Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

Lol! I looked at that title and had to laugh out loud. No, its not about zombies, although with the season of the (pretend) zombies coming upon us, I might keep that in mind.  No, this is about a relative who has separated themselves from those who love them the most, their families. It occurred to me this morning in the shower (I do my best thinking in there! Who doesn't?), that Christ touched on this very subject. In Luke 14:25-27 Jesus says, "Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." " That passage has always interested me, mostly because of the word hate . That's such a strong word and yet the meaning in this passage is not the common meaning of the word. In this passage, Christ is setting th...

New Texas The clock struck six. It had to be done. The old woman turned and smiled at the nurse who was scheduled to keep tabs on the residents that had gathered for the bi-weekly game night. It would probably be a quiet night, so the nurse had brought something to read to pass the time. There were probably fifty residents in the room at the time, no one would notice if one was gone, at least not right away. Mary Ellen had had enough of this place with the strict schedules for everything. She was tired of having to eat at a certain time, watch television at a certain time, heck, if they had their way, she would poop at a certain time. As for visitors, they were welcome, within the time frame, of course, but hers only came once a year on the anniversary of her coming to this ridiculous excuse for a living center. She had planned for quite a long time to leave this place, but finding the opportunity when she would not be missed straight away seemed to elude her on more...

The trending word since Robin William's passing is: Depression. There, I said it, and you know, I probably can say with some certainty that a good portion of the world population either has it or has dealt with it on some sort of level. Actually, according to the CDC, over 121 million  people worldwide suffer from some form of depression. That's some substantial numbers. Someone once said that the funny people of the world have so many masks that they forget who they are, they get lost in the "funny" because that is what distracts them from the depression. When there is no longer a response to the antics, the jokes or the anecdotes, reality hits. Depression hits with all its got. That is not to say that all funny people have depression. That is to say that this is one example. Depression rears its ugly head in many forms. PTSD. Post-Partum Depression. Bi-Polarism. SAD. Psychotic Depression. Neurons that don't fire properly. A wronged spouse. A child of divorce...

I have to confess. I have zero idea how young parents do it these days. With so many things to grab little one's attention, they seem to flit from one thing to another. Gone are the days when they could focus on one thing at a time, its no wonder teachers and doctors over compensate and rule youngsters hyperactive! Here's my take on it. Now, mind you, this is only my opinion. I am not a medical professional, a therapist or any kind of expert apart from being Grandma Kitty. That said, little ones these days have waaaayyyy too much to grab their attention. Between the television, radio, video games, ipods and ipads, computers, not to mention the interactive toys, there's no way that kiddos can just use their imaginations. When my Granddaughters are here, we limit the television time, mostly because some of the show are more annoying and they don't watch them anyway. There is no computer time for them, but there is coloring, playing outside with the dogs, coloring th...

As I was doing my dusting today, which is not a daily occurrence mind you, I came across a poem that I hold near and dear to my heart. It was published on May 11, 1980 and its called The Special Mother by Erma Bombeck. As I watched my "Chatty Cathy" do her chores today, I really had to smile at God's sense of humor, or at the very most, His wisdom in bringing the Mouse into my life. Because of her presence, my life turned upside-down and, Praise God, it has not been the same since. When I found this poem initially, I was living in Denver and it had been reprinted in the local newspaper. Immediately I connected with the poem and sent her a letter, in care of the paper she syndicated out of, telling her how much the poem meant to me and thanking her. I received a letter back thanking me for my letter, signed by Erma Bombeck. It is still one of my treasured items. So, in honor of Erma, my Mouse and all of the Special Needs Moms and Kids, here is The Special Mother by Erm...

A dear friend of mine said this morning, "Words hurt." At this very moment, I whole-heartedly agree. As much as I want to say that words don't mean as much as actions, today I have to take that all back. Words can be uplifting or devastating. The Bible itself has many things to say about that little member we call the tongue. James 3:8 says, "But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison," and I will agree. So many times we just don't think about the things that come out of our mouths. Then again, there are times we do think, but it is in a moment of passion, saying things that we regret but cannot take back. When a person is hit by a barrage of words spoken in anger, frustration or fear, even though the recipient's face may reflect hurt, anger, fear or neutrality, the hurt runs deep. It runs to the very quick of the soul, planting a poison that cannot easily be contained. When misunderstanding or assumption is mixed i...

For those of you who have been following me for a bit, you probably are aware that I now have two books out; The Father's Footsteps, which is a political suspense (fiction), and Diary of a Crazy Cat Lady (also fiction), which is pretty much self explanatory...it's a humor book. Well.  Sometime last month I had filled out a survey from one of the book sites that I'm connected with, don't remember which one it is now...I have CRS... "Can't Remember Stuff". Anyway, I get this phone call this morning from a marketing rep and we talked for about an hour about all kinds of things. Now, understand, I have nothing out that qualifies as non-fiction, which is what the survey was for, and if you were picked, then you would get this consult. Imagine my surprise when I call back (I was not fast enough to catch the call initially) and find that I was picked for the consult! So, we're talking about the books, he's asking about my aspirations for my writing, and...