Miss Cindy had a crummy childhood and in later years she made decisions that caused her life to be even more difficult.
But with God’s help, good friends, and a fierce determination she managed to work through all those tough times and be at peace with them.
Over the years of working towards that peace she came up with sayings that she would use to encourage herself and others.
You’ve likely heard one that she often shared with me when life didn’t go as I had planned.
“Man proposes and God just smiles.”
After saying the phrase she would share a story from her past about how something she wanted didn’t work out and at a later date she could look back and see it was a good thing it didn’t work out like she wanted. Or sometimes she would use it in a humorous way when speaking about herself or someone getting ahead of themselves—counting their chickens before they hatch if you will.
One crude saying she used was if it looks like crap and smells like crap then its crap! She used that one often when the girls were going through their teenage angst stage.
A saying she mentioned often during her decline was one she learned from her husband Forest. He died before I met Matt so I never knew him. In his last years of life he was very sick and he spent a lot of time in the VA Hospital at Oteen. His saying was ‘We will hope for the best, expect the worst, and take what we get.”
The finality of that saying helped Miss Cindy as she faced the realization that she had cancer even though she had tried so hard to be healthy. I’m sure it also helped her remember Forest and what they had shared together.
I’ve already shared another saying she said often during that time: “We just have to wade through this.” I know that one will stick with me for the rest of my life for a couple of reasons.
There is strength behind it. Admitting and committing to facing something you know you can’t change takes a strong fortitude. And the very thought of wading reminds me of the many references to crossing rivers that can be found in the Bible and many traditional gospel songs.
After Miss Cindy died Corie found another saying among her things that she had taken time to write down.
“Fear Finds No Home in My Happy Heart.”
I’m sure Miss Cindy wrote down the words so that she could remind herself of what she wanted her attitude to be during the rough patches of her life.
I appreciate you allowing me to talk about Miss Cindy this week. She really loved everyone who visited Blind Pig and The Acorn. She often spoke of this commenter or that and marveled that somehow we all were like family even though most of us had never met.
I also appreciate all the kindness you’ve shown us this week.
Last night’s video: A Thread Runs Through It 7.
Tipper
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“Man proposes, God decomposes”, is a variation on the saying I’ve heard all my life, the gist being that no matter what you do or achieve in this life, it’s all ultimately for nought.
❤
I sure wish I had known her.
Tipper I always enjoy your close relationship with your special Miss Cindy. She seemed such a settled & peaceable person. Her “come what may” mindset at the last helped you & her. What a love! Thankyou for sharing her with us!
hugs, Trish
Tipper, you are so lucky to have a great MIL that loved you, supported you and did for you. Just sad that she left too soon & didn’t see her great-grandsons. RIL Miss Cindy.
Thank you for sharing your memories, and Miss Cindy, with us. ❤️
I know that I know, if I had known Miss Cindy we would have been friends. Thank you Tipper so much for sharing all your memories and thoughts and sayings about Miss Cindy. To me the proof of her heart is mirrored in her son; Matt. She was a kind and sweet spirit who loved the Lord and lived her life with beauty and grace despite not knowing that in her childhood. I know how much you all miss her, but she lives on in your hearts. She was far from a mother in law to you Tipper, she was your friend and we can all sense it in your words. God bless and keep all of you.
I use sayings quite frequently—I learned my sayings mostly from my grandparents—and I’ve also made up a few of my own. I probably should write them all down. I am so glad that Miss Cindy overcame the adversities of her childhood and also the adversities that came after that time in her life. We all have times in our life that we would like to forget; but, the bad times are probably the most important times because these are the times we learn the greatest lessons of life. I don’t believe we learn very much from the easy and smooth times of our lives. It is miraculous, to say the least, when you see someone turn their lives around. Miss Cindy thankfully found her way to a peaceful life and was so blessed to have you and Matt and the girls in her life. She knew she was loved and you knew she loved you all the way to the end of her earthly life. Miss Cindy will meet each one of you with open arms when God calls you home. This is truly what I believe family is all about!!!!!
