Random Thoughts of Amy Potts

Tiny little fingers Even smaller toes Curly brown hair Little button nose You were born in winter The world outside was cold You had to grow up fast No time for games and tears You became a young survivor Wise beyond your years You were born in winter The world outside was cold. You were born in winter  The world outside was cold. Amy Lynn Michael

“But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say I've changed.  Well something’s lost but something’s gained in living every day” Joni Mitchell I love life in some small way every day because I experience at least one good thing that I didn’t the day before.  Every year we look back and reflect on the things we want to repeat, and the things that we hope never happen again.  We say sad goodbyes to loved ones, while we welcome new friendships.  We change careers.  We change geographic locations.  Any and all of these things can happen in what seems like the blink of an eye when you are the one whose life is directly affected. Some changes leave us emotionally barren, while others overwhelm us with feelings of ecstasy that can’t be contained.  But no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try to control it, life will happen and we may as well accept it on its terms. Some that will read this blog have known me most of my life ...

Recently I had to be away from home on business for two full weeks.  This meant being away from my husband.  With each day that I was gone I became more aware of how much I enjoy having Mike in my everyday life and I just plain missed his presence.  I do love technology and although I haven’t yet mastered Skype, we talked on the phone as often as we could and sent text messages.  Mike writes a love note for me most every day and while I was away that didn’t stop.  In fact he still wrote them with pen on paper.  He then photographed and e-mailed them to me so that I would be able to read them at the end of my work day just like I do when I’m at home.  That was an amazing thing but still I missed his smile, his eyes and his touch.  These are things that cannot be substituted. Love is blind they say.  “They” also say that my affections for my husband and this incredible desire to share every day with him will pass with time.  It seems that...

It has been nearly two full months since I have written a blog post.  In fact I have barely written anything at all with the exception of notes to myself reminding me what I need to accomplish on any given day.  I have been busy with work and with life just like everybody else.  That never stopped me from writing before, so why now?  In October I lost one of my dearest friends to cancer.  She was not just any friend.  She was the friend who helped me find a way to climb out of the deep dark pit I was in after having lost my first husband to the same disease.  Lynn watched me spiral in and out of emotional ruins, never losing sight of the person I was beneath it all.  She believed in God, she believed in me and sometimes she believed in God “for” me. Even though I had known for nearly a year that the day may come when she would no longer be with us, somehow I wanted to believe different.  I wanted to cling to the heart to heart conversation...

While making a quick stop at the grocery store one evening, I remained in the car while my husband went in to pick up what we needed.  The windows on the vehicle we were driving are slightly tinted and I had the window opened an inch or so.  As my thoughts began to wander I began to hear someone singing in the car next to me.  The young woman was singing along with James Blunt, “You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, you’re beautiful it’s true”.  With each line she sang eventually I no longer heard the accompaniment of the radio, but I heard her voice and her voice alone.  She had gone from singing “you’re beautiful” to singing at the top of her voice, “I’m beautiful, I’m beautiful, I’m beautiful, it’s true”.  I chuckled that night because I doubt that she knew of her audience.  Every once in awhile when we stop at the store I remember this moment and laugh all over again to myself. This week as I was thinking of this, I began to think of it in a differe...

“She walked out of the house slamming the door in rage.   Behind her the glass shattered and fell from the window of a door that had been opened and closed many times before.   Rage was the only emotion she knew how to express because she had great teachers in her parents.   The sad part is that she was only 10 years old.” And so the story goes in many homes. Children learn from their first teachers how to respond to life’s circumstances.   Fortunately and unfortunately those first teachers are their parents.   Nearly every day I read an article in our paper about how another child has been hurt, abused and sometimes left to die.   Why?   I can ask this question all day every day and never know the answer.   I dedicate this post to those of us who have battled through our past to find a better way for ourselves.   May we be mindful of the innocence of children and may we; even those without our own, be willing to care for the needs of a chil...

“Mom, I have been dating someone who I am crazy about and I am going to marry him.” Mom said, “I sure hope he’s not an atheist or [worse] a democrat!”   And so this is how my beloved Mike would be introduced to my family.   Each time I introduce Mike to someone now I am tempted to say, “I would like to introduce you to my democratic, atheistic, husband whose name really doesn’t matter to a closed minded, conservative, hypocritical Christian, such as your self because you can’t look past the differences.” There would be several things wrong with that.   First of all, it was a run-on sentence with punctuation errors enough to get me arrested by the editing police. Secondly, I don’t believe that everyone views people of different political and religious beliefs as the enemy.   I enjoyed coffee and conversation with Mike’s sister this week and at one point she asked, “does your mom know you’re a democrat?”   She does and she’s not happy about it.   She IS howe...