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Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

Q is for Quotes (and family tales)

April 19, 2013 By Jessica Ferguson Leave a Comment

As you know, I love quotes and post them on my blog often. What you don’t know—and might think a little odd—is that I collect quotes and funny stories from the lips of my family. I wish I had my little notebook of family quotes but since my dad’s death and my mom going into a nursing home, I’ve been a little lax with organized recording. Now I jot things down on slips of paper that float around my purse and eventually get lost.

But I have some favorite tales I want to share:

Once my entire family went to the cemetery to put Christmas flowers on my grandparent’s graves. My mother was always very dedicated about doing that and she’d shop for hours to find just the right ornament. On this occasion, she’d selected white crosses. Because the earth was so hard, she’d brought a hammer to pound each cross into the ground. Now, you’d have to know my mom: she’s a perfectionist—a fine-tuner. Once she gets something ‘finished’ she inspects everything around it—regardless of what it is—then fine-tunes her own project one last time. This time when she finished arranging flowers and cleaning up other gravesites, she came back to the white cross, hit it with the hammer and broke it.

“You just had to hit it one more time, didn’t you?” said my dad.

All of us broke into uncontrollable laughter because he’d nailed it with his comment. She was and always had been the hit it one more time mama. She used to go over my homework papers—crossing my Ts and closing the circles of my Os, Bs, Ps and making my periods a little darker. Hitting my paper one more time.

Yes, it drove me crazy.

The quote, “Just had to hit it one more time,” is a favorite and we use it often when one of us tries to over-do.

Of course, my mom has several quotes she uses consistently: She’s fond of saying, Ignorance gone to seed, Nuts gone to seed, There’s nothing crazier than people, and Can’t get away from those genes.

She loved telling everyone that if my brother said, “Let’s hang Mama,” my dad would go get a rope.

My young nephews were always fun to listen to. Once, a young Russell (the one in the red cap)climbed into the car after a grocery shopping trip. He was so glad to be going home after spending an hour in the food store that he was jumping up and down, and running across the back seat while the young sacker helped my mother with groceries. The sacker asked Russell, “Do you need to go to the bathroom?” to which my nephew responded, “No, why, do you smell something?”

A hilarious exchange and I think of it often, especially when someone asks if we need a bathroom. I suspect the young sacker called himself reprimanding Russell, but I love Russell’s quick, naïve reply.

One summer day, while the cable TV man was adjusting my dad’s television, my nephew Kyle (white cap) charged through the front door yelling, “We found a dead skunk back in the woods. You want to go smell him?” Needless to say, the cable guy declined.

My daughter (purple sweatshirt) was sitting in the back seat while I drove one day. Daughter was always a chatty little girl—asking questions and often supplying her own answers. On this day, I was telling her how her dad and I had prayed for a healthy little girl and that God had blessed us with her.
She replied, “Good. I always wondered who my family would be.” Yikes!


 

I’m sure you have favorite quotes and quirky sayings and stories from your family too. Want to share some of them?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: A to Z Challenge, cemetery, dad, family, mom, nephews, prayer, quotes, Uncategorized

DETERMINED to Make it Right

April 4, 2012 By Jessica Ferguson Leave a Comment

Determined – Having made a firm decision and being resolved not to change it. Processing or displaying resolve. Marked by or showing determination; resolute: was engaged in a protracted struggle with a determined enemy.  

I went to bed last night with no D word in sight ; it came to me loud and clear this morning. Determined. I admire those who are determined to accomplish their goals, who resolve to lose weight, complete a novel, begin and finish a screenplay or a book of poetry.
I admire anyone who resolves to win a battle with a determined enemy. And that brings me to this because I’m determined to make it right:  
When I chose my C word, when it came to me, nagged at me, it was defnitely Charles but I misunderstood the reason behind it. I hadn’t visited Charles’ blog in a week or longer because we’ve just moved to Oklahoma and I’m behind in everything. I just knew Charles was constantly on my mind for some reason. Now I know why. After going to his blog yesterday afternoon, and reading all the posts I’ve missed, I learned that his wife Lana has been diagnosed with cancer–a horrible C word. Suddenly, I knew why Charles was on my mind.

I’m a firm believer that God puts things on my mind and heart for a reason; he expects action from me. In this case, prayer.  So this morning I’m determined to make it right. I’m asking everyone who reads this post (at any time-today, tomorrow, next year) to join me and send up prayers for Lana. If you aren’t a praying person then please, send good thoughts their way. Visualize/pray that Charles and Lana find the right doctors to help them, and that those doctors and every medical person they come in contact with will be kind, considerate, helpful and knowledgeable. Pray that Lana and Charles use wisdom in their decision making, and that Charles is able to take the time he needs away from work to be with Lana in all her appointments. Pray that Lana is healed and that she and Charles have many more years of marital bliss.

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

And because I know you’re doing this, I’m going to add, Amen and Amen.

Read Charles Gramlich’s post HERE.  Lana is an artist and a photographer. Visit HERE to see some of her work.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cancer, Charles Gramlich, determined, Lana Gramlich, prayer

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Acts 4:20

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