I loved learning more about Miss Cindy this week. It’s a rare thing to cross paths with genuine wisdom, but crossing paths with Miss Cindy through your postings was to listen to wisdom over and over again. Thank you for sharing her and for her sharing with us. Talk about a blessing! I hope every year, when spring turns to summer, you will continue to commemorate the life of Miss Cindy. We miss her, too.
Tipper and bunch… So glad y’all were blessed to have Miss Cindy and really very glad she had y’all. Thank you for sharing and remembering . I’m sure y’all miss her a great deal. I miss her and I never met her. Thank you for sharing and including us. Many prayers.
Thank you Tipper, firstly for your cookbook, it came so quickly and lastly for sharing Miss Cindy with us on her remembrance week. I think ones’s past does shape your future. I have had a rough childhood, but hearing Miss Cindy’s words and outlook on life is a true example that you can change your future outlook on life. Thank you for this platform to share. Also praying for Corie’s safe delivery.
I have lived my life by a saying from the Bible: Go looking for it and you’ll find it, knock and someone will open the door.
Miss Cindy is one of the luckiest people in the world to be surrounded by those who love her.
Thank you for sharing Miss Cindy with us. She sounds a lot like my kin and I feel that if I ever had met her she’d get a “family hug”. We use to say “Hope for the best; expect the worse; trust God with what we get.” “Wading through” was another one we shared. God bless you all and prayers for Corie’s delivery. By the way, my grandmother’s name was “Corrie”.
my mother’s sister was Cora but we.pronounced it.”Corrie”
This tribute week, for memorializing Miss Cindy, was a very insightful piece Miss Tipper. I really enjoyed getting to know and hear about your lovely mother-in-law. She was not only your M-I-L but your friend. That in itself is a tribute to her profound personality, beauty and grace. Rest in peace Miss Cindy and know you were loved by so many.
(((((Tipper)))))
It is an honor and a privilege to read your words. Thank you.
I love that last saying the best. God bless
“Strangers are friends we have not yet met, and some friends become like family we have never met.” Tipper and Matt – thank you for inviting us all to walk with you down the memory lane of Miss Cindy this week. Peace, comfort, and blessings to each of you and yours.
Thanks for all the wonderful memories and encouraging words. I know Miss Cindy was a special lady.
Thank you for sharing Miss Cindy with all of us. Her wisdom still continues on and we are truly Blessed for that.
Good mosrnîg, Tipper. Today’s blog brought to my mind several memories, questions, and comments. First, thank you for introducing Miss Cindy to us,
It is evident that she was very wise and that she did not hesitate to share her wisdom with others. It appears to me that she followed God’s command to first of all love God and, secondly, to love our neighbors as ourselves (neighbors being any persons we meet as we journey through life).
Thank you, too, for sharing Miss
Cindy’s recipes. I love the simplicity of the blueberry pie. You had noted that it works with other fruits, too. Since I didn’t have blueberries, I decided to make an apple pie according to her recipe. I used Honey Crisp apples, made my own crust, and added some vanilla and ground cinnamon. I was very pleased with the results so I hope to try other flavors (fruits). I like the fact that the pie is quickly assembled. I used an iron skillet for baking. When the baking time was about up , the crust felt done but had not browned. I popped the pie under the broiler for a few seconds, and that took care ot the browning This recipe is a keeper!
Tipper, I’m enjoying the book
you are reading. Jessee Stuart is a name I heard often when I was in high school in the ‘60s. He came and talked to
the students at Thomas Walker High School a couple of times.Thomas Walker is located in extreme Southwest VA, where TN, KY, and VA converge. Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) is located very close by. My husband is an LMU graduate as are several other of our relatives and friends. LMU has grown and greatly expanded its programs, now including a MED school, VET school, and law school.
We had a giant mulberry tree in our yard when I was growing up. The berries were plentiful. My mom canned everything she could but never mulberries. I wish I had asked her why, Does anyone have thoughts on this? She let us eat them raw but did warn us about « silk worms.« I
do remember seeing some worms
others what
life had taught her.
Fort
I too had a crummy childhood and many of Miss Cindy’s sayings you have shared Tipper are helpful. I wish I had known her. She seemed like a strong and loving person.
