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Category : Stories

Let’s Honor His Life…

Over the past three years I have intentionally kept the circumstances surrounding Christian’s death away from Magnolia Son. Magnolia Son has been the positive to come out of a very negative event in our lives. Today I am making an exception to that unspoken rule because I think it would be important to Christian for the last chapter of his life to be told. Magnolia Son is our way of honoring Christian….. but Christian honored “living” every day. There were […]

When Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp

Someone many years ago started the tradition of “Year in Review” which now puts pressure on all of us to write a philosophical accounting of the past year….. unfortunately inspiration has not hit and it’s the last hours of 2016. So here is our attempt at summing up our year. In many ways 2016 smiled on Magnolia Son. We opened a retail location, expanded awareness of our mission, made new contacts and friends and met all of our 2016 goals! […]

Memory Maker

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night last night for what we refer to as Christian’s wishing night.  There was laughter.  There was tears.  There were family and friends and children  excited, laughing…. joyful.  Just as they should be.  Just as Christian would have been.  Because anyone who knew Christian knows how important his birthday was to him.  What better excuse for a party, a get together, a “shindig” as he would have said.  So I deleted my […]

If Christian was here…….

Everyday in our home you will hear the words “If Christian was here……” at least once.  “If Christian was here the boat would be fixed” …. “If Christian was here that wouldn’t have ever happened” …. “There would have been some good stories to tell if Christian was here…”  One thing I know for certain, if Christian was here he would have gotten up at an unseemly hour for a Saturday morning, gone to Alexa’s room, given her a wet willy […]

A Full Heart & A Wanting Mind…

I received a card last week from Will and Bailey Dungan.  It was with full eyes and and a full heart that I placed it on the table in the kitchen…… the first thing I would see when I walked in at night and the last thing I would see as I left each morning. An unneeded reminder of friendship at its purest, a life lived with no limits and hearts at their fullest.  But a full heart does not stop the […]

I Wish You Enough

Tuesday night we were able to give 63 pairs of shoes to local students to help make their first days of school a little better.  My brother asked the question “What will be your echo?” We continue to strive every day to make Christian’s echo heard…. louder and more true.  Christian would be proud of the smiles I saw on so many children’s faces all because of him and his giving spirit.

And so today I have a wish for all the children we saw Tuesday …… I wish you enough.

                     May your joys be as bright as the morning, and your sorrows merely

be shadows that fade in the sunlight of love. May you have enough

             happiness to keep you sweet, enough trials to keep you strong,

enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to keep you happy,

                        enough failure to keep you humble, enough success to keep you eager,

enough friends to give you comfort, enough faith and courage in yourself to banish

              sadness, enough wealth to meet your needs and one thing more; enough

determination to make each day a more wonderful day than the one before.

— Irish Blessing

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Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Will Dungan!!

The day stands out clearly in my mind. Christian coming in from the store and telling me he had run into Bailey and Mrs. Marilynn at Randy’s. He was in between girlfriends at the time so I said “Bailey is so sweet. You should ask her out.” Christian looked up from whatever he was doing and gave me a look like I had lost my mind. He said “Will dates Bailey, Mom. They’ll be together forever.” I realized in that […]

Romeo, Romeo Wherefore Art Thou Romeo….

It was a 9th or 10th grade English class. Mrs. Clark was the teacher and Christian was the thorn in her side. Walking into class with no pencil, no paper, no intention of learning one thing. Avery laughed when recalling how he walked into class the first day…. totally unprepared, unconcerned and oblivious to the fact that everyone else was prepared. In his mind, showing up was all he really had to do. Avery or his charm typically took care […]

Spectators for Life…

I recently had a discussion with a friend about being “a tourist in life”; not participating in life but coasting along with work and family. I thought about that statement for awhile and had to disagree with their assessment. To me life is like a game. Any game really….. basketball, football, baseball, etc. And just as in any team sport we all have our role to play. There’s the coach who teaches us, pats us on the back and kicks […]

A Perfect Effort

We hear so much about the larger than life college football coaches that win year after year.  Or younger upstarts that create winning teams from programs that have always struggled.  If you are from the South you think of Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, Dan Mullen and Hugh Freeze.  They are quoted daily; emulated and praised for the influence they have on their players. We forget what comes way before the 60,000 seat stadium games, the Sports Illustrated interviews or paid […]