this folder of pictures. I looked back through previous posts and don't believe I ever wrote about this day. In the United Methodist Church, we have United Methodist Women (UMW) and these women meet in monthly circles (that is the way it is done at Trinity and I do remember that my Granny Walls was in a circle at Rock United Methodist Church and I remember that she would go to circle meetings). I was in a circle for many years when I was a stay at home mom but dropped out when I went back to work. There are circles that meet at night, but to be honest, I just can't drag myself back over to the church after working there all day (even though I love it!!). For the last several years, one of the older circles has asked me to join them for their Christmas luncheon (as their speaker). The first few years that I attended, the luncheon was at The Club. For at least the last three years, the luncheon has been at the Rotunda Club at Samford University.

This year I had my trusty camera with me on that day in December and I snapped this picture when I was walking up to the building. This is not a good picture - poor lighting, etc. but you can still tell that it is a beautiful building. When you walk through those double doors, this is what you see. Isn't it beautiful? The Rotunda Club is downstairs.

The ladies are all so sweet. My mother-in-law is on the left. Aunt Mary (Mark's aunt . . . she was married to my mother-in-law's brother) is in the middle and Martha Davies is on the right. I have to be careful when speaking about things like the tacky sweater Christmas party that we hosted for the young adults. I sometimes forget that I'm sort of in the middle between the young adults (who think Christmas sweaters are the tackiest thing EVER) and the senior adults . . . who think Christmas sweaters are a required item of clothing (please tell me that I'm not in the senior category yet . . .if you think I am, please don't tell me!! Just lie to me).

They are all so cute as everyone is arriving. They are truly glad to see each other and spend this time together each month. Usually their programs consist of mission type information but for Christmas, they always want a Christmas program. I've talked about the history of favorite Christmas hymns and I've talked about Joseph and I've talked about Mary . . .I can't even remember all the different programs that I've done for them.

This is Olivia and "Miss" Pauline. It is funny to me that I can call some of these ladies by their first names . . .some are Mrs. So and So and some are "Miss" So and So. Olivia is such a neat person. She just helped put out a wonderful publication at our church. She is very talented. "Miss" Pauline is also a sweet lady. She was friends with an older friend of mine (long before I came to Trinity) and I loved it when she told me that many years ago. Since Mark's family has been in this church for his whole life, he has lots of "connections." I love it when a person knew someone in either my family or they knew a long-time friend of mine. "Miss" Pauline was best friends with Agnes. (I'll make this short - Agnes was my next door neighbor after my first marriage ended in divorce. I was 20 years old and divorced and poor and not eating (and actually thin!!) . . .Agnes would cook breakfast and call me on the phone and say, "Lisa, come over here before you leave for work. I have prepared breakfast for us." I was so distressed and so sad about the divorce that I couldn't eat . . . but she would somehow get me to eat a piece of dry toast and she would make me laugh and she would love on me just a little before I left for work in the morning. I don't know how old she was at the time but she seemed really old!! )

I really enjoy spending this time with these ladies every year. The group changes slightly every year but many of the women have rotated through and back again. I sometimes wonder if I enjoy the time with them so much because they are about the age that my momma would be. I wonder what it would have been like to have a momma . . . .as a 17 year old . . .as a 27 year old . . .as a 37 year old . . .and now as a 52 year old. Once again . . .musings of a middle-aged mom :-)