Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Reflections on Faith's Graduation





Time has gotten away from me, and blogging has been the casualty of too much going on in our home and lives. I started this post after returning from a few days in Charleston, SC, where Faith was graduating from the Medical University of South Carolina. The ceremony took place in the Church of the Holy Communion. She earned her masters in Occupational Therapy, and so, what was said when she was four may be true of the future:  I thought she was being so kind after we watched Reading Rainbow one morning, and the story was about a grandpa who needed a wheel chair because he could no longer walk. He was still able to carve wood and, if I remember correctly, he carved a wooden whistle for her. At any rate, there were pages showing him being wheeled in his chair. When Reading Rainbow ended, Faith declared that she would push me in the wheel chair when I got old. Before I could compliment her on how kind that was of her, she blurted out, "And then we can park in those special places." But I digress.

 

Back to Charleston where we shared a suite with DJ and Dawn, and granddaughter Addy. John and I drove down for the event and had packed a cooler and a couple of boxes of food. We unpacked them, and the boxes were sitting empty in the common area. Addy climbed into one, and it became a "jack-in-the-box" and later, when DJ picked up the box, Addy and all, it became a rocket and an airplane, and as you can see from the photo a reading nook.














We stayed overnight in Charleston after having a celebratory dinner with David's family and a few of Faith's and David's friends. 



What a beautiful city! And so much history. We toured Fort Sumter, the site of the first shots fired in the Civil War.  Miss Addy, with her vivid imagination, turned one of the see-throughs in the Fort Sumter museum into a fast food pick up window and took our order. Later that evening, we sadly bid farewell to DJ, Dawn, and Addy and headed to Charlotte to continue our visit with David and Faith. 

 



 





And you know, that at some point, we have to "talk decorating" and here we are. Faith had purchased an old breakfront (now referred to as a hutch), and she found an Annie Sloan dealer. (That place will be the subject of another blog. What a business model!) 

She decided on "graphite", so we went to work. I apologize for the very poor photo quality. Unfortunately, I cannot redo it until we revisit Charlotte. I have yet to see it all put together and in its proper setting in their new home.
   
We also had packed the van with more goodies for her home, including a desk I had redone plus four french chairs.  I am sharing a glimpse of her living room and will share more as Faith continues with some thrifting and painting and rearranging and turning their house into a home. Is it possible that she shares a few of her mother's traits?

Don't you love the chairs with that aluminum table she found?!? Cannot wait to see and share (with permission, of course) her progress.

Remember, there are more "gifts and decor with a past" plus some new, at Just A Second inside Stella & Notte, 1416 N. Main Street in Rockford's Historic North End. We look forward to your visit.