the distracted brain

ADD or  ADHD. When I was a child, in school, I was on the quick and smart side. Teachers often had me help or would give me extra things to do. I was not a behavior problem other than talking too much and occasionally getting up and walking around the room. But I was redirectable. I did not want to cause trouble or call attention to myself. I would have studied but my brain did not know how. Words danced all over the page. Same with piano. The notes danced in front of me. My mother took care of the house and did not expect me to clean or have chores, so there was nothing difficult there. When I got to college, not being able to study was a problem. When I eventually became a nurse, it was a great fit for me. I had to be able to handle anything that popped up at anytime. I thrived on distraction. Now that I am old and living alone, I have identified other things in my life/mind/brain that are different. I have never been able to follow directions for anything. I realize that's why my dance instructor when I was five told my mother I couldn't dance. Because I couldn't follow the steps! Same with group dancing of the past 30 years. Also about my brain or hormones or whatever causes it - I am still, and always have been, a slug in the morning. Daddy called me a loggerhead. I cant think right or move well. Post noon, I start to improve, and by nighttime I am perky and energetic. Then when I finally turn off the lights and its dark, and I'm in bed, my creative juices are flowing. When I wake up in the middle of the night, more great thoughts! 

Thanks to social media platforms, I have learned there are other people like me, with the same traits. It's comforting. I always felt a little out of sync with other people, i.e. those who rise early and are asleep by ten. Whose homes are neat. Who don't have a lot of hobbies or interests and can follow a recipe, but I wasn't too bothered by it. I challenged myself to be as "normal" as possible.  Sadly this gift of a brain is now diagnosable as a disorder and profitable to the medical community. Everyone is different.

The Coast Line

 That’s what the folks called the train company that employed so many men, maybe a few women, around town. My grandfather worked there many years and my daddy maybe five. I’m so happy the remnants of the office and station remain for the tourists. Check out the conductor’s black and white hat on the tall pole. The city has built up around it, offices and many big apartment buildings. Thursday was a beautiful and bright day.

zucchini blossoms

 pretty soft colors

Ending May with a flower

 

Mining the Psalms

 Since January 2023, I have been leading a weekly Bible study named Mining the Psalms. Prior to then, I just knew that I loved the Psalms and that they spoke to and satisfied every feeling I ever had. 

Anyone is welcome. A few who toughed it out with me in the beginning still show up, and some have come only once. We have added and lost. Some women came for a season, and I’m glad we were able to help them get through a confusing time. Some just love the Bible. I do not like Bible studies that in my opinion treat women like elementary school children. We have busy lives! So no homework or buying books and with an emphasis on fellowship. 

Every week I am studying a new Psalm; every word is worthy of mining. Amazing how the situations spoken of and the emotions provoked have not changed in the roughly 2500 years since the ancient words were scratched onto parchment. Before the end of this year, we will have covered all 150. In my efforts to become familiar with the psalm at hand, I read, watch and listen to pastors and scholars. Each of them has a different emphasis, showing the depth and richness of the word  

We could probably start anew, and it would all be fresh. 

This is my favorite version (NASB 1977) of Psalm 127 that was Tuesday’s psalm. It begins, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”

A special wall at the station

 

street corner near historic district