How Did YOU Get Here???

Dear Gentle Readers,

I was born in Savannah, Georgia on November 1, 1956. If you are a Catholic, you know that November1st. is “All Saints Day”. All Saints Day is a holy day and more important to me as a child attending a Catholic school, it was a holiday! No school on my birthday! Yippee! This was extra special because the day before, October 31^st, was Halloween.

My mother told me that on that particular Halloween in 1956, I was overdue to be born. My family lived in a big old sprawling two story frame house on Maupas Avenue. And on that street lived dozens of children. And every single child on Maupas and every other street in Savannah went trick or treating that night. My mother only had five children in seven years. Yes, when she was twenty-seven, good Catholic girl that she was, she already had five wee ones. Then for some mysterious reason she had no babies for seven years. That's when my three sisters, Cathy, Cea and Camille, aged ten, twelve and fourteen, started a campaign for my mother to have a baby! My two brothers Larry and John, aged seven and eight were not really interested, unless it was a baby brother. My sister, Cea, campaigned the hardest. She really, really wanted a little baby to play with and wouldn't stop begging my mother for one.

So finally Mama relented, and got on the nest with little ducky number six, me. I guess you could say I got into this world by the skin of my teeth! But, on that Halloween night, while my five brothers and sisters went out to trick-or-treat, Mama stayed home to give out candy to literally “hundreds” of children. “Well, I was as big as the side of the barn, and every time the doorbell rang I had to get up out of my chair and go give out candy! After about a hundred trips to answer the door, it was time to go to the hospital! I had already had one false alarm, so when I went, I knew I better not come back home empty-handed!” she told me.

I was born after midnight, and so I guess I am supposed to be a saint and not a witch! When Daddy got back to the house from the hospital, he wouldn't tell any of my siblings if the baby was a girl or a boy until they were all sitting together on the staircase steps. Then he announced, “It's a beautiful baby girl! And she looks just like Cea!” Cea said that was, at that point, the happiest moment of her life. When the new baby was brought home Mama showed the little bundle to my brother Larry. Larry took one look at me and said, “Another girl. Yuck!!!” Larry ended up having eleven children. Mostly girls! He thinks they are all beautiful...

So I ask you, do you know the story of your birthday? In this day of smart phones and texting, will family stories survive? Will the art of southern storytelling survive? If you know about your own birthday, please share it on this blog! If not, go ask your relatives that remember, before the story is gone for good... “Another girl. Yuck!!!” 

Front row: John, Cathy, Daddy, Mama holding her Halloween treat and Larry   Back row:  Camille and Cea that nagged me into this world!

Lampp Family 1959 in the Woody Wagon in Savannah

In case you missed me!!!

Miss Paper Doll 1960 Columbus, Georgia  I couldn't resist! Ha!

Have faith. Do nothing!!!

Dear Gentle Readers,

This is my very first blog post on my new blog, “Suzan with a “Z” . On this blog we will be chatting away about anything and everything that catches our interest. I want to tell you today about an amazing experience that I had night before last. If you have read my book, “Dear Girlfriend- A Handheld Walk Through Breast Cancer” you know that sometimes things happen in my life that could be written off as coincidence. I really don't believe too much in coincidence. I believe that if I ask God to “take the wheel” of my life, then my life just takes off in directions that are not at all what I would have expected, but are truly wonderful! Sometimes it takes a lot of faith to sit back and do nothing a while and watch what happens! Does the idea of doing that scare you? Well, it scared me at first, but I figure if God can hold the earth and trillions of other planets and stars in place then He can take care of the little speck of dust that is me!

I have a girlfriend named Josephine. She was the one in “Dear Girlfriend” that set off the chain of events that led me to heal the hole in my chest that just would not heal. Well, every year Josephine goes to the beach with some of her girlfriends. This past week was her annual beach trip. Unfortunately, when she got to the beach she got sick. So while her friends were out and about Josephine was missing all the fun, cooped up in the hotel room feeling rotten. Bummer.

Now here is where you can say this is a coincidence, or you can say somebody up there was doing a little directing in my life and the life of Josephine and Sandy. Since Josephine was not able to go “play” with her friends, she went to sit by the pool at the hotel. And who should come sit by her but a lovely woman named Sandy. Now, you know how it is with women. They either hit it off immediately and will know each others deepest secrets within five minutes or they will move a little further away and go back to reading a magazine. Well, Josephine and the new girl, Sandy, hit it off immediately. Sandy just so happened to tell Josephine that she has been battling breast cancer. Josephine told Sandy about me and insisted that Sandy come to Macon to meet me. Well, guess what? Sandy was already scheduled to go to a conference in Macon when she left the beach. Is that a coincidence or not? You decide...

Sandy had all kinds of questions about breast cancer. Various questions about her condition were giving her many sleepless nights. She shared this with Josephine and Josephine gave Sandy my phone number and insisted that she should call me.

Sandy did come to Macon and she did call me. I told her to come on over to my house and she did. For some reason she just had a good feeling about meeting me and hoped that I might be able to answer some of her questions about breast cancer. We had a blast! It was one of those things where I immediately felt comfortable with her and she felt comfortable with me. We sat in the living room, and of course Walker joined us as we yacked about breast cancer and other things as the evening wore on. So, in short, I think Sandy was supposed to meet me. And I had been praying for somebody to take me under wing in the Savannah area, where Sandy lives. So here this angel just flew into my living room with such beauty and energy flowing out of her I know she was sent to me as an answer to my prayers. Sandy is going to have me come speak to her breast cancer support group in Savannah and I want her friends to come to Macon to visit me. Of course I'll have to invite Josephine who has helped me once more!

So Gentle Readers, here is the scoop. You got a problem? Stop trying to fix it!!! Ask God to take over and have the courage to sit back and do NOTHING for a while. Try it! And don't say what happens is a coincidence. It is just somebody up there finally being ALLOWED to do His job... Love, Suzan

Sandy and Suzan