Thank you for sharing your family with your readers. My husband and I talk about your family as if we’ve been neighbors forever. I’ve been a nurse for 55 years. Thirty in Crutical Care and currently in the Recovery Room. I’ve been with countless numbers of patients and families at the end of life. Miss Cindy’s view of things makes me think of a poster that hung on the wall at our hospital. It said….You can not change the direction of the wind; but you can adjust your sails. And I think Miss Cindy did just that. God Bless.
thank you for sharing Miss Cindy!
May marked 14 years of being without my Momma and 21 years of being without my daughter.
your sharing your memories of Miss Cindy helped me to remember the good things.
thank you again!
Enjoyed reading your posts this week. Miss Cindy was truly an overcomer. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to pay our respects through the cemetery fund!
To say that I have enjoyed this week’s posts about Miss Cindy seems shallow. There must be a better word that speaks of such a gentle and generous spirit and how her words through you gave me comfort somehow but it eludes me right now. It is the same feeling that brings me back to your pages every day for over a year now. Thank you! Another of those little words that is so much greater felt than said. Lots of warm kisses and gentle hugs to you.
These posts have been beautiful memorials to Miss Cindy. It is obvious how much she loved all of you and obvious how much you all loved her back. God bless.
It’s not the surf we’re having to wade through. Wading through water can be difficult at times but it’s nothing compared to what I envision Miss Cindy was talking about. It’s a swamp with no discernible bottom. It’s a quagmire in which every step seems to draw you deeper in. It’s like quicksand only the pit isn’t sand, and it doesn’t you swallow up. It’s a thick sticky glue whose intent is to lock you in a place where your past mistakes haunt you and although your goal is in sight, you can never achieve it. But, you press on, exhausted, with only the love of God to keep you pressing forward.
Many, if not most, people never reach the goal of which we speak. They rely on their own energy to find their way through life’s struggles. They refuse to accept that they cannot take what God has made and make it better. Pride precludes them from just giving up and giving it to God.
I have loved you sharing about Miss Cindy this week. I feel like I know her better now. I know that the first anniversary is especially tough. Y’all have been in my prayers this week (and with the birth of the boys I know she would so have loved to meet). Continuing prayers as Corie’s little man joins y’all, too. Much love to you all from SC, Jane
Randy you said it well. That is what is so special about this blog. We are hanging out with the best, the Blind Pig Family, and we learn from one another. I think some of the goodness of the family rubs off on each of us. We love one another even tho most of us have never met. That is truly what family should be. Thank all of you for sharing snippets of your lives with the rest of us.
Alice, Tipper’s family and the BP&A family is much like my family and my wife’s family which treated me like blood kin. When I say family, I mean all the members, aunts, uncles, cousins , nieces, nephews, in laws, out laws, in other words the whole she bang. It was and is always pure happiness and joy anytime we are/were together. From what Tipper has wrote of Pap he and my father in law were alike as two peas in a pod. My mother in law was also very special to me. My 4 sister in laws tell me I am the brother they never had, I don’t think I am worthy of that.
Thank you Tipper for allowing us to know Miss Cindy. She sounds like she was a wonderful woman and I’m forever thankful for her quote…”Fear Finds No Home in My Happy Heart.” That quote will now live on in my heart! ❤️
I’m sure this is a tough time for Matt as well. Please let him know that he is in my thoughts and prayers.
Also thinking about Corie and sending her wishes for an easy delivery!
What a wonderful woman she was. Thank you for sharing her with us.
I just know, that had I been given the opportunity to know Miss Cindy in person, that I would have loved her company. I love the sayings that you shared today.
Your remembrance of Miss Cindy and the difficult periods throughout her life brings to mind the Serenity Prayer. I recall it every day several times to help me deal with today’s world and all the problems I deal with daily, especially within my own family. It is such a blessing to have a place to turn in good times and bad: our God is our strength and our Redeemer, of what should we fear!
I live in eastern NC, but much that you do and say has roots here. I enjoy your memories very much!
Take care,
Olivia
To me, there is a traditional toughness, like hickory, in Appalachian culture (and others as well). It isn’t just the “fatalism” we are accused of. It is a mental strength to endure what the apostle Paul called “hardness” in life, things like illness, natural disaster, false accusation, poverty and so on. Basic to it is the acceptance and expectation that a body will have troubles and when they come they must be met as best one may without resentment, anger, fear, despair or any such things that will just make them worse. My Dad lived over 27 years paralyzed from the waist down from a rock fall in a coal mine. His renter once said, “I don’t see why a thing like that would happen to a man like you.” His answer was, “It’s just life I reckon.” That about sums it up.
