My girlfriend Stacey and my dad always use to laugh about a funny story and thinking on it yea it was very funny. :) Our family use to go camping each summer to Pinecrest Lake in Sierra Nevada. It was two weeks of a grand fun time and my dad would spoil us all and I mean spoil. We got to go to the snack bar when ever we wanted and basically just got spoiled for two weeks.. When I turned 15 I brought my friend Stacey up with me to scout out boys. We were good shy girls so we just scouted and decided who we liked or did not like! My dad decided to cash in on having two older teens with him as my mom is afraid of water and he had always wanted to go sailing in a small little sail boat. The kind with a surf board as the bottom! I being more cautious then Stacey always told him NO....and so Stac and dad talked me into this thing and I did it. Being the Cheryl that I am I asked before getting on that surf board with a sail "Dad, what If i fall off"? He said "Cheryl, you wont fall off" and then I said again "Dad, What if I fall off"? and he said "You then make sure you fall off and not let the boat hit you and you go feet first and I will pick you up" He said with a smile as he had 15 years of talking me into stuff. Off we went. I did not like it from the get go as dad had always owned a big fishing boat or a ski boat and not a sail boat and I knew this! Who sails on a surf board out in the middle of a lake I thought and of course all I thought of was just how i would land in the water If i fell off ....Well the surf/sail boat was on its side alot like people that did not know what the heck they were doing. You had to move with it and the first time it went way off to one side....I JUMPED! I am NOT kidding. Off I went with my dad yelling "Cheryl, NOOOOOOO"....:) So here I was in the middle of Pinecrest lake with dad yelling "wait there"! and where was I going to go anyway? Stacey laughing so hard that im sure she was hurting and me just in the middle of the lake. Then....the meneuvor to collect me back on the surfboard! Mind you my dad had never sailed a surfboard before and i know that and what he had to do is come straight at me and end up a food away on one side to grab me...and I did not like that and as soon as he got close i swam away screaming bloody murder "NO"! My dad yelling "Cheryl, stop and stay and let me grab you" and i was all "ahhhhhhhhh waaaaaaaa nooooooooo"... After a long time and you would have to ask Stacey how long and im sure she remembers this my dad finally got a hold of me and he was not happy and did not yell and after five minutes he laughed and laughed and i was all "I want back to the beach with MOM".... This reminds me of how sometimes we jump overboard in life before we need to and we just sabotage ourselves so we do not have to feel the pain or be in control of the fear. I have done that with a few things in life and I NO longer do that. I no longer jump just in case things tip over in my life. I ride it out and if life tips me over i can deal with it because why jump into the pit when life may have other grand plans? And....If we do jum just stay put and let someone grab you and pull you up! Trust... Good stuff.

I want to talk about the IZZIES that come into our life at the most unexpected times. I call them Izzies because they remind me of the Izzy in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" Ladies who are wise beyond even their older years and who touch our lives in magical ways. I met a real Izzy in Colorado Springs and her real name was Izzy! She was a very spiritual lady who helped all those around her and helped out all her neighbors and friends. She talked to me about love and the love she had for her late husband and gave me hope that there are such great men out there as we ate some goodies she had made! She passed away a few years ago and I had a tug on my heart and then a smile as she is somewhere with her husband the great love of her life. Then I met Mary this last June. She lived across the street from my daughter and when I arrived in Calif I was having a bit of moving anxiety and Mary was truly a Izzie! She would call me over and we sat on her porch a few times a week where she gave me the best advice and I took it. She also gave me advice on how important it is to love your home and be content in your home! She too loved her late husband and was a super homemaker who cared for her kids and husband. She too was loved and helped her friends. She too gave me great goodies to eat! Izzies always feed you!!! A month before she passed Amanda and I took her to give a friend a pie at Christmas as this friend is all alone! What a lady she was. Mary collected tea cups and gave me one and forever I will look at it and remember how this lady touched my life when my life so disparately needed touching. She loved her family and home and her collections and she will be missed. Izzies can be your mom, sister, girlfreinds, women you meet in the most unusual places!! Now...I want to be a IZZY in life...oh yea....