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Melody

I am here for Friends

About Me

I was born in Odessa, Texas. My sister and I moved to Lubbock, Texas when I was almost seven. The day I turned 18 was also the day I graduated from high school and two weeks later I got my first job as a secretary. A couple of months later, I walked down the aisle of the chapel of Broadway Church of Christ to marry the guy I hoped to be married to for the rest of my life. We were blessed with a baby boy in 1973 and were thrilled when God sent us a baby girl in 1978. Our son is married and lives in Dallas and our daughter still lives in Lubbock. After the usual ups and downs of marriage, we found ourselves getting a divorce in 1993. And I actually find it nice to be single and in charge of my life. It was a little scary at first but, just another bump in the road of life. I work for the post office at night as a manual distribution clerk and have been there since 1985. I LOVE my job and am in no hurry to retire. It is a little more stresssful than one would imagine to work for the post office (just ask any doctor if they treat post office employees and if it is stressful if you doubt my opinion on this matter) but the benefits make up for the stress. The greatest thing about my job is that I don't have to dress up to go to work!! WooHoo!! And if you think it is strange that the post office would have someone working at night, well, how do you think you get your mail the next morning or the next day? It's because of people like me. The only other thing that I think has had a really big impact on my life and would be interesting to others is the fact that I was diagnosed with cancer in 1998. And my doctor told me my prognosis was about 40% if I did everything that I was asked to do to get rid of the cancer. My Mother died from breast cancer in 1979 and I always thought I would get it but, I told my doctor that I had never believed it would kill me. He told me they would do their best but, it was already in my lymph nodes. I told my kids I wasn't sure if I wanted to fight this thing since my chance of surviving it was so low and my son told me that he would hate me if I did not do everything I could to beat this thing. So, I did as the doctors asked-albeit reluctantly at times. I went through chemotherapy, surgery, more chemo and then 32 days of radiation. I now have 3 tattooes. They are just little pinpricks and not anything compared to the ones my son has but, they're all mine. I also ended up with a lot of other health problems from my cancer treatments but, I believe that I am still here because of all the prayers that my family and friends (and even strangers) sent up for me. Of course, I feel I had the very best doctors anyone could have had to take care of me and it was a comfort to know that God was watching over me the entire time. I fully believe that it was just another lesson that I was allowed to go through so I could speak with a real voice of compassion and experience to those who I might come into contact with later in my life who have been diagnosed with cancer. Mark Lowry is a Christian comic, songwriter and artist who was in the Bill Gaither Trio for years and is now "out on his own" and doing quite well. He wrote the song, "Mary, Did you Know?" that we hear at Christmas and he was such an inspiration to me when I was going through my cancer treatments. On one of the first cassettes of his that I bought, he reminded his audience that the good things and the bad things in this life are only temporary. I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "This too shall pass" and so whether I experience something great or something absolutely horrifying, I remember hearing Mark Lowry on his cassette tape and I know that this too shall pass. I just try to live my life one day at a time and sometimes I have to do that one minute or even one second at a time. It helps when I pray the Serenity Prayer, which goes like this: "God, Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference." ..

My Interests

I love watching the Lady Raiders of Texas Tech play basketball. I love Kristy Curry, who took over when Marsha Sharp retired and believe that she will help to bring this team back up to where it belongs.

I'd like to meet:

My Heavenly Father ..... and possibly You!

Music:

My "drug of choice" is music and I have the CDs to prove it. And I love all kinds of music. Even if I don't know the words, I probably love the beat or the rhythm of a song or just the sound of the artist singing the song. My favorite music at the moment is Contemporary Christian music because I need all of the encouragement and inspiration that I can get to make it through the day (or the night). My daughter likes rap, hip hop, R & B, some country and a little bit of pop and rock and roll so, I hear a little of almost everything and like some of almost all of it. I have loved music and singing as far back as I can remember. I sang in school and church and went around and sang at Lions Clubs and churches to raise money for the Children's Home that I lived at for 11 years. My sister's best friend and I sang at a talent contest and won the $50 prize--We thought that was so cool! I sang in front of hundreds of people at the FHA conventions and had the priviledge of leading my classmates in the school song at the pep rallies and football games. But my secret desire was to sing professionally. Remember the little poem-Here comes romance, here comes marriage, here comes so and so with a baby carriage. That was my choice so now I just sing along with the radio in the car and at work and find a lot of pride in the fact that the daughter of one of my own classmates is the lead singer in one of my favorite bands. Yeah-Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks are living my dream! And I know that her Dad, Lloyd, and the rest of Natalie's family are very happy for the success that she and the band have achieved with their awesome talents. They maybe controversial but, I do not believe there will ever come a day when I will turn the dial when one of their songs comes on. They certainly are not on the radio as much as I would like for them to be but, I live in a country where I am free to play whatever I want to on my CD player so, I'll be listening to the Dixie Chicks till the day I die. And I would like to take this time to thank all of the men and women who fought for me to have that priviledge. God bless those courageous individuals.