I have enjoyed every post that you have written about Miss Cindy this week. Thank you so much for sharing. I believe that she was a strong, gracious, beautiful and caring woman.
This is such a lovely post even while feeling her loss. Thank you for sharing her wisdom.
A beautiful tribute week to Miss Cindy, Tipper. All are in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers. Thanks for the touching glimpse and insight of how she was such a positive influence in your lives……
Thank you for sharing Miss Cindy with us this week. I’m jotting down these sayings so I can read them often.
God bless each one of you.
Dear Tipper,
This has been a very special and beautiful week of remembrance for Miss Cindy. Thank you for sharing her thoughts and words of wisdom with all of us. Such thoughtful and personal comments have been posted after each blog that I don’t think I could add a thing. I especially loved Miss Cindy’s comments about you, Tipper. The love and respect she had for you was deep and it jumped right off the page for all of us to see! I would be very proud and feel very blessed if you were my daughter-in-law! God bless you!
Love, Jackie
Thank you for sharing Miss Cindy with us this week. It’s been a pleasure getting to know her better. If you haven’t already, you should write Miss Cindy’s wise sayings down for future generations.
I myself have enjoyed you sharing parts of Miss Cindy’s legacy and life with us all! I’ve savored the photos and her sayings too. Here’s a few of mine. “When life hands us lemons, let’s make lemon aid!” “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it’s a duck!” “A hard head makes a soft butt every time.” Miss Cindy really made the most of life she did!!! She learned a lot on this journey and kindly tried to make a difference for people and animals others didn’t want anymore!!! What a lovely soul indeed and such a beautiful lady on the outside too!!! Y’all got plenty of good, hearty stock in those grand babies and that’s for sure!!!! You’re fine folks-the whole lot of YAS!!! You’re ALL KEEPERS AND WINNERS INDEED!!! We love you, gal!
Did you know? Those grandboys you spoke of are my 5th cousin 3x removed!! Now you know!!
Miss Cindy was a wonderful lady and I would have loved to met her. Hugs to you and your family and thank you for sharing your thoughts and memories of her this past week.
This blog is one place I look forward to each day. It’s about sharing with friends, learning something new…something interesting…something to ponder on all day. I love your posts, Tipper, and I love to read the comments from my faraway friends. You have created a community here and I am so happy to get to be a part of it. I know how proud Miss Cindy was of you and I am sure she is smiling at your continued success.
We learn the most about ourselves and others in the hard times. She was an excellent example of living out the Bible. As Jesus taught, it’s easy to love the people that love you but we’re asked to love all the others as well. Seems she understood this lifetime assignment vey well.
Thank you for sharing Miss Cindy with us. She had so much to teach. I expect her strength and wisdom grew out of those difficult years.
Thank you for sharing this week. I’m sure for you it was painful and joyful. To me it was a beautiful heartfelt celebration. I’ve looked forward to reading everyday.
Thanks you for sharing all these posts this week. Ya’ll are like family. In a world where there are few places for peace, you share yours with us. Thank you!
There is much wisdom in Miss Cindy’s sayings. My father in law would often say to his teenage grandchildren “if you hang around a manure pile long enough you will eventually get some of the manure on you.” It was his way of warning them about the people they hung out with. I am like Miss Cindy, even though I have never met any of the BP&A members, all of you seem like friends or family.
Randy, your father-in-law’s words ring so true, but I’ve always said to mine that if you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas, and we all know this is also true.
Angie, your words or saying is also mighty true. I have tried to teach my children and grandsons to be careful about the ones they hang out with. Excuse me for bragging, but my oldest grandson’s high school principal said this to me when my oldest grandson (Brandon) was a junior in high school “if I had a school a school full of Brandon’s, there would be no need of me, I could sit in my office and prop my feet up on my desk.” It sure did make me proud of Brandon. Now he is 24 and works two jobs and has bought his own house. Maybe some of what I tried to teach him stuck.