Cracked vessels and antiques

Yesterday started very early to be a "vacation" day. Up at 5:30AM to take the RV for the tow bar installation. Pop wanted to beat the traffic so he was gone by 7AM. It took Joy and I a little longer to get going. Pop drove the motorhome; I drove the tow car and Joy drove her car to bring us all home in. We had to leave the MH and tow car. I have to make a confession. I'm really nuts! No really. I'm just plain nuts (no chocolate coating). But I can usually control it pretty well. I'm going to share a little of my insanity with you, but only a little, because I just wouldn't want to ruin my image. Here goes - one thing I have difficulty- great difficulty - dealing with is ---- bridges. Well, high bridges, - over water particularly. It's really the height that gets me but the water underneath just makes it worse. I can ride over them but having to drive over them just gives me a full blown panic attack. No joke! This is not a joking matter to me. It gets worse as I get older. I drove 30 minutes out of my way for the 13 years I took students to a Birmingham hospital for clinical experiences in order to avoid a very high flyover bridge from one freeway to another. And that one wasn't even over water; it is just nearly in the clouds. So I'm talking really serious panic attacks here. Well, today's trip required that I drive over a bridge that is over water and is pretty high. I've been sick for the last 3-4 days anticipating this trip. Don't know why I'm so afraid of heights and high bridges. I think part of it has to do with falling down a steep, high flight of stairs when I was very young - maybe 5 years old. I can remember the helplessness as I tumbled down and down the stairs. And the other part is my fear of being trapped in a submerging car!*#!! Oh, excuse me a minute. This post is going to require some more Paxil. I'll be right back. ------Now, before I left yesterday morning I took a double dose of Paxil and my blood pressure medicine. The BP med was in case the panic attack sent my blood pressure out the roof I didn't want to have a stroke to boot. Well, the bridge is a good hour's drive from my house. For the entire drive I sweated, prayed, planned distractive actions - you name it. From the time I left home I had a big ole lump in my throat trying not to cry. It's that the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard?!! I know it doesn't make any sense- not even to me- but after all this is an insanity I'm talking about! My husband is just not the least bit sympathetic about this. His says "If you can ride over a bridge why can't you drive over it? It's the same thing." My answer is always, "It's insanity; it doesn't have to make sense! If it made sense it would be sensible, not insane." Anyway, by the time I got to that bridge that double dose of Paxil had kicked in, Praise the Lord!! And I got over that bridge without much stress at all! Praise the Lord!!! Joy was driving her car in front of me and she got on the cell phone with me and talked to me all the while I was on the bridge. She's a good kid. I'm grateful to have her. Sometimes I think we are more friends than mother-daughter.

We left the MH at Camping World in Oxford and went to IHOP for breakfast and next door to IHOP was a great big antique store. After breakfast we walked over and had a look at the place. I must not be 100% a blogger because I didn't take my camera! But my cell phone does take picture though they are not as clear as the cameras. Here are a couple picutres I took inside the store. It was a really big place!

I loved this old kitchen cabinet. My mother had one of these but of course it is long gone. This one even had the flour sifter on the left. It's the dark area behind the linens handing over the open door. Looks like Mother's old Mix Master, too. We still have it.
This wooden piece was labeled a dough bowl but I don't know about that. The darker more square shaped one behind it is also a labeled a dough bowl but it looked like a feed trough to me. The lighter wooden piece was about 3 feet long and you could see on the outside that it was hand hewn. The bowl part was rounded and did look like a dough bowl but I've never seen one that big. Maybe some body can tell me if it was the real thing or not. It was marked $135 so it definitely didn't make it's way home with me!! The trip through the antique store was like a trip down memory lane. So many things I saw in there, we had when I was a child. Come to think of it, I guess that makes it official. I'm and antique!! Or a piece of junk. No just kidding. I'm a little cracked but not junk! "God don't make no junk " as the saying goes. Sometimes I wonder why God made me such a cracked vessel. But you now, the clay doesn't question the potter. I read a story one time that goes something like this. An old Chineese woman made daily trips to the river to bring up water for the day. Over her shoulders she carried a yoke with two large vessels - one on each end. One vessel was perfect and beautiful. The other was warn and chipped with a crack in the bottom. The perfect vessel was filled with pride at its beauty and ability to carry a full load of water to the family every day. The cracked vessel always felt a failure and was ashamed that his load of water was nearly all lost by the time the old woman arrived home each morning. One day the cracked vessel asked the old woman why she continued to carry him to the river when he didn't bring as much water home as the perfect vessel and wasn't as pretty. The old woman said, "Come and I'll show you." She put the two vessels on her shoulds and walked to the river. She told the vessel to look at the trail as she walked. The way was barren and harsh looking. Nothing living on the path. When she reached the river she filled the pots and turned for the return trip. She told the cracked vessel to look again at the trail along the way home. This time the vessel saw beautiful flowers and lush grass with flowering bushes. There were butterflies and birds enjoying the beautiful flowers and bushes all along the trail. Then the woman said, "It is because of you that this trail is so beautiful. The water you give from your crack each day helps the plants to grow beautiful." Now didn't that story just bring a tear to your eye! God can use even a cracked vessel if we just let Him. Have a wonderful New Year, all you cracked vessels!!!