Movies:

I love the movies but, I hate to pay that much to see them at Tinseltown and I hate to get dressed up. It's so convenient to just stay at home with my microwave popcorn and diet rootbeer. I do love to go to the drive in movie but, I don't even do that as much as I would like to. It reminds me of my younger years and the times that I went on dates and--well, lets not go there. I love movies with character-you know--movies that have lessons for us to learn. I love musicals, comedies, para-normal films, and chick flicks. I do not like films where people get hunted down and killed with anything--not my cup of tea. I love historical documentaries because of the opportunity they afford us to take a look into the lives of those who came before us. Hopefully, we will not make the same mistakes as our predecessors.

Television:

Unfortunately, I spend way too much time in front of the television. I love Oprah but I can't watch it because I am asleep when it comes on at 3 pm so I have to listen to it on my TV Walkman at 4 am. I love Animal Planet, The Dog Whisperer, Dog the Bounty Hunter, NCIS, CMT, The Comedy Channel, Gray's Anatomy, the Closer, and Medium. I use to like to watch the reality shows but, I am trying to stay away from them because they are too much ado about nothing. I find the news to be so depressing but, I like to know what is going on in the world so I still watch the 10 o'clock news. My favorite channel on the cable is #938--the Contemporary Christian Music Channel. And I would have a much cleaner house if I only "watched" that channel. I remember watching my first tv-in black and white-and didn't become "addicted" to it until I got out on my own. Thank God I am no longer addicted to any of the soap operas!

Books:

I so loved to read books when I was growing up and I had so much fun in the summer when I could just read for fun! And I am ashamed to say that I just do not make the time to read anymore! The last book I read was one that my oldest sister gave to me for Christmas a couple of years ago about these two guys that live together and their dogs. And when one of the dogs died, I was in the doctor's office with my daughter and I cried like a baby. I buy so many books with the full intention of reading them and yet I never make the time to read them!! The one book that I have read over and over through the years is a 12 Step Meditation Book and I still recommend it to those I love.

Heroes:

My only real and true Hero is my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without him, I would not be here today nor would I be the person I have become. And I have a home to go to when this life is over and I know that it will be so much better than what I have here on this earth. I learned from an early age that there was only one person on this earth that I could truly look to to take care of me and that was myself-with God's help. God has always been there for me and he has pulled me out of some things that I didn't deserve to be pulled out of. And he has loved me even when I wasn't worthy of being loved. He always has and he always will. And I was exposed to God and his son, Jesus, when I first met John B. White and his wife, Vera White. That's who I think of when I think of Earthly Heroes. They started the Church of Christ Children's Home where I went to live in March of 1958. They (and their children) were so unselfish because they gave up their family life so that us kids could have a home when our family lives fell apart. Brother White, as he was affectionately called, was the closest thing to God on this earth. He was loving, kind and compassionate. He was the truest example of one who could "hate the sin but love the sinner" and I never once heard him say a bad word about any of our parents or any of the other children. He married me and he preached the funeral service for my Mother. His "replacement" was Floyd Stumbo and he and his wife, Pat, had big shoes to fill and did so admirably. The last set of houseparents that I had there were Rusty and Nell Burns and they were the closest thing to real parents that I had while at the home. I can still see Rusty and his cowboy hat waiting up for me when I would come home from my dates. And he was as protective of all of the kids on the entire campus if he needed to be. Rusty and Nell had our backs. We could always count on them and I will always be grateful that I was allowed to live with them for the last four years at the home. Nell made my wedding dress and Rusty walked me down the aisle. When they left the home and moved to Alvin to be closer to their daughter, Rowena, and her family, it just about killed me. They had been just a phone call or a mere 10 minute drive away and I took that for granted. Now Rusty is gone and Nell's health has gone downhill and it will be a really sad day when she is laid to rest beside Rusty. My most precious Earthly Hero is my own Mother, Theresa Armstrong. She put her pride on the shelf and put us in the Children's Home when she became blind and knew that she would be unable to give us the life that she wanted us to have. She did not allow her Mother nor our Father to take custody of us because she truly had our best interest at heart. She was ridiculed for doing what she did and she lived with so much guilt and pain for that decision. But we never doubted that she did what she did out of her love for us. There is no telling what kind of life I would have lived had my Mother not made that heart wrenching decision. And I will forever be grateful to her and to those individuals who gave their money and goods so that we could live at the home.
Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Randy Pausch passed away Friday, July 25th, 2008 and this video is the real lecture he gave at Carnegie Mellon that led him to give a very similar lecture for Oprah and her audience. This video was entertaining but also very inspirational. May Randy rest in peace and may God continue to guard, guide & direct his precious family.

My Blog

Letters From War

..> I have posted another song that I have loved since the first day I heard it and I feel sure that you will too.  It is titled, "Letters from War" and is just one of so many inspirationa...
Posted by Melody on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:03:00 PST

New Song Posted on my Site

..> Want to hear some great music with even greater words?  I have posted "I'm Not Who I Was" by Brandon Heath and this song has gradually grown to be one of my favorites.  It is a song a...
Posted by Melody on Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:46:00 PST